The camera is SOO much worse than than the prev generation HTC phone!!

[Guest wikoogle]

The phone is the best phone ever made, except that it has one of the worst cameras I've ever used.

This is the first I've ever seen the next gen phone with a "better" 1 megapixel higher camera take much worse pictures than it's predeccesor.

This is for a number of reasons.

Paul I recall said that part of it is a software issue. If that's the case, is there anyway we can upgrade the software on it? Is a patch from at&t underway by chance.

But alas that's not the only reason I suspect...

The lens on the kaiser's camera is much tinier than it's predeccessor. The lens size is THE biggest factor in camera phones. Smaller lens means less light which translates to poorer quality pictures.

It makes no sense to me why HTC opted to use a much smaller lens for it's next generation phone with a better camera.

It doesn't have flash. So all the pictures come out way too dark except in low light situations.

No self portriat mirror. I like beign able to actually be in the pictures that I was taking. All HTC had to do was leave in the smll metal square on the back. How much could that have costed?

In addition, thanks to the autofocus feature and the small lens, the camera takes a lot longer to capture the picture, which means that its very easy that you move it even a tiny bit and the whole image comes out blurry.

HTC why couldn't you have please just kept in the same camera that was in the predeccesor with the bigger lens, flash and self portrait mirror? So what if it's 2.0 megapixel, the pictures still looked 5x better than anything I've managed to get out of these phone after having tried all sorts of different lighting situations and settings.

To add something positive to this post, here's the list of must install updates to the phone that I've found...

The HTC home screen with the large time/favorite people/weather/favorite programs/music functionality.

The HTC released task manager for the phone, great for closing programs running in the background and switching between programs.

PocketSnes emulator

Games: Xcom port, pocket humanity, other solid games

ClearTemp (MemMaid) - cleans up all the temp folders and registry on windows mobile. Mobile Flash Player from Sun Microsystems, Google Maps etc.

Edited October 14, 2007 by wikoogle

[Guest wikoogle]

I would be very interested in hearing from Paul about his thoughts on the camera.

Does he agree that it takes poorer quality pictures than it's predeccesor (I actually think it's extremely obvious it does if you've used both cameras).

Does he think it's because of the small lens and lack of flash, or just a software issue, or a bit of both (more likely imo).

If so, is there any way we can update/change the software so the pictures look a little bit better.

I don't have the space to carry a camera with me whereever I go, so I never bought a camera and have to rely on my phone to take semiadequate pictures when needed. The previous version of this phone took great pictures, which is what bums me out and really hope there is, or will be a software fix either from HTC or an independent developer. Definatley still worth the update though. Win 6.0, the better processor, GPS, newer look, are all awesome IMO.

Edited October 14, 2007 by wikoogle

[Guest Goldberg83]

I totaly agree, and I would like to know if a software update will improve the camera and the video recording as it is totaly@,.!£$%^

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

IMHO, I find the camera picture quality acceptable. Sure, it's still a 'phone camera', but it's OK for me.

P

[Guest wizzzard]

Why do you need a mirror when you have a front facing camera?

The camera is poor in low light levels but performance and quality improve as the light levels improve. All phone cameras need good light levels but the Kaiser cam does seem to be more fussy than others. Maybe a software update will improve things, only time will tell.

[Guest mikeeey]

the reason for all of your problems here is because of the lighting. the camera app has an automatic night mode, which always stays on. you notice then when you whip out your camera indoors and the framerate apppears fast at first but then you can see the night mode go into effect. Since the night mode is so laggy, it produces very blury pictures, however, take some pictures outside and you will find the pics are very crisp. If there was only a way to turn on and off the night mode, it would make things so much easier. i hope coolcamera will support the kaiser soon. i dont think theyve even released a build in 2007 yet have they?

about PocketSnes, i found it was slow on my kaiser, that is, with sound. without sound it ran 60/60fps. the reason is PocketSnes doesnt support the Kaiser's chip, so it doesnt really know what to do with it. It basicly sees it as a 200mhz Omap CPU, cuz that's the performance I'm getting.

another issue i found, is the touchscreen with games and apps, it lags when you press for too long. i hear this is a problem with all samsung cpus (along with qualcomm too i guess)? has there been a driver fix for this?

1 last thing...The D-pad, i made a topic about it here:

http://www.modaco.com/content/Pocket-PC-Ge...oard-is-opened/

"when i open the keyboard and try to play a game (or even launch programs) in landscape left mode, usually up and down is now left and right and left and right is up and down. the only way to solve this problem is to remap the keys all weird, that is if the program lets you. mostly only emulators will let you do that. has anyone else experianced the same problem? im sure it's easy to fix. "

Edited October 27, 2007 by mikeeey

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Er, if you tap the screen and change 'white balance', isn't that manually selecting night mode?

P

[Guest mikeeey]

Er, if you tap the screen and change 'white balance', isn't that manually selecting night mode?

P

not quite. if you recall on the sp5 there was selectable night mode, aswell as changing the white balance.

you notice on the kaiser you start it up and it's darker but the framerate is better, then imediatly the night mode goes into effect.

[Guest Ypocaramel]

It's hard to effectively utilize LED flashes in general - short range and tint are the problems here. Not having an LED flash means you have to use a lower (really low) shutter speed, which leads to more blur. Now, either your own hand blurs the image - it shakes - or the moving subject does. If you rest the Tilt on a stable surface, you can elminate a lot of hand shake blur, but there's still moving subject blur. Also, slowing the shutter speed down has its limits, since a flash can brighten stuff from total darkness. Yet, if you can get the white balance right and not use flash, the results from the non-flash image will probably be less washed out than the flash image.

Image quality is mainly broken down into the size of lens and the sensor - seperate components that are correlated, the quality of each (big is not always quality), as well as the processing software. Lenes that have more elements will cut down on some of the leakage seen in the Kaiser,

Edited October 28, 2007 by Ypocaramel

[Guest kaysaibu]

I am so glad someone else said something, I've been searching online to see if anyone else noticed the excessive blurring in recording videos. I am so disappointed. The camera quality on my treo 680 was way better . It is blurry regardless if I'm, moving or if the object is moving especially indoors. If you find any software to fix this. Please let me know. Thanks so much. I share your pain.

The phone is the best phone ever made, except that it has one of the worst cameras I've ever used.

This is the first I've ever seen the next gen phone with a "better" 1 megapixel higher camera take much worse pictures than it's predeccesor.

This is for a number of reasons.

Paul I recall said that part of it is a software issue. If that's the case, is there anyway we can upgrade the software on it? Is a patch from at&t underway by chance.

But alas that's not the only reason I suspect...

The lens on the kaiser's camera is much tinier than it's predeccessor. The lens size is THE biggest factor in camera phones. Smaller lens means less light which translates to poorer quality pictures.

It makes no sense to me why HTC opted to use a much smaller lens for it's next generation phone with a better camera.

It doesn't have flash. So all the pictures come out way too dark except in low light situations.

No self portriat mirror. I like beign able to actually be in the pictures that I was taking. All HTC had to do was leave in the smll metal square on the back. How much could that have costed?

In addition, thanks to the autofocus feature and the small lens, the camera takes a lot longer to capture the picture, which means that its very easy that you move it even a tiny bit and the whole image comes out blurry.

HTC why couldn't you have please just kept in the same camera that was in the predeccesor with the bigger lens, flash and self portrait mirror? So what if it's 2.0 megapixel, the pictures still looked 5x better than anything I've managed to get out of these phone after having tried all sorts of different lighting situations and settings.

To add something positive to this post, here's the list of must install updates to the phone that I've found...

The HTC home screen with the large time/favorite people/weather/favorite programs/music functionality.

The HTC released task manager for the phone, great for closing programs running in the background and switching between programs.

PocketSnes emulator

Games: Xcom port, pocket humanity, other solid games

ClearTemp (MemMaid) - cleans up all the temp folders and registry on windows mobile. Mobile Flash Player from Sun Microsystems, Google Maps etc.

[Guest nixy]

I am so glad someone else said something, I've been searching online to see if anyone else noticed the excessive blurring in recording videos. I am so disappointed. The camera quality on my treo 680 was way better . It is blurry regardless if I'm, moving or if the object is moving especially indoors. If you find any software to fix this. Please let me know. Thanks so much. I share your pain.

:(

AGREE WITH YOU 100%. The camera of the Treo (Original!) was / is so much better!

Anyway.....keeping on the subject of the Kaiser camera......

it is AWFUL beyond words. It is THE worst camera I have EVER seen and tested that has been incorporated into a PDA / phone unit of this type that I have owned. I have had more than my fair share of phones and can not understand why this model has been put together with such a flawed piece of hardware (and driver/software/various rubbish )camera hardware.

I could have cried the other day having waited so long, to receive the KAISER and to find how blooming screwed up and unfinished or at least RUSHED OUT FOR PRODUCTION. out that also there is NO denying it has many good features, that the one feature that made its predecessor stand out from the HTC crowd was indeed lacking on this model.

Why they (HTC) could not have simply left the camera alone and kept the TYNT build is beyond me.

Has it crossed anyone else's mind, that at some point after they put a test unit together prior to mass production, the guys at HTC would have at some point tested ALL the function ability and various hard ware!!! My point being HOW THE HECK DID THE CAMERA SLIP PAST THE QC OR WHAT EVER IT IS CALLED....and how on earth did someone at HTC in charge of giving the model the green-light, think it was worthy of putting into production.

Taking the camera, the loose slide of the keyboard that needs to ideally "click" into place after being used and not simply slide into nowhere land allowing it to accidentally be moved whilst the unit is being hld or hardware buttons are pressed (keep going HTC we have moved away from BLUE ANGEL days but have someway to go as yet!!!)

And also the fact that video playback is crap beyond crap is amazing to! I've only had my unit for a matter of several days and already I have learned my fair share of points thanks to reading whatever I can find on XDA-DEV and the odd snip it of semi biased positive feedback and / or reviews (no offense but some "people" DO come across as key lickers of the HTC company no matter what is churned out.)

I digress. I am disabled so kick me down for my veiws by all means but lay of the typos or errors in my context. Thanks.