Driven Crazy by the Camera

[N8ter]

And yet the 900 still costs substantially more to manufacture than the iPhone 4S. The 900 camera is just not up to par with what comparable iOS or Android phones offer.

That's because Apple produces and sells way more phones than Nokia does Lumias. When you have that kind of buying power, you get significantly better deals since you order more.

The L900 internals are not really great though, it's true. It's not designed to be great. It's a mid-range device with a decent design and attractive price. That's the draw to it.

 

[N8ter]

Exactly. Apple has a HUGE economy of scale advantage that no one can match. There is no single smartphone model in that class that is made in numbers that the iPhone is as far as I know. Apple makes at least 20x more iPhones than Nokia does Lumia 900's in a year and they have been making this model, or very similar models that share many parts for years now AND they make them in giant Chinese factories where they are notorious for keeping strict control over costs.

But Nokia will catch up with the Lumia, they are no strangers to mass production and leveraging the economy of scale, in fact it's something that Nokia has been known to be very very good at itself for years.

Nokia has been very good at doing that with cheap low margin feature phones. Nokia has never really been a contender in the high margin high end smartphone market since forever. Before WP7, they were basically locked out of the US market cause no one care about their devices, Lol.

Saying Nokia will catch up because they know how to produce tons of cheap feature phones is like saying RIM will catch up cause they know how to produce tons of cheap BB Curve smartphones...

I'm pretty sure even LG is beating Nokia in high end smartphone salves right now. If they want to catch up they have to do it fast, cause the competition is not standing still.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Nokia has been very good at doing that with cheap low margin feature phones. Nokia has never really been a contender in the high margin high end smartphone market since forever. Before WP7, they were basically locked out of the US market cause no one care about their devices, Lol.

Saying Nokia will catch up because they know how to produce tons of cheap feature phones is like saying RIM will catch up cause they know how to produce tons of cheap BB Curve smartphones...

I think the problem was no carrier supported or subsidized Nokia phones, and if a phone has no carrier support, it will not sell very well in the states.

 

[DungMasterFang]

Nokia has been very good at doing that with cheap low margin feature phones. Nokia has never really been a contender in the high margin high end smartphone market since forever. Before WP7, they were basically locked out of the US market cause no one care about their devices, Lol.

Saying Nokia will catch up because they know how to produce tons of cheap feature phones is like saying RIM will catch up cause they know how to produce tons of cheap BB Curve smartphones...

I'm pretty sure even LG is beating Nokia in high end smartphone salves right now. If they want to catch up they have to do it fast, cause the competition is not standing still.

Oh really?

Smartphones shipped in 2010:

Nokia 100.1 mil
Samsung 23.9 mil
Apple 47.5 mil

edit. Actually Nokia was selling still 12 million more smartphones per quarter than it's nearest competitor Apple when Elop announced the move to WP. That's when the market share started to dropping like a brick last year.

 

[ejb222]

The camera on my 900 is def an upgrade from the 3GS i had...but the touch screen focus doesn't seem to work. Is this true for all 900? I feel as though even my old 3GS could get better close up pictures.

 

[Jazmac]

It's been said in other threads but is worth saying again. The camera in the Lumia 900 is fantastic; if you take the time to learn how to use it. I think most people just want a point and shoot. If they don't get it, they complain. I'd gamble Nokia will release a software update to cater to the "Auto-Only" crowd.
-joe-

I am here to testify that these instructions are what the doctor ordered.

 

[N8ter]

Oh really?

Smartphones shipped in 2010:

Nokia 100.1 mil
Samsung 23.9 mil
Apple 47.5 mil

edit. Actually Nokia was selling still 12 million more smartphones per quarter than it's nearest competitor Apple when Elop announced the move to WP. That's when the market share started to dropping like a brick last year.

Apple sold 37M iPhones in 1Q12. That's how useless your numbers are (and seriously data from 2010 wut???)... That's more iPhones in one month than Nokia has sold in Lumias (all models combined) all year at significantly higher profit margins.

P.S. I said "high-end, high-margin smartphone market." eSeries devices are not that, but they have their uses. RIM ships a ton of curves in emergent markets as well. But profitability is what drives R&D. Even with all those smartphones shipped - even back in 2010 - Nokia's profits were embarassing given that volume. Nokia's marketshare is dropping because smartphone adoption is rising and they are now facing stiff competition in the lower end, lower cost markets. Apple is keeping old models on the market longer, and Android is gaining a lot of headway in the Low end market with low priced handsets.

Basically the smartphone market is growing fast, and Symbian/WP7/BB adoption are all not keeping pave. More people are buying Androids devices and iPhones when they move from feature phones (where Nokia was infinitely strong) to smartphones. That also hurts RIM a lot since their Curves are (and were moreso back then) very popular in low cost emergent markets.

 

[dkny2kx]

the phone is 99 dollars folks, and i got mine for free, through amazon.

you guys think you can get a better phone for what I paid, let me know ok?

 

[Totalfixation]

Have you tried instead of press the camera button, tap on the screen to take the photo? If you tap in certain areas of the screen to take the picture it helps control the lighting.

 

[PhilR8]

the phone is 99 dollars folks, and i got mine for free, through amazon.

you guys think you can get a better phone for what I paid, let me know ok?

So is the 900 a premium device or not?

 

[yuerolling]

you should have got a camera or sgs 3 for a wedding if you intended to take photos!

 

[PhilR8]

the phone is 99 dollars folks, and i got mine for free, through amazon.

you guys think you can get a better phone for what I paid, let me know ok?

Verizon Galaxy Nexus is $0.01 on Amazon Wireless, although the camera on that device is a stinker as well.

 

[FiveFngrsOfDef]

I can talk for hours about my frustrations. I'll be very brief, for the sake of sanity.

I also have a Samsung Focus and it takes great pictures. The Nokia Lumia 900 is another issue. Although I'm loving the phone, the camera is awful.

Was at a wedding yesterday. (during the day) Low light fotos are virtually useless.

Took some pictures inside of my house last night. (with lights on) The pictures were way below average. The colors were not true and the fotos blurry. When the TV screen (on) was part of the picture, it was usually just a big white square, and if anything, the images on the TV were undetectable and with terrible colors. (with the focus, I could take a picture of the TV screen even from a distance, and it was perfect)

This morning I took some more pictures from inside the house. (brightly lit by sunlight) A couple of them were ok. Most were unfocused, and if there was just a little too much light, most of the picture was just white areas.

I've gone as far as trying some suggestions found through this site for taking better pictures with the Lumia. Nothing works.

I know that phones are not made to substitute cameras, but the feature does have a purpose. I make short business trips, and would like the convenience of not carrying my digital cameras and being able to take quick snapshots during travel, at meetings, etc.

Please help. (had the Lumia 900 for 4 days)

I just returned from Nashville last week. Was so frustrated with my camera that I began taking pictures with my IPad 3...they better do something with the camera.

 

[wideopenlens]

The lumia's camera is subpar-- the sensor and the image recording algorithm. Its a waste of 8 mp as things stand. They should at least fix the software issues, if not it'd be equivalent to having no camera at all. Wtf Nokia?!!!

 

[Mister_RnB]

Check out the pics in the Nokia lumia 800 thread. The complaints were about the same but afte upgrade you can see the difference. Most of the pics are better than I've seen on the iPhone