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The Sony Ericsson Zylo's camera appears modest right from the outset. The 3.2-megapixel sensor is a big step back in terms of pixel count from the likes of Satio, or even the Aino.
However, the iPhone 4 has reminded everyone that it's more than just number of dots that makes a good phone camera, so we were still hopeful of some fine images from the Zylo.
There are a few options when taking pictures, like Panorama and Burst modes, not scene modes (like portrait, landscape, sports and so on), save for the solitary Night mode.
The white balance and metering can be adjusted, though we doubt you'll ever touch them, really. You can also add a few effects (Black & White, Negative and Sepia).
Video recording is available, along with the ability to upload to YouTube easily from the phone.
Video is output at 640 x 480 and 30 frames per second, and you have the option of recording in MPEG4 for PC playback, or lower quality for sending over MMS.
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LANDSCAPE: There's no detail in the trees, no detail in the grass and the greens are all washed out. Not an auspicious start
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NO DETAIL: This young bird was fluffy. Its wings had lots of texture. That's all gone
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CLOSE-UP: When it comes to the flower in the mid-ground, they're actually fairly sharp and colourful. Sadly, we were trying to take a picture of the big blurry one at the front
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COLOUR: You can barely see where one flower ends an another begins. In any case, even these colours are a bit flat – none of the vibrancy the real display had
Ultimately, we were very unimpressed with the camera's output. The video quality doesn't really acquit itself any better.
Very little in this scene has any definition, including the grass and trees. The 30fps recording gets the cyclists' motion fairly smoothly, but they all have a fuzzy trail of artefacts just behind them, which is a sign of the compression in the codec just not being able to keep with the movement.
It also seems to struggle to pick up much light. Any significant amount of shade causes all information to disappear, leaving just a murky blackness where there really should be some sort of detail.
Similarly, though it was overcast when we took the video, it wasn't as grey as the washed-out colours in the video might lead you to believe.
