Top 5 Camera Mobile Phones

The first camera phone that I ever bought was the BlackBerry Pearl 8100, way back in 2006. It was BlackBerry’s first real attempt at competing in the multimedia market, and my first tentative step into the revolutionary world of camera phones.

I was always a late developer, technologically speaking of course, but the Pearl was a market leader. Not only did it offer seamless e mail capability for the man on the move, but it also came with a 1.3-megapixel camera which was enviable at the time.

Wind the clock forward 4 years and this is now laughable. I can draw better than a 1.3-megapixel camera. Back in the day, a camera on a mobile phone was little more than a novelty or selling gimmick.

These days, people consider the quality of a phone’s camera to be one of the most important deciding factors when choosing a handset. In fact, there’s very little to differentiate between some camera phones and actual cameras, so since you can’t tweet or update your Facebook status on a camera, for many of the younger generation they’re becoming obsolete. Below are the best camera phones on the market today:

1. Nokia N8 – this is the Daddy of camera phones right now. It’s rare for Nokia to top any list these days thanks to Apple and HTC, but nobody can hold a candle to the N8 right now. With its 12-megapixel camera, the Nokia N8 is actually superior to many of its standard camera peers. But it’s the HD video capability of this handset that makes it untouchable. With its near-perfect image resolution, and ingenious digital editing and sharing software, the Nokia N8 represents a giant leap forward in camera phone technology.
2. Apple iPhone 4 – nipping at the heels of the Nokia N8 is the Apple iPhone 4. Granted, there is a significant reduction in megapixels to 5, but there’s no equivalent degrading of picture quality. The front facing camera differentiates the iPhone 4 from its competitors, enabling FaceTime calls and precision self-portraits at long last, even when drunk. The iPhone 4 really stands out with its video capability though, shooting in stunning HD with a permanent backlight for night time video. Paris Hilton and her contemporaries will certainly find this feature invaluable.
3. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 – weighing in at a whopping 8.1-megapixels, this handset runs the old Android OS version 1.6, so it’s already lagging behind on this front (though updates are finally beginning to roll out). But the screen is a massive 4 inches, so you can view videos and photos on the Xperia X10 with incredible clarity, as well as online images through the phone’s unique Mediascape application.
4. Motorola Defy – this handset comes with the usual line up of camera features that we expect as a bare minimum these days: 5-megapixels, digital zoom, dual LED flash and autofocus. But it’s the image optimisation settings that get the Motorola Defy onto this list. This natty little application allows users to edit images and video in real time, including colour effects and a variety of scene modes. It’s also water and scratch resistant, making it the first handset to be practically drunk-proof.
5. HTC Desire – the Desire tops plenty of polls right now thanks to its stunning features and the latest Android OS, but this list is purely concerned with camera capability, hence its lowly position. The Desire’s camera has an impressive 8-megapixels and all the trimmings, but it doesn’t hit the same quality as the competition on this list. But all is forgiven thanks to the 4.3 inch display and Dolby surround sound. So this may not have the best camera on a handset right now, but as an all-rounder the HTC Desire is tough to beat.