Android phones will redefine photography

BANGALORE: After clicking some 30 photos with their mobile camera in Nandi Hills, the Ramkumar family was back home. Earlier, post such outings, there would be a scramble at home for the usually misplaced cord for transferring the pictures - one set from the digital camera, and another from the mobile phone - on to the laptop and then, upload them on to the web album.

This time round, no one looked around for the cord. In fact, there was no need to transfer the photos to the PC, log in the internet and then upload the pics. Even before the family was home, all the 30 photos were up there in Ramkumar’s Picasa web album. And he was already sharing some of them with his relatives and friends online.

The trend is catching on fast, and in 2012, there could be lots more people, not just clicking away on mobiles, but also uploading them and sharing them on the go, taking mobile photography to a new level.

Most smartphones now come with 8 megapixel cameras, that enable high definition photos, and editing.

A survey by market research company NPD says, “The percent of photos taken with a smartphone (Apple iPhone or any other smartphone ) went from 17 last year to 27 this year while the share of photos taken on any camera dropped from 52% to 44%.”

In fact a whole new breed of mobile photography is gaining ground.

The mobile photography surge has been proportionate with smartphone adoption. There's particularly been an increase in smartphones running on the Android platform. Research firm IDC says for the first time, Android has surpassed Nokia's Symbian to become India's top mobile platform. The IDC report says Android ruled over 42.4% of the smartphone market.

On Android phones, putting up photographs on Picasa is easier because of the phone’s default integration with Google. On all Android devices, users have to log in with their Google account password.

All that users have to do is to download Google Plus on their Android device. In the settings, if the option for “Instant upload" is enabled, then photographs taken with the mobile phone will get automatically uploaded, like what happended in the case of Ramkumar.

The photographs that are uploaded aren’t shared with anyone, unless done so by the user.

Some of the phones with 8 megapixel camera

LG Optimus X2, Samsung Galaxy SII, HTC Desire HD, Nokia X7, Sony Xperia Arc & iPhone 4S

The catalysts

Smartphones, including a number of Indian brands, are becoming more affordable

Most of them have high-end, good resolution cameras

Easy integration with web albums are resulting in faster and hassle-free uploads and sharing.