Apple iPhone 3G S

Still Features (5.47)

Along with the added feature of video recording, Apple also significantly improved the still image capability on the iPhone 3G S. The phone can take 3-megapixel stills and the same spot focus system that works in video mode also works for photos. All photos are captured at 2048 x 1536 and there are no size or quality options to choose from.

The still image export options

Photos can be exported to MobileMe or sent via email just like videos can (see the Editing section of this review). You can also assign photos to people in your phone contact list and set images as the background wallpaper on the phone. The phone does have MMS capability, but AT&T is not yet allowing them to go through. The option should be available later this summer.

Photos can also be played as a slide show on the iPhone 3G S. Transition settings and speed options can be set so you can configure exactly how you want the phone to playback your photos.

Photos can viewed as a slide show...		... with various transition options.

Still Colour (7.03)

The iPhone's still colour results weren't much different than its video colour scores. The phone measured a colour error of 4.98 with a saturation level of 120.7%. This is slightly more saturation than we saw in the video test, but the colour accuracy is about the same. (More on how we test still colour.)

The still photography colour error map: the length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular colour.

The phone oversaturated red colours, which is something we've seen throughout our testing with the product. Portions of the image also appeared dark and underexposed, which you can see in our sample image below. Compared to the Samsung Omnia, the iPhone 3G S was okay, but not quite as good. The Samsung offers numerous controls for fine tuning its photos (white balance pre-sets, exposure levels, etc.) and it can take photos at a number of different resolutions—with 5-megapixels being the maximum.

iPhone 3G S Still Colour Comparisons
iPhone 3G S	Samsung Omnia

Still Noise (2.07)

Noise levels on the iPhone's still images was higher than we expected it would be. The phone measured 1.08% noise in our tests, which is almost double what the Samsung Omnia scored. Since the iPhone had such low noise levels in our video testing we expected it to do better in this category. (More on how we test still noise.)

Still Sharpness (0.0)

While the iPhone 3G S is capable of taking 3-megapixel images, the photos themselves didn't do very well in our still sharpness testing. For horizontal sharpness, the phone managed 1139 lw/ph with 26.9% undersharpening. Vertical sharpness was almost the same, with 1181 lw/ph and 26% undersharpening. These are decent line widths per picture height measurements, but the undersharpening is too high. This effectively makes the images softer and more difficult to work with in Photoshop or another image editing program.  (More on how we test still sharpness.)