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| HTC myTouch 4G Slide |
Fingering the culprit may be a very little tough. Most notably, there are myriad hardware limitations: small sensors, sub-par lenses, lack of space for storing, and poor battery life prime of the list. Also, most folks already own a good pocket-sized shooter, therefore if you wish to require an excellent photo rather than a “good enough to urge the point” photo, it’s solely a matter of swapping devices for many seconds.
Until movable cameras get means higher, that’s the planet most folks live in — 2 devices for 2 things.
HTC’s myTouch 4G Slide — with its massive image sensor and bevy of shooting modes — is one in all the few phones attempting extremely onerous to bridge this chasm. Like most Android phones, it handles basics like e-mail, chat, GPS navigation, net surfing and smart previous phone calls simply fine. however where it extremely shines is with its forward-thinking camera optics and user-friendliness as a consumer-level shooter.
Let’s dive into the vitals 1st.
If you’re simply wanting a 4G Android slider (and don’t mind somewhat further heft), this myTouch is a pretty possibility. for everybody else, the important draw goes to be the phone’s sweet, sweet 8-megapixel camera.
Like the Infuse 4G and newer 4G EVO phones, the Slide is yet one more full-featured fattie. within the bulky body hides a pleasantly clicky slide-out QWERTY keyboard, at the side of the standard suspects: a middling three.7-inch show, a sliver of navigational hotkeys and a front-facing VGA camera. Rounded corners and a khaki-colored plastic back lend it that “consumerific” camera look, except for the foremost half, the Slide sticks to it roots and appears sort of a smartphone.
Deeper down the rabbit hole hides a punchy one.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 768MB of RAM. Though I’ve never been a large fan of the chirpy presentation of HTC’s Sense UI Android skin, it hardly detracts from the raw power of this phone. Even with all the animations, further options, and a couple of apps running at full tilt, overall navigation and performance kept pace with my feverish finger faucets throughout testing. It’s not invincible though; sadists like myself will most definitely bring the phone to its knees for kicks (Rdio+Google Reader+Navigation+Netflix). however essentially, that level of normal abuse is beyond the typical user.
So, if you’re simply wanting a 4G Android slider (and don’t mind somewhat further heft), it’s a pretty possibility. for everybody else, the important draw goes to be the myTouch Slide’s sweet, sweet 8-megapixel camera.
From the get-go, it’s clear the device has shooting on the mind. The machined metal of the dedicated shutter button not solely feels solid, however it’s additionally responsive. And pressing the button not solely wakes up the phone, it bypasses the generic unlock screen and goes straight to the action, mentioning the camera UI immediately. Security experts and also the absent-minded needn’t worry, the shutter button won’t bypass the unlock screen if you’ve created a lock code.
The first time I launched the camera, a tutorial video offered an excellent primer on the phone’s advanced photo options. I sometimes roll my eyes when urged to RTFM, however I really found this video crash course surprisingly helpful. Shooting modes like Auto, SweepShot, HDR, Burst, Night, Action, Macro, Portrait, and Manual management are packed into this phone, and also the guided tour was nice for obtaining the lay of the land. The Slide helps you along in very little ways in which, too. every shooting mode has its own cowl Flow-esque slide within the menu, that provides each an example image and an in depth rationalization of the mode’s ideal shooting conditions.
Though these sound like tiny options on their own, the total of their elements makes for one in all the foremost user-friendly camera experiences I’ve ever encountered. when poking around within the menus for some minutes, i used to be armed with enough data and choices to not solely shoot some (fantastically crisp!) photos, however additionally use modes like “Action” to capture alternate views of my subjects. The management theme was versatile yet, letting me use the shutter key, an on-screen button, or the phone’s otherwise-awkward optical touchpad for triggering the almost-zero-lag shutter. By the fifteen-minute mark, i used to be obtaining saucy with the depth of focus and stitching along panoramic shots of my neighborhood. Stopping in need of turning me into Diane Arbus, this can be specifically what a camera phone ought to do — leverage software to form an easy (yet powerful) point-and-shoot expertise.
The Slide’s hardware may be a massive a part of this equation too. HTC took a page from the pro-sumer playbook and beefed up the phone’s imaging guts. just like the EVO fourG and also the iPhone 4, the Slide incorporates a back-illuminated image sensor and throws in an exceedingly wide f/2.2 lens besides. additionally to some wide angle action, this arrangement permits for additional lightweight to hit the sensor, so manufacturing the higher low-light pictures.
For the foremost half, the Slide followed through. Night shots of Oakland’s skyline looked crisp and showed minimal graininess. Even tight, low-light portraits made spectacular amounts of detail for a smartphone. Night shooters also will dig the twin LED flash, though I personally would’ve most popular somewhat additional illuminating oomph. except for daytime shooting (and particularly fast candids of the TwitPic variety) the Slide delivers.
There are still many quibbles. Portrait mode — that keeps the thing within the foreground in sharp focus whereas blurring everything else — provides mixed results. though the software savvily permits you to change the scale of the crystal clear “sweet spot,” everything beyond that boundary is artificially fuzzed in an effort to force the depth-of-field impact. To be honest, it’s somewhat conflicting. On one hand, it’s nice the phone offers such an imaginative shooting mode, however it’s disappointing that the execution is therefore heavy-handed. Hardcore photo enthusiasts are seemingly to seek out this side of the Slide irritating, and it’s honest to mention that when a tool tries to straddle the fun/functional line, there are many casualties.
From my perspective, this problems largely resolves itself. If you recognize your means around a camera and demand flawless exposures, use the DSLR or compact system camera you presumably already own. If your goal to is to finally ditch your point-and-shoot, or to snap fast candids and sometimes noodle with filters and effects — however you continue to wish your basic photo subjects to appear smart — then the Slide may be a nice match. It isn’t essentially a camera-killer or the foremost powerful camera phone on the market — I still just like the iPhone 4’s HDR software trick higher, and Nokia’s 12MP N8 incorporates a sharper camera. however the Slide incorporates a nice camera mounted on a decent phone and is loaded with imaging software that’s as user-friendly because it comes.
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