These have been my favorite camera phones for the past 25 years

Samsung has been launched by SCH-V-200, who claims to be the first camera phone title (sharp J-SH04 is also on his eyes). It was certainly nothing like a photography behemoth we take into our pockets today. Compare this with today’s best camera phones with 200 megapixels, 1 inch image sensors, and square lenses, and it’s not difficult to feel a little older.

There have been many wonderful camera phones over the past two and a half decades. So, after 25 years of SCH-V200 (whether it was really the first or not), I thought I would walk the memory lane with some of my personal favorite.

I’m dating myself here, but before Android was one thing, I bought a Sony Erickin K750i that feels like a very expensive deal (in fact, which allows young people to sign phone contracts?). Back in 2005, I didn’t know I was buying in a sleeper hit. The K750i was a huge success for Sony, thanks to its ground brake camera on a large scale. He filled the 2MP shooter with a dual LED flash – trust me, which was impressive at that time. Most phones are at the top of 0.3MP VGA sensor.

According to today’s standards, the sunglasses are modest, but consumers like Sony and me saw it as a game changer. It had a back -to -back lens (I still hear satisfactory snaps), a dedicated shutter button, and a volume flame that doubled as zoom control. It was made to feel like a small camera that you can put in your pocket.

The K750I is often overlooked in early smartphone camera debates, but it laid the foundation for the K850I, which increased the brick with a 5MP sensor, proper Xenon flash, and more camera -concentrated interface. It also paved the way for Sony Erickson’s cyber shot phones, which aims to fuse Sony’s Point and Shoot camera chips with mobile tech. Sony’s Expert phones carry the same legacy.

The K750I may not be the first or most memorable, but for me, at least, it was my first taste of the phone that kept the camera in front and center, and I didn’t look back.

This is hesitant in my list, mostly because I did not use early iPhones myself. And honestly, even I have tried many premium iPhones since I haven’t broken my personal top 10. Nevertheless, the credit where it is obligatory: Apple has played a major role in the formation of a camera phone culture, not always moving the tech boundaries, but appealing to include mobile photography in the mainstream. After all, who does not love social media?

The iPhone 4 is the place where this change started.

With a decent 5MP BSI sensor, 720p video recording, LED flash, and front feeing camera, the iPhone 4 had solid, if not excellent, hardware setup. But it was software and ecosystem that raised the experience. It made the photo and video sharing not only easy, but also inevitable.

Facetime introduces millions of people in video calling – which allegedly pave the way for blogging culture. Instagram launched the same year, which gave people a reason to share iPhone photos. IOS4 Photo Albums, Geo -Tagging, iCloud Backup, and even in Iemovi are bundled in video editing. Looking back, it is difficult to remember at a time when they were not standard.

From the point of view of pure photography, it was not ground -breaking, but the iPhone 4 is the godfather of modern mobile photography experience.

However, I spent this period with a wonderful Samsung Galaxy S2. He launched 8 MP camera and 1080p video capabilities a year later, which also placed Android on a multimedia map. I loved me, though I remember this photography as a more solid all -rounder than the animal. Nevertheless, S2 marked an important turning point for the wider success of the Android imaging and platform, as the iPhone 4 did for Apple.

Move forward for real heavy removal. In his last day, Nokia was When it comes to imaging, to defeat the mobile brand, the Nokia N95 of 2007 fully forward the boundaries.

Although I never had a property, the 2012 Pure View 808 left the impression. It launched Nokia’s Pure View Pixel Over-Slamming Tech, which reduced the zoom or detailed low-razor version of the 41 MP photos-which provides you effectively in both worlds. Today’s high -rise, pixel -controlled sensors are very obligatory for this idea, though now is done in hardware.

The phone’s 1/1.2-inch sensor was huge-even according to today’s standards-and folded with F/2.4 lenses, it can still do its job in some cases. Sadly, the growing app on iOS and Android was already pushing the 808 Sambian OS through the ecosystem. The Nokia Microsoft’s illegitimate Windows Phone was making its bet with OS, and the 2012 Nokia Lumia 920 continued to review it reasonably.

By 2013, Nokia transferred gears to Lumia 1020. He raped a 41MP sensor, prepared the speed/2.2 lens with Zeus, and launched with an optional camera grip accessories. Even he supported raw arrest through later updates – a feature that Apple and Android phones have not been kept for years. Although there were a lot of camera phones before, the 1020s of each one of the enthusiastic camera phones were one before the relative lol.

I still have 1020 away my Canary Yellow. I pulled him five years after the launch, and he still kept himself against the phones, which was just caught in the megapixel count. Certainly, today’s flagship plane flies out of the water in a dynamic range and detail, but the quality of this soft, natural image is still an easy -to -run memory. I will hold it, it is a classic.

When smartphones become a real camera change, it is difficult to identify the same moment, but the 2017-2019 window feels about the right. At the same time when the phone camera is “disturbed by a point and shoot from” coffee “?” To me, Huawei is the P20 Pro Standout model that embraces this very interesting period in mobile photography.

For starters, this was the first phone to triple camera setup: 40MP main shooter, an 8MP 3x telephoto, and a 20MP monochrome sensor used for image fusion. Photo? Excellent for time.

While the processing is now visible, the P20 Pro kicked the golden age of Huawei. The P30 Pro was even better, and the fellow series was also respected, but it was the P20 Pro which started magic.

The P20 Pro started a proper night mode, multi -frame HDR, software -controlled aperture Bokia, hybrid zoom, and even 960 FPS slow motion video, which I had never experienced before. Others were working on similar features, but Huawei was the first to bundle them all in the flagship package, which also looked brilliant. Or maybe it was only me who was agreed to separate from their cash.

In fact, I would not mind if anyone reviewed the concept of monochrome fusion today, especially explaining how ultra -wide lenses have begun to feel useless with the rise of 23 mm of important sensors. It reminds me, I need to take more moody and white photos for my library.

Yes, I had already mentioned the Pixel Line -up – Google was offering HDR+ and computational photography long before 2021 – but it always felt like smart software creates outdated hardware. This pixel changed with 6 Pro.

Google finally joined large leagues with 50MP 1/1.31 inch sensor, 48MP 4X telephoto, and 12MP ultra -wide. Everyone was tested and tested at HDR+, super race zoom, and night site at this location, but felt renewed with powerful hardware to back them. I was particularly blown up by the telephoto lens, which actually produced good pictures like a central sensor. Despite landing other review units on my desk, I got stuck with the phone for a few years and barely pulled a bad picture with him.

Pixel 6 Pro also marked a turning point for Google’s camera ambitions. This was the time when the Pixel finally became a top -tear camera phone and now a premiere of the iconic Pixel Camera Bar. But with this new hardware, computational photography tools such as Magic Ezra, Face Inbumer, and Real Acquisition, which have been spread throughout AI Sweet, include a magic editor, add me, video boost, and a ton of other additional things. The features that were once the pixel immunity are now being copied to the left and right.

If I had to choose an old phone camera to use today, it would be Pixel 6 Pro.

Turn back, I have been lucky and even own some most famous camera phones of all time – some deliberate, some accident. I have barely seen evolution from the megapixel to today’s quad lens.

Today’s flagship phones – such as Google Pixel 9 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultra – are uncertain, even compared to just a handful of models. So much so that they have left the dust without my dear military mirror on the shelf. From today’s huge sensors and numerous lenses to shooting tricks and editing tools, no other part of the smartphone has moved dramatically in the last 25 years like a camera.

Of course, I can’t mention every great camera phone without transforming it into a small book. The HTC OneM7 and its “Ultra Pixel” Gamble, LGG 2/G3 and their laser auto -focuses, the rotating front/back camera of Asus Zenfone 6, and the Sony’s Experia line (especially Pro I) deserve it. In fact, G3 is one of my favorite Android phones, thermal throuting and all.

But now your turn: Did I miss your favorite camera phone? Leave it in comments – I always want to remind.