Nokia N96 Cell Phone Review - Imaging

The N96's camera had excellent results in our resolution test and better-than-average results in its color performance. It's pretty much average in terms of noise in low-light conditions, but its video capture abilities more than make up for that in our book. It is, however, missing video editing features that were present in its predecessor, an omission that's a bit confusing and disappointing.

Resolution (8.81)
The N96 has 2 cameras - the main camera with the lens on the back of the device and a front-facing camera for video calls and self-portraits. Throughout this section we score only the main camera - this camera has the best specs and most features of the two.

The resolution chart captured with the N96

To evaluate a camera's resolution, we set the phone's camera to its highest quality and resolution settings and then take pictures of an industry-standard resolution chart with it. We then run the resulting images through the Imatest image analysis software. This software analyzes the pictures to measure the point at which black and white lines lose definition and begin to blur into each other, expressed in line widths per picture height (lw/ph) on the horizontal and vertical. As with most things we measure, higher numbers mean better resolution. The N95-3 scored very well in this area and the N96 manages to slightly exceed it in this area, resolving 1408 lw/ph horizontally and 1208 lw/ph vertically. While we wouldn't recommend that the N96 take the place of your dedicated digital camera, it will take fairly sharp pictures in good lighting conditions if you don't have one handy. However, it still doesn't come close to the resolution score achieved by the current champion of all the phones we've tested to date, the Motorola ZINE.

Cell Phone	Nokia N96	Palm Treo Pro	LG Dare
Score	8.81	4.31	6.96
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	1408 / 1204	985 / 979	1251 / 709
Image of Resolution Chart

Cell Phone	Motorola ZINE	HTC Touch Diamond	Apple iPhone 3G
Score	13.67	6.54	3.33
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	1754 / 1523	1213 / 1214	866 / 897
Image of Resolution Chart

Color (6.12)
We use another industry-standard chart, the GretagMacbeth chart, to evaluate a camera's color accuracy. We take pictures of the chart with the phone's camera and run the resulting images through the Imatest software which then provides data on how closely the camera reproduced the chart's colors. The data comes in the form of 2 charts - the first is a view of the GretagMacbeth chart and gives a visual demonstration of what the camera captured. In this chart, the smallest rectangle shows the actual "correct" color, the largest rectangle shows what the camera captured, and the last interior rectangle shows what the camera should have captured with correction for lighting.

As you can see from the N96's color chart, it captures slightly under-saturated colors in only a few since the smallest interior rectangles are all darker than the largest rectangles showing what it actually captured, and captures over-saturated or spot-on colors in other areas. Capturing under-saturated color across the board is not uncommon at all for cell phone cameras, and the N96 does better than average here by not doing this to the same extent we normally see to put it above every other one of our comparison phones, including the Motorola ZINE that did so well in terms of Resolution.

Imatest also generates a color error chart to display graphically how accurate the camera was in capturing color. In this chart, the squares indicate what the ideal color capture would be and the circles show how the camera captured that particular color. The line connecting each square and circle represents how accurately the camera captured the color - the longer the line, the less accurate the camera was. The chart also shows the level of saturation for each color captured by the camera - if the circles are closer to the center of the chart than the squares, the camera is capturing under-saturated color. If the squares are closer to the center of the chart than the circles, the camera is capturing over-saturated colors.

The N96's color error chart

As you can see in the N96's color error chart, there are short lines connecting the circles and squares across much of the spectrum, indicating that the N96 wasn't too off in capturing them. Most of the squares, representing the ideal color capture, are closer to the center of the chart, showing where the N96 captured over-saturated colors.

Cell Phone	Nokia N96	Palm Treo Pro	LG Dare
Score	6.12	5.31	3.77
Color Checker Chart

Cell Phone	Motorola ZINE	HTC Touch Diamond	Apple iPhone 3G
Score	5.61	4.08	3.90
Color Checker Chart

Noise (1.27)
The GretagMacbeth color chart is again the primary tool to evaluate the level of noise in a phone's camera. We use the phone's camera to take pictures of it at various lighting levels ranging from the equivalent of bright daylight down to candle light. Noise is more prevalent in low-light situations since any capturing errors in the image sensor can produce signals greater or less than what is actually present in the image being captured, resulting in graininess and inaccurate color. The resulting images from the various lighting levels are run through the Imatest software, which evaluates noise consistency through the different lighting levels.

Cell phone cameras usually perform pretty poorly in this test. They often lack the settings and image processor capabilities to adjust appropriately in low-light conditions, and the N96 is no exception here with a score pretty much on par with our comparison phones.

Live Preview (8.5)
The N96's live preview takes up the entire screen, providing status information and easy access to settings. The settings can block the view a bit, but they disappear automatically when the auto-focus is in action - this is a nice touch to ensure you can accurately frame up what you want to capture. Photos framed with the live preview are captured exactly as they are framed, which is what we love to see. Fast movement is a little jittery but not so much as to distract you too much. Compared to the Nokia N95, the live preview has not changed at all.

The still image live preview

The N96 also has a front-facing camera that can be used for video calls or for taking pictures of yourself. The live preview for this camera takes up a smaller portion of the screen but is still sufficient for framing up a shot accurately.

Unlocked Standby to First Shot (4.55)
To replicate the act of taking out your cell phone to capture a quick shot, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment an image is captured. On the N96, the quickest way to get to the camera application is to hold down the camera shortcut button on the right side. As on the N95, the camera application is a little slow to open and the auto-focus adds a little time as well. It took an average of 4.39 seconds to complete this test on the N96, making it the next slowest device behind the HTC Touch Diamond among our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Shot to Shot Time (4.26)
To see how quickly a camera can capture multiple sequential images, we time how long it takes to capture at least 5 images in a row, enabling burst mode if available and turning off any post-capture image review. The N96 does have a burst mode that can capture 6 images sequentially, which we enabled for this test, and the Settings menu allowed us to turn off the post-capture review. It took the N96 4.23 seconds to capture 6 images in burst mode, calculating out to 1.42 frames per second. This is not a bad result, but the N96 is up against some tough competition here - 2 of our comparison phones best it with more frames per second: the Palm Treo Pro and the LG Dare. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Shutter to Shot Time (8.31)
How quickly a shutter activates after you press the capture button dictates how close you'll be to capturing the exact moment you want, and we test this by taking a photo of a stopwatch started at the moment the shutter button is pressed. The N96 does very well here, capturing an image an average of 0.24 seconds after the capture button is pressed, putting it second only to the Motorola ZINE that average 0.16 seconds in this test.. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Interface (9.0)
As with many other high-end Nokia devices we've reviewed, the N96 offers more camera settings than the average cell phone and getting to them is easy since they're shown on the right side of the live preview where the D-pad allows you to scroll through and select them. When you leave the "cursor" over a setting icon for a moment, the name of the setting is shown in a floating text box so you don't have to keep guessing at what the icon means.

The still image settings menu

In the top left is an icon showing the current capture mode (video or still image) and in the bottom right are icons showing you the battery charge level, image resolution, the selected save location, and the number of images that can be saved to the remaining space on the selected save location. Since the N96 also has GPS, a small icon of a satellite shows indicates when GPS data is available to geotag captured images.

Overall, the N96's camera interface does not get in the way of taking pictures. The only thing we found a bit unintuitive, and not clearly described in the included user guide to boot, is the adjustment of the digital zoom level. The manual states "To Zoom in or out when capturing an image, use the zoom key in your device." Since there's no dedicated "zoom" key on the N96, this leads to a little head-scratching. A little experimenting shows that pressing right or left on the D-pad's directional buttons - that's right or left while the phone is in landscape orientation - will show a zoom indicator bar on the right where the Active Toolbar normally appears.

Photo Album Software Internal (7.0)
When you first select the Photos application from the main menu, you are presented with a list since your photos are automatically categorized. You can choose to view Captured photos, pictures sorted by month, Albums, photos by assigned Tags, downloaded photos, or All photos. The last folder level showing the photos in the category you selected displays them in a carousel view, just like on the N95, and you can scroll through them with the D-pad. This is not a common view seen in many other cell phones and may take a little getting used to if you're coming from a device that shows thumbnails of pictures in a grid.

The photo album's carousel view

You can easily create new Albums and move pictures to them. Selecting an individual photo with the D-pad's select key shows it taking up the middle portion of the screen in portrait orientation. You can view them in landscape orientation as well, but only if you set the Auto-Rotate setting to on in the main Settings menu, which is off by default, oddly enough.

The main photo album menu

Starting a slide show to show off your pictures is a piece of cake - these automatically play in landscape orientation regardless of the phone's actual orientation and the Auto-Rotate settings selected. The slide show settings allow you to select music to go along with the slide show, choose the transition effect, and more.

Viewing an individual photo in the album software

The N96's photo album software has all the features we like to see and is not hard to navigate at all.

Manual Control (2.0)
Few cell phones offer manual controls for the camera, and while the higher-end Nokias tend to offer far better camera capabilities than the average cell phone, the N96 does not offer manual controls to adjust aperture and shutter priorities or other controls. It does, however, offer scene modes to maximize image quality in certain conditions, with presets for close-up, portrait, landscape, sports, and night modes in addition to the auto mode. There's also a user-customizable setting that allows you to pick and choose from the settings to, say, create a preset that will apply best to the setting in which you find yourself taking pictures with your phone most often. Additionally, the N96 has 5 ISO settings to choose from for low light to bright light conditions beyond the default Automatic ISO setting.

Zoom (1.0)
The N96 has a digital zoom up to 8x. The N95-3 had a 20x digital zoom, but this decrease from the previous iteration of this device doesn't bother us since digital zoom is not nearly as effective as optical zoom. Digital zoom earns any device only 1 point in this area no matter what the maximum magnification level is.

Focus (5.0)
The N96 has an auto-focus lens, though it offers no settings to adjust focus points. The specs for the N96 state its focus range is from 10cm to infinity. Though it has no manual adjustments, auto-focus beats fixed focus any day, and we're happy to see this on the N96.

Flash (6.0)
The N96 has 2 LED flash bulbs that serve as flash for still images and a video light during video capture. The flash can be set to automatic mode, off, red eye reduction mode, or set to on for every picture. The flash is a proper one in that it will light briefly to illuminate the scene as the shutter activates. It did a decent job of illuminating dark scenes for a few feet, but peters out beyond this.

Metering (2.0)
Few cell phones offer settings for metering to change the way light is judged in a scene. The N96, like other high-end Nokias, does offer some features in this area, however. The N96 has automatic exposure compensation settings to adjust exposure between 13 fixed levels, up from the 5 levels offered on the N95-3.

White Balance (2.0)
The N96 has white balance presets to allow it to determine how whites should be evaluated in a scene automatically, or to automatically use defined settings for sunny, cloudy, incandescent, or fluorescent-lit scenes.

Image Handling (8.0)
Many cell phone cameras offer basic photo editing on the device directly, but the N96 goes a little above and beyond the average here just like the N95-3 did. In the photo album's Edit menu, you can rotate, resize, crop, and apply sepia, black & white, or negative color effects to images. You can also apply red eye reduction, adjust brightness, sharpness and contrast levels. And beyond this, you can even add text, frames, clip art, and cartoonize photos. The N96 comes close to in-camera editing features as found on dedicated digital cameras and should please snap-happy users.

The photo editing menu

Video Quality (8.5)
To evaluate video quality, we record a video using the phone's camera and transfer it to a computer to view it on a large screen and compare it to videos of the same scene taken with other cell phones. In keeping with the N96's video resolution test results in the next section, it does a pretty good job in this area, yielding videos that aren't too painful to watch even in full-screen mode on a large external monitor with decent resolution and good handling of fast motion. During recording, color adjustments made on the fly are obvious on the viewfinder, but aren't too distracting. The N96's video quality surpasses handily what we normally see from other devices.

Video Resolution (11.49)
Using a similar process to the one we use to test resolution in still images, we take a video of the industry-standard resolution chart with the phone's video recorder and run randomly-selected frames of the resulting video file through the Imatest software. Imatest analyzes the pictures to measure the point at which black and white lines lose definition and begin to blur into each other, expressed in line widths per picture height (lw/ph) on the horizontal and vertical. Again, higher numbers mean better resolution here.

The N96 performed very well here, resolving 339 lw/ph on both horizontally and vertically, behind only the LG Dare that resolved 383 lw/ph horizontally and 320 lw/ph vertically. It far surpasses the Motorola ZINE that, quite surprisingly, had really poor results in this test despite its 5-megapixel sensor. Clearly, the ZINE's video capture set-up limits its capabilities here out of the box, which is disappointing given how much its camera capabilities are touted.

Video Compression (4.0)
The N96 records video in MPEG4 format by default and switches to 3GP format for MMS-quality videos. There are 4 video quality settings from which to choose in the video recorder's Settings panel - TV high, TV normal (the default), email high quality, and sharing quality. This last setting causes recordings to be made in the 3GP format.

Interface (8.0)
The N96's video interface is exactly like that of the still image interface, though there are fewer settings in the Active Toolbar that appears on the right side of the screen. Auto-focus does not work in video mode, so nothing happens when you depress the shutter button partially as you would to activate auto-focus before capturing a still image. In general, we have nothing to complain about here at all and think the N96's video interface works very well and is easy to work in.

The video capture live preview

Manual Control (0.0)
Few cell phones offer manual controls for video recording, even among the mighty N-series offerings from Nokia. The N96 does offer something close with white balance presets, identical to those offered in the still image mode, but these do not count for full manual controls that would earn it points here.

Zoom (1.0)
The digital zoom present in still image mode is also present in video mode, earning the N96 1 point in this area.

Editing (0.0)
Quite surprisingly, the N96 offers no video editing of our captured videos, unlike its predecessor, the N95-3. We're not quite sure why an appreciated and advanced feature didn't make it automatically to the latest version of this flagship device and we're thoroughly disappointed.

Modes (6.0)
The N96 offers 2 scene modes - automatic and night, where automatic is the default. The N96 also has Color Tone presets to apply Sepia, Black & White, Vivid, and Negative effects to videos, though these do not earn it points in this area. As mentioned in the Video Compression section, the N96 does have video quality settings specifically for attachment to email and MMS messages.

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