Can you recommend a camera phone?

July 24, 2005 12:46 PM

Can you recommend a camera phone? I want something small, comfortable to talk on, that takes good pictures (for a camera phone), and has email access for sending photos off to flickr.

Not interested in PDA features, web browsing, AIMing, or listening to MP3s.

posted by medpt to technology (18 comments total)

one thing to mention: whatever phone you decide doesn't necessarily have to have an e-mail client for you to use flickr. all you need is MMS which is available on pretty much every phone out there.

I have a motorola v400 which takes nice pictures outside and not-so-bad inside (provided there's enough light), and functions really great as a phone (good reception, volume, etc...at least in my area). they can probably be had for pretty cheap nowadays. if you want to be able to get pictures to your computer easily, you can step things up and get a v600 which has built-in bluetooth support.
posted by mcsweetie at 1:05 PM on July 24, 2005

I've got a Moto v265, but the camera is about webcam quality, if that. Decent phone otherwise, though, and dirt cheap these days.

If your computer doesn't have Bluetooth, or even if it does, it would probably be cheaper to buy a USB cable for your phone than it would be to upgrade to a more expensive model.
posted by box at 1:34 PM on July 24, 2005

Samsung D500, definately. If I weren't on poopy dialup, I'd go on to explain, but I do exactly what you want to do with my D500, and it's fantastic. I started doing a camblog at the start of the year, and got lazy, but it's still up here. The camera takes (good quality) pictures up to 1280x1024, though I did the blog at 320x240.
posted by armoured-ant at 2:03 PM on July 24, 2005

i have a nokia 7610 which i love dearly, you can upload photos to flickr with it via mms, lifeblog or its web browser, which handles the flickr mobile site really well, if you want to browse photos while you are out. all my flickr photos are moblogged with it, i'm happy with the quality of the camera and i really love nokias.

mathowie has the sony ericsson 700i/710a, which has a really fantastic camera and is a solid phone besides. as you can see from his flickr moblog, it takes great photos.

my friend matty has a razr, the photo quality is good too and it really is incredibly thin, so if size is your number one concern, you can't go wrong with that.
posted by lia at 4:33 PM on July 24, 2005

I have a Sony Ericsson K750i, a 2 megapixel camera that recently won an award for the best camera phone in the UK market. It's *fantastic*. Here are pictures taken via it on Flickr.
posted by riffola at 5:13 PM on July 24, 2005

The motorola v551 is excellent. It's the razr without the fancy case. The camera's good, it takes video and has bluetooth. The v600 had a lot of problems and the 551 pretty much replaced it. The 551 also has EDGE, which uses hi speed for web/email.
posted by phox at 7:09 PM on July 24, 2005

Does anyone have any information about when the Sony Ericsson K750i will be released in the US?
posted by medpt at 7:51 PM on July 24, 2005

I absolutely LOVE my LG VX6000 phone. You won't be disappointed.
posted by davidmsc at 9:11 PM on July 24, 2005

I love my Moto v710. The megapixel camera has pretty good quality compared to everything else that Verizon was offering when I got it—about 4 months ago. Really you're going to have to limit your ideal phone to the ones offered by the carrier you choose.
posted by Monochrome at 9:16 PM on July 24, 2005

The V3x, the next generation model of the ever popular Motorola V3 RAZR, is coming, probably to Cingular, sometime in the next couple of months, with a 2 megapixel camera. Should be a doosy of a phone.

If that's too "big" for you (it's wide, but very thin), the Motorola V6 PEBL is coming in the next couple of months as well, and is ridiculously stylish and well-equipped.

Both phones are gorgeous, take good photographs, and are guaranteed to stay "current" for at least a few years.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 10:23 PM on July 24, 2005

medpt, the Sony Ericcson K750i is available here, unlocked, for a decent chunk of change.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 10:25 PM on July 24, 2005

medpt, I use the K750i on T-Mobile in the USA. It works a-ok. I bought mine from MyWorldPhone.com as linked by SeizeTheDay above.

In my opinion, this is the greatest phone I've used till date. It's absolutely a delight to use, the camera functions are incredibly nice. I love that just sliding the cover of the camera activates it.

Sony Ericsson might not release the K750i in the US of A, but don't worry, the same phone with a different body styling might be available via T-Mobile, it is called D750i in Europe, either way if neither K750i or D750i come to USA, you can still get the same phone, but in the Walkman configuration as the Sony Ericsson W800i. The differences are as follows:

The W800i has a different body, comes with a 512MB Memory Stick Duo Pro card, better quality stereo headset, and the phone has a Music only flight mode, where the cellphone functions are turned off fo air travel.

In terms of camera, the phone is no different from the K750i, the only thing changed is that you need to press the camera button for 2s to activate it after sliding the camera cover open, just like the D750i.
posted by riffola at 10:57 PM on July 24, 2005

Let me add my vote for K750i. I have just got one and I love it. It tacks all the boxes you mention, but the camera is really very good (for a camera phone).
posted by nthdegx at 2:20 AM on July 25, 2005

Late to the party but want to add my weight to the K750 recommendations. We do a lot of mobile dev work so I've got access to pretty much every Java-compatible phone on the market. The K750 is the only camera phone worthy of the name. Don't get a Motorola; they consistently seem to have the worst cameras. Nokia cameras are so-so, Samsung a little better. Get the K750.
posted by blag at 5:27 AM on July 25, 2005

The Nokia 7650 hax0rs
posted by ajbattrick at 7:16 AM on July 25, 2005

Please ignore that last comment
posted by ajbattrick at 7:16 AM on July 25, 2005

The Nokia 7610 hax0rs
posted by ajbattrick at 7:22 AM on July 25, 2005

I just got a k750 as well, its truely awesome. I recently had a "creative marketing" seminar thing at the ITV studios in the UK. I've uploaded some of the pics here:

http://www.chrisgunton.com/k750/

Note that they are resized down to 800w, instead of their standard huge size.

Emailing with it is also a breeze, but I wish it was quicker! Thats not the phone fault though.

Overall an amazing phone, and the best quality camera phone yet.
posted by lemonfridge at 8:44 AM on July 25, 2005