Development of the Camera Phone

 Blog Post #4

Since its conception, the camera phone has been an incredibly fast developing and surprisingly controversial piece of modern technology.  The camera phone's first known development and ideation came about in 1993, when inventor Daniel A. Henderson invented a prototype for a device called the "Intellect."  This device would have been able to capture, transfer, and view images, while also providing the user with communication abilities.  This device was awarded 6 U.S. patents for innovation and was promptly donated to the Smithsonian after its development.

After this, the boom in camera phone technology was palpable, with multiple attempts to capitalize on the idea.  The two most popular and talked about of these were the Samsung SCH-V200 Camera Phone and the Sharp Electronics J-SH04 J-Phone, which both released commercially within a 5 month window of each other in 2000. 

The former could take and store up to 20 photos, but required an outside computer to transfer images to.  This development in camera phone technology was not unique in its own right, but the sales of the Samsung SCH-V200 Camera Phone were unparalleled.  This shift in technology was not only following an upward trend, but it led to the mass popularity of the idea of the camera phone. (Featured right)

The next major camera phone, the Sharp Electronics J-SH04 J-Phone, amusingly had less features than its competitor.  Having less than a third of the storage of the former, the J-Phone's main draw was the ability to transfer pictures to others without the need of an external computer.

The first phone to be truly acknowledged in the U.S. as a camera phone was released in 2002.  The Sanyo SCP-5300 was released in the

late month of November to mass acclaim, even being put on Time magazine's list of most influential gadgets.  This phone cost about $400 and was capable of both taking and sending more pictures than both of the previous phones. (Featured right)

All of these phones led up to what we now know as smart phones, which have not only streamlined the internalized camera, but companies are constantly finding new ways to innovate and improve on the existing ideas in place.  With new phones coming out every year, it's no surprise that camera technology is also improving equally fast, and with every new phone comes an even more impressive camera.