Gadgets Manual

Our mobile phones are now the one‐stop media centres we always dreamed of; but which is the coolest of the cool? Mark Cargill finds out…….
How we tested the phones. We have tested these phones over a number of shooting conditions to establish which consistently gives the best results. The phones had to work in sweltering temperatures exceeding 24°C and the screens had to be able to be viewed in direct sunlight as otherwise how could you frame your Pulitzer prize winning images? How do the shutter lag and focusing speeds compare ‐ no point in pressing the shutter release if it takes 10 minutes to capture your photograph. Finally, we scrutinised every pixel for sharpness, good colour and accurate white balance ‐ the winner of this test will indeed have earned its badge of honour!

Camera build and handling
Let’s face it, our phone needs to look cool. However there is no point in having the coolest mobile on the planet if it takes three weeks to figure out how to make a phone call. Equally, after jangling about in our bags or pocket and it all starts coming apart, then you may feel a fool for plumping for cool.

Nokia have gone for a rather sleek and shiny look with the N82; thicker and chunkier than the C902, and a bit more dated looking too. The Nokia also has a rather dull and uninspiring rear panel, finished in a shiny light grey that we feel looks a little. However the 2.4″ screen is quite impressive and fonts and images are generally easy to view in normal lighting conditions. In direct sunlight, the Nokia is actually quite difficult to use, due to tricky reflections and the screen not being brightenough. To switch the phone into capture mode, is as simple as sliding the lens cover into the open position. Even from standby mode, the Nokia springs into life ready to capture that critical moment. There are a number of shooting options including scene modes, white balance and sensitivity. Focussing is a little on the slow side and although shutter lag was good for a mobile, the overall time from focus to capture took longer than we would have liked.

Sony on the other hand have definitely gone for a clean and minimalist look with the C902. The build is better than the Nokia and it really feels like it will take some serious abuse. The Sony screen is smaller, but it never feels like a handicap as the display is both bright and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The Sony also has a touch screen, so accessing shooting functions like image stabilisation, face detection auto‐focus and image quality are quick and easy. Just as easy is the slide out camera function, which takes a few seconds to be ready to shoot. Where the Sony shows a clean pair of heels is in the time taken to focus, which was pretty impressive. Shutter lag was marginally worse, but overall the Sony will have your picture in the bag, while the Nokia is still getting a focus.

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