4 ms·

I had the original iPhone, and the photos were terrible. I don't think it focused on camera features at all! The photos were laughably awful, while my Nokia too

by Ayesh 6y ago

I had the original iPhone, and the photos were terrible. I don't think it focused on camera features at all! The photos were laughably awful, while my Nokia took reasonable photos to its age. There were no video support, and a video camera app off Cydia maxed at 320x240 px at a low frame rate (that I don't recall well). My Nokia at the time took VGA quality videos out of the box

lmilcin 6y ago
To be fair, at the time phones were not seriously used to make a lot of photos. If you wanted photos you would have a separate camera with you and phone was used only as a last resort and maybe when you needed to send an MMS with the photo.
- The_Colonel 6y ago
  Not true, there were phones with much better cameras - as other user pointed out Sony Ericsson made phones with decent cameras (e.g. K850i) and they were actually heavily marketed (and bought) based on its camera quality. See e.g. https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-review-165p5.php#image17 https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-review-165p5.php...
  - kalleboo 6y ago
    Sony Ericsson had much more success in Europe and Asia and as such most Americans don't realize they exist - their memory of the dumb phone era is centered around crappy Motorola flip phones like the RAZR. And Americans get to write most of the tech history online.
  - lmilcin 6y ago
    Just because there existed phones with much better cameras does not change the fact that almost everybody had a phone that had shit camera that was barely usable. Today it would be inconceivable to create a flagship phone without matching bleeding edge camera, but at that time, it was true (regardless of the fact that there were some phones with good cameras) that most people did not use phones for photography on a daily basis. This means there was no immediate expectation the phone will have best camera. I just went through the original unveiling of the iPhone and the focus is completely on UI and form factor and there is very, very, very little about the camera (basically, yes, it has a camera).
- pmontra 6y ago
  Even today if I really care about pictures I use a camera. A compact camera with x30 optical zoom at a $200 / $300 price point is far better than any smartphone. You can take pictures from far away, the lens is better, the sensor is larger. You don't capture the pupils of a bird on a tree with a smartphone. Of course I get out with my phone in a pocket and I bring my camera with me only on special occasions and long journeys so I shoot many more pictures with my smartphone than with my camera so I agree that smartphones changed how we think about pictures.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
tomcam 6y ago
It was terrible. And it documented some of the most beautiful moments of my life, when our children were young.
- tialaramex 6y ago
  Right. The best camera is always the one you have with you because you can't take a picture with cameras you didn't bring and a camera is for taking pictures.
- canofbars 6y ago
  I have taken some pretty amazing photos on my phone. I always think "Damn, I wish I had my sony camera here for this" But I don't have it and without my phone I never would have captured the moment. Its incredible to have a high quality camera in my pocket at all times even if it isn't the best quality.
vagrantJin 6y ago
People are forgetting Sony Ericsson had absurdly good cameras and really well designed phones but they hesitated on Android. The sony cameras were best in class by a margin.
- piva00 6y ago
  I had a Sony Ericsson K750 exactly because of its camera. Even better was when I got to upgrade the firmware to the W800 one to have the Walkman features. It was a really cool phone for the time, circa 2005-2006.

by Ayesh 6y ago

lmilcin 6y ago

To be fair, at the time phones were not seriously used to make a lot of photos. If you wanted photos you would have a separate camera with you and phone was used only as a last resort and maybe when you needed to send an MMS with the photo.

The_Colonel 6y ago
Not true, there were phones with much better cameras - as other user pointed out Sony Ericsson made phones with decent cameras (e.g. K850i) and they were actually heavily marketed (and bought) based on its camera quality. See e.g. https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-review-165p5.php#image17 https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-review-165p5.php...
- kalleboo 6y ago
  Sony Ericsson had much more success in Europe and Asia and as such most Americans don't realize they exist - their memory of the dumb phone era is centered around crappy Motorola flip phones like the RAZR. And Americans get to write most of the tech history online.
- lmilcin 6y ago
  Just because there existed phones with much better cameras does not change the fact that almost everybody had a phone that had shit camera that was barely usable. Today it would be inconceivable to create a flagship phone without matching bleeding edge camera, but at that time, it was true (regardless of the fact that there were some phones with good cameras) that most people did not use phones for photography on a daily basis. This means there was no immediate expectation the phone will have best camera. I just went through the original unveiling of the iPhone and the focus is completely on UI and form factor and there is very, very, very little about the camera (basically, yes, it has a camera).
pmontra 6y ago
Even today if I really care about pictures I use a camera. A compact camera with x30 optical zoom at a $200 / $300 price point is far better than any smartphone. You can take pictures from far away, the lens is better, the sensor is larger. You don't capture the pupils of a bird on a tree with a smartphone. Of course I get out with my phone in a pocket and I bring my camera with me only on special occasions and long journeys so I shoot many more pictures with my smartphone than with my camera so I agree that smartphones changed how we think about pictures.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

tomcam 6y ago

It was terrible. And it documented some of the most beautiful moments of my life, when our children were young.

tialaramex 6y ago
Right. The best camera is always the one you have with you because you can't take a picture with cameras you didn't bring and a camera is for taking pictures.
canofbars 6y ago
I have taken some pretty amazing photos on my phone. I always think "Damn, I wish I had my sony camera here for this" But I don't have it and without my phone I never would have captured the moment. Its incredible to have a high quality camera in my pocket at all times even if it isn't the best quality.

vagrantJin 6y ago

People are forgetting Sony Ericsson had absurdly good cameras and really well designed phones but they hesitated on Android. The sony cameras were best in class by a margin.

piva00 6y ago
I had a Sony Ericsson K750 exactly because of its camera. Even better was when I got to upgrade the firmware to the W800 one to have the Walkman features. It was a really cool phone for the time, circa 2005-2006.