Razr2 V9 on AT&T Cell Phone Review - Imaging
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Mark Brezinski Published on October 02, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (4.72)
We measure a phone's capture resolution by taking a series of pictures of an industry standard resolution chart. We then run them through Imatest, which analyzes the images. In the case of resolution, the chart depicts multiple series of alternating black and white lines of varying widths. Here, Imatest analyzes the point at which the phone stops rendering lines and instead blurs them together into a shade of gray. This result is measured in line widths per pixel height, or lw/ph. The Razr2 V9 measured 1031 lw/ph horizontally and 812.5 lw/ph vertically. This isn't a bad score by any means, especially for a 2-megapixel camera.
| Cell Phone | Razr2 V9 | Sanyo Katana DLX | Nokia N75 |
| Score | 4.72 | 0.45 | 1.14 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 1031/812.5 | 316.6/249.4 | 505.9/698.8 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Samsung Blast | Helio Fin | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 0.68 | 2.77 | 4.18 |
| lw/ph horizontal/vertical | 392.1/345.6 | 790.1/866.5 | 970/879 |
| Image of Resolution Chart (click to view) |  |
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Color (5.66)
| Cell Phone | Razr2 V9 | Sanyo Katana DLX | Nokia N75 |
| Score | 5.66 | 6.54 | 3.47 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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| Cell Phone | Samsung Blast | Helio Fin | Apple iPhone |
| Score | 4.48 | 5.94 | 5.22 |
| Color Checker Chart (click to view) |  |
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Noise (0.83)
Given the relatively low resolution of the V9's camera, we weren't surprised that it had a slightly lower noise score. Phones with higher resolution typically have more noise than those with lower resolutions because the former captures more detail. Still, the V9 isn't far off from its lower-resolution competition, as seen in the graph below. Unless you're taking pictures in a dark environment, you most likely won't run into much trouble with noise.
| Cell Phone | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 0.83 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 0.41 |
| Nokia N75 | 1.44 |
| Samsung Blast | 1.46 |
| Helio Fin | 1.20 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.86 |
Live Preview (4.0)
The V9's live preview was a bit sluggish, blurring whenever we moved the phone. It did a decent job reproducing colors, however. We were happy the preview took up the whole screen, but the translucent bottom margin made it hard to judge if we had framed our captures correctly.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (6.27)
Here we try and approximate how quickly a user could expect to whip out their phone and capture an image. We start a timer with the phone closed, then take a picture of said timer, using the time displayed in the captured image as the result. After a few trials, the V9 showed it could take a picture in about 3.19 seconds. This is on the fast side of average, and the V9 was helped out by its dedicated camera shortcut button, fast software boot up, and quick shutter response.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 3.19 | 6.27 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 3.10 | 6.45 |
| Nokia N75 | 4.70 | 4.26 |
| Samsung Blast | 3.75 | 5.33 |
| Helio Fin | 6.20 | 3.23 |
| Apple iPhone | 2.43 | 8.23 |
Shot to Shot Time (2.47)
To measure how quickly a phone can capture multiple images, we again point the lens at a timer. We take a group of pictures, using the final captured image as the total time the sequence took. The V9 captured its last image at 6.07 seconds, which is about 0.82 frames per second (fps). This is pretty fast for a phone that doesn't have a Burst mode. Most phones with Burst mode wind up managing somewhere between 2 and 3 fps. So, the V9 wouldn't be fast enough to capture a football play, but it would be good enough to capture a kid's soccer game.
| Cell Phone | FPS | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 0.82 | 2.47 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 2.10 | 6.30 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.43 | 1.29 |
| Samsung Blast | 2.11 | 6.33 |
| Helio Fin | 0.19 | 0.57 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 1.20 |
Shutter to Shot Time (9.09)
To measure shutter to shot time, we take pictures of a timer one final time. Here, we start the timer the instant we press the shutter key. The resulting image displays the time it took the phone to register the command and snap the picture. The V9 had a very fast shutter to shot time, at 0.22 seconds. Chances are you won't miss a spontaneous moment with a capture speed this fast.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 0.22 | 9.09 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 0.38 | 5.26 |
| Nokia N75 | 0.73 | 2.74 |
| Samsung Blast | 0.35 | 5.71 |
| Helio Fin | 0.60 | 3.33 |
| Apple iPhone | 0.40 | 5.00 |
Interface (6.0)
AT&T's Razr2 sports a generic interface. The top has a few graphic reminders, such as the current capture mode and memory card capacity. The bottom contains a translucent menu bar with the soft key shortcuts Options and Back. Above this is a picture of the d-pad, which allows you to zoom, fix lighting, toggle exposure, or choose a color filter. The Options menu is really sparse, allowing you to set up a timer, go to the album, and not much else. There is a camera setup option in that menu, where you can change the resolution, quality, or shutter tone. You can also toggle Mirror mode on or off. Overall, a very basic interface with easy, intuitive controls.
Photo Album Software Internal (5.0)
The "photo album" software on the V9 is just a fancy name for "file structure." You have an initial file where all photos get stored, and you can move them around individually, but you can't organize them all in any way (other than to filter by if those stored on the memory card and those stored on the phone). Adding them to an album simply puts them in a different folder that you can name and is kept separate from the initial file dump. Once you have an album, you can create simple slide shows. You can opt to have your slide shows repeat, set the interval at which the pictures cycle, and set the portrait orientation (either 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise from the normal orientation). The inclusion of the slide show feature is the only thing that makes the V9's album more than a file tree without any sort of mass organization functionality.
Manual Control (2.0)
You do have some manual control options with the V9. You can change the color filter from one of six presets (black & white, sepia, etc.), alter the exposure levels (range: -2 to +2), or use one of the five lighting presets. Only the lighting presets are significant enough to garner points, however.
Zoom (1.0)
The V9 has digital zoom, which we only award one point for. This is because all digital zoom does is crop and enlarge the photo, often distorting the image and lowering its quality.
Focus (0.0)
The V9 has a fixed focus lens, which we don't award points for.
Flash (0.0)
The V9 doesn't have any sort of flash, which is why we didn't award it any sort of points.
Metering (0.0)
The V9 doesn't contain any metering features.
White Balance (2.0)
As mentioned above, the V9 has five presets for white balance, aside from the default automatic setting. These settings are Sunny, Cloudy, Indoor (Home), Indoor (Office), and Night. This is not a vast array of options by any means, but still enough for the V9 to score a few points.
Image Handling (0.0)
Here we award points for things like red-eye correction and other photo-editing features. Unfortunately, none of these can be found on the V9.
Video
Overall Video Score (3.0)
The video on the Razr2 V9 isn't good. The V9 can capture 3GP videos in 320 x 240 resolution, but the result looks bad. We would have liked to see some additional capture formats, but most phones stick to 3GP. The quality of the videos the V9 can take is good enough for your screen, though the result will be somewhat choppy. Anything larger than the phone's screen, however, will most likely depict a garbled mess.
Video Resolution (2.35)
We test video resolution much the same way we test still capture. We take a video of our industry standard resolution chart, then pull multiple frames out of the result and run them through our image analysis software. Again, this process determines the point at which the phone stops seeing individual lines and starts interpreting them as a swath of gray. The V9 was able to discern 186.7 lw/ph horizontally and 125.8 lw/ph vertically, which really isn't good. Except for casual videos, we would recommend you stick to your camcorder.
| Cell Phone | lw/ph horizontal/vertical | Score |
| Razr2 V9 | 186.7/125.8 | 2.35 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 200.5/181.2 | 3.63 |
| Nokia N75 | 315/348.1 | 10.97 |
| Samsung Blast | 107.1/129.2 | 1.38 |
| Helio Fin | 214.1/217.7 | 4.66 |
| Apple iPhone | N/A: can't capture video | 0.0 |
Video Compression (2.0)
The V9 captures video in 3GP. You can't capture in other formats such as MPEG-4.
Interface (5.0)
The video interface on the V9 is slightly different from the camera interface. The most noticeable difference is the giant black bar at the bottom that takes up about a quarter of the screen. Other than that, the interface is identical. The d-pad functions remain the same, only the on-screen d-pad display remains on screen. Again, however, the interface is simple, if a bit sparse on functionality.
Manual Control (2.0)
The same manual controls from Camera mode are found in Video mode. Again, however, only the white balance settings are significant enough to merit points.
Zoom (1.0)
The V9 has a 4X digital zoom, but again, we only award one point for digital zoom because it has a big cost in terms of quality.
Editing (0.0)
The V9 has no video editing features. If you mess up a video, then you'll need to reshoot it; you can't edit or trim videos after then have been recorded.
Modes (4.0)
There are three video quality settings: good, better, and best. There is no documentation to clarify exactly what these arbitrary labels mean. Examining the files reveals the labels refer to the bitrate; all are recorded at the same resolution. There is also an MMS mode, which limits the recording time to 30 seconds.
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