Motorola Razr2 V9m On Sprint Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on September 04, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (3.22)
To test the resolution of photos produced by the Razr2 V9m's 2-megapixel camera we took a series of photos of an industry standard resolution chart and ran them through Imatest software. Imatest produces a measure called line widths per pixel height (lw/ph), which is a measure of how many alternating black and white lines can be distinguished before they begin blurring together.
| Cell Phone | Razr2 V9m | Helio Fin | Sanyo Katana DLX |
| Score | 3.22 | 2.77 | 0.45 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 851.2 / 1031 | 790.1 / 866.5 | 316.6 / 249.4 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Razr V3m | Nokia N75 | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 1.13 | 1.14 | 4.18 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 521.7 / 242.2 | 458.7 / 666.4 | 970 / 879 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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Color (4.84)
To test the quality of colors produced by the Razr2 V9m's camera we took photos of the industry standard GretagMacbeth Color chart, which displays 24 different colors. These photos were then run through the Imatest software, which measured the captured colors against the original chart's colors.
| Cell Phone | Razr2 V9m | Helio Fin | Sanyo Katana DLX |
| Score | 4.84 | 5.94 | 6.54 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Razr V3m | Nokia N75 | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 3.26 | 3.47 | 5.22 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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Noise (1.0)
To test the noise produced by the Razr2 V9m's camera we took a series of photos of the GretagMacbeth color chart at various lighting levels and ran the photos through Imatest to produce a noise score at each lighting level. The Razr2 V9m produced middling noise scores at the three highest lighting levels, but its performance plummeted at the lowest lighting level. As you can see from the chart below, the Razr2 V9m had a middling noise score, about the same as the Razr V3m, but the images were much noisier than those taken by the Helio Fin and Apple iPhone.
| Cell Phone | Score |
| Razr2 V9m | 1.00 |
| Helio Fin | 1.46 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 0.83 |
| Razr V3m | 1.05 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.41 |
| Apple iPhone | 1.20 |
Live Preview (6.0)
The Razr2 V9m's live preview makes use of almost the entire screen, with only a small bar at the bottom with the soft key functions. We liked how roomy this was, and also appreciated the good detail and ability to quickly refresh when panning. The live preview did have some trouble with colors, showing colors on the screen more richly saturated than the final photo, but this is a small issue. The Razr2 V9m's live preview was significantly better than the Razr V3m, probably due to the higher resolution screen.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (4.88)
To find out how quickly you can whip out the Razr2 V9m and take a photo we timed how long it took to complete this process, starting at phone closed and stopping when we had taken the photo. The Razr2 V9m took 4.1 seconds to accomplish this, which is a little on the slow side. It's thankfully not as slow as the Helio Fin, but the Katana DLX, Razr V3m, and iPhone were all able to take a photo faster than the Razr2 V9m.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9m | 4.1 | 4.88 |
| Helio Fin | 6.2 | 3.23 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 3.1 | 6.45 |
| Razr V3m | 3.5 | 5.71 |
| Nokia N75 | 4.7 | 4.26 |
| Apple iPhone | 2.43 | 8.23 |
Shot to Shot Time (2.51)
Shot to shot time is a measure of how quickly you can take a series of photos. When possible we use a phone's Burst mode for this test, and thankfully the Razr2 V9m indeed allows you to take four shots in Burst mode. We were able to take four photos in 4.78 seconds, which works out to 0.84 frames per second (fps). This is an above average time overall, but a little slow for a phone that has a Burst mode. Most comparison phones with lower scores than the Razr2 V9m were hampered by the lack of a Burst mode. The Katana DLX, which does have a Burst mode, was able to take photos significantly faster than the V9m.
| Cell Phone | FPS | Score |
| Razr2 V9m | 0.84 | 2.51 |
| Helio Fin | 0.19 | 0.57 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 2.10 | 6.30 |
| Razr V3m | 0.20 | 0.60 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.43 | 1.29 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 1.20 |
Shutter to Shot Time (5.26)
Shutter to shot time is a measure of how long it takes the phone to actually capture a photo once you have hit the shutter button. We repeat this test until we get a consistently repeatable time. The Razr2 V9m took 0.38 seconds to capture a photo after we hit the shutter button. This is a pretty good time. It should be noted that none of the phones have an auto-focus lens, which makes this process significantly longer as the phone focuses. This, however, also produces better photos.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9m | 0.38 | 5.26 |
| Helio Fin | 0.60 | 3.33 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 0.38 | 5.26 |
| Razr V3m | 0.43 | 4.65 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.73 | 2.74 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 5.00 |
Interface (4.0)
Photo Album Software Internal (5.0)
The Razr2 V9m's album software has been improved over the Razr V3m, a fact we are momentously happy about. The V3m's album software was terribly implemented, specifically in how memory was handled, with internal memory split between camera memory and phone memory and byzantine processes for copying and moving files between the two. The Razr2 V9m simply uses internal and external memory, blessedly. It also loads photos much faster than the V3m, probably due to the faster processor. Photos are initially loaded in 3 x 3 thumbnails with a small check box in the upper right corner of each thumbnail. The center select key puts a check in the box, allowing you to easily select multiple photos for deletion, moving, etc. The left soft key is assigned to "expand," which opens the selected photo, while the right soft key opens a menu where you can access various functions. It's not the nicest album software we've ever seen, but it's better than the terrible software previously included with Razrs. Manual Control (2.0)
As with the Razr V3m, the Razr2 V9m has manual white balance controls, which is a nice feature not often found on phones. This is the only manual control found on the Razr2 V9m.
Zoom (1.0)
The Razr2 V9m has a digital zoom, up to 4x. This zoom is available at all resolution levels, which is something that was lacking on the Helio Fin. Zoom is controlled using left/right on the d-pad. Digital zoom isn't really that useful as it only crops and enlarges a section of the scene, but it's better than nothing.
Focus (0.0)
The V9m uses a fixed focus lens, as is standard on camera phones. Although this does speed up photo capturing, it also produces lower quality photos. We don't award points for fixed focus lenses.
Flash (0.0)
There is no flash on the Razr2 V9m.
Metering (2.0)
We're starting to see real metering controls on phones. The the Helio Fin has them, for example. However, the Razr2 V9m does not, although there is a brightness control.
White Balance (2.0)
Image Handling (2.0)
The Razr2 V9m doesn't offer many image handling options. You can rotate photos and add text captions, but you can't crop or resize. More advanced options like adjusting color or contrast are definitely not on board.
Video
Overall Video Score (5.0)
The Razr2 V9m captures video in 3GP format, which is a standard for mobile video. Maximum resolution is 320 x 240 at 15 fps. We found the video produced by the Razr2 V9m was pretty good, for a mobile phone, with decent color fidelity and only a small amount of pixelation and artifacts. It's nowhere near as good as a stand alone camcorder, or even some of the video-focused mobile phones like the Nokia N95, which captures at 640 x 480 and 30 fps, but it's good enough to watch on a laptop screen, even in full screen, and should be sufficient for YouTube. The quality is similar to what we got with the Helio Fin, and is leaps and bounds better than the low resolution video captured by the Razr V3m.
Video Resolution (12.04)
To test video resolution on the Razr2 V9m we took video at maximum resolution of the same industry standard resolution chart we used for the still resolution test. We then ran frames from this video through the Imatest software, which produces the same line widths per pixel height (lw/ph) score that measures how many alternating white and black lines can be discerned before they begin blurring together. The Razr2 V9m scored 342.5 lw/ph horizontal and 351.4 lw/ph vertical. This is one of the best scores we have seen. About the only phone that produced a better video resolution score was the Nokia N95, which, as we discussed before, is one of the best video capture phones out there. We were very pleased with the Razr2 V9m's performance in this test.
| Cell Phone | lw/ph horizontal/vertical | Score |
| Razr2 V9m | 342.5 / 351.4 | 12.04 |
| Helio Fin | 214.1 / 217.7 | 4.66 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 200.5 / 181.2 | 3.63 |
| Razr V3m | 174.3 / 170.9 | 3.46 |
| Nokia N75 | 315 / 348.1 | 10.97 |
| Apple iPhone | n/a - no video capture | 0.00 |
Video Compression (2.0)
The Razr2 V9m captures video in 3GP format, which is a mobile optimized format, with MPEG-4 compression. This is a pretty standard format, so we're happy with it.
Interface (4.0)
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| Interface | Menus |
The camcorder interface is very similar to the stills interface except the whole screen is not used. Instead you have a landscape band across the center of the screen that shows you what will actually be captured. Other than that you have the same three indicators for mode, save location, and a timer to show how long you can shoot. The left soft key is assigned to record and the right opens a menu to access various options.
Manual Control (2.0)
Video capture on the Razr2 V9m also offers you manual white balance control, and like stills this is the only manual control available.
Zoom (1.0)
As with stills you have a 4x digital zoom available that you can control using left/right on the d-pad.
Editing (0.0)
The only editing option available is the ability to add a text caption. We don't consider this significant enough to award points for it.
Modes (3.0)
When you launch the camcorder on the Razr2 V9m you are asked if you want to take a "video mail" or "long video." The former is optimized for sending via MMS, while the latter allows you to use the full range of options. There is no support for Scene modes or metering options, however you do get white balance options.
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