Decent Camera Phone For 5,500 Thb?

[HalfSquat]

Anyone know of a camera phone available to buy in Bangkok for around 5,500baht or less?

I would like it to take photos for the web (Facebook etc) when I don't have my main camera with me.

Wouldn't mind being able to print them too but if that is too much to ask from a phone this cheap then fair enough.

Thanks.

[paulfr]

Samsung S5200 or S5300, not sure which # is right.

Has 3Mpixel camera for photos and video.

Very nice display.

I think it goes for around 6500 baht, maybe less by now.

Fortunetown or MBK will have them.

I have the D900 which is its predesessor.

[welo]

A friend of mine who is interested in photography a big deal, bought a Nokia N73 about 3 years back when it was new. It was one of the first to have a Zeiss lense, an integrated flash, autofocus, and was said to have good image quality (for a phone). Remembering that I bought a used one a couple of months ago for just under 5000 B in MBK.

The pictures at daylight are really pretty good (for a phone) and the flash makes it at least usable in bad light situations and motifs close to the camera.

Downsides: the phone is a bit 'slow' sometimes, meaning the processor power is just enough for the OS. The phone doesn't have a mini-usb connector yet so you need the nokia data cable (100-150B) or use Bluetooth (slow).

Just be aware that a phone camera (at least at this price target) will never be comparable to even a cheap pocket camera. The small size of the lense, the chip and other mechanical parts and of course the costs limit the capabilities of the camera. In low light situations a strong integrated flash is important (light is everything when it comes to photography), and for snapshots a long-time delay release (typical for phones and smartphones) will annoy you very quickly.

And: Stay away from those China iphone and Nokia clones. I tested 2 different iphone clones and the built-in camera was HORRIBLE (not just 'OK', not just 'not good', I tell you HORRIBLE), besides usability is bad as well.

welo

[HalfSquat]

Thanks.

I already fell for the iphone clones when I first got out here - never again!

This Sony C510 looks ok: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/m...CSSON-C510/PPAY

It is £100 which is about 5,500 baht, not sure how much it will be in Bkk. Are phones more expensive out here?

The Samsung S5300 looks good too.

[welo]

Sleek and easy to use, but don't buy it for the Cyber-shot name: it won't replace your compact camera

Flash-free snaps

The C510 is principally a camera phone. But it's a basic one, and the features reflect that. It's got a 3.2-megapixel camera, which peeps out elegantly from behind a slider with a solid mechanism that won't open in your pocket.

The camera's face-recognition software detected our faces just fine, despite our beards and glasses. The smile-detection mode, which doesn't take a picture until the subject smiles, grabbed our grins perfectly too.

But there's no xenon flash, just an LED photo light, so the camera struggles in low light. The shutter speed is decent, but not mind-blowing: we found a lag of about 2 seconds between pressing the shutter and taking the picture. But, because of the delay and lack of a proper flash, we needed good light and a steady hand to get decent results.

In bright light, the C510 takes photos with good colour reproduction, but they're slightly noisy and soft. In low light, even with the LED, we think the noise levels are too high.

source: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49301479,00.htm

What has riled us though is the quality of those 3.2-megapixel photos and to be honest, they're pretty disappointing on the C510. Five years after creating its first camera phone, Sony Ericsson should know better than to have a slow shutter and on the C510, this is a real problem. Almost like a cameraphone from 2004, the screen is always behind the motion of finding that perfect shot; a jerky movement is all you see on in the viewfinder as you pan. Press down on the shutter and that blur will be reflected in the photo too.

[..]

Flash power is also a little disapponting. Although there's a dual LED flash, this is no rival to the impressive xenon light as seen on the Sony Ericsson K810i. A downgrade and a half, we'd say.

source: http://www.knowyourmobile.in/sonyericsson/...510_review.html

[nikster]

I liked the form factor of the N73, and the pretty screen but.. this was the god-awful slowest phone I had to that date (the SE P990i came after, and was worse)... the camera had the very annoying habit of taking blurry pictures until the phone was restarted. This was bad because you don't really know the autofocus is out of whack until you zoom in to a picture you already took.

I lost a whole day of presumably great photos because of this bug. Maybe they've fixed it by now, the n73 should be pretty mature by now.

[2008bangkok]

NOKIA 7310

[welo]

NOKIA 7310

here's also an FM radio, Bluetooth and a 2-megapixel camera that's very basic -- no LED photo light or flash. If you're looking for a decent camera phone, steer clear; but if you just want to take the odd picture in well-lit locations for MMS messages, it'll suffice.

source: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49298657,00.htm

The built-in 2.0 megapixel digital still and video camera has been designed in full retro style. Sadly however, it isn’t all that positive this time. Launching the camera application takes about 3 seconds, and if you want to take a picture next, even without autofocus or flash, you will have to wait another 4 seconds before you get to see a preview.

source: http://www.letsgomobile.org/en/review/0135...ova-test/page2/

The startup time sounds comparable to the Nokia N73

[HalfSquat]

Thanks Welo, I'll cross the C510 off the list. Wish I still had my K800i after reading that (and in general).