TP2: Camera Resolution Does Matter

A few of us had the opportunity to spend some quality time with a TP2 recently and one of us even bought one (not me…yet:)). When we compared notes we all had a similar experience with the camera quality. Now we’re going to provide you guys with a rundown of our thoughts on the TP2 but I think this one is pretty significant so it’s getting it’s own post:)

Despite having the same 3.2 megapixel camera quality the end result was different. Let’s separate video and still photo quality for a second here. Something that’s very significant and many people may not realize is that when the Touch Pro 2 takes video it records at 4 times the resolution of the Touch Pro/Fuze. The Fuze takes video at QVGA (320×240) while the Touch Pro 2 records at VGA (640×480). The results are a lot clearer and crisper video. This is most noticeable when you move a video to your PC and play it full screen and there’s a lot more detail and far less grain as expected. Of course, playback on the TP2 is pretty solid as well which is assisted by a solid speaker that really helps to view a video like it was intended to be viewed (and not with you trying to watch a video while holding the phone as close to your ear as possible). So, the TP2 while sporting similar specs in the camera department manages to eek out four times the resolution when recording video.

Now getting to still photos we also have some encouraging news…it’s better on the TP2. To be fair, the Fuze takes pretty good photos in bright light and the TP2 is pretty much identical. And in very low light they’re both pretty poor (the Touch Pro has a flash but we all know it’s not the same as a camera flash). But if we move on to low light (not very low, just dim) that’s when the TP2 starts to show off a little. The pictures are a lot crisper and brighter without any increased noise in the photos. It’s down right respectable in fact:) You should also know that the TP2 has ISO settings (which can be set to manual or adjusted from 100 to 800 ISO) and you can also detect the ISO changes in the end photo result. While it’s nice to have more control over the camera as a user, the end result is that the TP2, while seemingly having the same 3.2mp camera does in fact outperform the Fuze.

Don’t worry, we’re not going to go spec by spec and do this level of a comparison, but we will rip the TP2 apart for you:) We just had to make sure you all realized VGA versus QVGA video resolution and I got impatient waiting for a longer write-up:)