There is no dearth of smartphones these days but not all have good camera capabilities. Often confusing technical jargon make things worse.
Here thus to help you out, we have carefully selected five handsets which are considered as the best camera smartphones currently available in the market. We have tested few of these handsets also and thus can swear by their quality.
Nokia Lumia 1020 was launched last year but it is still considered as the best camera smartphone despite the fact that many new flagship devices were launched in the market by its competitors.
And it is not a secret why it is being hailed so much. The Nokia Lumia 1020 features a 41 megapixel rear camera with 1/1.5-inch image sensor. Nokia’s own PureView imaging technology is implemented to power the 41 megapixel image sensor. This image sensor has been married with Carl Zeiss optics. The Carl Zeiss optics comprises of a six element lens – five layers of plastic aspheric lens and one layer of high precision glass.
Out of the Dual LED flash at the back, one is a Xenon Flash and other is meant for auto-focus assist. Nokia has used a f/2.2 Aperture that captures wider angles and allows more light to reach the image sensor. Nokia Camera app enables more manual control of the focus, white balance, exposure and more.
For better optical image stabilisation, Nokia has deployed ball-bearing like cushions to reduce shake movements. The camera offers 4x lossless zoom and re-cropping technique (Zoom Reframe) with the new Nokia camera app. The HDR has been integrated in the form of Automatic Bracketing accessible through the camera setting options. High quality images in 34 megapixel can be captured but these images are accessible only by using a computer. Usually, the images are saved in 5 megapixel quality with PureView technology implemented. The Lumia 1020 offers slightly saturated colour which is fairly acceptable for imaging hobbyist.
Not only its camera, the Lumia 1020’s hardware and software combination make it a decent smartphone as well. The Windows Phone 8 based Lumia 1020 comes armed with a 4.5 inch AMOLED Display with 720p (HD) resolution support. This display and is made using Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for strength. Lumia 1020 is powered by a dual core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 mobile processor, 2 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board storage without any memory slot. Nokia has pushed the new Lumia Black update packing Windows Phone 8 Update 3 to run this smartphone.
You can read its review here.
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Whether you like its price or not, Apple iPhone 5S is another leading camera smartphone. The iPhone 5S has a 4-inch Retina Display based on IPS LCD panel technology supporting multi-touch and 1136×640 pixel resolution. Apple iPhone 5S is powered with Apple A6 System on Chip and M7 motion processor. Apple has loaded the phone with iOS 7 software and 1 GB DDR3 RAM. Apple offers this model in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage options. Other features include dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth and Lightning connector to charge the device.
The Apple iPhone 5S comes with an 8 megapixel iSight camera with 1.5 micron pixels quality. The camera sports f/2.2 aperture that captures wider angles and collects enough light necessary for capturing images in low light conditions. Apple has used a five element lens that has a Sapphire crystal lens cover. It has also dual-LED True Tone flash to provide better colour temperature to the photos. This flash is meant to help the imaging enthusiasts in the low-light imaging to get better colours in the resultant photos. This sensor is larger than the one used in the iPhone 5 and also promises better low light photography results.
To tackle the Ultra-Violet light problem, Apple has armed the phone with the Hybrid IR Filter. Apple’s Camera app is taken as the standard for being super smooth and fastest one on the mobile platform. The Camera app offers tap-to focus feature along with face detection, burst mode and taking panorama shots. Apple has also integrates a square imaging mode with a library of live filters for the Instagram lovers. The camera is capable of recording smooth 1080p videos with image stabilisation. One can also experiment with slow-motion video recording. Entire imaging is powered by the quad-core PowerVR G6430 graphics. There is a 1560 mAh battery in the phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 have been criticised by few for its plastic body but no one has questioned its camera capability. Its 16 megapixel rear camera comes armed with f/2.2 aperture and has Autofocus speed of just 0.3 seconds. With fast autofocus one can really make best of the camera that promises real-time HDR mode. In the video recording department, the 16 megapixel image sensor easily records Ultra HD resolution video at 30 frames per second along with HDR and video stabilization features. One can always go for the Dual Shot to use both rear and front facing 2 megapixel camera for shot in shot experience. Both cameras can be used to make dual video calls as well.
Not only camera, other features of Galaxy S5 makes it one of the best handsets available today. First of all, it comes with water and dust resistance properties and is powered by the octa-core Samsung Exynos Infinity 5422 mobile chipset that is paired with 2 GB RAM. The Galaxy S5 features 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED touchscreen display sporting 1920×1080 pixel resolution. Powerful hardware touting Galaxy S5 also packs dual-band WiFi support, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and GPS with A-GPS support. Samsung has integrated number of modern day sensors such as Barometer, Fingerprint and Heart Rate Sensor. It has that latest Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and a 2800 mAh battery.
You can check out Galaxy S5’s camera samples here, and to read its full review, click here.
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Sony Xperia Z2
The Sony Xperia Z2 does not have the punch of Nokia Lumia 1020 when it comes to resolution but this phone has something that no other smartphone has, i.e. under water photography. Yes, you heard it right, with the water proof Sony Xperia Z2 you can capture images as well as video underwater. Besides, Xperia Z2 is capable of recording 4K videos.
The unique features of Xperia Z2 is backed by its top line hardware- a 20.7 megapixel rear camera with Exmor RS mobile image sensor, ½.3†sensor, and the intelligent Bionz mobile image sensor. It has 27 mm wide angle lens and f2.0 aperture for capturing more light in darker environments. There is a 2.2 MP camera in the front as well.
The Sony Xperia Z2 is a beautiful handset as well, perhaps the best in the industry now. It comes with a glass covered body, both in the front and back. But under this glass body lies a powerful 2.3 GHz Qualcomm MSM8974AB Quad-core processor that runs the Android KitKat operating system. It has a 5.2 inch full HD display and comes with a huge 3200 mAh battery.
The LG G Pro 2 comes with a 5.9-inch IPS Plus LCD display with 1920×1080 pixel resolution. It is powered by a quad-core, 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 mobile chipset. For faster and fluid performance, LG has integrated 3 GB DDR3 RAM in the handset. The phone comes in 16 GB and 32 GB on-board storage options. LG G Pro 2 will come with Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and will have the LG Optimus user interface.
The smartphone has a 13 megapixel camera with LED Flash. It comes with new Optical Image Stabilisation Plus (OIS+) feature. The OIS+ technology brings in the anti-shake mechanism through software optimisations along with the hardware. Basically, better imaging and video recording even in low light conditions. Imaging enthusiasts can go crazy with the video recording capabilities. The rear camera can record a full 1080p HD videos at 120 frames per second. Apart from that, users can also enjoy editing those videos at different speeds – one-half slow motion, one-fourth slow motion and original speed. High definition video lovers can use the rear camera to record 4K Ultra HD videos to play them in crisp and clearer quality on their HD TVs.
LG G Pro 2 has support for 4G LTE and HSPA+ networks where bands will vary as per regions. Other than that the phone has Bluetooth Smart Ready 4.0, WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Near Field Communication chip and Slimport support.
You can read its review here.