Poll: Will you buy the new 3G iPhone?

[B.Serum]

1. Yep, been waiting a year for this thing.
2. Nope.

[Infovore]

1. Absolutely. Can’t wait. My only complaint with the original was that it was bog-slow surfing the net, which is mostly what I use it for. Spouse works for Apple so I might even get a discount on it.
2. Yes.

[pulykamell]

@beowulff

I seriously doubt if a 5mpixel image from a 1/16" lens is any better than a 2mpixel image. Have you actually done any side-by-side comparisons?

This is my feeling as well. For a camera its size with the optics that it contains, 2 megapixels is more than enough. What’s the point of 5 million pixels, when it’s five million pixels of crap? I would say 5 MP is about all that’s practical on today’s compact point-and-shoots, much less on a camera phone. Anything beyond that is marketing fluff. (ETA: from what I’ve seen so far.)

[Polerius]

@pulykamell

This is my feeling as well. For a camera its size with the optics that it contains, 2 megapixels is more than enough. What’s the point of 5 million pixels, when it’s five million pixels of crap? I would say 5 MP is about all that’s practical on today’s compact point-and-shoots, much less on a camera phone. Anything beyond that is marketing fluff. (ETA: from what I’ve seen so far.)

No data comparisons for cell phone cameras, but I have a 4MP Nikon and an 8MP Canon point-and-shoot.

At normal display sizes (e.g. full-screen laptop), it is often hard to tell them apart. In some scenes, the 8MP is better. Also, the 8MP is better when you want to zoom in on a picture.

So, it seems that going from 4 MP to 8MP doesn’t buy you much, but for some reason I expect that going from 2MP to 4MP will buy you quite a bit, at least based on comparing cell-phone pics to the 4MP point-and-shoot pics (I know: apples and oranges)

[beowulff]

@Polerius

No data comparisons for cell phone cameras, but I have a 4MP Nikon and an 8MP Canon point-and-shoot.

At normal display sizes (e.g. full-screen laptop), it is often hard to tell them apart. In some scenes, the 8MP is better. Also, the 8MP is better when you want to zoom in on a picture.

So, it seems that going from 4 MP to 8MP doesn’t buy you much, but for some reason I expect that going from 2MP to 4MP will buy you quite a bit, at least based on comparing cell-phone pics to the 4MP point-and-shoot pics (I know: apples and oranges)

Take a look at the difference in the diameter of the two lenses, and remember that diffraction is directly proportional to the lens diameter.

[Polerius]

@beowulff

Take a look at the difference in the diameter of the two lenses, and remember that diffraction is directly proportional to the lens diameter.

The Nokia N95 seems to have a larger diameter lens that a usual cell-phone camera (and also better optics)

@wikipedia

Frontal CIF video call & Main rear 5 Megapixel camera with auto-focus, Carl Zeiss optics

so it is do-able to put a decent camera on a cell phone. (Although I haven’t seen actual photos taken on the N95)

[Asimovian]

Yay! I convinced my bosses to buy one for the office so we can test it out. Eventually, we might replace all of our Blackberries!

[Geek_Mecha]

1. I’m really, really tempted. It’s more phone than I need, but I like it a lot. It’s probably going to come down to how cheap their least expensive plan is.

2. No.

[atomicbadgerrace]

1. No. My phone does everything the iPhone does that I would want it to, and doesn’t require me to join AT&T. Plus, I text a lot, and IMO, texting on the iPhone is damn near impossible.

2. Nope.

[Dewey_Finn]

I’m very tempted to get it although the $30 per month is a bigger impediment than the $200 or $300 cost of the device.

[pulykamell]

@Polerius

The Nokia N95 seems to have a larger diameter lens that a usual cell-phone camera (and also better optics)

so it is do-able to put a decent camera on a cell phone. (Although I haven’t seen actual photos taken on the N95)

I haven’t seen the Nokia N95 images, but the N90 images are the only cell phone images I’ve seen that didn’t look like crap at full resolution. But I wouldn’t want my iPhone to have a 5MP camera. The 2MP image isn’t that great to begin with, and I certainly don’t want 5MP of that.

[ladyfoxfyre]

1. I’m thinking about it, since they’ve made some improvements on the original model that I despised. If I am able to add 3rd party apps, and they offer a decent data + texting plan (does the $30 plan cover data and texting? I’m paying $35 now for the unlimited plan already on AT&T, so $30 would be a discount for me), and they allow me to add it on to a family plan that I’m already part of, I will probably buy it. And if the Tilt doesn’t go down significantly by the time my contract renewal is up.

2. No.

[Ravenman]

1. I am obsessed with getting one. I can’t wait. I haven’t been this excited to buy something since I got my new custom fitted golf clubs last year. July 11 seems like an eternity from now. I can’t wait.

2. No. I held out for the 3G model.

I can’t wait to ditch my old RAZR. And I have AT&T already. Did I mention I can’t wait?

[Bambi_Hassenpfeffer]

1. Hell, no. Other than the 3G it does nothing that my current phone can’t do. Also, my current phone supports MMS (unlike the iPhone) because it was made after 2002 – MMS is essential for me, and the e-mail workaround on the iPhone would not meet my needs. In addition, the iPhone’s camera is much less capable than that of my phone.

2. No.

@Polerius

The thing that pisses me off is why do cell phones in the US (including the iPhone) only have 2 megapixel cameras? What is it about the economics of the US market that limits us to buying cell phones with crummy cameras compared to Korea, Japan and Europe?

This (among other things) is a big reason I stick with T-Mobile. They don’t care where my phone came from as long as the radio’s compatible. I’ve not bought my phone from T-Mobile since probably 2002.

@beowulff

I seriously doubt if a 5mpixel image from a 1/16" lens is any better than a 2mpixel image. Have you actually done any side-by-side comparisons?

@Polerius

The Nokia N95 seems to have a larger diameter lens that a usual cell-phone camera (and also better optics)

so it is do-able to put a decent camera on a cell phone. (Although I haven’t seen actual photos taken on the N95)

For some images that I’ve taken with my N95, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

You can also look on Flickr’s Camera Finder for the iPhone and the N95 for comparisons.

There is no doubt that my dedicated 10Mp camera takes better pictures. However, there is a visible difference in the quality between my N95 and pictures taken on other cellphones with lower-res cameras. It is easily the best camera I’ve had in a cellphone and I’m extremely happy with it.

My next phone will also be a Nokia Nseries, given how much I’ve enjoyed using them (my N70, N73, and N95) for the past few years. I admit that the UI on the iPhone is neat and shiny and immediately accessible, but the OS on my Nokias has been consistent and extremely usable since my first S60 phone I got in 2003. I’m quite happy with it, and most of the time, it just works right. When they release one that’s enough of an improvement over my N95, I’ll get it.

[cmyk]

1. Hell yes. Especially if I can sell my original iPhone for around $100. 3G & GPS here I come!

2. Yes, and it’s worked great over the last year.

[sandra_nz]

1. Possibly. My husband said this morning that O2 (the UK carrier) is offering ‘pay as you go’ plans which would seal the deal if it were true.
2. No.

[NinetyWt]

1. No. I have absolutely no use for it. I have a Nokia 3120 which does everything I need in a phone.

2. No. See above.

[pulykamell]

@Bambi Hassenpfeffer

However, there is a visible difference in the quality between my N95 and pictures taken on other cellphones with lower-res cameras.

I agree them’s some great photos for a cell phone camera. I don’t think it’s mostly a factor of the resolution, though, but the optics and the sensor.

Here’s an interesting article comparing the N73 (3.2 MP), N90 (2 MP), N93 (3.2 MP), N95 (5 MP), and Canon S3-IS (6 MP point-and-shoot).

There’s a lot of going back and forth and in-depth analysis of various pictures in the article, but the conclusion is thus:

From all these tests, one would have expected N95 with its 5MP sensor vs 3MP and 2MP could have taken down the competition in all respects. This is not the case, and we are seeing more often than less, that more mega pixels does not equate to a better quality image.

Also, the way that one approached noise reduction seems to be more important now a day, as it can improve or destroy a good image. What amazed me was the performance of the archaic N90. It seems its optic was revolutionary for its time, and definitely keeps up with current model super optic smart phones. The only real limiting factor of the N90 was its sensor. Apart from that, from the way the colours have been rendered and the ability to control noise to a certain extent to give a filmic appearance far surpasses the N95.

[…]

N95’s MP advantage is severely dampened by noise and noise reduction. So much so on occasions we found the N90 was able to reveal more detail than the N95. This was indeed a shock, but possibly a wake up call for a lot of N95 users out there, that their super 5MP sensor at times may not be producing a 5MP result.

Megapixels are important, but more megapixels does not necessarily mean better images and finer detail. One of the big problems is, technology being equal, images get noiser the smaller you make photosites (each pixel on the receptor).

[SenorBeef]

Megapixels is one of those things where the marketing terms have taken precedence over actual quality. Manufacturers are in a war to cram as many megapixels into a sensor as they can without actually improving the sensor quality. So it looks good to novice consumers (81258 megapixels! wow!) but their pictures aren’t much better than cameras with similar optics and fewer megapixels, and are worse than cameras with better optics even if they have fewer pixels.

[Bambi_Hassenpfeffer]

I know that more megapixels doesn’t mean better images. It is a combination of optics, sensor, resolution, and post-processing software in the camera. The N95 is among the best in cellphones for its camera.

However, it still is not as good as a dedicated camera. That I freely admit. I also freely admit that it takes terrible, grainy, noisy, near-useless night shots, unless it’s a close subject and you use the flash. Even then, they’re marginal at best.

But it’s still better than the iPhone’s fixed-focus 2MP camera, and it’s good enough for me most of the time.