The Nokia 5800 camera isn’t about chasing the pixel count, after all it’s a 3.2-megapixel snapper that’s common on a good number of Nokia’s smartphones.
As part of our LIVING WITH: Nokia 5800 camera review we’ve spent the last few days focussing on the camera, seeing if it lives up to expectations and whether the addition of a touchscreen makes it easy or more complicated to use.
If you missed our Living with: Nokia 5800 review we'd suggest you start there, as it's a great way to get to know the device in hand.
There is no denying the smart move of using a Carl Zeiss lens, after all, it’s not the number of pixels that makes for a great image, it’s the overall quality of the components used, such as the lens and the quality of the CCD that really matter.
What strikes you first is the interface, as it’s incredibly easy to get to grips with. You hit the hardware button and you’re straight into the main viewfinder. There are four function buttons, along with an Exit button, on the right-hand side and a small camera icon on the left that allows you to start up a touchscreen zoom mode. You can also use the hardware Volume buttons for this too, located on the side of the Nokia 5800.
Working through the option buttons is easy and makes taking and saving shots quick. You can take images using either the hardware button or the touchscreen. The 5800 makes the most of its touchscreen functions and while you may find the zoom slider a little trickier to use at first, after a short while it’s quicker than using the hardware buttons.
Once you’ve snapped your pics, the View/Delete options are really simple, due to the buttons being placed at the top and bottom of the screen. This means you won’t accidentally delete any shots you may otherwise wished to have kept, which is something we’ve all done, we’re sure.
What we liked most about the camera on the Nokia 5800 is how quick it was to switch modes. This is because it’s all handled in software. Simply push a button and the Modes option comes up. How easy is that?
OK, so we’re pretty impressed with the UI but what about the image quality? We’ve pitched it against our usual camera, the 12-megapixel Pentax Optio A40 and we have to say we were impressed with the colour balance and actual depth of colour on offer.
We’ve put a couple of shots side-by-side together and you can really see the contrast between the two. This shows that you don’t need the big pixel number to get results you need. Nokia has clearly made the right decision by opting for a quality lens and the CCD seems to be pretty robust too.
We’re really happy with the camera Nokia 5800, as it’s easy to use, gives great results and while it’s not as top-end as some people were hoping, it certainly delivers for the price point.
