subject: The Evolution of the Camera Phone [print this page] The Evolution of the Camera Phone The Evolution of the Camera Phone
Many remember the day when a phone was just a phone and didn't come with a camera. Today it is almost required. The camera phone while relatively new was originally patented back in 1956. Of course the practicality and the price never made it convenient until the 90s. With the integration of the camera into the phone came a sharing infrastructure. From there, the company with the best sharing system often took the lead. For example, in 1997, Sharp and Kyocera were competing in the camera phone industry, but Kyocera was designed with a peer-to-peer video-phone while Sharp could just produce instant pictures.
The Japanese made J-Phone was the frontrunner in the camera phone industry as it had more than half of its subscribers using camera phones in two years. The world soon followed. By 2003 there were more people buying phones with cameras than stand-alone digital cameras. By 2004, Nokia became the world's most sold digital camera brand.
Today, phones with cameras installed share pictures nearly instantly through the carrier's network. This has removed the need to constantly download pictures and the necessity of cables or removable media (something people had to do not long ago). The type of image sensors cameras use also has evolved, thus reducing the pull on the phone's battery. Some camera phones use CMOS image sensors, which is less of a pull on batteries compared to the CCD type of cameras. Images are also converted to JPEGS today making sharing easier as well.
The use and convenience of cameras in phones changed the world on many levels socially. People could capture moments as they occurred, sharing everything from natural disasters to war images. Camera phones have helped with crime prevention and have assisted in insurance claims. On the flip side, people were getting their picture taken illegally or against their wishes and finding their pictures on the Internet. Enforcing bans on camera phones has been difficult due to the fact they are hidden within one's cell phone, making them easy to disguise or hide. Organizations such as museums, theaters, fitness clubs or federal and state courts have to completely prohibit the use of phones with cameras within their buildings.
Today, the cameras built into smartphones are integrated into applications and combined with GPS can help one identify an object within a city. Cameras are also used to plainly identify an object and the history of it for example, a photo of a wine label will instantly bring the user information and background on that particular wine. If you are a price shopper, you can use your camera to read a barcode and instantly find out other prices at other stores for the same item.
With the use of camera phones has also stemmed the development of mobile photo applications. New applications include Instagram, Picplz and Path. These tools allow one to enhance their photos and have tools to crop or alter their pictures before sending them online. Add to this social networking and people sending photos directly to Twitter and Facebook, and one can see why people love their camera phones.
What will follow the camera phone's popularity? Most likely video and the ability to easily take video with quality sound and transfer it but who knows.
