Every phone has a camera. Hell, we all refer to it as “the camera on my phone” whether we know it or not. But the truth is they suck – even some of the best cameras, like that on the Nexus One, aren’t that great. I can run an entire business on my iPhone, spend money like it’s going out of style, and do countless other things… yet a good picture is elusive. Today I saw a tweet from @justinbarber that said ”Absolutely no reason mobile phones should have anything under an 8mp camera. I can access the web but not take a good picture…come on.”
I agree with the second part of his statement, but the first maybe not so much. In the race to provide a good camera on phones, manufacturers are following the same stupid baby steps that the imaging industry followed 8 years ago – they’re saying, “let’s boost megapixel numbers and persuade the consumers that it’s the most important thing.” The problem with that is that many of us who buy smartphones know that it doesn’t work that way – we want quality, not quantity. The image sensor in my $700 Nikon D5000 is 12.1 megapixels. The image sensor in the $6000 Nikon D3S is 12.1 megapixels. Guess which takes better pictures?
So here’s what I’m hoping is going to happen – 4th generation iPhone will come out, Steve comes on stage, says “Our camera isn’t the highest megapixel, but we’re not about that. Our camera takes the funnest/awesomest/best pictures.” Maybe then the rest will get a clue.
