High-powered camera phones

Nicole Lee, Associate Editor July 23, 2009

It wasn't so long ago that most camera phones on the market were low-resolution VGA shooters. There were a few 1.3-megapixel models scattered around, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Then, faster than you could say "Say cheese," 2- and 3.2-megapixel camera phones began to appear. While they weren't quite good enough to replace the average standalone camera, they went a long way toward doing so. But starting last year, we reached a new threshold with 5-megapixel and higher camera phones. Here is a selection of models that we've reviewed over the past year.

The Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905a is one of a few high-end megapixel camera phones to make it to a U.S. carrier, and it's available from AT&T. It has an 8.1-megapixel camera with features like geotagging, red-eye reduction, face detection, and really good photo quality. T-Mobile has an 8-megapixel camera of its own, too, and it's the Samsung Memoir. The Memoir offers not only advanced features like antishake and panorama stitching, it also has direct upload to online sharing sites like Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Photobucket, and Snapfish. If you prefer having an unlocked model, the Samsung Innov8 has an 8-megapixel camera lens, too, but it'll cost you a lot more.

As for 5-megapixel options, there's the the Motorola Zine ZN5 available from T-Mobile, which has a number of editing options as well as Wi-Fi, and the Casio Exilim C721 from Verizon, which is the only high-megapixel camera phone we've seen that is military-certified to be water and shock resistant.