LG Chocolate VX8550 Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Mark Brezinski Published on July 27, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (1.69)
To test the resolution of the LG Chocolate's camera we took five pictures of an industry standard resolution chart, then ran it through our Imatest software. Imatest then measures how many black and white lines the camera could discern before they started to blur together. This value is measured in line widths per picture height (lw/ph).
The LG Chocolate received a score of 603.2 lw/ph horizontally and 618.6 lw/ph vertically. The original Chocolate scored a 654.4 lw/ph horizontally and 585.9 lw/ph vertically. This is interesting, as the newer model is actually slightly worse. Compared to other phones, these scores are on the low side of the middle of the pack. It did better than the Razr V3m, which received a 521.7 and 242.2, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum is the Sanyo M1, which scored 859.9 and 773.4. Like all cell phones reviewed thus far, the LG Chocolate's photographic capabilities can't compete with lower-end stand-alone digital cameras. The Pentax Option M20 is one such camera, receiving a score of 1682 and 1620.
To arrive at a score, we employ a scoring method used by our sister site, DigitalCameraInfo.com. Since dedicated digital cameras are obviously held up to higher standards than the cameras in phones, we've modified the formula slightly. The LG Chocolate received a score of 1.62. By DCI standards, it would have only measured a .49. Either way, this is a rather low score, but it's about what we would expect to see from a low resolution camera like this.
| Cell Phone | LG Chocolate VX8550 | Sanyo M1 | Motorola Razr V3m |
| Score | 1.69 | 3.29 | 1.13 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 616.8/569.5 | 859.9/773.4 | 521.7/242.2 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | LG Chocolate VX8500 | Nokia N75 | LG Shine KE970 |
| Score | 1.9 | 1.14 | 2.09 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 654.4/585.9 | 505.9/698.8 | 685.5/742.6 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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Color (4.69)
To test how the LG Chocolate's camera reproduces color, we took five pictures of an industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart, which displays 24 different colors. We then ran the set of resulting images through our Imatest software, picking the images with the best results. For this particular test, the software compares the actual colors on the chart to those in the captured stills.
Imatest produced this chart as a result. The innermost rectangle shows the true color. The next rectangle out is the adjusted color. What this means is that the software takes the lighting and many other variables into consideration. The adjusted color represents the color an ideal captured picture should display. The outer squares are the actual colors captured by the phone.
| Cell Phone | LG Chocolate VX8550 | Sanyo M1 | Motorola Razr V3m |
| Score | 4.69 | 5.66 | 3.26 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | LG Chocolate VX8500 | Nokia N75 | LG Shine KE970 |
| Score | 3.97 | 3.47 | 3.41 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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Noise (1.27)
We test noise by shooting five images of the GretagMacbeth color chart in different light conditions. The light levels range from 3000 lux (a bright, sunny day) to 60 lux (a room lit by a single light). The images are then run through Imatest, which sees how much the varying light conditions affects noise. For scoring, we take this result into consideration, as well as the average amount of noise per level. Therefore, a phone with consistent noise in any light level may score better than a phone with clean high-lux pictures and unbearably noisy low-lux pictures.
The new Chocolate showed an improvement in this category. Its average noise was lower than most phones. Noise increases substantially as light dims, however. The LG Chocolate does well when measured against other 1.3 megapixel phones such as the Razr V3m, which received a 1.05. The Chocolate also did better than the Nokia N75 (0.41) and the Sanyo M1 (0.67). This is expected, however, as the N75 and M1 have 2-megapixel cameras. Typically, phones sporting lower resolution cameras score better than those with higher resolution because the phone is capturing less information overall.
| Cell Phone | Score |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 1.27 |
| Sanyo M1 | 0.67 |
| Motorola Razr V3m | 1.05 |
| LG Chocolate VX8500 | 1.01 |
| Nokia N75 | .41 |
| LG Shine KE970 | 1.32 |
Live Preview (7.0)
The live preview on the Chocolate was pretty good. For the most part, what you're looking at is the image it actually takes. Depending on how steady your hand is, the final framing of a picture may be slightly different than in the live preview. The shift is very minute, however, and most likely won't pose a huge problem. Also, the final picture tends to be a slightly higher resolution than the one shown in the preview. The main reason the Chocolate lost points was because of the live preview's refresh rate. Even in medium light, panning around the room at a relatively slow rate resulted in a sluggish, blurry preview. We compared the live preview side by side with a Samsung SYNC and Motorola V235. Out of the three, the Chocolate had the biggest live preview display; though the SYNC's actual screen is bigger, the live preview display is cluttered up with the camera's interface. Out of the three, the Chocolate's image lagged behind the most and returned the blurriest preview while moving.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (8.47)
For this test, the phone begins in unlocked standby mode. We then time how long it takes to open the phone, launch the camera and take a picture. We repeat this process until we can maintain the fastest time throughout several trials. The new LG Chocolate took about 2.36 seconds, which is 0.32 seconds slower than the previous version. This is still fairly fast. The Razr V3m took 3.5 seconds and the Sanyo M1 took almost five seconds. This is actually even faster than some stand-alone digital cameras. The Pentax Optio M20, an entry level camera, took 3.42 seconds in a similar test. At this speed, you'll capture all but the most fleeting of moments.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 2.36 | 8.47 |
| Sanyo M1 | 4.9 | 4.08 |
| Motorola Razr V3m | 3.5 | 5.71 |
| LG Chocolate VX8500 | 3.5 | 5.71 |
| Nokia N75 | 4.7 | 4.26 |
| LG Shine KE970 | 7.1 | 2.82 |
Shot to Shot Time (1.14)
To measure shutter to shot time we take a photo of a stopwatch that we start as soon as we hit the capture key. We then take five pictures. We use the final picture to determine the stop time. If possible, we disable picture review and use Burst mode. Unfortunately, the LG Chocolate couldn't turn off picture review and didn't have a Burst mode, so the process was entirely manual. The LG Chocolate took 13.13 seconds to snap the set of five pictures. This works out to 0.38 frames per second (fps). The older model Chocolate received 0.33 fps, while the Sprint Upstage and Razr V3m photograph at 0.2 fps. On the other end of the spectrum is the Sanyo M1, which does have a Burst mode. The M1 took either 2 or 3 fps, depending on a speed setting. The M1's photographs, however, were fairly low quality. A phone with good shot to shot time would have managed at least one or two fps.
| Cell Phone | FPS | Score |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 0.38 | 1.14 |
| Sanyo M1 | 2 | 6 |
| Motorola Razr V3m | 0.20 | 0.60 |
| LG Chocolate VX8500 | 0.33 | 1.00 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.41 | 1.29 |
| LG Shine KE970 | 2.30 | 6.90 |
Shutter to Shot Time (9.09)
To test shutter to shot time we aim the phone at a stopwatch and simultaneously take a picture and start the stopwatch. The resulting picture shows the delay between pressing the button and when the camera actually takes the picture. We do repeated trials until we reach the fastest repeatable speed. The LG Chocolate took 0.22 seconds to take a picture after the shutter button was pressed. This is a really good score for a phone. The Sprint Upstage took 0.3 seconds, the Razr V3m took 0.4 seconds, and the Sanyo M1 took 0.8 seconds.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 0.22 | 9.09 |
| Sanyo M1 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| Motorola Razr V3m | 0.43 | 4.65 |
| LG Chocolate VX8500 | 0.28 | 7.14 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.73 | 2.74 |
| LG Shine KE970 | 0.8 | 2.50 |
Interface (7.0)
The LG Chocolate's new camera interface is a huge improvement over the old one. Like most other camera interfaces, the old Chocolate had bars across the top and bottom of the screen that contained various controls. The new LG Chocolate's interface is much like an actual digital camera's, unlike the old model or most other handsets out today. The picture preview takes up the entire screen, and any menu or option that is or can become available is transparent and placed along the edge. Along the top of the screen is the data transfer information, signal strength, and battery life. Below, on the right side, is the current resolution setting. The left side of the screen displays a brightness slider which hides when not in use. The bottom of the screen displays three choices: Pictures, TAKE, and Options. Pictures takes you to your picture folder, while TAKE snaps the picture. Options opens up a menu along the bottom of the screen containing the following menus: Resolution, Timers, White Balance, Shutter sound, Color effects, Night mode, Save option, Photometry, Preview, and Capture. It only displays six of these at a time. You can browse them by clicking the d-pad left or right, rotating the scroll wheel, or pressing a menu's corresponding number on the keypad. The menus themselves encroach a little more than halfway up the screen at the most, and again, are transparent. Other than navigating the menu, the left and right d-pad buttons aren't utilized.
Photo Album Software Internal (4.0)
The My Pictures folder on the Chocolate has quite a bit of functionality. It shows 12 thumbnails at a time. When a picture is highlighted, its filename is displayed at the top. The left soft key erases photos, after first offering a confirmation prompt. The select key views the picture. The right soft key opens a fairly comprehensive options menu. It features all the standard options as well as allowing you to manipulate multiple photographs via a checkbox interface (i.e. move all checked photos to the memory card). There is no option to create a slideshow, add effects, or otherwise play around with the pictures. Overall, a fairly standard photo manager for a phone.
Manual Control (4.0)
The LG Chocolate has a few manual controls. You can manually control the brightness via the slider. There are also Scene modes, allowing the phone to adjust for Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Glow. It also has a Night mode toggle. This is actually more than most phones offer in terms of manual control.
Zoom (0.0)
There are basically no zoom options on the LG Chocolate. Technically the d-pad's scroll wheel zooms in and out, but at its highest resolution setting it doesn't do anything. At lower resolutions the Chocolate sports digital zoom, but as always, this function is essentially useless. What it does is crop the picture and then enlarge the result, much like you would do with picture editing software. We do normally award one point for digital zoom, but only if it's available at the highest resolution setting. We use this standard because using digital zoom is essentialy scaling down the resolution as it is. If it is only available at a lower resolution to begin with, we do not feel its functionality merits any points.
Focus (0.0)
The Chocolate has a fixed focus lens, and therefore doesn't receive any points.
Flash (0.0)
The Chocolate doesn't have any sort of flash capabilities. We would have liked to see even a small LED light for shooting in very low light conditions.
Metering (4.0)
The Chocolate has the ability to switch between automatic metering and center-weighted metering. The menu refers to the latter as spot metering, but there's no way to move the point of reference away from the center.
White Balance (2.0)
As mentioned previously, the Chocolate has a few presets for manually setting white balance: Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent and Glow.
Image Handling (0.0)
The only photo editing options are available on the Chocolate are color effects. You have to apply them before taking the picture, and includes Negative, Solari, Sepia, and Black & White modes. We do not add any points for this type of functionality.
Video
Overall Video Score (3.0)
The LG Chocolate only captures video in 176 x 144 resolution. It will offer acceptable playback on the handset itself, but little else. The color representation appears to be a little off, often producing an undersaturated image. The Chocolate's capabilities are standard for a normal handset, but many smart phones have higher resolution and better color representation.
Video Resolution (4.38)
To test the resolution of the LG Chocolate's camera we took a short video of the resolution chart. We took random frames from that video and ran them through Imatest. This software measures the number of black and white lines the camera could differentiate before they became blurred together. The LG Chocolate managed 218.3 lines of horizontal resolution and 200.8 lines of vertical. For comparison, the Canon ZR700, a lower-end camcorder, scored a 363.7 and 257.8 respectively. Clearly, cell phones aren't close to eliminating the need for a camcorder.
| Cell Phone | lw/ph horizontal/vertical | Score |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 218.3/200.8 | 4.38 |
| Sanyo M1 | 247.5/297.7 | 7.37 |
| Motorola Razr V3m | 174.3/170.9 | 2.98 |
| LG Chocolate VX8500 | 111.3/236.5 | 2.63 |
| Nokia N75 | 307.1/346.3 | 10.63 |
| LG Shine KE970 | 95.11/60.73 | 0.58 |
Video Compression (2.0)
The LG Chocolate captures video in 3GPP2 format. This is a variant of the standard 3GP format. Some of the other common formats include MPEG-4 and Motion Jpeg AVI. Most phones typically only offer one method of compression.
Interface (7.0)
The video recording interface is similar to the camera's. The soft keys all do comparable things. The options menu offers far fewer selections. Unlike the camera's interface, however, the display is nearly cropped in half by gray borders at the top and bottom. The smaller display area seems to result in a slightly less sluggish live preview.
Manual Control (2.0)
The LG Chocolate's video capture only lets you manually control the white balance. You can manually control the brightness via the slider or Scene modes (Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, or Glow).
Zoom (1.0)
The LG Chocolate offers digital zoom.
Editing (0.0)
The LG Chocolate does not provide any video editing options.
Modes (2.0)
The LG Chocolate receives points for including white balance scene modes. The LG Chocolate records video at 176 x 144, which will allow you to send them via MMS. We award points if the phone allows you to resize a video for MMS, but not if the only resolution happens to be the MMS standard.
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