Best Camera Phone?

hidinginthebush

Hi,

So I'm in the market for a new phone and am pretty much looking for a phone with a good camera. The phone does not require any of the following features: MP3 player, touchscreen, apps, games, internet access, if they're there, fair enough, but I doubt I'll use any smartphone features. Basically I want to get a phone that will double as a camera that takes good quality pics. That is all. Makes / accepts calls, texts and takes good pics.

I'm thinking of making the switch to bill pay, but would be opting for the cheapest plan when doing so. Should be able to spend maybe €200 on the phone (should be able to get something decent for €200 on bill pay surely?). Would rather to be on meteor (their cheapest bill plan seems the best), but am open to switching networks.

I know I may be searching for a dinosaur of a phone, but I simply have no inclination in these extra features, have an mp3 player for the tunes and tend to read when on the bus/train/plane, so I don't need the games or apps. Needless if the best choice is an android smartphone or something, I'll gladly consider it, I just though that by not requiring any of these add-ons I might save a bit of cash. I've also had a gander at the choice out there, but it seems that the phone with the largest megapixel camera isn't necessary the best. For example the sony w995 has a 8.1 MP camera but apparently it's quite pants? Anyway, any help would be welcome.

Thanks!

Davy

Em, if going meteor the w995, albeit a little old, has a decent camera. The x10 would be on a similar par.

evolutionqy7

well my mother has a has the W995 and the pictures in optimal brightness are great...though if its a bit dark it drops back to the same problem as all crappy quality...

do have in mind MP doesnt mean nothing...as the lends is more important than MP as well how the software process the picture...

if it was me id go for the SE Xperia X10...has a decent camera and its advantage over the Galaxy it has a flash so if you do feel like taking a picture in the dark you will have some sort of lightning

Price on billpay from €49.99 to €179.9

cnocbui

I was going to suggest the Samsung Jet, but meteor don't seem to have it on Bpay.

They do have the Samsung Wave, which also has a superb camera, but it also has all the fancy stuff you don't want. Meteor website says it is from free to €80.

I had the Jet but gave it to my son. I now have a Wave. I can post sample pics from both if you would like.

The Nokia N8 probably will be one of the best Camera phones you can get. It has a seriously large sensor which should translate to good low light performance. It also has Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash. Very tasty.

masker

yeap , n8 would be a perfect choice,

Celestial Deity

masker wrote: »

yeap , n8 would be a perfect choice,

And Meteor have confirmed that they're stocking it too.

hidinginthebush

I had a look at the N8 on nokia's website, looks pretty sweet alright! Any ideas on when it's going to be out?

Twiki

UK release is September 23rd - dunno when Irish networks will be rolling it out.

Hogzy

C905 is the best Camera phone SE have ever made, and SE make the best camera phones. Remember MP isnt everything!!!

BostonB

I've not been impressed with the W995, C510, X10mini. The photos seem to be noisier than you'd expect. Most seem to think the N86 is probably best during the day and low light, the N82 being the best at night. Nokia 6220 is the same as the N82. The iPhone 4 is meant to be decent during the day. I've no faith in Carl Zeiss, its on phones that are poor camera phones.

N86 -

It is Nokia's first camera phone to have an 8 megapixel sensor, and features both multiple aperture settings and a mechanical shutter (uncommon features by the standards of camera phones), and a Carl Zeiss lens with a wide angle of view (28 mm equivalent). It also has auto focus and a dual LED flash (3rd generation dual-LEDs), and an AF assist light. Video capture resolution is 640 × 480 pixels (VGA) at 30 frames per second.[2]

and

1/1000sec shutter speed

You need a mechanical switch, not a touch button, you need a slider to cover the lense. No point having a scratched lense glass. Xenon for night time.

http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/21/what-makes-a-good-cameraphone-by-steve-litchfield-all-about-symbian
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/02/04/almanac-spotlight-cracking-cameraphones

my old 2mp Sony W810i takes better photos than my E71 3.2mp Carl Zeiss.

If you check out flickr you can browse by camera. So you can check which phones you like the photos from...
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/