Today's Camera Cell Phones are Getting as Good as Cameras

The huge success that camera phones have enjoyed in recent years show how much people love this combination of two usable technologies. With a single pocket-size device, cell phone users can communicate as well as take and share pictures with friends and loved ones.

It is therefore hardly surprising that most cell phones available today incorporate a picture-taking feature--even free cell phone models or basic ones. What's remarkable, however, is just how much camera cell phone technology has grown and improved between this time last year and now, to the point that some of today's cell phones are starting to rival cameras in picture-taking quality, usability and features.

Camera Cell Phones--Today Vs. Yesterday

If we look at a camera phone and assess its quality, we are essentially talking about three main things: 1) the resolution of the pictures the cell phone is able to take; 2) the phone's adaptability to different photographic situations and 3) the flexibility it gives the user to do such things as printing, sharing and editing. In each of these senses, many camera cell phones available in early-2007 are showing the kind of winning features that make them marvels of portable technology. Let's take a closer look.

Higher Camera Cell Phone Resolution

Last year at this time, the standard for camera cell phone picture resolution was VGA, which translates to less than one Megapixel (MP), or 640x480. Anything above one MP was considered excellent, with camera cell phones featuring a 1.3MP resolution (1280x1040) representing the state of the art. Today, however, 1.3MP phones have become the norm, while excellence is represented by camera cell phones that offer as much as 2.0MP (1600x1200) and even 3.0MP (2048x1536) resolution.

What this means in practical terms is that there are cell phones out today--like the Samsung A990 for Verizon or the Samsung MM-A940 for Sprint--that can turn out print-quality pictures showing little or no grain. This kind of sharp resolution was previously available only with dedicated cameras.

Auto-focus Feature

Until recently, virtually all camera cell phones featured a fixed-focus lens. This meant that the camera phone was set to focus to a fixed distance of a few feet--typical for informal portraits--and anything photographed at closer or farther ranges was therefore not as sharp as it could be. Now, however, an increasing number of camera phones include an auto-focus feature, which allows the camera to zero in automatically on the object you are photographing. This gives you a crisp and well-focused picture from different distances and in different situations.

Greater Camera Phone Flexibility

So what can users do with the good-quality pictures they take on their newer, better cell phones? One of the greatest innovations in this sense is PictBridge technology, which allows camera cell phone users to print their photos directly from their phone without first downloading them onto a PC. This feature, coupled with today's popular and widely available photo-printers, makes the new camera cell phone an even more viable competitor to dedicated cameras.

Another benefit of newer-model camera phones is that they offer the flexibility of a more usable video-recording feature. While until recently a thirty-second video-clip was considered long, there are cell phone models on the market that can easily shoot hour-long films of good quality. Also, some cell phones are starting to incorporate more sophisticated editing technology such as Video DJ, which turns a camera cell phone into a way to create cool, personalized mixes of video and still images to share with friends.

With all these enhancements from merely a year ago, today's camera cell phones are great companions for the dynamic person on the go, and their greatly-improved capabilities have placed them in serious competition with dedicated photographic equipment. To take a look at a vast assortment of state-of-the-art camera cell phones at exclusive online prices, please visit Wirefly.com, where you'll find great cell phone deals on phones from all major Wireless carriers ( Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS and Nextel).