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Imaging quality is also distinctly entry level on the Solid Extreme. Its 1.3-megapixel camera, which has no autofocus setup or flash, is very limited in its picture capture capabilities.
With a maximum 1,280x1,024 pixels resolution, shots are lacking in real detail. The camera also shows some colour shadowing bleed in bright conditions, and images are soft and lacking in definition.
In strong light, long shots can look acceptable, though they lack detail:
At the maximum 4x digital zoom, image quality deteriorates considerably:
You can take quick snaps, but detail is limited if you want to print shots:
In bright light, with strong colours images can look soft and colours appear to bleed:
In more subdued outdoors lighting, colours look fine but definition is not great:
Without a flash, indoor shots show increased graininess, and low light images are poor with dark, noisy results.
Although there are a decent bunch of familiar cameraphone settings to hand, the user interface is compromised by the viewfinder settings.
There's no dedicated camera button on the handset, and pictures are framed and shot in portrait orientation rather than the landscape orientation found on most contemporary cameraphones.
However, the default setting for the viewfinder is full screen, so effectively part of the image you're shooting isn't visible on the viewfinder. The results can show bits of shots you didn't realise you were taking, which isn't great.
We'd recommend switching the viewfinder mode in the menus to see the whole image in standard ratio – although, because of the limited screen size, the view is small and lacking in detail.
At least you don't have to wait long for the camera to fire up – just 2 to 3 seconds from the menus – and processing images is prompt enough.
It is possible to adjust settings such as brightness levels, exposure controls and white balance, plus add colour effects or frames, and there's a 4x digital zoom. But none of that is really able to change the fundamental lack of quality in the shots.
Video capture is possible on this device too, but again it's not up to much – it can shoot at maximum 176x144 pixels resolution at up to 15 frames per second, delivering very basic footage that looks poor and jerky on playback.
