Camera smartphones are replacing point-and-shoot cameras to a great extent. Visit any tourist place and you’ll see that majority of the tourists are using their smartphones for clicking scenic waterfalls, beaches, canyons, geysers, etc. Due to this widespread use of camera phones, you might also feel the urge to move to a new smartphone having a better camera.
Before you read the full story, let me inform that the entry-level or budget smartphones do not have a good enough camera to replace your old and loyal point-and-shoot camera. So if you want to buy the best camera phone, then your budget must be at least Rs. 30,000 ($487) or above.
Choosing the best camera phone is a very subjective matter. Some like saturated colors and some don’t. Some like cool looking images whereas some like warm colors. Some prefer texture and details over noise reduction but some don’t. In order to eliminate these subjective matters from getting into this article of finding the best camera phone, we will be using the camera testing results published by the experts at DxOMark.
Finding The Best Camera Phone:
These results have several mobiles tied at the same position, so for making your choice easy we will list them in descending order of their price tag. We will also enclose the phones sharing the same position within separators..
1. Apple iPhone 6 Plus (Overall Score: 82)
This is the best camera phone that your money can own at the moment. It might be ridiculously large for a normal iPhone user, but that’s what iPhones have become now. The iPhone 6 Plus scores 84 in the photo quality test and 79 for its video shooting capabilities.
Buy iPhone 6 Plus
2. Apple iPhone 6 (Score: 82)
iPhones have always been known for their superior imaging capabilities. The iPhone 6 shares the crown of being the best camera mobile with iPhone 6 Plus. It got 83 points for its imaging capabilities and 80 points for its video recording prowess.
Order iPhone 6
3. Sony Xperia Z3 (Score: 79)
The Xperia Z3 is a minor upgrade over the Xperia Z2 but it packs a tweaked 20.7 camera sensor and a slightly faster processor. Its scores for photo and video quality are 81 and 76 respectively.
4. Samsung Galaxy S5 (Score: 79)
It is by far the best camera phone that Samsung has produced till date (awaiting results of Note 4). The S5 is also among the best smartphones with a great display. It got 80 points for its imaging qualities and 79 points for video recording capabilities.
5. Sony Xperia Z2 (Score: 79)
The Xperia Z2 costs almost as much as Samsung Galaxy S5, but has way better looks and a better imaging score of 81. It however, is far behind of the S5 when it comes to video recording with a score of just 73 points.
6. Motorola Nexus 6 (Score: 78)
This is the only Nexus branded phone that has made it to the list of top 10 camera phones. All the Nexus phones have been designed to launch at affordable price tags. While this made them some of the best value-for-money phones, they were the worst camera phones of their price segments.
Interestingly all of this is about to change with the Motorola made Google Nexus 6. It scored a respectable score of 81 for still imaging and 74 for video recording.
7. Nokia 808 PureView (Score: 77)
Nokia 808 is long gone, but it is still there in our memories for its superb camera. It was a Symbian OS based sluggish smartphone which scored 81 points for photography and 68 for video recording. As it has been discontinued, I am adding one more phone to this list. So, now this list will have 11 great camera phones instead of just 10.
R.I.P Nokia!
8. Apple iPhone 5s (Score: 76)
The iPhone 5s is a regular sized iPhone with a 4”display. It is extremely light to hold and tips the weighing scale at 112 grams. Its photo and video quality scores are 78 and 72 respectively.
Buy iPhone 5s at an attractive price
9. Sony Xperia Z1 (Score: 76)
Xperia Z1 shares the same slot with iPhone 5s in this list and secured 77 points for its imaging capabilities and 74 points for video recording quality.
10. Samsung Galaxy S4 (Score: 75)
The Galaxy S4 was the first Samsung octa-core phone and it came with great imaging capabilities too. It got 79 for photo quality and 68 points for the quality of the video recorded by it.
11. Nokia Lumia 1020 (Score: 74)
When I was researching for this article I was hoping to place the Lumia 1020 at the top of the list, but I couldn’t! Reason #1 is that it doesn’t capture great looking videos and hence has got only 64 points for its video recording skills.
It has a great camera for sure but it loses out on color reproduction scoring a lowly 56 points. On the other hand, it posted ridiculous high score of 91 points for noise, 88 for texture, and 84 for AF.
These are the best camera phones of the year 2014. Apple fanboys have nothing to think about, but the Android lovers should go with either Xperia Z3 or Galaxy S5. To know about the entire testing process visit DxOMark.com. For sharing your thoughts please use the comments section.
One Comment
sumesh
I thought LG4 has a Gr8 camera ?
Curos to know how much it scores in these tests!!!