T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide Review - Photographers Wanted

How does all this actually translate to taking pictures? Quite well, actually. I took the Slide with me to a BMW CCA Concours event with a friend of mine, and it gave me some really, really impressive looking images. I had the G2x with me at the same time, and while the G2x camera isn’t particularly good, it looks downright bad next to the MyTouch. Great cars, great pictures. The conditions were absolutely perfect that day, especially by Seattle standards, so it’s unsurprising. 

Aston Martin V8 Vantage @ 12PM. Taken in Automatic mode.

When you take pictures in more mixed conditions, they’re not quite as stellar, but still significantly better than a vast majority of smartphone cameras. I’d still put the Nokia N8 at the top (and the N9 even higher when it releases), but this definitely in the conversation for second best, along with the Galaxy S II (which we’re still testing). I’m willing to say the Slide can replace a point and shoot without too much difficulty during the day, it really is that good. 

Seattle Skyline @ 12AM. Taken in Night mode, fully automatic settings

Seattle Skyline @ 12AM. Taken in Manual mode, incandescent white balance and ISO 800

The problem is night-time photography. The white balance in low-light situations is way too red in any of the automatic modes (auto, night, HDR), but you can set the white balance and ISOs in Manual mode. That fixes the light balance, but there’s still a lot of noise in the images when viewed at full resolution. It’s a bit disappointing, but there’s simply no way to get enough light to a sensor that small. I shouldn’t complain too much though, because it’s better than most of the other cell phone cameras out there. 

Chicago downtown @ 6PM. Taken in HDR mode, fully automatic settings. Image courtesy of Nitin Seemakurty.

ClearShot HDR basically takes three pictures in quick sequence with three different exposures, then digitally merges them to get high dynamic range. Unfortunately, this issue with white balance means that HDR is basically unusable at night. I really like the night-time HDR effect, so I was a bit crestfallen, but the HDR effect is pretty gorgeous at dawn and dusk, as you can see in the image above. The friend I mentioned earlier took the that picture in downtown Chicago at around 6PM, and I honestly found it difficult to believe that came out of a phone camera. My own HDR images, while not necessarily as stunning as my friend’s picture, are decent. I noticed some overdarkening with clouds in the daytime, but it's not too big of a deal. 

Seattle downtown @ 10PM. Taken in HDR mode, fully automatic settings.

Also, if you’re not necessarily very good at keeping a steady hand with the physical camera button, you might end up with something like what you see below. Yay for ghosting....this is why I stick to software buttons. This is also true if you’re shooting a dynamic object, like the water in the first downtown Chicago picture. 

The view of Lake Union from my apartment @ 3PM. Taken shakily in HDR mode, fully automatic settings.

BurstShot is just a rapid fire, 5 frame burst. It’s good if you want to capture a quick motion sequence, but also if you’re trying to get the best picture out of a set. 

SweepShot is a fancy marketing term for a digitally stitched panorama. Hit the camera button then slowly rotate either left or right, and it’ll just fill the bar for you. 5 seconds later, you have a panoramic image of the Seattle skyline (in my case) or whatever else suits your fancy. 

The view from the roof of my apartment building @ 5AM. Taken in Panorama mode.

Now, for the other sensor. All of my sample images were taken with the Sony IMX105 sensor, which shoots 8MP pictures at 3264x1840 in widescreen and 3264x2448 in 4:3. My friend’s widescreen pictures come out at 3232x1824, even though the camera application specs the same resolutions as with the Sony sensor. His pictures don’t tell me much, other than he’s a better photographer than I am (or he shoots more picturesque subjects than I do - metropolitan skylines will always be better sample images than cars, but hey, I like cars more than buildings). It also reaffirms my feeling that given the right  conditions, the Slide can take really, really brilliant pictures. 

Images courtesy of Nitin Seemakurty.

The front facing camera is the same Micron/Aptina MT9V113 1/11” VGA CMOS sensor as the Sensation. Unlike LG’s front facing cameras, this one is oriented such that the output isn’t flipped, as demonstrated by the image sample of my Barcelona jersey. As with the Sensation, quality is pretty mediocre, but it’ll be solid enough for videochatting.