Home Tech Editorials 7 Best Android, Windows Camera Phones for Photography in 2016

7 Best Android, Windows Camera Phones for Photography in 2016

April 26, 2016

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We’ve seen various handsets in action this year and some of them delivered very profound camera performances while the others we’re a bit weary, in terms of performance quality. Nevertheless, some still excelled in the line of smartphone camera shooting, which we felt is of high-end Photography level. Check out these 7 smartphones and what they delivered to the smartphone camera scene.

Sony Xperia M5

The Xperia M5 has been part of various lists that we’ve and was considered to be one of our mid-range favourites back in 2015. The Xperia M5 is highly affordable, landing in on around Php 15-16K right now and is IP68 certified. The robust Xperia M5 was one of the earliest handsets to dish out 4K UHD video shooting and us, ourselves were amazed by its lively colored outputs. Truly a top-notch shooter of any generation.

Table of Contents

Sony Xperia M5 specs, PH price, features

Display: 5-inch IPS 1080p LCD display, 441ppi
Chipset: MediaTek MT6795 Helio X10
RAM: 3GB
Memory: 16GB internal storage, microSD up to 200GB
Main camera: 21.2MP rear shooter, phase detection autofocus
Front camera: 13MP selfie shooter
Connectivity: 4G LTE Dual SIM, WiFi n, Bt 4.1, FM Radio, GPS, GLONASS
OS: Android 5.0 Lollipop
Battery capacity: 2600mAh battery
Ports: microUSB v2.0
Release date: September 2015
Official price: Php 15-16K through online stores

Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung’s newly released Galaxy S7 flagship is one of a kind. It’s impressive wide-angle and aperture state really improves the camera experience on the device. Like the Xperia M5, the Galaxy S7 is also rugged, thanks to its IP68 certification, enabling the latter to be submerged in the water with ease. The Galaxy S7 has a pretty impressive capturing speed, as well as a brilliant performer in changing environments. A must-have for all-around camera smartphone shooting.

Samsung Galaxy S7 specs, PH price, features

Display: 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, Always ON display
Chipset: Exynos 8890 chip
RAM: 4GB
Memory: 32GB internal storage, microSD up to 200GB
Main camera: 12MP main, f1.7 lens, Optical Stabilization
Front camera: 5MP selfie front-facing, f1.7
Connectivity: 4G dual LTE nano SIM (hybrid), WiFi ac, Bt 4.1, GPS
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Samsung TouchWiz UI
Battery capacity: 3000mAh battery
Ports: microUSB v2.0, USB Host
Release Date: March 11, 2016
Official price: Price at Php 34,990 official SRP

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL

reasons lumia 950 xl windows stay buy 2 of 8

The Lumia 950 XL is one of the newer Lumia handsets to hit the streets of PH. Considered to be a top-notch shooter, the Lumia 950XL is no stranger to intense camera shooting, thanks to its 20MP rear shooter, equipped with a Carl Zeiss lens, as well as Nokia’s PureView shooting system. The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is a capable smartphone camera and can the majority of situations put in on a smartphone.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL specs, PH price, features

Display: 5.7-inch 1440p QHD AMOLED display
Chipset: Snapdragon 810 octa-core chip
RAM: 3GB of RAM
Memory: 32GB storage, microSD up to 200GB
Main camera: 20MP rear shooter, PureView, f/1.9 Carl Zeiss lens, OIS
Front camera: 5MP selfie shooter
Connectivity: 4G dual LTE nano SIM, WiFi ac, Bt 4.1, GPS, Iris Scanner
OS: Windows 10 Mobile
Battery: 3340mAh battery capacity
Ports: USB Type-C
Release Date: December 2015 in the Philippines
Official price: Around Php 32,990 in the Philippines

Asus Zenfone Zoom

Earlier this year, Asus released their camera-heavy Zenfone Zoom in the market. The handset itself takes a lot of inspiration from the optical zoom system of Samsung, particularly the Samsung Zoom lineup. However, it seems that Asus was able to bring their own flavour to the table, adding up with the excellent 3x optical zoom and is capable of loss less compression, a way of compressing data algorithms, which will maintain their original reconstructed data. Bottomline is, you can shoot and upload outputs with highly similar quality.

Asus Zenfone Zoom specs, PH price, features

Display: 5.5-inch 1080p Full HD IPS LCD, 401 ppi
Chipset: Intel Atom 3590 chip
RAM: 4GB
Memory: 32/64/128GB internal, microSD up to 128GB
Main camera: 13MP rear shooter, 3x optical zoom, laser autofocus
Front camera: 5MP selfie front-facing
OS: Android 5.1 Lollipop, ZenUI upgrade to Marshmallow
Battery: 3000mAh battery capacity
Ports: microUSB, fast charging
Release date: January 2016, available online
Official price: P26,990 official SRP from Asus PH store

LG G5

The LG G5 is set to arrive on the PH market this May and LG fans and non-LG fans alike are actually making a big fuzz about it and for a good reason. The LG G5 is capable of Ultra-wide angle shooting, which is a good thing to know if you’re into landscape photography. It also has a module-type removable battery, which in our opinion, seems to be really useful. It also has various add-ons that revolve around its camera, such as the LG 360 cam, making camera shooting a bit more fun than usual.

LG G5 specs, PH price, features

Display: 5.3-inch 1440p QHD IPS display, 525ppi
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip
RAM: 4 GB
Memory: 32GB of ROM, microSD card up to 200GB
Main camera: 16MP (f/1.8) + 8MP rear shooters, laser autofocus, OIS
Front camera: 8MP selfie shooter
Connectivity: 4G LTE, WiFi ac, BT 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, BDS
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow, LG Optimus UX 5.0 UI
Battery capacity: 2800mAh battery
Ports: microUSB v3.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
Release Date: May 2016
Official price: estimated at Php 34, 990

Sony Xperia Z5

It’s sad to say that there won’t be anymore Z-series handset that’ll come in the near future, however, we have the X-series to look forward to. In regards to the Xperia Z5, the handset alone is powerful and thanks to being IP68 certified, the Xperia Z5 could last under water. One particular thing that brought things higher for the Sony Xperia Z5 is its impressive steady shot feature, which enables a very accurate and impressive shooting process and thus results to the best outputs.

Sony Xperia Z5 specs, PH price, features

Display: 5.2-inch 1080p IPS LCD, 428 ppi, Scratch Resistant
Chipset: Snapdragon 810 octa-core
RAM: 3GB RAM
Memory: 32GBGB storage, 200GB max microSD
Main camera: 23MP main, f2.0 lens, Steady Shot Hybrid Stabilization
Front camera: 5MP selfie front-facing, f2.0
Connectivity: 4G dual LTE nano SIM (dedicated), WiFi ac, 4G LTE, Bt 4.1, GPS, fingerprint
OS: Android 6.0 Lollipop, up to Nutella
Battery capacity: 2900mAh, Quick Charging
Ports: microUSB
Release date: October 2015 release date
Official price: Php28k-34k price in the Philippines / $600

Nokia Lumia 1020

The Nokia 1020 is quite an old phone, yet it has proven, from our various camera comparison that it can keep up, even against a modern day smartphone, like the Lumia 950 XL. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is capable of loss less compressions, with an impressive amount of level. Like the 950 XL, the Lumia 1020 is also equipped with a Carl Zeiss lens, backed up by a whopping 41MP rear shooter. The downside is that the Lumia 1020 was surely ahead of its time and its Snapdragon S4 Plus chip seems to lack the processing power to maximize its output. Nevertheless, the Lumia 1020 is a high-grade camera smartphone that was truly above of its time.