03 July 2008

Nokia N93 vs. Sony Ericsson P1
Battle of the 3.2 Megapixel Smartphones!

On my travels with the Nokia N93, I came across a Sony Ericsson P1 UIQ based Smartphone. It too sports the same 3.2MP imaging sensor as the Nokia N93, but lacks the optical versatility the Nokia N93 has.

Here is the Sony Ericsson P1 taking a picture of my iPhone. Since the iPhone we all know has a pretty average camera, we did not bother putting it against these autofocusing 3.2MP imagers.

Sony Ericsson P1

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Here is the N93 shot taken similarly with a smidgen use of optical zoom to get the same focal length as the P1.

Nokia N93 (NB in phone post process)

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We can see from pixel peeping, that the N93 and P1 come very close, both rendering very accurate colours to real life, as well as sporting similar noise qualities. I personally find the P1's image a little on the sharp side, which tends to create a halo effect on sharp edges.

Overall though, I would call it a draw, although I was really expecting the P1 to be better since is has a fixed focal length, ie no zoom, and faster f2.8 lens, meaning more light to the sensor, and hence less noise.

Now to test the focal length of the P1, I decided to take a general shot at an ajoining table in a Chinese restaurant

Sony Ericsson P1

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Nokia N93 (NB in phone post process)

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We can see the N93 definately has the advantage of having a much wider angle optic than the P1. This again has proven useful for landscape, and tight group shot situations.

Again, noise is pretty much similar. I personally found more clarity in the N93 image over the P1. Interesting how N93 does exhibit considerably barrel distortion which can be seen very clearly in the ceiling.

Overall , I did like the feel and and functionality of the P1. Annoyingly the phone cannot be fully utilized using the built in hybrid qwerty phone dial pad, rather must revert to using a stylus on touchscreen in conjunction with buttons to complete alot of tasks.

Another aspect was the speed of operation of the phone. The P1 really was slow to load up applications, as well as switching applications. The N93 on the other hand handles much better, in terms of speed, and response, and the oversized buttons, makes for fast operation.

Your Thoughts....

Mazor

SF Review: Carl Zeiss, does it make a difference?
Originally posted: 01.07.2008
Last Updated: 03.07.2008
Author: Bigley Ling (AKA Mazor)
Copyright: Symbian Freak 2008; all rights reserved