PDA/Smartphone reviews?

[Franglais]

Looking back on this heady week where both Nikon and Canon made mouth-watering announcements, I have to confess - I haven't used my D200 since the end of June. I haven't had much opportunity. I've been stuck in Paris most of the time (big project on), the weather has been pretty bad. But mostly - I've been working on my Salsa. I find it terribly difficult - when you're a Man you have to lead which means remembering the moves, decide what to do next, amuse the girl plus make her look like she knows how to danse (that's the hardest part).

So serious photography has dropped out of my priorities and most of the time the only thing I have had on me that vaguely resembles a camera is my HTC Touch PDA. Ridiculous. Or not? Perhaps we should have a reviews section on these things, though I don't know what to write about it.

Here are some results:

1. From last night, my car parked IN FRONT OF THE CLUB I was going to. This is a really rare event that I had to shoot it
2. Sunday afternoon down beside the river Seine
3. I made one excursion to a Salsa festival in the south of France. Scene from one of the dance halls
4. Same place, town center. Those a can danse, do. Those who can't - watch

[Photo-John]

I whipped this up for you, real quick like:

Camera Phone Reviews >>

:thumbsup:

We've had that review section for at least a couple of years. But it's seen almost no activity. I really couldn't say why. It's probably because the camera phone user is not usually a photography enthusiast. I was hoping the review section would pull new users into the site. But I don't think it did. I'm not sure how up to date it is, either. If your phone is in there, it would be great if you posted a review. If not, I can add it for you.

This really is a good discussion. Some of you might recall that I got the N95 5-megapixel camera phone from Nokia, at PMA. I have been meaning to write a short article on that phone and converging camera and phone technology. But I haven't gotten around to it. Maybe now is the time. Really, it's a variation on the DSLR vs point-and-shoot discussion. The issues are accessibility vs quality. And the decision has more to do with the user than the device. The truth is, more people buy and use camera phones than any other type of camera. They care about quality. But not that much. They just want "good enough." I made 8.5x11 inch test prints from the Nokia N95 files and they looked like crap to me. But I showed them to our CEO and some other people in the office and they were really impressed. To them, the prints were great because they came from a camera phone that could be carried with them all the time.

[Franglais]

Hi,

Thanks but it's not on your list. It looks like HTC don't sell in the States, or at least not under that name.

Here is a link to the HTC Touch : http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_htctouch.htm

It's not just a telephone. It's a full-blown Windows Mobile 6 PDA. I could write pages about its business and communications related functions (that's part of my job), but I guess that for PR I'd better stick to its possibilities for photography.

[pympster]

My dad has the HTC touch, its basicly a better functioning I-phone in my opninon!! and its tiny and very sexy!!!!

[Franglais]

My dad has the HTC touch, its basicly a better functioning I-phone in my opninon!! and its tiny and very sexy!!!!

When I get it out in the subway to revise my Salsa videos people keep on wanting to see it.

For business users it's much more than an I-phone. You can connect it directly to the Corporation EXCHANGE server and stay permanently connected to your EMail, Agenda, Tasks, User Directory, etc. It's like a Blackberry - except that you don't require any extra servers to make it work. Microsoft have the technology lead.

As an aid to productivity it's great. As a camera - I find it's the equivalent of a throw-away film camera.