For all its innovative sexiness, there was no flash, no zoom, and transferring pictures to your computer was slower than installing Windows.
The sweet spot appears to be 8-megapixel PureView shots with little to no zoom -- this provides the ideal conditions for pixel oversampling to do its magic.
ENGADGET: Nokia 808 PureView review: the future of mobile imaging, wrapped in the smartphone past
Both new members of the CE line feature those standard 3x optical zooms that have become so tiresome along with 2.36-inch TFT LCDs (no viewfinder here), while the 5300 sports a 2.0-inch LCD and seemingly no optical zoom.
Like we said before: no pinch to zoom, but given the shape and texture of the surface, we're not sure we could pull it off even if the software allowed for it.
ENGADGET: New iMac and Magic Mouse unboxing and quick hands-on
The idea is that it gives much better quality shots when you zoom in compared to a normal camera phone, which matters because there is no room for a big zoom lens on a typical mobile.
CNN: Google and super-powerful phones the stars of mobile show
No more attempting to zoom back in once you've zoomed out.
ENGADGET: Nokia Drive offline navigation review: taking the Lumia 900 for an off-the-grid spin
Since there's no pinch-to-zoom, you're stuck using the on-screen buttons or double-tapping, which in our experience didn't work as flawlessly as we would've liked.
Now, we can live with a browser or Google Maps with no pinch-to-zoom, but not having a hardware keyboard hamstrings this device in other ways.
In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality.
FORBES: Links 6 Jan: Why Can't Windows Phone Get Google Maps? Because IE Isn't Good Enough
The Kin additionally shares the Zune HD's browser engine, a hybrid of IE 7 and 8 that features pinch-to-zoom but has no support for Flash or Silverlight.
There's a reason, of course -- the current e-ink technology is simply not built for web browsing -- the page refreshes a lot during scrolling, images don't look great and in the case of the Kobo, there's no pinch-to-zoom, so you've got to rely on an ever-present slider on the bottom to make things larger.
ENGADGET: Kobo Glo review: another illuminated e-reader lights up the market
With Super Resolution technology, double the digital zoom is available, with virtually no image degradation.
ENGADGET: Olympus Stylus TG-625 Tough adds AF light for tricky shots in rough situations
Each sports a 12x optical zoom lens (made by Leica, no less), though only the FZ5 (which is pictured above) gets its LCD bumped up to 1.8-inches.
ENGADGET: Panasonic's latest digicams: The Lumix DMC-FZ5, DMC-FZ4, DMC-LZ2, DMC-LZ1, and DMC-LS1
Yet, despite the superior specifications of my own solid shooter, I was often quite jealous of the shots she was able to achieve, thanks in no small part to the RX100's optical zoom.
ENGADGET: IRL: Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 and the full-frame RX1
The shinkansen zoom out of the city centre, with no reservations needed.
Using a joystick, a geographer can float above the Earth, then zoom in on the bottom of Lake Tahoe, with no loss of detail.
The 8600s is a eight megapixel shooter with an impressive 6x optical zoom and large 2.8-inch LCD, although no video mode it seems.
ENGADGET: Vivitar intros 6 megapixel 6150s and 8 megapixel 8600s at PMA
The KONICA MINOLTA HD LENS assures high quality images, while a 40x Optical Zoom enables close-up shots from far away, with no sacrifice in optical quality.
应用推荐