The latest generation of mobile phones is closer to the PC market than ever before. While they try to mimic the performance and features of computers it is still having a tough time living up to some of the promises of yesterday. Most of all its the integrated mobile phone camera that may look fancy on paper, with 8Mpixel and higher sensors, but in real life it just looks like crap. Something both Microsoft and Google now aim to change.
The two mobile phone operating system developers have joined the CPIQ initiative (Camera Phone Image Quality) which aims to create a standard for mobile phone camera module quality. This will be done through new measuring techniques that not just relies on the number of pixels but also factors like noise, sharpness, artifacts and color reproduction.
The CIPQ group already has many members, such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Kodac and FujiFilm, but it hasn’t come as far as setting up a grading system for mobile phone camera sensors. The idea is to use a system with stars that can be gained through a serious of standardized tests. Not that Google and Microsoft are behind the initiative we have almost dare to believe that the coming generations of mobile phones will be able to snap a decent picture.
