14 DAY TRIAL // There are several mobile phones on the market now that pack a camera with 3x optical zoom. We can name Samsung G800, with a 5 Megapixel camera, Sony Ericsson K770, with a 3.2 Megapixel camera, and Sony Ericsson SO905iCS with its marvelous 5.1 Megapixel camera (the latter unfortunately available only in Japan, via NTT DoCoMo). While most mobile phones cannot compare with digital cameras in terms of photo quality, the 3x optical zoom can bring handsets very close to digital cameras' performances.
Sure, we all see that the 5.0 Megapixel camera tends to become a usual specification for high-end phones, but without features like optical zoom or auto-focus, the photo quality remains a not-so-great one. In case you don't know, a 5 Megapixel camera can take pictures at a resolution of maximum 2,560 x 1,920 pixels. With just digital zoom, the image quality can be good, but not great, so optical zoom is the only way to make a professional photography tool out of your handset.
According to a report recently released by Digitimes Research from Asia, in a few years optical zoom will be a standard feature for mobile phones with built-in 5 (or more) Megapixel cameras. The report also states that handsets with built-in cameras will represent 82% of the products commercialized worldwide in 2008, a 10% growth compared to 2007. Moreover, in 2008, 50% of the camera phones sales will be represented by the ones packing 2 Megapixel cameras, but by 2010 the 3 Megapixel handsets will lead in terms of sales, accounting for about 66% percent of the global market.
Mobile phones with a 6 Megapixel camera already exist (Grundig X5000, for example, was released back in 2006), as well as one that has 10 Megapixels: Samsung SCH-B600. And if the Digitimes Research anticipations are met, we can hope that all the future handsets with a high number of Megapixels will come with optical zoom.