Nokia N90 camera review: Exceeding the expectations

Taking photos is not the end of the game

The bottom context key opens camera's main menu. The switch to video mode option is the first to appear. Further on, you can view all pictures in the gallery, go to the settings of the camera functions as well as activate the sequence shooting option. In this mode it is possible to record a series of as much as 6 pictures in a full resolution. The main menu also contains a reference to the self-timer option.

Picture gallery • view at a selected picture • beside other options, pictures can also be sent

The setting menu allows you to make a resolution or memory setting. You can also set the camera to display the picture after it has been taken or save it into the album. The album is nothing but a file in the picture gallery. Of course, you are free to create as many albums as you like. They will help you put all your pictures in the desirable order.

Filing a picture into the album • album list • viewing the album (the view is identical to the one in the gallery, in this particular album there is only one picture)

Not only can you place pictures into albums. The camera allows you to carry on far more daring things. Nokia N90 offers an easy-to-use picture editor, which is really good if you consider the fact that it is basically a mobile phone we are talking about. Selected picture can be cropped, resampled or turned upside down. You can give it a frame, decorated it with an animated picture (clip-art) or with text. A nice surprise is the option for setting the font size, color and incline angle. To your wish you can also modify the brightness and the contrast in the pictures as well as apply color effects or the so called Comics effect, which turns the photo into a drawing. Well, I have kept the best of it all for the end, and here it comes...If you remain disappointed by the flash option for red eyes reduction, the editor offers you another option to eliminate the red eye effect. The editor comes especially handy when you send MMS.

Function menu of the picture editor • graphics selection • selecting font color

Picture modification with better graphics and text • applying Comics effect • applying inverse color filter

When the pictures start moving

You will surely agree that this camera would have not been a modern one if it was not equipped to shoot video. Nokia N90 shoots videos in MP4 format in a resolution of 352 × 288 pixels. The length of the video record depends on the size of the memory available. A lower resolution or the 3GP format that allows the pictures to be sent in a MMS is also available.

Viewfinder in video mode • video setting options

The viewfinder in the video mode is the same like the one in the camera mode. Logically, the info about the number of the remaining pictures gets replaced by details about the remaining time. In the down right corner an icon of the video resolution and format is displayed. In the upper left corner you will see a sign saying that you have activated the video mode. Zoom can be used during the shooting process too.

Video camera's main menu • mode selection • video options

The menu has been somewhat reduced. When you shoot a video, you can choose between two scenic modes - a normal and a night one. Further on, you can balance the white color as well as apply color effects. From the main menu you can enter the gallery or go to the video settings, where you can choose a format, turn off the sound recoding or select memory in order to save your record.

I have made several sample records, whose quality was surprisingly high. Recording was good and the final video was completely fluent. Well, you can find this out yourselves:

• Video 1 - new tram (MP4, 351 kB) (zip file)

• Video 2 - old tram (MP4, 482 kB) (zip file)

• Video 3 - ambulance (MP4, 1.9 MB) (zip file)

• Video 4 - crossroads whirl (MP4, 2.4 MB) (zip file)

• Video 5 - lower resolution and 3GP format (3GP, 125 kB)

Let us now stop these endless explanations and present you the next two chapters, in which I am offering you a big amount of sample photos in full resolution as well as comparable photos taken with a classic camera - Canon G6.