Doro Liberto 820 – Camera and call quality

Once again the 8-megapixel camera on the Liberto 820 is a marked improvement on the 5-megapixel one on the 810. That’s the same number of pixels as the iPhone 6’s camera packs, but don’t expect the same quality of shots.
 
Still the snapper on the Doro is a pleasure to use, particularly as it comes with a dedicated, physical camera button. Hold it down and even with the screen off the Liberto 820’s camera springs to life and takes a photo within a couple of seconds.
 
There’s a few settings to tinker with, too, which are suitably explained and laid out with large icons to keep confusion to a minimum. Thankfully the Auto setting works well in most cases, so you won’t need to spend too much time trying to find the right setting for the occasion.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
The Doro Liberto 820 manages to take pictures in low light (it has a LED flash but we weren’t using it in this instance) but lacks detail in well-lit conditions – images are a little darker and flatter than we’d like too. It’s some way off the standard of the cameras on similarly priced Microsoft Lumia phones, but it’s not the worst we’ve seen.

Related: Best Headphones

This split shot shows that there’s more to cameras than megapixels. The Doro is on the left the iPhone 6 on the right

There’s also a front-facing camera for video calling that does the job and works a treat with the phone in its cradle.
 
A loud internal speaker means the Liberto 820 performs its primary function well, although at top volume voices can sound a little harsh. There’s no noise cancelling mic however which means if you’re in a noisy environment the person on the other line might struggle to hear you. That being said we didn’t experience any problems even when we were nattering while walking down a busy road on a windy day.
 

Doro Liberto 820 – Battery life

Battery life is acceptable, but not outstanding. In our standard test of playing a video on loop until the phone runs to zero, we managed 7 hours of continuous playback – an hour or so less than the Moto G.

 
The charging dock is a very neat little extra

That’s not bad and in daily use it easily lasts a day. The charging dock means it’s easy to keep it topped up without needing to mess around with fiddly and frustrating micro-USB cables – a godsend for those who don’t have steady hands or keen eyes.
 

Should I buy the Doro Liberto 820?

Whether you’re considering the Doro for yourself or a loved one, the first thing to consider is how tech-savvy they are. If we set an arbitrary scale of one to ten, where ten is Steve Wozniak and one is Fred Flintstone, we’d say the Doro Liberto 820 will be a boon to anyone from levels two to four. These people will probably get the most out of the Doro’s ease of use and, if they get stuck, a helper can always step in remotely to assist.
 
We’d still steer clear of it for total technophobes. The Liberto 820 does a lot, and despite the great job Doro has done simplifying it, there’s no getting away from the sheer volume of settings and functionality an Android smartphone possesses. For those we’d recommend one of Doro’s feature phones, such as the PhoneEasy 621.
 
Anyone at a level of four or five and above should try a fully fledged Android, Windows or Apple iOS smartphone. iOS is the simplest to use, but Android also works well, and is much cheaper, when coupled with a simplified launcher. Check out our best Android Launcher Apps here. 
 
SEE ALSO: Best Mobile Phones Round-up

Verdict

The Doro Liberto 820 is a huge update to the woeful 810. It’s a smartphone that delivers on Doro’s noble goals: user-friendly and accessible mobile technology for all.

Trusted Score