Infosynch rates five great camera phones; the swiveling Samsung SCH-A990, the Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman phone, the Nokia N80, Nokia N90 and the just-announced Nokia N75.
Samsung SCH-A990 ($350 - $400)
With its 3.2-megapixel camera and swiveling display, the 3G-enabled Samsung SCH-A990 takes some of the sharpest pictures we’ve seen from a U.S. camera phone. Unfortunately, this somewhat bulky clamshell stumbles with Verizon Wireless’ clunky V Cast Music player and its lack of a USB cable and stereo earbuds.Sony Ericsson W810i ($150 - $200)
Picking up where the W800i left off, the offers improved music navigation in tandem with the same excellent music management capabilities and decent amount of bundled memory as its predecessor. Out-of-box audio quality is on par with the high standards we’ve come to except from the handset maker, while we’re slightly disappointed by the lack of stereo Bluetooth audio. These niggles aside, the W810i makes for a stellar music phone with side servings of a 2-megapixel camera and EDGE.Nokia N80 ($600)
The Nokia N80 camera phone lines up a brilliant high-resolution screen and 3 Megapixel-pushing camera only to put its foot in its mouth seconds later through the absence of an autofocus, which hampers its ability to produce quality stills with predictive consistency. Although it also includes the most extensive line-up of printing, publishing and image management services of any camera phone to date, it still falls marginally short of its N90 predecessor - yet retains broader overall appeal due to its music, business and wireless photo streaming functionality, rendering it a superb 3G phone.Nokia N90 ($300 - $600)
As the first camera phone to apply proper optics along with a mix of a quality 2-megapixel sensor, a brilliant high-resolution screen and a good selection of image management software, it’s no wonder Nokia’s N90 is best-in-class. Granted, it’s also an unwieldy beast, but this allows for a more flexible approach to snapping pictures and recording video due to its ability to shape-shift for shooting from the hip. Its external display isn’t of much use, however, and we certainly yearn for better synchronization to back up its decent amount of storage.Nokia N75 (December 2006)
The N75 (which we checked out Tuesday in New York City) boasts a wide range of music options. We liked the dedicated buttons on its clamshell lid that control the music player. The UMTS-enabled device has an integrated FM radio, and also support for downloading lists of local radio stations to help you find the right station. Bluetooth 2.0 on the phone supports the A2DP protocol for stereo Bluetooth headset support. The N75 packs some of the advanced features of its not-for-U.S. big brother, the N95, including the potent Nokia S60 web browser, GPS navigation functions, and 3-D graphics for upcoming games based on Nokia’s N-Gage platform.
InfoSynch also offers their picks on the Top 15 Business phones including Cingular’s 3125 flip phone, Cingular 8125 Smartphone, T-Mobile MDA, T-Mobile Dash, the BlackBerry Pearl, Motorola Q, Palm’s Treo 700p and Palm’s Treo 700wx, Nokia’s sleek E62 and the 3G Samsung IP-830w.
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