Sprint Upstage (Samsung SPH-m620) Review - Imaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on April 10, 2007 Comment on this |
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Resolution (1.94)
To test resolution we take several pictures of an industry standard resolution chart and then run them through the Imatest software. This measures how many black and white lines the camera can discern before they start to blur together (a measure Imatest calls line widths per picture height, or lw/ph).
The Sprint Upstage managed to capture 660.8 lw/ph of horizontal resolution and 549.2 lw/ph of vertical resolution. This is an average score for a 1.3 megapixel camera, similar to the LG Chocolate (654.4 and 585.9) and significantly better than the Razr V3m (521.7 and 242.2). It is not as good as even the cheapest dedicated entry level digital cameras, though. The Pentax Optio M20 recieved 1682 lw/ph of horizontal resolution and 1620 lw/ph of vertical resolution, blowing the camera phones, including the Upstage, out of the water. We use a slightly different scoring system than our sister site digitalcamerainfo.com, if they had scored the Upstage it would have recieved a lowly score of .58.
Color (3.85)
To test colors on the Sprint Upstage we took pictures of the industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart, which displays 24 different colors. We then ran the photos through the Imatest software, which compares the camera's produced colors to the chart's colors.
Imatest produces this chart that shows the original colors in the small vertical rectangle, the adjusted 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 captures, while the square represent where the colors should be.
As you can see the Sprint Upstage had a hard time reproducing yellows, with some of the washing out to almost complete white. You also see some shift in the reds and purples. Overall the colors produced by the Upstage are not very impressive and are in the same category as other poor camera phones like the Razr V3m and LG Chocolate. The Treo 700p and 750 did a significantly better job at reproducing colors, with the Sanyo M1 falling in between.
Noise (1.45)
We test noise by shooting a color chart at a series of different lighting levels, ranging from 3000 lux to 60 lux. We then run the images through Imatest, which analyzes areas of the images for noise. The Sprint Upstage produced only moderate amounts of noise at all levels, even at the very low light 60 lux. Cameras with smaller megapixel cameras often do better on noise tests, however the Upstage even beat out other 1.3 megapixel camera phones like the Razr V3m and LG Chocolate. Still, even a better score does not mean good, and camera phones tend to do very poorly on this test in general.
Live Preview (4.0)
The live preview on the Sprint Upstage is reproduces colors well but is a little pixelated, due to the low resolution of the screen. When using the smaller screen for self portraits the preview is even more pixelated and obviously constrained by the small size of the screen.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (7.41)
To test unlocked standby to first shot we put the phone into standby and then time the amount of time it takes to launch the camera application and take a photo. The Sprint Upstage took 2.7 seconds to go from standby to first shot. This is a good score, a little worse than the LG Chocolate, which put up an excellent time of 2.04 seconds, but faster than the Razr V3m at 3.5 seconds. It is also faster than an entry level digital camera like the Pentax Option M20, which took 3.42 seconds to complete a similar test.
Shot to Shot Time (0.6)
Shot to shot time is the amount of time it takes between successive shots. When possible we measure this using a burst mode, however the Sprint Upstage does not have a burst mode, so we had to take the photos manually. The Upstage also does not have the option to turn off photo review after a shot. In this situation the Sprint Upstage had a shot to shot time of 5.1 seconds, a very poor score for a phone. This is slower than even the Razr V3m, which also had no burst mode and took an average of 4.6 seconds. 5.1 seconds works out to .2 frames per second, for comparison's sake the Sanyo M1, which does have burst mode, took 2 frames per second, 10 times faster than the Upstage. The upstage was hurt in this test by the fact that you needed to use the touch controls to get back to the camera after taking a photo.
Shutter to Shot Time (6.67)
Shutter to shot time is the amount of time it takes for a photo to be actually taken after you have depressed the shutter button. The Sprint Upstage took .3 seconds to take a photo after you depressed the shutter button. This is a good score for a phone, much faster than the Sanyo M1, which took .8 seconds, and slightly faster than the Razr V3m, which took .4 seconds.
Interface (7.0)
The interface of the Sprint Upstage's camera is fairly clean. Along the top you have indicators for the type of camera you are in and a meter that shows you how full your storage is. Along the right are more indicators showing you what the resolution is, your white balance setting and where photos are being stored. At the bottom are only two soft keys, the left one is assigned to capture and the right one assigned to the options.
Hitting the right soft key brings up a camera like menu system, with a series of icons for different functions along the bottom of the display. You move amongst them using the left/right keys while the up/down keys and select button allow you to make your selection. This approach means that even when changing settings your viewscreen is not seriously impeded. We liked the interface on the Upstage, we felt that it was a significant step up over the Razr V3m and LG Chocolate, and reminded us somewhat of the camera like interface found on the Sanyo M1.
Photo Album Software Internal (3.0)
The album software on the Sprint Upstage is very basic. It has three folders available when you open it, one for the internal memory, one for the memory card and another for online albums. When you open one of these folders images and videos are displayed as thumbnails in a 3 x 3 grid. We found thumbnails to be a little slow to load, but nowhere near as slow as the Razr V3m and LG Chocolate, which seemed to take forever. You can filter your view to show only photos or videos, and you can upload photos to online albums. You can also add text captions to items. You cannot however create even a simple slide show, a serious drawback. Navigating amongst the photos is similar to the Razr V3m, where you can select or unselect photos using the center select key. To actually view a photo full screen you use the left soft key. Overall we found the album software to be very basic, and a step below what is offered on the Sanyo M1, which allows you to create simple slideshows.
Manual Control (2.0)
Manual white balance is present on the Sprint Upstage, as is the case for many current phones. More advanced manual features like aperture priority and shutter priority are not present.
Zoom (0.0)
The Sprint Upstage does not have any zoom features; not even a simple digital zoom. Although digital zoom is of limited utility, it has become standard on camera phones and can be useful in some situations. As such we were sorry to see that it wasn't offered on the Upstage. UPDATE: we have since found out that the Upstage has a digital zoom of up to 4x, but only if you lower the resolution to 640 by 480 and below. We don't think this is worth any points; the image resolution is already so low that you don't want to reduce it any further.
Focus (0.0)
The Sprint Upstage uses a fixed focus lens, this means that you will need to make sure that a photo is in focus based on your position to the object. More advanced camera phones like the Sanyo M1 or Nokia N73 have auto focus lenses, which leads to fewer mistakes when taking photos. We do not award any points for phones with fixed focus lenses.
Flash (0.0)
The Sprint Upstage has no flash, this is a shame since LED flashes have become more standardized in mid to high level phones,.Although they are of limited utility, they at least allow you to take some images inlow light.
Metering (2.0)
Metering allows the camera to gauge the amount of light in the scene and give you a proper exposure. The Sprint Upstage does not include more advanced metering options like choosing a point from which to meter. It does however provide you with manual brightness settings from +5 to -5, which allows you to control the amount of light in the scene.
White Balance (2.0)
In addition to the manual white balance settings that we spoke of earlier, the Sprint Upstage provides you with four different present white balance settings: sunny, cloudy, tungsten and flourescent, in addition to an auto white balance mode. These sort of white balance settings have become fairly standard on camera phones.
Image Handling (2.0)
The Sprint Upstage provides few image handling options. Your only real option is to rename the image. There is no option to crop or resize images or correct for color. These options are available on some higher end camera phones like the Nokia N73, however most phones lack them.
Video
Overall Video Score (2.0)
The Sprint Upstage takes video at only one resolution setting: 176 x 144. This is sufficient for MMS video, but in a time when many mid to high level phones are beginning to include 320 x 240 or 352 x 288 resolution video it doesn't impress. Video taken by the Upstage look washed out and are extremely pixelated when viewed on a computer monitor. We were not impressed by the Upstage's videos, especially compared to phones like the Treo 750, which also has a 1.3 megapixel camera but is able to take much nicer videos.
Video Resolution (.84)
To measure video resolution we shoot the standard ISO 12233 resolution chart and run stills from that video through Imatest imaging software. The Sprint Upstage scored 77.11 lines of horizontal resolution and 109.5 lines of vertical resolution. This is a terrible score for video resolution with the Razr V3m scoring 174.3 and 170.9 lines respectively, almost twice the lines of resolution as the Upstage. Frankly, you shouldn't expect to get any usable video out of the Sprint Upstage.
Video Compression (2.0)
The Sanyo M1 takes video in a variant of 3GP video. This has become a standard for mobile video and given the poor quality of the Upstage's videos, other formats would be soemthing of a waste. Still, phones like XV6700 or PPC-6700 provide an array of options for video compression.
Interface (7.0)
The interface of the camcorder on the Sprint Upstage is very similar to the stills camera interface. You will see indicators along the top and right for items like white balance, camera mode and zoom. Along the bottom you will see a meter that tells you how long you have recorded video. Below this are the two soft keys, with the left assigned to record and the right bringing up the options menu. The options in the camcorder look exactly the same as in the stills camera, with a series of icons along the bottom of the screen giving you access to various functions without unduly blocking the viewscreen. We like the camera-like interface of the Upstage's camcorder, we just wish the camera's performance lived up to it better.
Manual Control (2.0)
The only manual options on the Sprint Upstage's video camera is manual white balance, with settings between +/-5. More advanced manual features such as shutter gain and manual gain are not present.
Zoom (1.0)
For some reason Samsung chose to add an digital zoom the Upstage's video camera when it is missing from the stills camera. There are 5 stops on a 2x digital zoom for video, which you can access by pressing up/down when in the camera interface. Digital zoom is of limited utility under the best of circumstances and when dealing with 176 x 144 video it is almost completely useless.
Editing (0.0)
There are no editing options for video on the Sprint Upstage beyond changing the name of the file.
Modes (2.0)
When you launch the camcorder application the program asks you if you wish to take video for MMS or long video. We like having this preset for MMS video as otherwise you have to guess whether the video you just took will fit in an MMS message. Scene modes are not present on the Sprint Upstage.
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