8 megapixel mega shootout: Picture this

10 November 2011
In a time honored tradition, we have the latest and greatest cameraphones lined up and ready to shoot for the top. It's been a while, we know. The last time we had a taste of 8MP sharpshooting action was in the distant 2008. 8MP then and 8MP now...

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  • D
  • AnonD-25
  • 0Bh
  • 10 Nov 2011

Thanks for your feedback! You are an amazing community and I thought I could shed light on some the matters that seem to concern you.

First of all, I can assure you we're still an independent company and nobody has bought or paid us to do this article or pick the iPhone as a winner.

Also, the article has not been produced in the US and we actually buy our iPhone review units so it’s not like we’ve been paid to say anything about an Apple product, just on the contrary.

And regarding our pick of the iPhone 4S as the best cameraphone, we gotta admit it's not by such a wide margin. The Samsung Galaxy S II has a really capable camera too and it certainly is the best Android cameraphone these days.

We've invested dozens of man-hours all in evaluating and scoring the camera samples you see published and a lot more samples that haven’t made it online. We took a great care of being objective and maker agnostic because anything else would be against our professionalism. We’ve spent years building our reputation, and no matter what you might think, it’s not something that we would readily trade in.

If you don't like our scores, you can always make your own scores based on the camera samples we provide. All samples come straight from the phones themselves and have not been digitally altered in any way.

Regarding the misfortunate Arc S performance, we gotta say the camera performance of the Arc S is quite close to that of the original Arc (if not better), so we chose the more recent version, as the original Arc is more than a year old now.

The Nokia N8 was not included for two specific reason, although it was available during the time of the test. Firstly, it's an year old phone, which has already lost much of its appeal to our readers now. And secondly, while it still is one of the best cameraphones out there, this time around we weren't looking for the ultimate cameraphone, but instead our goal was to bring you a detailed comparison of the many 8MP devices that are currently available.

-chavis, the GSMArena team

    • D
    • AnonD-7043
    • U@{
    • 10 Nov 2011

    Now a days anyone can tell the conclusions of ur reviews GSMArena. U lost faith of millions of people.

    Exclusive GSMArena review>
    Best Design: iPhone 4S
    Best Smartphone: iP4S
    Best OS: iOS
    Best 8 MP Cam: iP4S
    Best Phone: iP4S
    Best Music: iP4S

    GSMArena, that was pathetic, just like U now.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 3sE
      • 10 Nov 2011

      Cnt u just stop speaking of an Iphone.it makz me sick

        • n
        • no matter
        • pdq
        • 10 Nov 2011

        I guess N8 was excluded becouse it is 12mp. This review is about 8mp.
        Anyway, N8 still is best among camera phones.

          • B
          • Best of the Best
          • m5N
          • 10 Nov 2011

          Undisputed BEST of the BEST camera phones, only TOP 7, becouse others camera phones very poor quality to mention them:

          01. Panasonic Lumix Phone 101P, Android OS - (Coming soon. Exp. release 2011). 13.2MP CMOS Lumix sensor with “Mobile Venus Engine“.

          02. Sharp Aquos Phone 102SH, Android OS - (Coming soon. Exp. release 2011). 12MP CMOS camera with full 1080p HD video recording.

          03. Nokia N8, Symbian OS - (Available. Released 2010, October).
          12 MP, 4000x3000 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Xenon flash.

          04. Altek Leo, Android OS - (Available. Released 2011, October). 14 MP CCD sensor, 3x optical zoom and 720p HD recorder, xenon flash.

          Also in 5 and 6 place these averages quality camera lens phones ---->>>>

          05. Samsung M8910 Pixon12, - (Released 2009, August).
          12 MP, 4000x3000 pixels, autofocus, 12 megapixel, with LED and xenon flash, 28mm (30mm effective) wide-angle variable aperture lens.

          06. Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II, Android OS - (Available. Released 2011, April).
          8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash.

          07. Apple iPhone 4S, iOS 5 - (Available. Released 2011, October). 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • uuh
            • 10 Nov 2011

            AnonD-26818, 10 Nov 2011SGS2 has the best Camera Iphone 4S doesn't have better Ca... moreWhy vignette? Take the hacked sgs2 camera app by potatoman from xda. Higher bit rates and lower compression, that thing is faster, and better. An improved version of that app also allows for using the volume keys as shutter keys. ;-)

              • D
              • AnonD-843
              • 2SR
              • 10 Nov 2011

              N8 smash them all!!!!!!!

                • m
                • mrdannybs09
                • 3J9
                • 10 Nov 2011

                AnonD-26818, 10 Nov 2011Why Nokia fanboys always moan about the N8? N8 never won a... moreIt has already been rated the best haha idiot. It has the biggest lens and that's even comparing it to some digital camera's. A bigger lens gives more light and a bigger space to shoot.

                  • D
                  • AnonD-26818
                  • fqe
                  • 10 Nov 2011

                  AnonD-12210, 10 Nov 2011N8 is the best n why it has nt been included ? Bcoz it has ... moreWhy Nokia fanboys always moan about the N8?
                  N8 never won any Camera awards and N8 camera is the worest its only has bigger megapixel "12" it doesn't mean its the best! Do you understand that part?
                  Camera quality measures with the lens quality and FPS!

                    • D
                    • AnonD-12210
                    • 7tL
                    • 10 Nov 2011

                    N8 is the best n why it has nt been included ? Bcoz it has no competition . Nokia has pulled out such a miracle that even they themselves r nt able to replicate. N8 is a wonder .just see the pics on flikr ... Mindblowing!

                      • t
                      • thephoneguy
                      • R0K
                      • 10 Nov 2011

                      why isn't the mytouch 4g slide apart of the shout out for best camera. hmmmm>?

                        • n
                        • nameless
                        • pdq
                        • 10 Nov 2011

                        No wonder winner is iPhone. The product and the article are from USA.
                        Just look at the colors - oversaturated badly.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • NCv
                          • 10 Nov 2011

                          dont get why the original arc and n8 werent used. they best represent their respective brands.

                            • M
                            • Majid
                            • 39E
                            • 10 Nov 2011

                            I dont care about the conclusion. From what I have been seeing se phones have usually had the best cameras and that seems logical because sony is one of the best camera makers in the world and how a phone which its camera is made by sony can defeat a masterpiece such as sonyericsson arc s is strange for me.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-26818
                              • fqe
                              • 10 Nov 2011

                              SGS2 has the best Camera
                              Iphone 4S doesn't have better Camera only better app to clear the photo after taking it
                              In raw pics SGS2 is always the best and if you want a proof try to take pic with Vignette or FX or PRO Paint Camera ..etc then again with the native Android Camera app and see the huge difference between the two pics
                              Android has this policy for not making perfect apps to give chances for developers as Microsoft does with Windows

                                • b
                                • beefiron
                                • RcW
                                • 10 Nov 2011

                                Well done to the iPhone - Apple have obviously done a great job with the latest camera. The one gripe I have is that the iPhone got 10 for colour, when it's clearly badly over-saturated. Surely the best measure of colour is whether or not it is accurate. More doesn't automatically mean better.

                                  • d
                                  • dante21432
                                  • vGZ
                                  • 10 Nov 2011

                                  Winner ? Nokia N8 :P

                                    • b
                                    • buntz
                                    • P9b
                                    • 10 Nov 2011

                                    [deleted post]n8 is a 12 mp phone, this article is only comparing 8mp smartphones

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • nqy
                                      • 10 Nov 2011

                                      why gsmarena did not include Nokia N8?

                                      we know its a year old but i would like to see its camera against those you have compared.

                                      Please, include N8 in this review. Vote this comment i you want too

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-25258
                                        • nG4
                                        • 10 Nov 2011

                                        Shame you didn't include the galaxy note as comparisons have shown it to blow the s2 out the water in stills and videos, that vs iPhone 4s would be interesting. also the galaxy nexus / ?