Camera

Manufactured from a hardened glass material, the Q's exposed 1.3-megapixel camera lens is fortunately indented in the back, avoiding any accidental scratches that may occur. Activated by pressing and holding the dedicated Camera Key for 2 seconds, the LCD becomes the viewfinder, allowing consumers to snap photos up to 1280 x 1024 px in size.

To get closer to the action, the Q offers 6x Digital Zoom (in 2x increments). However, unlike true (optical) zoom, digital zoom loses resolution by merely cropping the image, similar to enlarging a picture on a PC. Other bundled features include Brightness (-3 to +3), White Balance (Automatic, Sunny, Cloudy, Indoor Home, Indoor Office, and Night), Self-Timer (5 seconds), and even Burst Mode to take five consecutive shots. Unfortunately the Q lacks options for Color Effects (such as Sepia, Black and White, or Tints).

Basic image editing tools allow users to Rotate, Crop, and even Auto Correct photos. After saving them to memory, consumers can conveniently preview images as thumbnails or use the integrated Slide Show program to dazzle friends and family with full screen views of the day's shoot.

But taking photos isn't very practical if they're left on the Q. Fortunately users have multiple ways to offload them. Able to beam pictures to a PC over Infrared or Bluetooth, or attach and send them as text messages or emails, consumers can take them to the store to make great 4x6 photo prints. Having the availability for impromptu photos, users will no longer be caught without a digital camera at hand.

Compared to other camera phones on the market, the Q's 1.3-megapixel camera is average, much better than VGA cameras of last year, but still trailing the 2.0- and 3.2-megapixel pioneers. Considering the Q is positioned to compete with BlackBerry and PDAs, the addition of a camera is a welcomed sight, something not commonly integrated among business phones.

Video can also be recorded at QCIF (176 x 144 px), QQVGA (160 x 120 px), or Sub-QCIF (128 x 96 px) resolutions, with access to Brightness and White Balance settings. A time limit of 15 or 30 seconds can be set to attach as text messages, or users can store as much as the memory will hold (over a whopping 40 minutes on the internal memory). Encoded in 3G2 codec (H.263 and AMR format), clips take advantage of MPEG-4 for delivery of video and audio. Unfortunately, the recordings turn out rather blurry and not much use for anything more than recalling amusing events.

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