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Camera Mobile Buying Guide
Introduction
Camera Mobile Resolution
Camera Mobile Zoom
Mobile Memory and Storage Options
Other Important Camera Mobile Features
Key Factors to Look At Camera Resolution |
Camera resolution is the measurement unit that defines the camera's clarity and is determined by the number of vertical and horizontal pixels that camera is capable of generating. A higher resolution directly means more pixels resulting in a sharper image.
Camera mobile phones today are available in a range of resolutions right from 0.1 megapixels to above 1 megapixels. Images with a resolution of above 1 megapixel can be use to generate decent prints using a photo printer, whereas images less the 1 megapixel are only suitable for messaging or web use. Printouts taken from such images are extremely blurry.
Generally most mobile phones available today can capture images with a resolution of 0.3 to 1.3 mega pixels. But highly sophisticated cameras that have more than 3 mega pixels have already entered the market.
You must have come across the names SXGA, VGA, QVGA, QQVGA and the like associated with the camera mobile. These are display specifications that specify the resolution of the camera used in the mobile. The various display resolutions along with the pixels associated are given in the following table:
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| SXGA
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The SXGA or the Super Extended Graphics Array is a display specification that can display 1280x1024 pixels or approximately 1.3 Mega Pixels.
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| SVGA
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The SVGA or Super VGA can support 800 x 600 pixel resolution which adds approximately to 0.5 Mega Pixels
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| VGA
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The VGA or the video graphics array is a display resolution capable of displaying 640x480 pixels which is roughly 0.3 Mega Pixels
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| QVGA
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The QVGA also know as quarter VGA is a display resolution of 320x240 pixels which works out to roughly 0.07 Mega Pixels
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| CIF
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CIF or Common Intermediate Format is used to define a display resolution of 352 X 288 pixels which is roughly 0.1 Megapixels
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| 16CIF
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16CIF is sixteen times CIF which is 1408 x 1152 pixels or 1.6 Megapixels
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| 4CIF
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4CIF resolution is four times CIF which is a display resolution of 704 x 576 or 0.4 Megapixels
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| QCIF
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QCIF or quarter CIF is a display resolution of 176 X 144 pixels or 0.02 Megapixels
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| Sub-QCIF
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Sub-QCIF stands for a display resolution of 128 x 96 pixels or 0.01 Megapixels
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How many Megapixels do you need?
When selecting a digital camera, the first thing that people look at is the camera resolution in terms of pixels. This is because pixels are directly proportional to the quality of the image, meaning having more pixels will give rise to a higher resolution picture. Pictures having a higher resolution can be stretched to a huge extend without the slightest blur, whereas those having a lower resolution will start showing blurriness even when they are enlarged to a small proportion.
Although the 'higher the better' can hold true for a digital camera, it just might get a little trickier than that when it comes to camera mobiles. This is because of the fact that cameras with higher pixel counts generally create advanced quality pictures, but they also create bigger files that might not be suitable for some users. For example, if you're purchasing a camera mobile primarily for sending snapshots via MMS, e-mail or the Web, you will need to resize images to a smaller size to decrease upload/download times. You won't be needing a high resolution camera phone if you will always be resizing the images to one megapixel or less. On the other hand if you plan to print most of the pictures you take with your mobile, you would want as many pixels as you can get.
So the pixel resolution that you need depends entirely on how you intend to use your camera mobile. If you want to use your camera mobile for capturing those unexpected moments and setting them as wall papers or messaging them to your friends then you can settle down for a SVGA or VGA resolution camera. If on the other hand you intend to go one step further like adding images to your website or computer and taking prints, you can aim at anything between 1.3 to 2.0 Megapixel resolution cameras. A camera with a 2.0 MP can help you take a maximum of 5 x 7 inch print-outs which should be quite enough for anyone. If you have decided to finally get rid of your digital camera with your camera mobile phone then you can go for anything above 2 Mega pixels which is quite rare as of now.
But if you take our advice, you can forget about changing mobile phones into digital cameras. This is because irrespective of the megapixels, problems can set in when it comes to the zooming aspect which plays such a major role in photography (We will be discussing zooming in the later part of this article). Mobiles are meant for communication and a mobile camera can be used for capturing all those unexpected moments. So if you are really aiming at professional stuff go for a digital camera instead.
The next part deals with camera zooms, phone displays and image sensors
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