The 10 best camera smartphones

New Delhi: Along with mega upgrades in hardware and software, cameras in the smartphones have prepped up suiting well to the needs of consumers on the go. For a lot of consumers, a high-resolution camera has become an essential ingredient when going for the smartphone purchase. Already, the smartphone's software intelligence and enhanced lens capability have rendered point-and-shoot cameras almost obsolete. Earlier, people look down on mobile photography saying it's lazy, but camera phones are now encouraging a new breed of photographers keen to explore the world. When a moment arises that you think is worth sharing, you quickly take out your handset and fire off a photo. Within minutes, it's uploaded to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with a witty caption.Here is a list of top 10 in the lot:Lenovo K900The "phablet" houses a 13-megapixel shooter with f1.8 aperture and a 2MP front-facing camera. All of this runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, heavily customized by Lenovo. The camera of the device scores high on: daylight shots, low-light shots, macro mode, indoor, outdoor, panorama, colour reproduction and noise levels.LG G2The G2's 13 megapixel camera has an LED flash and optical image stabilisation as standard. The G2 performs well in low-light environments. While the layout of the G2's camera app is rather simplistic and point-and-shoot oriented, it comes with a good array of shooting modes. In addition, the G2 capture the video on the phone well. Galaxy Note 3The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a 13-megapixel camera with a single-LED flash. It's very similar specs-wise to the Galaxy S4, with an f/2.2 lens and a 1/3.2-inch sensor. In good daylight conditions, the Note 3 does a good job, but things lack in low-light. The smartphone performs well in delivering solid close-up detail and better-than-average focusing distance. In addition, the Note 3 also performs well is in creating depth of field effects. Also in HDR (high dynamic range) mode the phone is excellent. It combines multiple exposures of the same scene to produce more detail-filled shots.Nokia Lumia 925The Nokia Lumia 925 has an 8.7MP snapper and uses Carl Zeiss optics. The camera works really well both in bright days and in low light situations. The camera can also record 1280pixel videos. The 1.7 megapixel front facing camera allows for the typical selfies and 720pixel video chats. There's a dedicated hardware camera button that makes taking photos a breeze and minimises camera shake when you take them. Its photo app offers Bing Vision, which can be used to scan barcodes and QR codes.The 925's smart camera app features include Cinemagraph, which combines photo and video to create a short clip. It also has Panorama mode which creates a wide panorama shot of your surroundings by taking multiple photographs and stitching them together. Finally there's Nokia Smart Cam, which takes a series of images in quick succession and then chooses the best for you to save.HTC OneThe HTC One features 'only' a 4MP sensor. Though the camera has a smaller sensor but offers much larger pixels to allow in more light, and therefore more data, to make your pictures look much better on the go.Samsung Galaxy S4 ZoomThe Galaxy S4 Zoom is essentially a phone glued to a camera. The Galaxy S4 Zoom is designed to fare better than the average smartphone camera. The device benefits from a point-and-shoot sized backside illuminated camera sensor, which is slightly larger than the sensor size on many smartphones, and allows the Zoom to capture more light in darker environments. The S4 Zoom comes with a 16-megapixel resolution with 10X optical zoom, optical image stabilization, an autofocus assist lamp, and Xenon flash.While the camera is able to retain a fair amount of details, images captured with the Galaxy S4 Zoom appear to be somewhat oversharpened. The camera benefits from a number of different camera modes and has a menu that's similar to that found on the Galaxy Camera and the Galaxy S4. The Auto mode picks the best settings for your shot while more advanced photogs can delve deeper into manual modes with P, A, S, M dias.Sony Xperia Z1The Z1's camera lens boasts a 1/2.3in sensor, a G lens with 27mm wide angle and a range of software features. The device performs well in low light conditions. The Xperia Z1 has a 20-megapixel sensor, but the camera app is by default set to capture 8-megapixel photos. Capturing full 20-megapixel images is only available by switching to "manual mode", which allows users to adjust settings like white balance and ISO.The Z1 comes with interesting camera features including a "Timeshift burst" mode that takes 61 images in just two seconds — a second before and after pressing the shutter. There's also an "Info-Eye" feature that uses augmented reality to provide a visual search function on any captured landmarks or particular items, a sweep panorama mode, and an effect mode that let's you shoot with up to nine live filters.Samsung Galaxy S4The S4 has a 13MP sensor which is capable of taking stunning photos. It comes with a decent auto mode, which enables you to get really great shots no matter what the framing is. The S4's camera app offers clever modes like Drama Shot, Eraser mode and Beauty Shot, as well as cueing up the likes of HDR mode to improve the quality and light levels of your snaps.Apple iPhone 5SThough the camera on the 5S is an 8-megapixel affair, as in the iPhone 5, the newer model has a larger lens. That means more light can reach the sensor, resulting in better quality pictures in low-light conditions. The camera also has auto (not optical) image stabilisation, and a dual-LED flash — white and amber — to achieve more natural-looking light and colour in photos. Two nifty new features in the camera app are “burst mode” and “slo-mo” video. While the Burst mode takes up to 10 frames per second, the Slo-mo records videos in 120fps.Nokia Lumia 1020The Nokia Lumia 1020 has been hailed by many as the best camera phone on the planet. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is a Windows Phone 8 smartphone with a 41-megapixel sensor and a 26mm equivalent Carl Zeiss lens with a fast maximum aperture of f/2.2 and optical image stabilization. The device also features a 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ OLED touchscreen with Touch AF, a built-in Xenon flash, geotagging, 32GB/64GB internal storage and built-in wireless charging. The Nokia Lumia 1020 can capture Full 1080p HD videos at 30fps. It can also simultaneously take a high resolution 38 megapixel image and a smaller 5 megapixel picture that is easier to share on social networks.The ProCamera app of the smartphone lets you tweak all sorts of manual settings. In close-up shots, the Lumia 1020 produces crisp and detailed images. The Lumia 1020 offers a built-in, lens-based image stabilisation system that Nokia claims offers a 3-stop advantage as against the smartphones with no anti-shake. That means you could hand-hold the Lumia 1020 in fairly dark conditions and still get sharp results for both stills and videos. By default the Nokia Lumia 1020 uses the Auto shooting mode. The other available modes are Close-up, Night, Night Portrait, Sports and Backlight.