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	Home / Cell phones

	The perfect camera phone	By Jørgen Sundgot, Monday 27 February 2006

Whether you're a budding photographer or snap-happy shutterbug, we run down the list of checkpoints you should know about if you're looking for a quality camera phone.

Once hailed as the next great revolution in mobile phones, camera phones have thus far failed miserably in killing off the compact digital camera - but some recent models show promise, and a new wave of 3 Megapixel handsets linger on the horizon as we speak. Unfortunately, a myriad of rather horrid alternatives are also present, which is why we've taken upon ourselves to provide you with what you need to avoid results straight out of the 19th century.

Say cheese

Although an important aspect, simply going by the number of Megapixels won't cut it in the world of camera phones, where imaging sensors and capabilities are far from as evolved as those present in their digital camera counterparts - even though a resolution of 3 Megapixels should be a minimum. The presence of autofocus and quality lens optics also have significant impact on end results, while flash and photo lights - at least for the time being - should simply be ignored as current offerings are nowhere near sufficient.

Moving to the actual process of taking photos, we don't expect any less from a camera phone than we do from a camera, including self-explanatory, hassle-free and rapid access to the camera mode; intuitive, ergonomically friendly and well-placed controls; and a lag-free experience from a decently-sized viewfinder. Also, white balance and exposure adjustment should be considered minimum functionality.

Performance is another vital aspect, with vital factors including the amount of time it takes to enter camera mode from standby; frame your shot and take a picture; and how quickly the handset is ready to take another shot.

Bring replenishments

Few camera phones come with enough on-board storage to handle more than fifty to a hundred shots, so if you plan on taking a large number of stills, ensure memory expansion is an option. In fact, you should pack a second battery as well since most current high-end camera phones will run out of juice around the fifty photos mark - depending to an extent on ones settings.

Once photos have been taken, the next step is being able to offload them to a computer and share them with friends. Support for MMS should be a given in this day and age, as should USB connectivity with Bluetooth as a slower-paced wireless option. Photo management software will also be needed, but look beyond the manufacturer to 3rd party solutions for anything beyond the simplest of operations.

Quick tip: For an excellent photo management solution, take a look at Google's Picasa for Windows. Best of all? It's free.

So, where can I get one?

At the time of writing, camera phones max out at 2 Megapixels - and of these, the Nokia N90 and Sony Ericsson K750i are the best offerings available. Either handset will let users make print-outs of reasonably high quality in standard photo format, but fall short of replacing digital cameras for which a bare minimum should be a resolution of 3 Megapixels with high photo quality.