Motorola Krzr K1m Review - Imaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on April 20, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (0.62)
To test resolution of a the Krzr K1m's camera we take several pictures of an industry standard resolution chart and then run them through our Imatest software. This measures how many black and white lines the camera can discern before they start to blur together, a measure called line widths per picture height or lw/ph.
The Krzr K1m scored 386.6 lw/ph horizontal and 454.2 lw/ph vertically. This is an extremely poor score, worse than the Razr V3m (521.7 lw/ph horizontal, 242.2 lw/ph vertical) and the LG Chocolate (654.4 lw/ph horizontal, 585.9 lw/ph vertical), and neither of those phones are exactly camera power houses.
Compared to an entry level digital camera the Krzr K1m looks even worse. The Pentax Option M20 scored 1682 lw/ph horizontal and 1620 lw/ph vertically. We score resolution slightly differently than digitalcamerainfo.com. If we were to use their scoring system the Krzr K1m would receive an ever more pathetic score of .19. As it is its score is nothing to brag about.
Color (3.59)
To test color we take photos of an industr standard GretagMacbeth color chart, which displays 24 different colors. We then run the photos through the Imatest software, which compares the camera's produced colors to the chart's colors.
Imatest produces the chart above, which shows the original colors in the small vertical rectangle, the adjust colors in the middle rectangle and the original capture colors in the outer square. Imatest also produces the color analysis chart below. On this chart the circles represent the colors that the camera captured while the squares represent where the color should be. The long the lines between the two the more innacurate the colors are.
As you can see the Krzr K1m did an extremely poor job of reproducing colors, with yellows doing the worse, but reds, greens and blues all showing significant shift. The Krzr K1m ended up doing slightly better than the Razr V3m, but slightly worse than the LG Chocolate. As we mentioned neither of these phone have particularly good cameras. The Sanyo M1 by contrast scored 5.66 on this test, significantly better than the Krzr K1m.
Noise (0.76)
We test noise by shooting a series of images at diferent light levels, ranging from 3000 lux to 60 lux. We then run the captured images through Imatest, which analyzes areas of the images for noise.
The Krzr K1m did as poorly on this test as the other photo tests we ran, with an overall score worse than the Razr V3m or the LG Chocolate. The Krzr K1m's score here is a little deceptive as it is significantly hurt by a very high noise level at 60 lux. In brighter lighting conditions noise actually falls to levels that are as good or better than most other camera phones.
Live Preview (2.0)
The Krzr K1m's live preview does a poor job of reproducing the scene when taking a photo. We noticed significant pixelation and poor color reproduction. This is likely related to the low resolution and supported colors of the Krzr K1m's display. In this it is similar to the Razr V3m, which also did a poor job in this section.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (8.0)
Unlocked standby to first shot is a measure of how long it takes to go from phone closed until you capture a photograph. The Krzr K1m took 2.5 seconds to complete this test, this is significantly better than the Razr V3m, which took 3.5 seconds to complete this test. It is about the same as the LG Chocolate's 2.4 second time, and much better than the Sanyo M1's 4.9 seconds. To be fair however the Sanyo M1 has an auto focus camera, which adds a significant amount of time to focus, but produces better photos.
Shot to Shot Time (0.69)
Shot to shot time is the amount of time it takes to capture a series of photos. When possible we use a camera's burst mode for this test, but in the absence of a burst mode, as in the Krzr K1m, we take the photos manually. We try to turn off auto review of photos, but again the Krzr K1m lacked this feature. Under these circumstances the Krzr K1m took 21.8 seconds to capture a series of 5 photos. This works out to .23 frames per second, a very poor score and comparable to what we got under similar circumstances with the Razr V3m. By contrast the Sanyo M1 which has a burst mode was able to take between 2 and 3 frames per second.
Shutter to Shot Time (4.7)
Shutter to shot time is a measure of how long it takes for the phone to actually take a photo after you press the shutter button. The Krzr K1m had a shutter to shot time of .4 seconds. This is similar to the Razr V3m, which posted a shutter to shot time of .43 seconds. This is an average score for a phone, but not nearly as good as stand alone point and shoot cameras.
Interface (3.0)
Photo Album Software Internal (1.0)
The album software on the Krzr K1m is the same as that found on the Razr V3m, and we wish it wasn't. This is one of the worst thought out pieces of software we have ever had the misfortune to encounter on a phone. When you enter the software you are asked to open photos in one of three different locations: in the phone, in the camera, or on the memory card. Once you have chosen you will need to cancel back out to the menu system in order to re-enter the album software and access another storage location. Add to this the fact that the ability to copy or move photos is different depending on which storage location you are in, and that the interface itself is not that good regardless and we found ourselves exhausted after trying to use this software.
Manual Control (2.0)
The Krzr K1m has only manual white balance controls. It does not have scene modes, aperture priority mode or full manual mode. This is not surprising as many phones, including the LG Chocolate, have no manual options.
Zoom (1.0)
The Krzr K1m has a digital zoom up to 8x, which can be accessed via the right soft key menu. Digital zoom is of limited utility because all it does is resize the image captured. Optical zoom, which is found on regular cameras, is only found on select phones like the Nokia N93.
Focus (0.0)
The Krzr K1m has a fixed focus lens, which means that what you see is what you get. This means that getting a shot in focus is sometimes impossible. Many higher end phones are starting to ship with auto focus lenses, for example the Sanyo M1, which helps you take much better shots. We do not award any points for fixed focus lenses.
Flash (0.0)
The Krzr K1m does not include a flash.
Metering (2.0)
Metering is used to control from which point or points light is measured. The Krzr K1m's only metering options are manual brightness settings that can be accessed via the right soft key menu. More advanced metering options like exposure lock and spot metering are not present. This is not surprising as few, if any, phones include these sorts of features.
White Balance (2.0)
Like the Razr V3m the Krzr K1m has 3 preset white balance options: sunny, cloudy and flourescent. There is no support for evaluative white balance which uses a white card to set white balance. Evaluative white balance modes are fairly common on phones today, however we wish more presets were available. Image Handling (2.0)
The Krzr K1m provides you with very few image handling options. You can pan an zoom into images, but not resize them permanently. You can however rename them. More advanced options like cropping, auto color correction and red eye reduction are not present.
Video
Overall Video Score (2.0)
The Krzr K1m takes video at a resolution of 176 x 144 pixels in 3GP format. This is disapointing when many phones are beginning to offer video recording at higher 320 x 240 or 352 x 288 pixel resolution. Video produced by the Krzr K1m are poor. They are good only for sending via MMS, try to watch them on a computer screen of a TV you will the extreme pixelation and poor color reproduction will become very apparent.
Video Resolution (2.38)
To test video resolution we shoot the standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and run stills from that video through the Imatest software. The Krzr K1m scored 234.7 lw/ph of horizontal resolution and 101.3 lw/ph of vertical resolution. This is about the same as what we saw from the LG Chocolate and slightly worse than the Razr V3m. Comparing this to a stand alone camcorder is laughable as the Canon ZR700 for example scored 363.7 lw/ph horizontal and 257.8 lw/ph vertical.
Video Compression (2.0)
The Krzr K1m takes video in 3GP format. This is a standard for mobile video, however we would have liked to see more options such as MP4 or AVI on board.
Interface (3.0)
The interface of the Krzr K1m's camcorder is very similar to that of the camera. At the top you will see an indicator for the mode and a bar that indicates how much more video can be stored. At the bottom are indicators for the left and right soft keys. The left soft key is for record, while the right one opens the options menu. The options for the camcorder are less extensive than those for the camera. We were not impressed with the Krzr K1m's camcorder interface. Manual Control (2.0)
As with the camera the only manual control available on the Krzr K1m is manual white balance mode. This is still better than the LG Chocolate which offers no manual control options.
Zoom (1.0)
Again similar to the stills camera the camcorder has 8x digital zoom available. Given the low resolution of video taken by the Krzr K1m this digital zoom is even more useless than that found on the stills camera.
Editing (0.0)
The Krzr K1m offer noe video editing options.
Modes (0.0)
There are no modes available on the Krzr K1m's camcorder.
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