Posted Saturday, May 12, 2012 by John Ennis in Android General

Are Smartphone Cameras Ready to Replace Regular Cameras?

After spending some time with the camera on the HTC One X, I have to say that it is a huge improvement over every camera that I have ever used on a smartphone, and a tremendous step forward from the 5 MP shooter in the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Over and over it was stressed by the staff at the HTC booth that the lens in the One X allows 40% more light to enter the sensor, and I have to say that the results are impressive. However, are the cameras enough to justify not buying a high level camera like a DSLR? Well HTC seems to think so, and thinks that you can’t tell the difference.

The folks at HTC are betting that you can’t tell the difference between photos taken with a professional camera and the HTC One X. The website presents two photos, and it’s up to you to pick the smartphone photo. They are posting a HTC Camera challenge on their website.

Maybe it’s the nice display on my monitor, but I was able to score 8/10 and I have no experience with taking professional photographs.

The tech isn’t quite there, the dead giveaway for me was colors that appeared a bit washed out, and lack of detail in dark areas in photos. However, that’s not to say that the technology used on the One series of phones isn’t amazing. In my hands-on with the phones, you can see how amazing the software and hardware combination is: 99 photos in 4 seconds, and getting that perfect shot isn’t all that hard anymore.

My wife recently bought a Canon EOS T2i and this camera is a beast, and I have no idea how to use it. Like I said, I have zero experience working a real camera. However, the results from this professional camera are undeniable. The smartphone is getting close to replacing point and click cameras, that’s undeniable. However, even the HTC One X isn’t quite there when it comes to replacing a $800 camera.

Via: Android Central, HTC

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John Ennis

Sr Editor at Android Does

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When the USAF dropped this New Jersey boy off in Louisiana, he had no idea that the fun was just beginning. John has turned wrenches on jet engines in a Combat AGE team, raided Molten Core in the day, pwn n00bs in Battlefield 3, and can speak iOS and Android.

John has a BS degree in Culinary Arts, and is working on a Master’s in Education. Married and a father of 4 boys, John gets his screen name, Broadwayblues, from the NHL team the New York Rangers, loves the NY Giants and admits that he likes the NY Mets too. He cuddles his Galaxy Nexus at night.

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camera challenge. HTC camera challenge htc one x ics camera One X

Guest

Why in the world would I use (and constantly carry with me) an expensive, big, bulky camera???
Do I really need photos bigger than 8 *MILLION* pixels????

My cell phone is far, far enough high quality for me.
John Ennis

Well the challenge by HTC was to see if you could point out the difference between a cellphone camera and a professional camera. For me, it was pretty easy to spot the difference. I don’t deny that a cellphone is much more handy to grab shots, but like today we went to a graduation. The big camera took excellent photos, and a cellphone camera wouldn’t even come close to the results that we got with the canon and a telephoto lens.
Point is, this marketing is trying to get you to believe that the photos by the HTC One X are approaching professional quality images, and for me I don’t believe that we are there yet. The One X is as good as a $150 or so point and click camera, but nothing more than that.
You have a great point though, the One X is awesome for everyday shots.
Demecles

Whether you need to carry a big bulky camera not depends upon the type of picture you are trying to capture.

The photos in the HTC One X challange were all simple exposures with little/no motion with a narrow dynamic range. Now if you were trying to take fast action shots or required more range or contrast in your photos than you’d just be up a creek with the One X.

As for the the 40% more light that is useful up to a point. What they are telling you is that the One X has a very wide aperture (something like f1.8 if I remember correctly). While this is useful it also has it’s down sides, though some are partially negated by the phones extremely short focal length. The biggest thing to remember is the wider the aperture, the more diffuse the light entering the shutter and the less sharp the resulting image will be.
http://www.androiddoes.net/ Steve Brassington

Thanks for the comment. You bring up a good point, but I think it also depends on your picture taking preferences. I’m very much like you, I’m not that deeply immersed into photography, so instead of carrying a bulky camera, I use my smartphone. As a matter of fact I’ve used my smartphones for most of my picture taking over the last few years, whether it be the kids at the park or at school event etc. We have a nice camera at home, and we do use it on occasion, but not very often. The fact of the matter is that no matter how close a smartphone camera comes, it will never capture the image the same way as a professional camera. But that’s OK, as I’m no professional photographer.
Dave

scored 9/10 but is was a good challenge. I have a Samsung ST90 and a Fuji S6500fd but the One S as with the One X delivers on images.
Gwanatu

I only got 4/10, but I think the small size of the pictures makes this more difficult to tell which is which.
http://www.androiddoes.net/ Steve Brassington

I scored 4/10 too!
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Are Smartphone Cameras Ready to Replace Regular Cameras?

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