Smartphone Thoughts: Clam Shell Beauty: Motorola MPx220 Smartphone Reviewed

Say Cheese
I remember when I first heard that Motorola was planning to include a 1.23 Mega pixel camera on its next Smartphone model. I was amazed and disappointed. I was amazed because 1.23 Mega pixel was a big leap considering that most camera phones were offering at best VGA resolution. And disappointed because I would prefer to see the engineering team spend their time on improving call quality and battery performance.

The camera does have the potential but the current software is unable to sense the light condition and often snaps pictures that are blurry/grainy. Color reproduction is also not up to the mark. It�s very easy to click a bad photo. Through trial and error, patience and with little bit of assistance from lighting, this camera phone can snap decent pictures. And we must remember this is a camera phone and not a camera.


Figure 48: Camera application. Up-Down keys adjust the zoom and Left-Right keys adjust the sensor brightness.

Let�s check out some sample photos. Automatic white balance works well only for outdoor sunlit shots.


Figure 49: Sample photo taken on a sunny day. Click on the image for the original 1.23 Mega pixel photo.

Under indoor lighting or cloudy conditions, I found that the night mode was the only mode that worked well. And even in that mode, it required trial and error, and plenty of perseverance.


Figure 50: Sample photo taken under cloudy sky. Click on the image for the original 1.23 Mega pixel photo.


Figure 51: Sample photo taken indoor with automatic white balance. Check out the grains. Click on the image for the original 1.23 Mega pixel photo.


Figure 52: Sample photo taken indoor with white balance set to night mode. Much clearer and proves that the 1.23 mega pixel camera has potential. Click on the image for the original 1.23 Mega pixel photo.

Automatic and Night are the only two white balance modes that work. It would help if the white balance selection was available as a menu option as opposed to an option in the settings dialog.

The camera has a security feature; it makes a loud camera shutter sound, even when the phone is in silent profile. The sound also helps me steady my hand for the shot. I noticed that the actual picture is taken a fraction of second after you press the capture button. This is so that the hand can be steadied from the shake that was caused by the pressing of the button.

The camera has a flash which I found to be practically useless in my test shots.


Figure 53: The left one is at 1x zoom. Photo on the right was shot at 4x digital zoom. Click on the images for the original 1.23 Mega pixel photos.

For taking self-portraits, the external screen acts as the viewfinder. This is another one of those thoughtful features added by Motorola. Other cameras use mirrors for self-portraits.

While taking pictures I found that occasionally the camera would take pictures with horizontal lines, like the one below. Turns out that when Bluetooth is on, the camera is unable to take pictures. Turn off Bluetooth, things are back to normal.


Figure 54: Bluetooth on, bad pictures on.

I have included some more sample shots. This way you can be the judge. All outdoor shots were taken with automatic white balance. And the indoor shots were taken with night white balance. Click on the title to view the 1280x960 resolution photos.

Sample 1: Outdoor
Sample 2: Outdoor
Sample 3: Outdoor 1x Zoom, At 4x zoom
Sample 4: Indoor
Sample 5: Indoor

The Video Recorder records in .3GP mode (no .AVI support) and I haven�t been able to capture a decent quality video clip with it. The camera I believe has potential but the Video Recorder should just be ignored. I have tried the Video Recorder on Audiovox SMT5600, the MPx220 does not even come close. Another problem with the Video Recorder is that while recording, the display cannot keep up with the frames being captured. Which is odd considering the fact that the TI OMAP processor has a graphics accelerator thanks to the onboard Digital Signal Processor. Looks like the application is not optimized for the processor.

Sample 6: Indoor video recording (.3GP format)


Figure 55: Video Recorder application.


Figure 56: Photo Album application.