The best camera phones
With 20-megapixel phone cameras on the horizon featuring 1080P video capture as standard, it's fair to say that smartphone can, and inevitably will, replace compact cameras and camcorders as our casual device of choice.
After all, who wants to carry two or even three devices when one can do the job better? The chipset that will be raising the bar to this impressive new standard, Broadcom's VideoCore IV, is a way off though, but already we have devices on the market that are of a high enough standard to displace our cameras and flip camcorders, and it's with these devices that we concern ourselves today, as we explore the top 5 smart camera phones.
Nokia N8 - It's little surprise that Nokia's 12-megapixel masterpiece has made it to this list as it boasts, without doubt, the finest phone camera on the market today. Featuring a sleek unibody chassis, re-designed Symbian^3 OS, 3.5-inch AMOLED display, 680MHz ARM 11 CPU with dedicated GPU and 16GB of on-board storage it's easily comparable to any top-tier device, but when you factor in the 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics, with Xenon flash, autofocus and face-detection, you end up with a device that ably performs all the tasks demanded of a smartphone, but can outperform a compact camera. The device even captures 720P video at 25 frames per second, so you needn't bother with a camcorder either!
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc - Sony Ericsson debuted the Xperia Arc at Mobile World Conference last month and the device was an instant hit with the media. The Arc is an Android based device, running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which gives you access to the 100,000 apps that are featured in the Android Market. As well as running a top-notch operating system the Xperia Arc features some pretty cutting edge technology, such as the Qualcomm Scorpion chipset, which features a 1GHz CPU and Adreno GPU, which makes the device as a gamers dream. The stand-out feature of the phone has to be its 8-megapixel Exmor-R powered camera though, which features LED flash, image stabilization, face and smile detection and 720P video capture, which is capable of producing some seriously impressive images and movies.
HTC Incredible S - Another Android powered entry to this list is HTC's Incredible S, a device that has been on the market less than a month at the time of writing. The Incredible S packs in all the latest and greatest technology, such as Android 2.3 OS, version 3.0 of HTC's Sense UI overlay, 1GHz Scorpion processor and 768MB RAM, to give the device a really snappy feel, there's no lag or stutter to be found. It also features an impressive 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, touch-focus and image stabilization, which produces print-quality photographs with little or no effort. If you're a webcam chatter you'll also be well catered for on the optics front, as the Incredible S features 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video-calling!
Motorola Milestone XT720 - The dark horse of this list is Motorola's XT720, a device which has been around for more than 8 months, but still packs in features to rival devices new to market. The Milestone XT720 runs on a 720MHz ARM Cortex A8 chip which has relatively low power demands and offers the device in impressive turn of pace, version 2.1 of Google's Android OS and a 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass display that is not only responsive but can take a heck of beating! Nestled beneath this toughened screen is the jewel of the package, an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with true Xenon flash, which can capture truly stunning images and, of course, the ubiquitous 720P video capture that we see in every device of this sort. The fact that this device is more than 6 months old means that it can be picked up for very competitive deals, so you don't have to break the bank to have a cutting edge smartphone with A camera!
HTC 7 Mozart - HTC's 7 Mozart is a fantastic device, which runs on the visually striking new Windows Phone 7 platform. Aside from the cutting edge software, the phone ranks among the best on the market in terms of hardware, featuring a 1GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno GPU, 576MB RAM and a beautiful 3.7-inch Super-LCD display which also happens to be super responsive! The 7 Mozart also features an 8-megapixel camera with Xenon flash, face detection, auto-focus and 720P video capture. Captured still images offer great colour balance and shooting impromptu images couldn't be easier thanks to Windows Phone 7's great camera shortcut (simply hold the camera button down and you can capture an image, even when the device is locked!). Naturally the build quality is second to none, owing to HTC's exacting standards, making the 7 Mozart the complete package.
So there you have your list! It's by no means exhaustive, for there are devices in the pipleline (that we expect to hit stores in the next few weeks) that would make this list with ease, including Samsung's amazing Galaxy SII and LG's impressive Optimus X, but for now these devices represent the cutting-edge of mobile photography and will give you hours of fun, productivity and perhaps most importantly, considering our subject matter, creativity. So why not treat yourself to some photographic tech today?
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