Now that we have two 5.0-megapixel camera phones being offered in the US through subsidized pricing (T-mobile Motorola ZN5 and Samsung Behold SGH-T919) we are finally closing in on a device which will perform well enough to leave the digital camera at home. While we are still years away from replacing our DSLR, today we are going to look at 4 cell phones which are a good representation of the current imaging capabilities on the market: T-mobile Samsung Behold (SGH-T919), HTC Touch Diamond, Nokia E71 and Apple iPhone 3G.

About This Test

For testing purposes we used a standard point-and-shoot Canon Powershot SD20 as the baseline for comparison and ultimately our goal in camera phone imaging.  To ensure that each device received proper representation we used automatic settings with the exception of close-up (macro) mode where applicable.  We took 4 photographs from each situation and used the best image as our final result. 

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T-mobile Samsung Behold (SGH-T919)

First up for our camera phone shootout is the 5.0-megapixel (2560 x 1920 pixels) Samsung Behold.  The Behold features a LED flash and autofocus and there are 4 different effects that can be applied when taking pictures: Black and White, Sepia, Negative and Water Color, of course the default setting has these disabled.  To help adjust your pictures for the proper setting you can adjust the White Balance to Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent or Cloudy.  Rounding out the camera settings is the Scene selection where you can choose between Portrait, Landscape, Night, Sports, Sunset or Dawn.

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Sprint HTC Touch Diamond

While the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond lacks the flash seen on the Touch Pro, it still delivers a 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus.  Unlike the GSM version, the Sprint Touch Diamond does not offer the secondary VGA CMOS camera.  Within the settings are options to change White Balance, Brightness, a Self Timer or Advanced Settings (GrayScale, Sepia or Negative photo options).

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Nokia E71

The second 3.2-megapixel camera (3.15 according to Nokia.com and 3.2 on the back of the phone) phone is the the Nokia E71.  With autofocus and LED flash, the E71 comes from a long line of excellent devices and while it does not share the 5-megapixel camera found in the N Series, our expectations are high.  Scene modes include Auto, User Define, Close-up mode, Portrait, Landscape, Night or Night portrait.

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Apple iPhone 3G

Most of you are probably a bit tired of seeing the iPhone 3G mentioned for device comparisons and I can’t blame you, but out of all the 2-megapixel camera phones we have used it still delivers the best picture quality.  The lack of flash and imaging options puts it at a clear disadvantage compared to the rest of the competition, but surprisingly the results speak for themselves.

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Our Results

We will let the pictures do most of the talking, but we were a bit disappointed with the performance of the Nokia E71.  Coming from the N95, E90 and N82, we had high expectations for the device but unfortunately despite excellent looking pictures on screen, it had trouble matching the other 3 devices.  Based on the collection of photos for each device we would rate them as follows (best to worst): Samsung Behold, HTC Touch Diamond, Apple iPhone 3G, Nokia E71.