6. 1.3 Megapixel Camera, Continued

The camera is operated using a button on the left-hand side of the A730's outer case, under the power switch. Its positioning is not ideal, as the user may occasionally push the wrong button. It's a lot safer to take pictures using the camera software.

The camera takes pictures using either a button on the top left of the case, below the device's power switch, or via software.

The camera software is intuitive to use and its functions are not unlike those of a standard digicam.

Intuitive camera operation

The PDA camera features a burst mode, a zoom function and an automatic shutter speed mode. The picture format is variable and you can use special effects to give your photos a unique touch. The PDA camera also supports video recording. Alas, in terms of picture quality and performance, the device cannot match your average consumer camcorder.

At this stage, however, we are not able to make a definitive statement about the image quality, as the test unit is an early engineering sample . We don't want to deny you the following snaps, however:

The picture below was taken with the Mypal A730.

Here we have the same subject, only this time it was captured using the built-in camera of a Sony Ericsson T610.

The two photos below, taken with the Mypal A730, came out much better.

But all of the pictures we took with the PDA camera had a red cast and a shallow depth of field. Beyond that, our quick camera test revealed that it's relatively difficult to get a sharp image of the subject.