We have come to a stage where smartphones can essentially replace DSLRs. Be it the Huawei P30 Pro with its incredible 50X zoom or the Pixel 3 XL with its amazing low-light images, smartphones have come a really long way in the camera department. But how long have they come? Who was the first to conceptualize camera phones? We answer these questions in today’s article for Throwback Tech Thursday.
There’s actually quite a bit of confusion as to who released the first ever camera phone. Wikipedia states it was Samsung with its SCH-V200 that marked the entry of camera phones. However, the same article argues that the world’s true camera phone could be from Sharp. The Japanese company had released the camera-equipped J-SH04 a few months after Samsung’s SCH-V200, but with an integrated camera module. However, if you research a bit, you’ll realize that there was actually a camera phone released even before these two models (which Wikipedia had initially missed)!
The first true camera phone was actually announced by a different Japanese manufacturer, Kyocera. It was the VP-210 Visual Phone that’s the world’s first true camera phone. It was released way before the above two models, as early as 1999 in Japan. What’s even more interesting is that it had a front facing camera, similar to what we have to today for selfies. Clearly, it was a phone that was way ahead of its time! The Kyocera VP-210 came with a 2-inch color TFT display with a 110,000-pixel camera. Don’t be confused with the large pixel count, it was actually a tiny sensor with just 0.11MP. Unsurprisingly, it was expensive at $335 for ‘1999’ standards.
Now let’s look at the two models that Wikipedia claims to be the first camera phones. Samsung SCH-V200 was officially released in June 2000. On the other hand, Sharp’s J-SH04 was announced a few months later, in November 2000.
Both had cameras and could capture images, however, there was a fundamental difference between the two models. The Samsung SCH-V200 was basically a phone with a camera module attached at the back. It had a 0.35MP camera and the phone could capture 20 photos. However, in order to share a photo, you had to connect it to your computer.
On the other hand, Wikipedia claims Sharp’s J-SH04 was the first real camera phone because it had an integrated design. Samsung’s model had a half integrated design i.e. the camera module shared the same case and battery but wasn’t connected to the phone functionally. While on the Sharp J-SH04, you could share photos captured on the phone directly through the device because the camera was fully integrated. However, it’s worth noting that Sharp’s 0.11MP camera was weaker than Samsung 0.35MP one.
So, in all regards, it looks like the Kyocera VP-210 and its front-facing 0.11MP camera was the world’s first true camera phone. It all basically started with a 0.11MP sensor. Today, we are at a 48MP sensors and even 64MP camera modules on smartphones. The megapixel count is bound to increase further in the coming years. So don’t be surprised if you see 192MP camera phones in the future, after all, Qualcomm’s high-end chipsets already support such high-resolution camera modules!
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