LG Chocolate VX8500 Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on March 16, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (1.9)
To test the resolution of the images captured by the LG Chocolate’s camera we took several pictures of an industry standard resolution chart and then ran it through our Imatest software. This measures how many black and white lines the camera could discern before they started to blur together (a measure Imatest calls line widths per picture height, or lw/ph).
The LG Chocolate received a score of 654.4 LW/PH horizontally and 585.9 LW/PH vertically. Compare this to a lower end stand alone digital camera like the Pentax Optio M20, which received scores of 1682 and 1620 respectively and you can see that the Chocolate is not going to come anywhere close to replacing your camera. We score resolution slightly differently to our sister site digticalcamerainfo.com, so the Chocolate earned a resolution score of 1.9. If we were to score resolution the same as dgitialcamerainfo.com, the LG Chocolate would have earned a score of 0.57.
Color (3.97)
To test colors on the LG Chocolate we took pictures of the industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart, which displays 24 different colors. We then ran the photos through the Imatest software, which compares the camera’s produced colors to the chart’s colors.
Imatest produces this chart that shows the original colors in the small vertical rectangle, the adjusted colors in the middle rectangle and the original captures colors in the outer square. Further analysis is provided by the color analysis chart that Imatest produces. On this chart, the circles represent the colors that the camera captured, while the squares represent where the images should be on this color gamut chart. The longer the lines between them, the more inaccurate the colors are.
As you can see by these charts the LG Chocolate had trouble reproducing true colors, especially yellows some greens. Darker colors fared better, but were still slightly washed out. The LG Chocolate performs better than the camera on Razr V3m, which is terrible, but otherwise doesn’t impress us much.
Noise (1.01)
We test noise by shooting a variety of images in light conditions ranging from 3000 lux (a bright, sunny day) to 60 lux (about what you would get in a darkened room with a single light), then running the captured images through imatest, which analyzes areas of the image for noise.
The LG Chocolate showed higher than average noise scores at every level, but had lower variance at lower light levels. This mean’s that you won’t be impressed by the level of noise at any level, but at least you won’t get too much worse at low light levels. Compared to other 1.3 megapixel cameras like the Razr V3m the LG Chocolate performed significantly worse at most light levels.
Live Preview (5.0)
The live preview on the LG Chocolate does a good job of recreating the colors that you will get on the final picture. The framing is off a bit though, with the final photo actually adding about 10% to either side of the frame. This means that if you wish to capture a close up photo of something you will need to adjust accordingly. This behavior is actually fairly common amongst phones that use a vertically oriented screen to capture horizontally oriented photos. For example the Motorola Razr V3m also displays this behavior. However the LG Chocolate’s preview is much less pixilated and provides better color fidelity than the V3m.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (9.8)
To test unlocked standby to first shot we put the phone into standby and closed mode and then time the amount of time it takes to open the phone, launch the camera application and capture a photo. The LG Chocolate took an average of 2.04 seconds to complete this procedure using both hands. This is a very good score for a phone, for example the Motorola Razr V3m took an average of 3.5 seconds to complete this score. This score is also good when compared to an entry level digital camera like the Pentax Optio M20 which took 3.42 seconds to complete a similar test. Although you won’t be able to capture spurt of the moment shots with the Chocolate, you won’t have to sit around forever either.
Shot to Shot Time (1.0)
To test shot to shot time we time how long it takes to capture 5 pictures in sequence. We turn off picture review and use burst mode if possible. The LG Chocolate did not have the option to turn off picture review and did not have burst mode, meaning the photos taken were completely manually. The Chocolate took 5 pictures in 15.05 seconds. This works out to .33 frames per second. This is not a good score for any camera although it is a bit better than the Motorola Razr V3m's .2 frames per second. Don’t expect to be able to capture action shots with the LG Chocolate.
Shutter to Shot Time (7.14)
To measure shutter to shot time we take a photo of a stopwatch that we start running the moment we hit the capture key. The final picture shows how long it takes for the camera to capture the image. The LG Chocolate had a shutter to shot time of .28 seconds. This is an above average score for a cellular phone. Some phone’s like the Treo 700p can take as much as .5 seconds to complete a shot. Compared to a stand alone digital camera like the Pentax Optio M20 that has a shutter to shot time of .2 seconds, this score is slightly below average. Overall we were pleased with the Chocolate’s shutter to shot time.
Interface (4.0)
The Camera interface on the LG Chocolate provides you with some basic information such as the current resolution setting and an icon that tells you that you are in camera mode (as opposed to camcorder). You can also use the up and down controls on the directional pad to manually adjust brightness settings. The left soft key is mapped to the album software, and of course the center button on the directional pad actually takes the photo.
All other controls are accessed via the left soft key, including resolution settings, white balance and timers. There is no separate dialogue for advanced features. So the eight items you find in the menu are all you have to work with.
This setup is similar to that found on the Razr V3m, with brightness settings replacing zoom. It’s a shame that LG didn’t assign a function to the left/right keys to make better use of the available controls.
Photo Album Software Internal (2.0)
The Photo Album software on the LG Chocolate is very basic and has some unfortunate usability issues. The software presents every photo on your phone in 3 columns of thumbnails. It takes a moment to load up the thumbnails, during which you cannot do anything else. If you have quite a few photos, this delay can become rather long. Photos located on your storage card are marked with a small card icon on the bottom left.
Selecting a photo and hitting the enter button on the directional pad will open it up for larger viewing. Because of the orientation of the screen on the Chocolate, this view is not very large and unfortunately you cannot view photos in a full screen mode. The left soft key allows you to switch to the camera, while the right soft key provides you with a menu of different options.
The software does not provide you with many options. You can zoom into and pan around a photo, view the file information and assign a photo to wallpaper or a contact. You can also lock a photo, which means that it won’t be erased when you use the erase all function. Where the album software becomes particularly annoying is in moving photos between the phone and an external memory card. You can only move a single photo at a time, so if you have a large batch of photos you want to move to a card so be ready to spend a good chunk of time doing so.
Overall the LG Chocolate’s album software provides a minimum of functionality, and has some issues that are just annoying like the difficulty in moving photos or the limited viewing options. When compared to a phone like the Motorola Razr V3m, the Chocolate’s album software provides less functionality, for example the V3m allows you to create slideshows. It is however a little easier to use, for example we were happy to have all of our photos in one place regardless of their location on the phone.
Manual Control (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not offer any manual modes for its camera. This is not uncommon as the vast majority of phones with cameras offer no manual controls apart from the occasional scene mode.
Zoom (0.5)
The LG Chocolate’s still camera has up to 2x digital zoom however this is only available at the lower resolution levels. If you wish to take a photo at the full 1.3 megapixel resolution you won’t be able to use digital zoom. This doesn’t make sense since digital zoom enlarges a portion of the image, leading to loss of data. This is best done when you have larger images, so it seems silly to omit the digital zoom form the highest resolution level. Because the digital zoom is not available in at all level we awarded the LG Chocolate half points.
Focus (0.0)
The LG Chocolate has a fixed focus lens, which is the standard found on the vast majority of camera phones. Some higher end phones are starting to offer auto focus lens, such as the Nokia N73, and even some mid range phones are starting to offer it, such as the Sanyo M1.
Flash (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not have a flash. This is fairly standard amongst phones where flashes of any type are reserved for mid to high range devices. Especially on smaller phones like the Chocolate you will often see a flash omitted.
Metering (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not allow you to meter your shots. Metering allows the camera to gauge the amount of light in the scene and give you a proper exposure. Metering controls allow you to decide from which point or points the light is measured. The Chocolate’s lack of metering means that the camera uses the overall light in the scene to decide on exposure. Although standard on stand alone digital cameras, metering controls are not found on most camera phones.
White Balance (2.0)
The LG Chocolate provides 5 preset white balance settings, including auto, sunny, cloudy, tungsten and fluorescent. There is no evaluative white balance mode, which is found on stand alone cameras, but is extremely rare on camera phones.
Image Handling (3.0)
The LG Chocolate only provides the bare bones of image handling options, allowing you to resize images and protect them from deletion. Although most camera phones don’t offer too many editing options, it would have been nice to see more options on the Chocolate.
Video
Overall Video Score (3.0)
The LG Chocolate takes video in only one resolution, 176 x 144, which is good or MMS video, but not for watching on your computer, much less on a television. Colors reproduced by the video are close to true, with blacks slightly washed out. Compared to most phones the video the LG produces is very standard. Colors are slightly better than video produced by a phone like the Motorola Razr V3m, but it is inferior to the 352 x 288 quality video produced by phones like the Treo 700p.
Video Resolution (2.63)
To measure the video resolution of the LG Chocolate, we shoot the standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and run stills from that video through Imatest imaging software. The Chocolate scored 111.3 lines of horizontal resolution, and 236.5 lines of vertical resolution. Compare this to the low end Canon ZR700 camcorder, which scored 363.7 and 257.8 lines respectively and you can see that the Chocolate’s video recorder won’t replace your camcorder any time soon.
Compared to other phones the LG Chocolate is good but not great. The Palm Treo 700p did significantly better with a resolution score of 174.5 lines of horizontal resolution and 173.5 lines of vertical resolution. However the Motorola Krazr K1m did significantly worse with a score of 84.47 lines horizontal and 107.9 lines vertically.
Video Compression (2.0)
The LG Chocolate captures video in mobile standard 3GP format. Some higher end smart phones like the XV6700 from Verizon offer choices of 3GP, MPEG-4 or Motion Jpeg AVI. Most phones however only offer the 3GP standard.
Interface (4.0)
The LG Chocolate’s camcorder interface is very similar to it’s still camera interface. It shows you that you are in camcorder mode, and displays the current video resolution, which seems pointless since there is only one resolution available. Surprisingly digital zoom is available in video mode when it’s not available in still mode. You can zoom in up to 2x using the left and right keys on the directional pad, with the Chocolate providing 10 stops along the way. You also have access to brightness settings by hitting the up key on the directional pad. The last item you will see on screen is the timer that shows how long you’ve been taking video.
As with the stills interface the left soft key will take you to your files, in this case video files. All the other options are available under the left soft key. Here you will find settings to change your time limit, white balance and brightness.
Overall we though that the Chocolate’s camcorder interface was better than the stills interface and is better than that found on a phone like the Motorola Razr V3m.
Manual Control (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not provide any manual controls for the camcorder. This is standard for camcorders found on digital cameras. The Chocolate does provide you with brightness controls, which is similar to manual gain.
Zoom (1.0)
The LG Chocolate provides up to 2x digital zoom. Unfortunately digital zoom is almost completely useless as all it does is crop and enlarge a section of the screen. This means that every level of digital zoom leads to significant loss of detail. Given the already low resolution of the chocolate’s video, we don’t recommend using the digital zoom unless you are willing to give up a great deal of quality.
Editing (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not provide users with any video editing options. This is common amongst cell phones. Editing options for video are only found on high end phones that focus on imaging, such as the Nokia N93.
Modes (2.0)
The LG Chocolate records video at 176 x 144, which is already the standard for MMS video. This means that it does not have a separate MMS mode. The Chocolate also fails to provide any scene modes, which is standard for cell phones, for example the Motorola Razr V3m also fails to include scene modes.
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