With a host of smartphones being sold today, it may be difficult to differentiate between them and find too drastic differences in what they do. After all, most of their functionality is based on apps, and they are the same for all phones using the same platform. However, apart from some other hardware related features, one of the things that can still significantly differ from one phone to the next is the camera that it sports. Even though there are still people who will only occasionally snap a photo with their phone, a large majority of smartphone users take photos practically on daily bases. However, the phones that we are presenting today are not exactly ideal for causal photographers, instead they would be better suited for people who really need to take high quality pictures and are prepared to pay the price.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
One of the largest advantages of digital cameras over smartphones when it comes to image quality was found in the fact that digital cameras usually come equipped with an optical zoom, while smartphones had to rely on digital zooming. This would inevitably reduce image quality and thus make your smartphone inferior in this regard to even an average digital camera. People from Samsung recognized this and decided to offer a perfect blend of a smartphone and a digital camera in their Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom.
This hybrid comes with a 16 megapixel quality camera and a 10X optical zoom. This does make the phone look somewhat cumbersome, as it is roughly the size of a typical digital camera, but gives you the ability to make amazing images, which is coupled with the full functionality of a smartphone. The Optical Image Stabilizer feature makes sure that your images are clear even if you are not at your steadiest when taking the photo, while Smart Mode gives you live information on the focal length and light levels, to help you make better photos.
Nokia Lumia 1020
This masterpiece that comes with Windows 8 and an astounding 41 megapixel PureView camera will make you redefine your notion about what exactly a camera phone is capable of doing. Even though the camera protrudes from the back of the phone, making it somewhat cumbersome, it is more than worth the sacrifice when you consider its features. The camera was taken from their PureView 808 phone and further improved. Camera holds Carl Zeiss optics and has no less than 6 physical lenses, assuring great image quality. With a host of interesting and useful features and excellent low light image quality, Nokia Lumia 1020 is by far one of the best camera phones currently out there.
HTC One
While Nokia and Samsung opted for hardware solutions when trying to improve their cameras, HTC took an interesting approach in redefining the way images are taken. They introduced UltraPixels, which are trying to take into account some aspects of taking a photo that were previously not addressed. They decided to use larger pixels which could capture more light and provide for better image quality. The F/2.0 aperture that the phone uses when taking images guarantees great picture quality, and seeing that there are fewer pixels to process, these images take up less room on your storage drive and are easier to share on social networks.