On paper and in name the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a music phone through and through. But today most phones are required to be chameleons, changing their capabilities to cater to as many people as possible. As such the presence of a 3.2 megapixel camera integrated into the 5800 should come as no surprise. Although the 5800 is not attempting to replace standalone digital cameras with its own device, it does bring perfectly acceptable quality and a host of good software features to the table in order to make the pictures that you do take worth holding on to.

The Nokia 5800 camera makes use of the 3.2 inch touch screen to provide a full screen view finder. This makes framing your shots and then getting instant previews of the pictures that you have taken easy. The lens technology comes from Carl Zeiss and this means that although the 3.2 megapixel image resolution is not pushing towards top of the range performance, you do get better image quality and fidelity than you might on other smartphones. Further technical capabilities include the 3x digital zoom, allowing you to pick out far off objects or tighten in on your subjects without moving about. You also get dual LED flashes to eliminate the issues of low lighting levels, which can leave phones that lack flashes with very poor results in the twilight hours.

Before you take your pictures you can apply a range of filters to make them look artistic or funny. However, taking the pictures is just the start. Once you have an image onboard, you can edit it on the 5800 without having to rely on a separate computer to do the job for you. You can resize images, crop out areas of the picture that you do not want and apply a general fixing tool to reduce glare, improve brightness and generally apply a bit of professional sheen to hastily captured pictures.

If you do want to transfer your photos to your PC, the Ovi Suite is the perfect software package for doing so. It is easy to organise your photos and then upload them to your preferred social networking site or blog to share amongst like minded individuals. Of course the inclusion of a microSD memory card port makes your Nokia 5800 camera even more versatile, allowing you to expand the internal memory, capture thousands of photos and then share them with friends or upload them later.

The Nokia 5800 camera can capture video as well as photos and with a capture resolution of 640×480 at 30fps possible, you can get some high quality clips out of this phone. In addition, you can record for up to 90 minutes in a row, depending on the amount of storage space you have left. The result could be an entire feature film if you are feeling creative, or a whole host of clips charting your life and exploits. You can zoom in digitally when recording video as well, which is something that other phones often lack. Video editing software is built into the 5800 and you can chop up your clips in any manner desired, as well as being able to add in your own soundtrack and insert titles. Once you have created your masterpiece, you can upload it to your PC and then use it as you wish.

The Nokia 5800 camera is a great all-rounder. It will not match up to standalone digital cameras or camcorders, but then it is not really trying. It attempts to offer you as much functionality as possible without drastically increasing the cost of the mobile phone as a whole and it meets this target totally.

Tags: camera, nokia, nokia 5800

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on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 6:06 am and is filed under Mobile Phones.
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