subject: Smartphones Stick It To Digital Cameras [print this page] When youre out and about using your smartphone and you see something interesting, do you put your phone away, reach into your pocket and grab your digital camera? Of course not, because then you not only have to go home, plug in the device or remove the memory card and use a card reader to access your files via computer, but then youd have to transfer the images to your hard drive (if you wanna backup of your files and to make room on your card), and then upload them manually to whatever social networking sites you wish to share them on. Whew. Sounds like a lot. But thats how we used to do things. Not anymore. According to a new report from Bloomberg today, smartphones are kicking digital cameras in the teeth and it doesnt look like thats gonna stop.
In the above mentioned example, you simply go to the camera on your smartphone, take a picture, open the options for that image (alter it if you want using photo editing software or instagr.am for you iPhone users), and then upload it to Facebook right there with a caption. Its simple. Heres the funny part the image is fine. Its not just a convenience factor anymore. Smartphone cameras are rocking incredible resolutions and simple functions that used to be solely the territory of digital cameras. For example, I was working an event the other evening and a couple of the girls were having a hard time getting the digital camera flash to get the right lighting. I suggested using my Blackberry, and the pictures came out amazing. I take loads of photos with my blackberry, and it actually has a plethora of settings for shooting different objects wether it be auto, landscape, or text, etc. Flash, no flash, auto-flash, and 4X zoom are all standard, and the camera is 5 megapixels. That aint half bad. Unless Im a professional looking for the max resolution possible and editing photos using Photoshop, the smartphone provides more than enough to get by and is super convenient.
The cell-phone camera is becoming more accepted as the primary camera, said Pamela Tufegdzic, an analyst at research firm IHS Inc. Smartphones are cannibalizing the point-and- shoot, digital-still camera market. In this very same article, it is said that digital camera shipments are expected to fall by 4.3% again this year to 115.2M units. Bloombergs report goes on to say, The iPhone 4S, Apples latest smartphone, takes photos with 60 percent higher resolution than the companys previous model. HTC, which makes smartphones based on Google Inc.s Android operating system, said its new One handsets capture images in poor-lighting conditions. And Nokia Oyj (NOK1V), the worlds biggest mobile-phone maker by volume, last month introduced a handset with a camera sensor that the company says delivers photos with five times the resolution of the iPhone 4S.
I dont know that this is the death of the digital camera, but it does seem to be wounded, badly. The high-end will always be the high end, but for the average consumer, the appeal of a separate device to handle photo responsibilities when a smartphone is just as efficient and more convenient could spell doom. Remember the mobile gaming arena? Remember how folks are now just playing tiny, addicting games on their mobile devices without the need for an additional form factor? Same story here. Sure, digital cameras, like handheld gaming platforms, are going to be better and higher quality than a smartphone. But is that difference enough to justify running around with two devices? If the report is any indication No.
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