Neither of the two devices can compete with a run-of-the-mill digital camera(except maybe with these horrible Olympus E520 sample images on TamsPalm). This article does not assume highly professional intentions,l but rather considers “for-kicks” photography…

Austrians currently suffer under the strain of the European Soccer Championship. Vienna is one of the host cities and this has a so-called fan zone where fans are herded together to be a$$ed out of 6$/pint of beer.

Yours truly decided to use this unique opportunity(loads of light and folks) for a shootout between two completely different devices. On the left side, we have the Palm Centro(1.3MP camera without autofocus). On the right side, we have Nokia’s now-dethroned camera phone king aka the N95 8GB. Who will get out on top(click images for full versions)?

The first motive was a batch of merry cops. The Centro suffers from blown-out highlights, whereas thje Nokia N95 8GB manages to deliver a superior image after a few seconds(which, ironically, was enough time for a cheeky fan to run into my frame):

Photographing the stage was more fun with the Centro(as it worked faster). The N95 8GB’s long focusing time makes spontaneous photography difficult:

Photographing fans is easy with both devices - the Centro handles better, though:

“Aerial” photography from the press tower is one of the things the N95 8GB does really well. As there is little movement, the long focusing delay is no issue - and the 5MP resolution definitely makes a difference(look at the trees in the second image):

Indoors, the Centro did a better job keeping a somewhat sane color balance(the N95’s image is too light). Noise-wise, neither of the two performed honorable:

Finally, a shot of yours truly after all the carnage. The N95 8GB excels here - look at a big version of the image to see what I mean(look at the shirt):

In the end, the Nokia N95 8GB delivers superior images: they are sharper, less noisy, have more detail and generally look much better. However, its slow “modus vivendi” sometimes made me feel warm about the Centro - its images are usable for small prints, and can be generated “on the fly” without any focusing delays…

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Tam Hannas PalmOS blog - TamsPalm for short - has been founded in November 2004 and has been an enormous success ever since. Covering different topics concerning Palm handheld users, it has received lots of attention from the community! Currently, nine authors supply first class content.

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