For some of us, the phone in our pocket is just a glorified camera — a take-everywhere, internet-connected shooter loaded with apps for instant sharing. Sure, we all use our smartphones for a lot more than taking pictures, but the camera remains one of its most-used features. So, we decided to look at five popular smartphones — all of them renowned for their advanced optics and capture software — and rate them against each other purely as picture-taking machines. Here’s how your smartphone ranks as a third eye.
HTC One X
Never miss another shot: The One X‘s rapid-fire burst mode — it’s the only camera so equipped in our whole smartphone test — will keep shooting at an iPhone-crushing four frames per second for as long as you’re touching the onscreen shutter. Despite the 28-mm f2.0 lens, though, the resulting images aren’t quite as nice as we’d like. Still, it’s plenty of camera for Android users looking to chuck their point-and-shoots.
WIRED Crazy-fast burst mode. Auto-selects the most in-focus pics from the sequence of shots. Massive 4.7-inch screen.
TIRED Too big for comfortable one-handed operation.
$200 with a two-year AT&T contract | Read Our Full Review
Photo: Brian Finke
