Apple iPhone Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on June 29, 2007 Comment on this |
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The Apple iPhone's camera function is accessed through an icon in the upper right corner of the main menu. The iPhone has a built-in 2-megapixel digital camera with a lens on the upper right corner of its back side. The lens is smaller than the tip of a pen’s cap, which is common for camera phones.
Resolution (4.18) To test the iPhone's 2-megapixel camera's resolution we took a series of photos of an industry standard resolution chart. We ran the resulting photos through Imatest software, which produces a measure called line widths per pixel height (lw/ph). This measure judges how many alternating white and black lines the camera can discern before they begin blurring together; it's a good measure of how much detail the iPhone's optics and image sensors can capture. You may not need much resolution if you are looking at the images on a cell phone screen (even one as large and nice as the iPhone), but if you are planning on printing, enlarging or otherwise using the images you capture on your cell phone, then you should know about any limitations the resolution may impose.
| Cell Phone |
Apple iPhone (on AT&T) |
BlackBerry 8800 (on AT&T) |
Helio Ocean (On Helio/Sprint) |
| Score |
4.18 |
5.7 |
2.18 |
| Lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 970 / 879 | n/a - no camera | 701 / 476.6 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
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n/a - no camera |  |
| Cell Phone | LG Prada (on AT&T) | Nokia N95 (on AT&T) | Treo 750 (on AT&T) |
| Score | 7.85 |
6.81 |
7.89 |
| Lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 1026.00 / 1131.00 | 1368.00 / 1223.00 | 926.1 / 681.7 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |  |
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Color (5.22)
To test cell phone cameras' ability to accurately capture colors we take photos of the industry standard GretagMacbeth chart, which displays 24 different colors that are precisely known. We run the photos of the chart through Imatest imaging software, which compares the iPhone camera's captured colors to the original colors from the chart.
The above image is output by Imatest to show the difference between the original colors of the chart and those produced by the iPhone. The original colors are in the small vertical rectangles of each color tile, the iPhone’s captured colors are in the outer frames, and the iPhone’s colors are corrected for luminance in the central square. Imatest also produced the chart below where the circles represent captured colors and the squares represent ideal colors. The line between the two shapes shows the degree of error; ideally, this wouldn’t be seen at all.
| Cell Phone |
Apple iPhone (on AT&T) |
BlackBerry 8800 (on AT&T) |
Helio Ocean (On Helio/Sprint) |
| Score |
5.22 |
5.7 |
6.66 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
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n/a - no camera |  |
| Cell Phone | LG Prada (on AT&T) | Nokia N95 (on AT&T) | Treo 750 (on AT&T) |
| Score | 5.66 | 6.95 | 6.96 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) | .jpg) |
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Noise (1.20) To test the amount of noise produced by the iPhone's camera we took a series of photos of the GretagMacbeth color chart at four different lighting levels: 3000 lux, 1500 lux, 500 lux and 60 lux. We use Imatest to judge noise produced at each lighting level and combine the results into an overall score. As shown in the chart below, the iPhone's noise performance is average compared to other phones. It performed better than the Helio Ocean and LG Prada, but its images weren’t as clean as those of the Nokia N95 and Treo 750.
| Handset | Score |
| Apple iPhone | 1.20 |
| Blackberry 8800 | n/a |
| Helio Ocean | 1.14 |
| LG Prada | 1.13 |
| Nokia N95 | 1.42 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 1.35 |
Live Preview (9.0)
The Apple iPhone has a 3.5-inch widescreen that the manufacturer claimed would be impervious to fingerprints but has proven otherwise. After only a few minutes of use, the screen was smudged with prints that were a bit distracting (granted, our hands were a bit sweaty from typing furiously and then handling the phone). This isn’t too hard to fix: just wipe it on your jeans and you can see past the glossy fingerprints again. It’s a necessary evil: the viewing screen is also the touch screen that accesses everything else on the phone.
The resolution is excellent at 480 x 320 pixels at 160 dpi, so your subjects will always look nice and smooth. Unless you move the phone, of course. Like other camera phones, the iPhone’s live preview blurs subjects until they’re pretty much unrecognizable when the camera is even bumped slightly. The view doesn’t refresh quickly like the screens on real digital cameras so it almost looks like the lights are flickering. On the live preview itself, there is no exposure information. There aren’t any manual controls, so why update users on the current settings? The only icons on the screen include the camera icon that makes the shutter button and a tiny icon that transfers you to the “camera roll” that displays the pictures.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (8.23)
Unlocked standby to first shot is a measure of how long it takes to go from the home screen unlocked until we have captured a photo. This is useful for those who like to whip their phone out and take a spur of the moment shot. The iPhone was able to complete this process in 2.43 seconds. Below you can see that compared to other handsets this is much faster.
| Handset | Time (sec) | Score |
| Apple iPhone | 2.43 | 8.23 |
| Blackberry 8800 | n/a | 0/0 |
| Helio Ocean | 4.10 | 4.88 |
| LG Prada | 7.70 | 2.60 |
| Nokia N95 | 6.50 | 3.08 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 5.77 | 3.47 |
Shot to Shot Time (1.2)
Shot to shot time is a measure of how quickly the camera on the phone can take a series of photos. When possible we use a burst mode for this test. The iPhone does not have a burst mode, but it took 0.4 frames per second when we continuously tapped on the shutter button. A standalone digital camera like the $200 Canon PowerShot A570IS was able to take 1.5 frames per second, which is a little below average for standard cameras. However, this is still much faster than the iPhone. Compared to other camera phones the iPhone was also very slow, as you can see from the chart below. Clearly, this camera is not made for photographing action.
| Handset | FPS | Score |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 1.2 |
| Blackberry 8800 | n/a | 0.0 |
| Helio Ocean | 1.25 | 3.75 |
| LG Prada | 0.55 | 1.65 |
| Nokia N95 | 0.42 | 1.26 |
| Palm Treo 750 | 8.18 | 1.83 |
Shutter to Shot Time (5.0)
Shutter to shot time is a measure of how long it takes the camera to capture a photo after you have depressed the on-screen shutter key. This is important because a slow shutter to shot time means that you may not capture the scene you want or your subjects may have closed their eyes. The iPhone’s shutter button is in the center of a gray horizontal bar on the bottom of the screen, labeled with an icon of a camera. The iPhone's shutter to shot time was 0.4 seconds. This is very good compared to other camera phones. Standalone digital cameras like the Canon PowerShot A570IS generally don't show any delay once the picture is in focus. Taking auto-focus into account the A570IS took 0.4 seconds to capture the shot, compared to the iPhone. Other camera phones have shutter to shot times ranging from one second, for a phone like the N95 that has auto-focus, to as little as a fraction of a second for phones with fixed focus lenses. As you can see below, the iPhone performed very well compared to other camera phones.
| Handset | Time (sec) | Score |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 5.0 |
| Blackberry 8800 | n/a | 0.0 |
| Helio Ocean | 0.60 | 3.33 |
| LG Prada | 3.60 | 0.56 |
| Nokia N95 | 1.00 | 1.96 |
| Palm Treo 750 | .88 | 2.27 |
Interface (5.0) The Apple iPhone has only one button. Almost everything is done on the 3.5-inch LCD touch screen. This is a blessing and a curse. The curse is the resulting finger grease that muddles the view on the screen. The blessing is that there aren’t tiny buttons to search for. There really isn’t much “interface” to talk about with the iPhone’s camera: there aren’t any manual settings to control. The only controls are a tiny icon that enters the review mode and the camera button that snaps the pictures.
Photo Album Software Internal (7.0) The iPhone's built-in photo software is one of the items that Apple has highlighted over the past several months. This software is used both for managing photos taken by the camera and viewing photos synchronized from your desktop. When you enter the photo software you are presented with a list of albums, which includes your camera roll, entire photo library and photos from the last 12 months. Tapping on any of these will take you to a screen that displays thumbnails of the photos. As elsewhere on the iPhone you can browse up or down by sliding your finger up and down on the screen. Tapping on the thumbnail will bring up a larger version in the center of the screen with controls on screen that disappear if you don't use them. You can easily bring them back up by tapping on the screen once.
You can easily move between photos by sliding your finger left and right across the screen, which "moves" the next or previous image into place. As has been demonstrated ad nauseum you can enlarge or shrink the photo by using the "pinch" maneuver, which involves using two fingers and moving them apart to zoom in or moving them together to zoom out. You can also revert to the original view by double tapping on the screen. If looking at the original picture, double tapping will zoom slightly. Using the built-in accelerometer you can switch between portrait and landscape view by simply turning the iPhone into the desired orientation. This works flawlessly.
You can start a slideshow by hitting the play graphic that appears on the on-screen controls. The slide shows can be customized by entering the Settings portion of the main menu and entering the Photos sub-heading at the bottom. The only photo settings apply to the slide shows. Images can be set to display for 2, 3, 5, 10, and 20 seconds. The transitions can be set to cube, dissolve, ripple, wipe across, and wipe down. These transitions can’t be previewed in this menu; you have to select them first and go back to the camera’s playback mode to see the effects in action. The slide show can be played on a loop and the images shuffled, if desired. Overall, viewing photos on the camera is nearly flawless. The screen resolution is fabulous, the screen size makes viewing with a crowd easy, and navigating through pictures is a quick process.
Manual Control (0.0)
There isn’t a single manual control on the Apple iPhone. Everything is automatic.
Zoom (0.0)
There is no zoom on the iPhone, optical or digital. If you want to zoom in on something, stand up and walk closer to it. The fixed lens is located in the upper right corner of the back.
Focus (0.0) The focus on the iPhone seems to be fixed. It can focus as close as about 4.5 inches and as far as the eye can see. Another caveat: subjects don’t look focused if they or the iPhone is moving.
Flash (0.0) The Apple iPhone does not have any type of flash, not even a simple LED. While cell phone flashes don't tend to be very good, it is a pity that you don't even get the option to use it; most of the other cell phone cameras we've seen come with at least a simple LED flash. Don’t expect the iPhone to take beautiful pictures in low light.
Metering (0.0)
The metering cannot be changed on the iPhone. It appears to have a spot metering system in place. I tested this by viewing a white scene and moving a small black object into the frame. When the object was around the edges, the exposure was fine. When I moved it to the center, the exposure really blew out. The metering should be fine most of the time and will be ideal if subjects are against a bright background.
White Balance (0.0)
The white balance also can’t be changed; it is set to automatically balance the image. Once again, this is based on the spot metering. The colors weren’t great under tungsten lighting in our studio testing, and weren’t fabulous under the tungsten lights in the office either.
Image Handling (1.0) The image “handling” is more literal on this model than most camera phones. The Apple iPhone allows you to zoom, slide, and otherwise navigate in and through pictures pretty much by petting the LCD screen. As far as editing options go, the iPhone doesn’t have any. It can display images – and it does a great job of that – but handling beyond that is nil. The pinching method of zooming in on pictures looks almost like the image is resizing, but that function can’t be saved.
Video
Overall Video Score (0.0)
The iPhone can't capture video; the camera is for still images only. This is a real pity; most other cell phone cameras can at least capture low-resolution video for candid video shots, and some can do much better. Many higher end handsets capture video at 320 x 240 or better, good enough for posting something on YouTube. The N95 captures VGA (640 x 480) resolution video. Only the BlackBerry 8800 can't capture video, and that's because it doesn't have a camera. So, the iPhone gets 0 for most of the scores in this section.
Video Resolution (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for resolution.
Video Compression (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for compression.
Interface (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for the camcorder interface.
Manual Control (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for manual controls.
Zoom (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for zoom.
Editing (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for editing. If you can't capture videos, you can't edit them.
Modes (0.0)
As it can't capture video, the iPhone gets a 0 score for video shooting modes.
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