Cameraphones: Then & Now
I love how mobile technology has developed so quickly in the last few years, with my N95 being a great example of that! People have just been amazed at the quality of the images that are produced using the 5 mega-pixel camera and that’s even from some serious SLR friends of mine.
Because of this I thought that it would be fun to have a step back in time to compare all of my previous handsets and picture qualities. Coincidently I got my first cameraphone just as I was getting Harvey as a puppy back in 2003, so I thought it would be fun to see how he and the cameraphones have changed over the years!
1 - Sharp Gx10
In early 2003 Vodafone were the first operator here in the UK to really push the concept of having a camera on your mobile. They launched a huge advertising campaign called Vodafone Live! with David Beckham and the song “Can you dig it?” by the Mock Turtles. I of course was sold, and quickly swapped from being a long-term Orange subscriber to Vodafone just to be part of that experience!
The image size was 288×352 and as you can see (from clicking on the pictures below) the image quality wasn’t really that great - but that didn’t matter as I was very proud to say:
“Look, I can take pictures with my mobile!”.
2 & 3 - Orange SPV E100 & C500
In late 2003 I ventured into the world of the Smartphone and switched back to Orange to get my hands on their signature SPV mobile. I started with the Orange SPV E100 which was the second edition in the “Sound, Pictures, Video” range. Based on Windows Mobile, the Handset had a clip-on camera that connected to the bottom of the handset. I then upgraded to the smaller sexier C500 mid 2004. Both phones came with a VGA (640×480) equipped camera.
A big improvement over the portrait only pictures of the GX10 with it’s monitor resolution images.
4 - Sony Ericsson K750i
In 2005 Sony shook up the market with their highly popular K750i handset. This was the first handset to include a 2 mega-pixel auto-focus camera and was the first real stab at a mobile trying to be a real camera with its landscape orientation and dedicated camera button. For me this was a real improvement in picture quality and the additional auto-focus, flash and macro-mode meant that I actually ditched my dedicated 3.2 mega-pixel camera and found that I was actually taking a lot more pictures - just on my mobile.
A compact mobile handset with great all round picture quality.
5 - Nokia N80
As much as I loved the camera quality of the K750i I desperately missed all of the smartphone functions. This is where in 2006 my eye caught hold of the Nokia N80, my first venture into the world of Symbian! The first mobile to have a 3 mega-pixel camera. Sadly the the phone was not all it was cracked up to be and picture quality was a little hit and miss with no auto-focus and a horrendously slow shutter speed.
Here are a couple of pictures that did come out OK, the majority got deleted!
6 - Nokia N73
In 2006 Nokia launched its K750i/K800i killer - the N73. A great little cameraphone with a 3 mega-pixel camera and Carl Zeiss Lens. This time Nokia got it right with auto-focus and macro mode. Maybe a little slow sometimes, but generally a great all-round performer! It really was like the K750i but had all of the great smartphone features that the K750i lacks.
7 - Nokia N95
And here I am now in 2007 with the amazing Nokia N95! What more can I say - the pictures speak for themselves!
Check out more amazing pictures on my N95 Flickr Site.
Conclusion
It’s taken just over four years from the humble beginnings of the cameraphone to the power of the Nokia N95. The quality of images has evolved to such an extent that cameraphones really are going to be a big threat to the everyday dedicated digital camera market. OK so they won’t be replacing a professional digital SLR anytime soon, but your average camera makers such as Kodak, Fuji, Canon had better watch out!
If it has taken us 4 years to get this far, I wonder what the next four will have in store? Optical zoom, improved flash, 10 mega-pixels? Of course we only have to look to Japan to see how far advanced they are with mobile technology to see what is waiting for us around the corner..
Can you dig it?
Nice post Nechbi!
Tech development of the last few years makes indeed a sweet topic to look into the nearby future…
Thanks Jan
[...] all over the technology market in a relatively short space of time and at nechbi.com there is a great précis on this phenomenon, with a four year [...]
Nice Camera phone timeline.
Got to love the N95’s colours in you pictures. Are you using the latest firmware in your N95?
MAzor
Thank you.
Yes the N95’s colours are great. I am on the latest firmware (11.0.026) but actually haven’t uploaded any pictures taken using it to Flickr yet.
TRUE…..TRUE….. Story. I had the Sharp, had the K750i and now I own a NOKIA N73.The N95 is a little out of my league for the momment
I wonder what’s next 