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As we have already mentioned above, a camera in a handheld is rather a matter of prestige than a necessity. Until scientists find a way to con optical laws, the quality of pictures taken by miniature cameras will be low. No "multi-pixels" can help in this trouble. These days, 1.3 megapixels come into fashion with photo resolution of up to 1280x960. Similar cameras are installed in palmOne Zire 72, ASUS MyPal A730. At first the quality of photos taken by LOOX 720 seems a tad higher than in those competitors. In particular, the color noise is not that noticeable. But if you take a closer look, you will notice that the image is blurred. Perhaps, the photo processing algorithm includes a blur step to make the color noise less noticeable. Such a photo looks much better on a handheld display. On the contrary, the blur filter is evident on a large display. Photo samples: (click a photo to enlarge it)
Standard camera settings (brightness, contrast, etc). There is also a parody of a flash (LED) and a self-portrait mirror. Ultra-close-up mode is not available (infinity focusing).
The camera can shoot 288x352 video clips. Initial admiration at the file extension (mp4) was replaced by the utter disappointment: it's the same 3GPP inside. Video sample is here.
We should mention another camera mode: patterned shooting. Good old fun is back again. 960x1280 file can be used as a pattern, black pixels on a picture will be replaced with the pixels taken by the camera. This function is much fun, though useless.
So, we have got a standard set for a top handheld.
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