In smartphones, the competition for the best camera has been very aggressive in recent times. The first camera phones with their low-resolution cameras and screens were more of a novelty rather than something that a significant feature that would make users choose a smartphone over another one. People actually care what kind of optics are they carrying in their pockets as they can now replace their old point-and-shoot cameras with one integrated in a phone. Even front-facing cameras have been receiving some attention and not just the resolution has increased but also they feature wider angles for all of those users that consider taking selfies really important.
Some companies like Samsung or Apple, seem to get things right, and while their sensors are not the largest nor do they feature the highest resolution available, improvements have been made over the years to assure that decent pics are captured in most conditions, including low-light situations. HTC tried to convince that their technology was superior with their Ultrapixel technology, but while those cameras actually capture more light, the low resolution makes them hard to resize and in most conditions they failed to impress, Sony has also used a 20.7-megapixel sensor for a while now, but the results in automatic settings are not the best. LG has included a lot of manual controls to their new flagship, the LG G4 and results seem to be good.
Motorola reputation in the camera department is far from the best, and while they often include high-resolution camera sensors, the results are rather bad. The Moto X represented a change of strategy for the company, and it actually offered some nice additions like touchless controls and voice activated commands. The camera software was enhanced by being able to open the camera app with a simple wrist gesture. Still, most reviews would agree that the 10-megapixel camera was mediocre at best. On the second generation of the Moto X, the company upgraded the resolution to 13-megapixels but the pictures show digital noise and the amount of detail is not great, even with the updated camera software. Apparently, Motorola will put more thought in the cameras included in this year’s flagship as suggested by the company’s CMO Adrienne Hayes. When she was asked about the camera performance in future devices, she replied that the company is going to “bring it” and from another question about manual controls and image quality she says that they will be improved, though it isn’t clear which part was she addressing. The Moto X already offers a great personalization experience of the hardware and the software, being almost vanilla Android is another great feature, so good cameras would definitely be a welcome addition.