AT&T Tilt Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Mark Brezinski Published on October 25, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (4.8)
For our resolution test, we point a phone at an industry standard resolution chart under precisely controlled lighting conditions and snap a series of pictures. We then run our results through Imatest, which determines the point at which the the chart's alternating black and white lines become a gray blur. The result is measured in the number of line widths per pixel height (lw/ph) the phone can discern, and indicates how much detail the camera can capture. The higher the number, the better the resolution.
The Tilt did well here, and was able to make out 1039 lw/ph horizontally and 1057 lw/ph vertically. This is about average; the 2 and 3 megapixle cameras we see on most cell phones score mid 1000's for their lw/ph. The pictures should be fine for viewing on the screen or on your computer, but we wouldn't recommend wasting photo paper to print them out.
| Cell Phone | AT&T Tilt | Nokia E90 | BlackBerry Curve 8320 |
| Score | 4.8 | 5.27 | 5.25 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 1039/1057 | 1089/992.9 | 1087/933 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | HTC Mogul | Palm Treo 750 | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 3.57 | 3.57 | 4.18 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 895.9/831.6 | 859.9/773.4 | 970/879 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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Color (5.5)
For our color test, we aim the phone at GretagMacbeth color chart. We again run our pictures through Imatest, but this time we attempt to discern how far off the colors are from where they should be.
In the graph, the distance between the square (ideal color) and the circle (camera's interpretation) represents just how badly the colors are represented. In this case, color accuracy isn't the best, but for a phone camera, it isn't bad. Lines that appear to radiate out from the center either represent colors being over or undersaturated; if the ideal is toward the outside and the actual depiction is toward the inside, the color is undersaturated, and vice versa. As you can see, the Tilt undersaturates colors, which is typical of cell phone cameras. What isn't typical is that the Tilt represents some purples as more blue than they should be. Some reds will also be slightly overemphasized, although this shouldn't be very noticeable.
| Cell Phone | AT&T Tilt | Nokia E90 | BlackBerry Curve 8320 |
| Score | 5.5 | 5.77 | 4.92 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | HTC Mogul | Palm Treo 750 | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 1.82 | 6.69 | 5.22 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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Noise (1.23)
We test noise by taking a series of pictures and running them through Imatest. This time, our pictures are again of the GretagMacbeth chart, but we set the lighting to various levels from 3000 lux to 60 lux. At each lighting level in our test spectrum, we use Imatest to analyze the noise levels. The Tilt actually seems pretty consistent in terms of noise. Cameras with higher megapixel counts tend to have more noise simply because more information is being captured. The Tilt didn't seem to have much issue here, though.
| Cell Phone | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 1.23 |
| Nokia E90 | 1.34 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 1.41 |
| HTC Mogul | 1.45 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 1.35 |
| Apple iPhone | 1.20 |
Live Preview (6.0)
The Tilt's live preview takes up the entirety of the 2.8-inch screen, but is incredibly sluggish. The picture blurs and lags behind during even a slow pan. The colors appear to be accurate in respect to the captured image. There was also slight vertical gradation. In all, however, if it wasn't for the extreme sluggishness, especially in changing light, the Tilt would have a decent live preview. As it is, though, don't expect much coherency during action shots.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (5.41)
As can be guessed from the title of this section, this score is based on how long it takes to capture an image if the phone starts in unlocked standby. To do this, we start a timer, then quickly take a picture of said timer with the phone. We used the captured image of the timer as the time. The Tilt was able to snap a picture in about 3.7 seconds. While a good time, it is a bit slow for a camera with a dedicated camera shortcut button. The reason the time is slow is due partially to lag and load time, but mostly because the Tilt has an autofocus lens, and the phone has to wait for this to focus before it can take the photo. Still, a little less than four seconds should be enough to capture most scenes; just wait until the kids are tired before you try and snap photos of them.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 3.70 | 5.41 |
| Nokia E90 | 7.55 | 2.65 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 2.90 | 6.90 |
| HTC Mogul | 3.30 | 6.06 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 5.77 | 3.47 |
| Apple iPhone | 2.43 | 8.23 |
Shot to Shot Time (4.08)
Here we time how long it takes to snap pictures sequentially. If available, we use Burst mode. The Tilt does have Burst mode, but it could still capture 1.36 frames per second (fps). This is a good score, even better when you take the autofocus into consideration. Phones without Burst mode typically don't even break the 0.5 fps mark. We also liked how you could take between one and 30 pictures at a time depending on how long you held the shutter key.
| Cell Phone | FPS | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 1.36 | 4.08 |
| Nokia E90 | 0.61 | 1.83 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 0.35 | 1.05 |
| HTC Mogul | 1.70 | 5.70 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 0.61 | 1.83 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 1.20 |
Shutter to Shot Time (1.22)
For shutter to shot time, we simply start a timer at the same time we take a picture of it. The resulting capture displays the amount of time it took for the camera to actually take the picture. Again, the Tilt's autofocus lens hurt it a bit here, as it took 1.64 seconds to snap a picture. This is a bit slow, so if you're looking for fast sequential captures, turn on Burst mode. Autofocus always causes a delay before the first picture in the series, however.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 1.64 | 1.22 |
| Nokia E90 | 0.25 | 8.10 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 0.43 | 4.65 |
| HTC Mogul | 0.21 | 9.52 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 0.88 | 2.27 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 5.00 |
Interface (7.0)
The Tilt's camera interface is a bit more simplified compared to other Windows Mobile phones. It consists of a series of transparent buttons around the edge of the screen. These include your current Capture mode, zoom magnification, a shortcut to the album, a counter of how many pictures you have left to take, and a menu. You can tap most of these objects to open up small options lists. Tapping the main portion of the screen provides a small menu of shortcuts, including white balance and self-timer. Up and down on the d-pad (or left and right since the phone is on its side) or the scroll wheel cycle through capture modes, while left and right affects zoom. We thought everything was really well laid out, the menus contained pertinent items, and nothing was deeply hidden. The Tilt is an improvement on the typical Windows Mobile interface.
Photo Album Software Internal (7.0)
Manual Control (2.0)
The Tilt allows you to fool around with quite a few variables, but unfortunately very few actually count as manual controls. There are a few Scene modes, such as Night and Sports. You can also control white balance, exposure compensation and metering, as well as adjust contrast, saturation, hue, and sharpness.
Zoom (0.0)
The Tilt features digital zoom, which is useless. Digital zoom simply crops the image and stretches the result, meaning your image will be at a lower resolution. We don't award points for digital zoom.
Focus (5.0)
The Tilt has an autofocus lens. This means distance away from the lens won't affect an image's sharpness. It also means your pictures will take a bit longer to take than with a fixed-focus lens.
Flash (0.0)
Oddly, the Tilt doesn't have any sort of flash. Most phones with an autofocus lens tend to include an LED light, which can be useful if you like to hang around in dark places. If you do and own a Tilt, take a torch.
Metering (4.0)
The Tilt has two options for metering: Center (which takes more notice of the center of the image when evaluating the lighting) and Average (which looks at the whole image). Though this isn't much in the way of choices, most phones lack any options at all, so this is good to see.
White Balance (2.0)
There are a few presets for white balance: Auto, Daylight, Night, Incandescent, and Fluorescent. There are no manual settings, though.
Image Handling (6.0)
Video
Overall Video Score (5.0)
The Tilt can capture video at four resolutions: 352 x 288, 320 x 240, 176 x 144, and 128 x 96. The former of these is probably good enough quality to view on a computer, but most likely wouldn't fare well on a TV. Colors are represented as well as they are with the camera. The Tilt's video might not be the best, but it is certainly ahead of many other phones. If you're looking for video to show off to freinds and neighbors, buy a camcorder. But the video the Tilt shoots is decent enough for candid shots.
Video Resolution (3.25)
We test video resolution essentially the same way as still resolution. We take a short video capture of the same chart, and run the same set of Imatest tests on random frames we pull from our clip. Video resolution is virtually always far worse than what you'd see in the same phone's still captures. Furthermore, phones tend to have horrible video capture quality. While both can be said to some degree for the Tilt, relative to other phones' performances, it didn't do that badly. The one exception is Nokia's E90, which has one of the best video capture scores we've yet to record. The videos should be good enough to view on the phone or include in MMS messages, but enlarging its captures any more, such as playing them on a computer or television — wouldn't be worth it.
| Cell Phone | lw/ph horizontal/vertical | Score |
| AT&T Tilt | 183.2/177.3 | 3.25 |
| Nokia E90 | 351.4/345.2 | 12.13 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | N/A | 0.0 |
| HTC Mogul | 220.9/137.8 | 3.04 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 132.4/184.6 | 2.44 |
| Apple iPhone | N/A | 0.0 |
Video Compression (4.0)
Video can be captured in H.263 or MPEG4 formats. Most phones don't allow any options for compression.
Interface (7.0)
The interface for video capture is the same as still capture. The only minor changes are due to the medium change — such as adding in compression options — and the remaining picture tally is replaced with a timer. Again, the interface is simple to use and menus are intelligently laid out.
Manual Control (0.0)
Video capture has the same controls as still capture: white balance, Exposure compensation, metering, contrast, saturation, hue, and sharpness. Unfortunately, none of these options are robust enough to merit points.
Zoom (0.0)
Again, the Tilt only features digital zoom, which we don't award points for.
Editing (0.0)
The Tilt doesn't come packaged with any video editing software.
Modes (6.0)
Scene and Metering modes survive the transition from still capture to video. Also, although it isn't specifically mentioned, the 176 x 144-resolution allows you to capture video for MMS, as long as you go easy on the clip's length.
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