Ask the expert: Camera phones

Q. I’m looking for a mobile phone with the best possible camera and video capture skills. It’s got to be 5 megapixels or above, but something with good optics and extras too. Can you help?

A. Of course we can help! Camera phones can be tricky. There’s a hard balance to strike between the wow-factor of a high megapixel count, and the actual quality of the shots a mobile will produce. Luckily, we’re obsessed with camera phones, and have weeded out three of the best options below. Take your pick!

Solution 1: Samsung i8510
This is the first 8 megapixel camera phone to go on sale in the UK, and it’s nothing short of astounding. As well as producing large and detailed pictures, they’re pin sharp too. Samsung’s auto-focus system works well, and an automatic lens cover, not found on many mobiles, keeps its optics grime-free.

You asked for video? The i8510 delivers with aplomb. It’ll shoot DVD quality clips, and can film at 120 frames per second, for silky-smooth slow motion.

As well as squeezing in a great camera, it’s a proper smart phone too. It runs the same Symbian operating system as Nokia’s much-praised N-series handsets. There’s GPS inside, as well as Wi-Fi and 3G, as well as storage up to 16GB for music and video. This simply is the best camera phone going.
Best option: Samsung i8510 – £30

Solution 2: Nokia N96
This 5 megapixel phone doesn’t have the wow factor in terms of resolution, but more than makes up for it in image quality and software. See, its optics are provided by Carl Zeiss, so they’re on par with a proper compact camera.

Nokia’s clever software also uses the phone’s built-in GPS to tag each snap with the location it was taken, so you can plot them on a map, navigate back to the spot where you took them, or pass them to friends so they can do the same.

The N96 also excels at video, shooting in DVD resolutions, as well as coping with the latest console-quality N-Gage games and squeezing in 16GB of memory.
Best option: Nokia N96 -£570

Solution 3: LG Viewty
Finding a unique talent in the world of mobile phones is difficult, the the LG Viewty manages it by being the only mobile phone with manual focus. Its lens-mounted scroll wheel makes performing tricky photography a breeze, and means the Viewty can out-perform even the cleverest auto-focus systems.

Of course, it performs well in fully-automatic mode too, but the flexibility offered by manual options puts it head and shoulders above the rest for more creative picture taking. Its 5 megapixel sensor creates cracking shots, while lenses by Schneider Kreuznach keep everything sharp and distortion free.
Best option: LG Viewty – £50

Get chatting about mobile phones over at the PriceRunner forum

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