The Nokia E7 isn’t just about its fantastic QWERTY keyboard and 4-inch ClearBlack Display screen, as it comes packed to the rafters with some pretty neat tech, including 8-Megapixel camera and 720p HD video recording. Here we put it through its paces with our Nokia E7 camera review.
The Nokia E7 first and foremost is a business tool but the fact it also comes with a pretty high-end camera means you can use it for more than just firing off emails. The Nokia E7 isn’t going to eclipse the Nokia N8 any time soon in terms of camera action, so if you’re looking for the very best in cutting-edge camera features on a smartphone we suggest our Nokia N8 camera review is the place for you.
Check out our Nokia E7 hardware review
Perhaps the big difference is that the Nokia E7 uses a simpler EDoF (Extended Depth of Field) unit, so you won’t find any auto-focus features built-in. Rather, this fixed focus camera uses a custom lens to make the best of the light that hit the camera processor. You won’t find Macro mode, so getting super-close on subjects can be a little hit and miss but for landscapes, portraits and every day usage this type of technology works fine.
What this means in design terms is that while the Nokia N8 has an additional housing built onto the back to take care of its focal needs, the Nokia E7 is a slim and trim device so is aimed at the more mainstream user. So, the Nokia E7 manages to deliver a more than satisfactory photo image without the technology impacting too much on the design of the device. The 8-Megapixel camera comes with dual-LED Flash and also lacks the Carl Zeiss optics found on the Nokia N8.
Other Nokia E7 camera hardware features consist of a dedicated capture button and we really like the toggle dial that makes zooming into your subject a whole lot easier. Perhaps the most compelling feature though has to be the large and bright viewfinder. The screen of the Nokia E7 means you can view objects easily whether indoors or out and making sure you get everything in is easy.
The software used on the Nokia E7 camera is the same as that found in all Symbian^3 cameras and can be fired up either from the Menu or by holding down the Capture button. The menu system has the standard layout, so you’ll find Options and Exit on the foot of the screen, while Settings, Flash Mode and Camera/Video run down the right-hand side of the screen. Switching modes is simply a case of tapping the icon, so you’re never far away from using the format best suited to the moment.
We’ve found using the Nokia E7 really straightforward. Once you’ve fired off a snap you can review it then please Back to prep it ready for the next image. To have to admit, getting the Photo gallery up is a chore, as you need to go into Options, so showing people a series of images takes a few clicks.
You can take images up to 3264 x 2448 pixels in size and with a 2x digital zoom you can get pretty close to your subject without jagging or pixilation. Take a look at our sample test shots below and you’ll see how well the digital zoom works in the real world, as we were impressed with the snaps it took.
Video is captured in 1280 x 720 pixels at a frame rate of 25fps (frames per second) and even comes with a 3x digital zoom. The great thing about recording in HD quality is that the Nokia E7 comes with a built-in HDMI-out port and a cable supplied in the box, so plugging it straight into your HD TV for the best results is quick and easy.
As we said at the beginning, the Nokia E7 camera isn’t intended to be the top of the range camera phone, it just happens to come with a rather high-end pixel count. We’ve found the image quality to be very impressive for what is thought to be a cheaper camera technology.
Check out our Nokia E7 Camera Review image gallery:
