Motorola Q 9m Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Mark Brezinski Published on December 31, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (2.24)
We test resolution by taking a picture of an industry standard resolution chart (this capture is the image below). We then run the captured image through our image analyzing software, Imatest. Imatest then determines how many individual black lines the camera was able to clearly display, as opposed to simply blurring them into gray. This result is measured in line widths per pixl height, or lw/ph, both vertically and horizontally.
| Cell Phone | Motorola Q 9m | Palm Centro | Motorola Q |
| Score | 2.24 | 1.41 | 1.35 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 733/740 | 581/596 | 569/515 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Pantech Duo | BlackBerry Curve 8320 | Nokia N95 with 3G |
| Score | 1.09 | 5.25 | 8.16 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 512/457 | 1087/933 | 1355/1388 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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Color (3.41)
Looking at the below graphs, we're very surprised the Q 9m did as well as it did. Regardless, the camera isn't good with color. Everything is pretty badly undersaturated, with reds and greens skewed heavily towards yellow. Interestingly enough, yellow is skewed towards white. Everything will look pastel with this camera.
The picture above and left is an actual capture of a 24-color, industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart. This chart consists of commonly photographed colors, such as blue skies, green grass, flesh tones, et. al. Overlaid on this image are two smaller rectangles. The innermost, smallest one is the ideal color. Since there'd have to be some miracle for all the conditions to align perfectly, the second overlay is added, which is the ideal color adjusted for luminance. This latter overlay is what each swatch should look like. As you can see, they look nothing alike. The differences are graphed to the right, where the circles represent the captured color and the squares are what that color actually looks like. Of course, the longer the line between the two, the further off the representation is.
| Cell Phone | Motorola Q 9m | Palm Centro | Motorola Q |
| Score | 3.41 | 8.08 | 3.13 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Pantech Duo | BlackBerry Curve 8320 | Nokia N95 with 3G |
| Score | 2.34 | 4.92 | 6.84 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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Noise (1.24)
The Q 9m doesn't do horribly with noise. Typically phones with poor resolution have less-noisy pictures simply because they capture less information. We're guessing the Q 9m cashes in on this generalization. The noise was fairly prominent towards the lower light levels, however. This shouldn't be an issue unless you're at a club, awkwardly snapping pictures with your bulky smart phone.
| Cell Phone | Score |
| Motorola Q 9m | 1.24 |
| Palm Centro | 0.91 |
| Motorola Q | 4.27 |
| Pantech Duo | 1.07 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 1.41 |
| Nokia N95 with 3G | 1.41 |
Live Preview (4.0)
The live preview on the Q 9m is pretty bad. First of all, the normal view is absolutely tiny. It only takes up about 60% of the screen, and it just floats in the middle of a bunch of boarders so it looks even smaller than it actually is. Fortunately, there is a full screen option, which we'd recommend you turn on. The preview will lag a bit behind the action, and will cause some blurring, but nothing tremendously offensive to the eye. Pictures do look a bit more pixellated than they actually are, but otherwise the live preview is pretty accurate.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (4.5)
The Q 9m doesn't have a dedicated camera shortcut, but even if it did it wouldn't have done well on this test. The initial scroll to the camera icon took about a half a second or less in our trials. The rest of the time was spend waiting for the program to load. We wouldn't recommend the Q 9m for instantaneous photography.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Motorola Q 9m | 4.44 | 4.50 |
| Palm Centro | 3.8 | 5.26 |
| Motorola Q | 4.1 | 4.88 |
| Pantech Duo | 6.67 | 3.00 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 2.9 | 6.90 |
| Nokia N95 with 3G | 6.5 | 3.08 |
Shot to Shot Time (1.89)
The Q 9m has a 5-shot burst mode, but you'd never be able to tell by looking at these scores. It took 7.99 seconds to take the set of five, which is about 0.63 frames per second. Typically phones with burst mode will get their shots off at one or two frames per second. This score is important to keep in mind if you plan on capturing action shots, because even at its fastest it isn't that fast. One thing to keep in mind is that, while it might be higher than most of the phones on the below chart, that doesn't necessarily mean any of them are indicative of a good score.
Just for comparison's sake, we performed this test without burst mode on and it took about three seconds per capture.
| Cell Phone | FPS | Score |
| Motorola Q 9m | 0.63 | 1.89 |
| Palm Centro | 0.28 | 0.84 |
| Motorola Q | 0.3 | 0.90 |
| Pantech Duo | 0.81 | 2.43 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 0.35 | 1.05 |
| Nokia N95 with 3G | 0.42 | 1.26 |
Shutter to Shot Time (4.65)
The Q 9m was able to capture a picture 0.43 seconds after we'd pressed the shutter button. Compared to the cameras below, this is a pretty fast time. In terms of phones in general, this is about an average score. Our current champion is the Samsung Juke, which could capture pictures in 0.09 seconds. Most smart phones, however, come close to a full second to snap a picture. The Q 9m's performance here is good for other, non-camera-oriented smart phones in its class.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Motorola Q 9m | 0.43 | 4.65 |
| Palm Centro | 0.88 | 2.27 |
| Motorola Q | 0.5 | 4.00 |
| Pantech Duo | 1.03 | 1.94 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 0.43 | 4.65 |
| Nokia N95 with 3G | 1 | 1.96 |
Interface (5.5)
The interface for still capture is fairly generic. The center key will capture. The left soft key brings up the photo album. The right soft key will pull up the menu. The menu is well laid out, with all the pertinent options listed without lumping things like white balance or resolution in to the camera settings option. Like items are separated out by long hash marks, which we felt brought a real sense of organization to the menu. No one should have a problem using the camera.
Photo Album Software Internal (3.0)
The album software is basic. The main screen contains two rows of thumbnails, four deep each. There aren't many options available here, other than simple rearrangement options (the album supports a folder system). Viewing a specific photo will give a few more options, such as some basic editing features. Slide shows can also be made in the album. There aren't many options that govern them, and a show will simply march through all the pictures in a given folder. We still wish there were an easy way to manage multiple files at a time, because moving or deleting them is on an individual basis at the moment.
Manual Control (0.0)
The Q 9m doesn't feature any manual controls. Cell phone cameras aren't quite up to task in this area yet.
Zoom (1.0)
The Q 9m supports digital zoom, which is worth no more than a single point. The reason for this is because all it does is preemptively crop and enlarge a picture, something you can do yourself with even basic editing software. In fact, this feature is borderline redundant on the Q 9m, because you can crop and enlarge the picture later with its built-in software.
Focus (0.0)
The lens is fixed focus. This is the bare minimum for lenses, so we don't award points for it.
Flash (3.0)
The Q 9m has an LED flash that just stays on when it's in use. It seems to be pretty bright, but its so small the light won't really carry far.
Metering (2.0)
Brightness can be set to one of six settings in addition to the default setting: three brighter and three darker. There aren't any true metering options, like spot or center-weighted metering.
White Balance (2.0)
There are a handful of white balance presets: sunny, cloudy, indoor home, indoor office, and night. We're guessing indoor home means incandescence and indoor office is fluorescence.
Image Handling (6.0)
The Q 9m has the usual Windows Mobile Standard options for image handling. Pictures can be rotated, cropped, and enlarged. There's also an autocorrect, which is a very basic color correction tool.
Video
Overall Video Score (3.0)
The Q 9m's video capture is pretty solidly under par. The resolution is bad, the interface isn't very good, and there aren't many extra features tacked on. If you want a good video camera, check out an appropriate Nokia handset, such as the N95. Nokia usually makes good camera/phone hybrids. For a phone so focused on being a smart/multimedia hybrid, the Q 9m really should've featured better video capture.
Video Resolution (1.79)
The Q 9m will not take good videos. It scored 139 lw/ph horizontally and 129 lw/ph vertically. Typical good video resolution scores are around 250 lw/ph for both. Video resolution also doesn't have the spread that picture resolution does, so the difference between the Centro and Q 9m is actually rather substantial. We'd recommend you keep the Q 9m's videos on the handset; transferring it to a larger medium will result is a gross-looking video abomination.
| Cell Phone | lw/ph horizontal/vertical | Score |
| Motorola Q 9m | 139/129 | 1.79 |
| Palm Centro | 249/274 | 6.82 |
| Motorola Q | 65.71/144.6 | 0.98 |
| Pantech Duo | 247/215 | 5.31 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | N/A | 0.0 |
| Nokia N95 with 3G | 336.5/428.1 | 14.17 |
Video Compression (2.0)
The Q 9m can only capture in 3GPP2 format.
Interface (5.5)
Video capture interface looks just like still capture, except full screen mode doesn't increase the size of the live preview. The left soft key will still open the album, which holds both pictures and video. The right soft key will open the menu, but there aren't nearly as many options. The brightness and white balance settings remain, and you can change the resolution to 128x96, 160x120, or 176x144. In the options list, you can also limit the length of your movies, making them better suited for sending in MMS.
Manual Control (0.0)
Nope.
Zoom (1.0)
Digital zoom is still supported, and is still only worth one point. In this case it might save you some trouble, however, as there isn't an option to crop video.
Editing (0.0)
As was just alluded to, there aren't any editing features.
Modes (1.0)
We gave the Duo a point here because while it doesn't have any proper modes, it will allow for MMS-optimized capture. The maximum resolution is the size needed to fit into MMS messages, 176x144. Capture length can also be set to 30 seconds, which is typically the length a MMS will allow. We would've given it our usual two points for this feature if it were labeled, but most average users wouldn't know this info off the top of their heads.
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