Mobile phones have gone from being a necessary communication tool to becoming an important extension of ourselves.
We keep track of our friends on social media, get restaurant tips, find our way through unfamiliar places, order taxis, check in at airports, listen to music on the bus, watch movies on the plane, play games during the break, listening at the pod-broadcasts on the hammock, check e-mails on the go, write shopping lists, schedule meetings and manage the connected home.
And then we take pictures on top of that as well. It is estimated that we took 1.2 trillion (!) pictures with cell phones last year.
It is said that the best camera is the one that is brought along, and the mobile phone is always in the pocket to forever capture the unexpected moments. Therefore, it is no big surprise that we are still placing higher demands for photo quality in our mobile phones. And mobile phone manufacturers have responded to the demand. They put a lot of research on how to get better pictures from the small optics. In recent years, development has moved ahead at furious speed. First we got higher resolution, until the pictures had unnecessarily high-resolution. Then they worked with image stabilisation and faster processing, which in combination with more light-sensitive sensors has made it possible to take pictures even in dim lighting.
The latest trend is even more cameras. What the extra camera is used for, however, varies among manufacturers. Huawei used previous extra cameras for creative effects, like giving the portrait a fuzzy background by measuring the depth of the subject. Others, like LG, have added a wide-angle lens so that one can take group shots without having to go further back. However, the vast majority have added a telephoto lens. You can then get closer to the subject without having to go closer, which is not always possible. It’s perfect for holiday pictures when you want to snap a photo of a sight, even if you are slightly far away. This has been taken to the extreme in Huawei’s new P20 Pro, which has three entire cameras!