We did have a chance to use the camera (in 640x480 resolution and resized for this review) on a nice sunny day.  We found the quality of the images taken outside was outstanding for a camera phone... certainly sharp enough for use on the web. 

Note that, like all point-and-shoot digital camera, the E815 has a limited lighting range in which it will perform well.  The drop off in performance can be pretty quick if the lighting is poor. 

However, we were very impressed with the overall performance of the quality of the images when the light was bright.  The images will wash out with strong point light source, but hey... it's a camera phone, not a Nikon!

The camera also did a very credible job with closeup shots... so well we had no trouble reading the text of the paper in this photo in the original image.

The E815 also had video capabilities.  We took some clips with the camera, but like all other camera phone we videos, we found them to be grainy and jerky.  This feature is useful for fun clips of your friends and other situations where the resolution and clarity were not of primary importance.

We did email some of the images and clips to ourselves, but having the SanDisk removable tFlash memory in the phone made it much easier to transfer photos and video clips back to the computer for editing.  If you plan on taking a lot of pics...get the tFlash card.

We have had internet access on our phones here at RainyDay Magazine for a few years now.  We used it to check the usual things... email, stock quotes, news snippets, etc...  We have always found it a bit cumbersome (as do most folks) to navigate and read text on a small screen using tiny buttons.  Video snippets seemed like a much more practical approach to getting news on a cell phone.

Verizon's VCAST (Video Broacast?) was the first implementation of this idea that we had used first hand.  The video is downloaded (not streamed) directly to the phone.  It took about 8-10 seconds for each segment (2-3 min content) to download.  Once on the phone, they can be played and controlled (FF, RW, etc...) like any other video.

We are happy to say...the VCAST video quality was surprisingly good! The motion was smooth and the resolution was excellent.  We found it very worthwhile to be able to see movie reviews right on the cell phone.  The only comment we have is the small amount of VCAST content.  There were only half a dozen videos (4 news items, 2 movie reviews) to choose from.

In the past, reading news on the cell phone had been a painfully tedious experience of "life on the bleeding edge" of technology.  Now that we have had the experience of seeing news on the cellphone via VCAST, we are convinced Verizon is going in the right direction!  We are very excited about the potential of VCAST and hope to see more from Verizon in the future.

Verizon announced this new phone from Motorola a while back.  For some reason, Verizon pulled it from their website shortly after announcing it. Now it's back...no real reasons why.

In the FirstLook we give you a quick overview of the buttons and features.  We also show some samples of digital photos taken with this phone.

Since this phone is the first one we've tested with Verizon's new VCAST capabilities, we also share our impressions of this video-on-demand feature.

In the FirstUse review, we will talk about the other multimedia capabilities of the Motorola E815.  We will also show some samples of the quality of the videos taken with the E815.

Reviews:

1. FirstLook

2. FirstUse

3. InTheWild

Review Summary:

Initial Impression- VCAST!

Usability- Good camera

Durability- Test in progress

Price- Free to $300 depending on your plan

Image/Video Samples:

Images - 640x480 Resolution

Video - Clip 1, Clip 2

Related Reviews:

1 - SanDisk tFlash