Camera

The A940's 2.0-megapixel camera is activated with the Camera Key on the right end of the hinge. Turning the function sideways, the internal LCD swivels and converts into the viewfinder, while the lens turns on at the end of the hinge.

Positioned sideways much like a camcorder, the twistable screen adds convenience not found on former camera phones. Giving users the possibility to take self portraits or photos over the heads of a crowd, tricky shots have never been easier.

But designing the lens lengthwise along the hinge also adds a revolutionary function not found on previous devices. Letting users get closer without losing resolution, the A940's unorthodox orientation gives enough room for the optics required for moving lenses. Mounting camera lenses on the front panel, as prior devices had, prevents optical zoom due to the physical constraints in depth. Contrary to merely crops photos as digital zoom would, the A940's camera includes 2x optical zoom (controlled by pressing Up / Down on the navigational keypad) and auto-focus.

High quality photos can be taken up to 1600 x 1200 px in resolution, however problems with blurring and sharpness require users to be absolutely still capturing images. Other resolution sizes include 1280 x 960 px, 1024 x 768 px, 800 x 600 px, 640 x 480 px, 320 x 240 px, and Picture ID.

As the centerpiece of the A940, the camera is supplied with an abundance of filters and effects, giving consumers unprecedented control over imaging functions. Bundled options include Picture Mode (Auto, Portrait, Scenic, Sports, Vivid, and Macro), Flash (Auto, Off, On This Shot, Always On), Self-Timer (Off, 2 sec, 5 sec, and 10 sec), Multi-Shot (Series Shot and Divided Shot), Quality (Economy, Normal, and Fine), Brightness (-4 to +4), White Balance (Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual), Color Tones (Auto, Sketch, Emboss, Negative, Sepia, and Monochrome), Metering (Average, Center, and Spot), and 10 fun frames.

After taking photos, getting them to prints is a breeze. Including PictBridge software, the A940 can transfer pictures from to a printer without a PC or image-editing software. As an industry standard, PictBridge-compatible devices are made by many different manufacturers, so finding a printer to offload those pictures is easier than ever.

Even the video recorder has a few filters and effects. Encoded in 3GP2 codec (MPEG-4 and H.263 Video, and AMR Audio) format, 30-second clips can be recorded in 15 frames per second. Slow to respond at times, consumers may experience choppiness during higher resolutions. Regardless, the A940 was designed for photo taking rather than video recording, and consumers shouldn't expect anything more from a phone.

It's not hard to see a well-designed camera phone. And as the first device to feature optical zoom and robust filters and effects, distinct line that previously separated camera phones and standalone digital camera begins to blur.

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