Phones

[Anuj Prateek]

Everyone gets hung up on pixel count, but the size of the sensor and the quality of the lens are way more important. And even if/when the phone gets to what I'd consider "real-camera" picture quality, the ergonomics will still suck.

Very true and not widely understood by people. Increasing pixel count trend is common in DSLR as well. If anything it makes processing difficult without upgrades to computer. There is a place for high pixel count but i don't think it's required by most.

Said that modern smartphone cameras are pretty good for normal snapshots. On trips I use a DSLR but phone has replaced need of any other smaller digital camera. If photos have to be seen on phone itself or social media, then phone cameras do a very decent job.

[Dwayne Watt]

Maybe this was hit upon earlier, but a phone camera becomes so very useful for "notes". Pictures of things to serve as a reminder or to convey information to someone else. The idiom of "a picture is worth a thousand words" is ever so true and perhaps even more so as people age. There are many very useful tools that go with a smartphone and everyone figures out ways to increase its value to them (maps, Gas Buddy, weather apps, music, video, etc).

Also, while the trac-phone and consumer cellular work well in many cases there are limitations. I have seen first hand where the same model phone (one Verizon and one Trac-Phone) do not perform identically from the same location. The Verizon phone gets tower preference (more bars and faster service) over the Trac-Phone. That can become an issue when traveling outside your home area. The discount systems are not necessarily as reliable.

[Lee DeRaud]

Maybe this was hit upon earlier, but a phone camera becomes so very useful for "notes". Pictures of things to serve as a reminder or to convey information to someone else. The idiom of "a picture is worth a thousand words" is ever so true and perhaps even more so as people age.

Yup, "pictures" vs "photographs", the former being things that are intended to be viewed primarily on a phone, whether the one that captured it or someone else's.

[Curt Harms]

Very true and not widely understood by people. Increasing pixel count trend is common in DSLR as well. If anything it makes processing difficult without upgrades to computer. There is a place for high pixel count but i don't think it's required by most.

Said that modern smartphone cameras are pretty good for normal snapshots. On trips I use a DSLR but phone has replaced need of any other smaller digital camera. If photos have to be seen on phone itself or social media, then phone cameras do a very decent job.

I agree with you about high pixel count but it's a great sales tool. It's easy to quantify pixel count - "Mine's bigger than theirs" - it's harder if not impossible to assign a single simple number to optics, image sensor, that sort of thing. The segment of the camera market that cell phones have virtually taken over is the simple point 'n' shoot. Most phones fill that niche nicely. I have a Nokia midrange phone with Carl Zeiss camera. It takes very good pictures and is especially good at close-ups.