Selecting a Phone Based on Its Camera

First off, understand that the vast majority of the cameras on cell phones are awful, and that a slim majority are barely passable. Fortunately, most new handsets now have 1.3-megapixel cameras in them instead of the 0.3-megapixel cams that were common as recently as 2005, so more phones are moving into the barely passable category. Still, choosing a phone based on the quality of its camera will likely be an exercise in frustration. With few exceptions (which I'm getting to), know that most cell phone cameras are pretty much the same.

To answer your latter question, megapixels are more important on a cell phone camera. Why? Virtually no camera phones sold in the U.S. have optical zoom at all (some overseas models do). What you might be hearing about is digital zoom, which isn't zoom at all but rather a method for cropping and enlarging a picture while it's still in the camera. Digital zoom doesn't make a photo any closer at all, and most users disable digital zoom because it can actually decrease the quality of the resulting images.

Now let's get down to your real question. If you don't want to carry a separate camera (which will give you much better results), I have one phone on the top of my list for you: The Samsung SCH-a990 (pictured), which has the best camera of any U.S.-marketed cell phone, featuring a whopping 3.2-megapixel camera and a design that actually makes it easy to take pictures with it. (The phone has a screen that flips around and covers up the numeric keypad, making the phone look and feel just like a standalone digicam.) Per the previous paragraph, though, even the a990 doesn't have optical zoom. However, I've used the a990 extensively and can vouch for its impressive abilities. You won't find a better cameraphone on our shores today.

If the a990 isn't up your alley, pick your phone based on the phone's other features first. As long as it has a 1.3-megapixel camera in it, the picture quality will be about as good as any other cameraphone. Either that, or move to Japan. They've had great cameraphones with optical zoom for years.

Previously on Yahoo! Tech: Cameraphone Photo School