Indeed Nokia makes the best phone cameras. But they lack in performance anywhere else. Nokia's time to play a major role at the mobile phone branch is over. Their market shares are going down.... The camera feature had been a nice addition at 'normal' phones. At recent smartphones almost nobody cares about a good photo camera. Most are suitable for snapshots and video recording. Any other who takes photographing a bit serious uses a separate camera.
Nokia PureView 808 is the best camera phone I have ever seen! I hope Nokia will make a Lumia PureView.
My current and most used camera is a Nikon D90 DSLR. I have one prime lens 60mm, a standard zoom, a telezoom and a ultra wide angle zoom. I am planing to upgrade to the Nikon D800 and some new lenses, but the D800 is sold out everywhere since it's a very new full frame DSLR. I use my phone cam to record videos when to carry the DSLR isn't suitable. For instance on parties, at night...... The videos are quite OK to watch on a 46 inches LED screen...I still use my Samsung Galaxy S phone to record videos....
I really dislike all cameras on phones, Nokia N8 is pretty good but still has a long way to go. The optics still need alot of improvement. But there is always one unavoidable problem with that. the optics are always exposed and subject to scratches and fingerprints, which distort the image.
It's the limited diameter of the lens due to lack of room. Guess why all pros carry those lenses with them, mostly 77 mm diameter? And you're right, scratches and dirt won't make it better.. @<3 Digital <3, the Galaxy S as mentioned above. Good? Realtive good..lol. depends on your demands. It never replaces even a beginner's DSLR...
I totally agree, I wish they could make the lens retractable when not in use some how. But with phones getting thinner and thinner, I don't see it happening.
As per the matter of best camera having cell phone and you're having appropriate money for buying a well features cell phone then just check Sony Ericsson C905a Cyber Shot. This cell phone having 8.1 mega pixel camera, which is provided enthusiasts photos.
[FONT="]One of the best camera phone models released is The iPhone 4 S IMO. It boasts an 8 megapixel camera with f/2.4 aperture lens, flash, pinch to zoom, and on camera photo editing and it can also record 1080p video[/FONT]
According to me, the best camera phone is samsung galaxy s3. It is one of the coolest phone I had ever encounter. It have pretty smart camera and I also love its shutter sound, it sounds brilliant.
And what about the Nokia 808 PureView? 41 megapixels of photographic quality. Yes, you read that correct, 41 megapixels. It's a Carl Zeiss lens too. www[.]nokia.com/global/products/phone/808pureview/ I'm not a fan of Nokia, an Android developer myself, but 41 megapixels is crazy.
I am not an Apple user, but according to Consumer Reports, the best camera phone is an iPhone 5, I of course call bull**** on that!