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Comment by mrweasel | Hacker News Reader

I don’t get it, it’s a phone, with a camera. The camera just needs to be good enough, and for most people it’s been good enough for years.

Most phone reviews these days focuses waaay to much on the camera, because the reviewers are often people who are also into photography or shooting videos.

For myself, I care solely on privacy and price, so I only have one option, if I need a new smartphone. I still think the iPhone SE need to come down in price, but it the only choice, there are no competitors

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> For myself, I care solely on privacy and price,

For you yes. It's perfectly fine to not care about the camera but

> I don’t get it, it’s a phone, with a camera. The camera just needs to be good enough, and for most people it’s been good enough for years.

Can you see how some people really do care about the camera on their phone? I personally don't make my phone buying decisions based on the camera either but I heard a parent make a comment a while back when discussing if they wished the phone had a better battery or better camera and they said camera, easy. When pressed they said something to the effect of "In 5 years I'm not going to wish that I got another hour of battery life 5 years ago but I am going wish my pictures from 5 years ago were better".

Yes I know that "if you really care about photos you should get a real camera" but I think we can all agree that the best camera is the one you have with you and personally I'm not interested enough to carry a big DSLR with me. But that's just me.

Funny you say that. I have never been one to take pictures. I took maybe 30 pictures in the first 30 years of my life. Even with my first few smartphones, I hesitated to start using the camera, because the quality was so bad. However, when I got a phone with decent camera, I started taking pictures. And the better cameras got, the more pictures I took. After over a decade of smartphones, I now value the camera as a feature, and good-enough no longer cuts it. And the best part - I don't ever even share my pics, so I don't even know why I care.

I think the only camera feature I particularly care about is the introduction of high speed video. Having in my pocket a way to take video of things and play it back in slow motion has been invaluable (for teaching karate and other physical stuff).

> I don’t get it, it’s a phone, with a camera. The camera just needs to be good enough, and for most people it’s been good enough for years.

Imho this is due to the fact that they don't have much to improve on. This is why we get 4k+ screens / 120hz screens on mobiles, 108mpx sensors are already rolling out already, &c.

It's a dick size contest, it doesn't make sense and no one actually need these things but it's the only way to make people buy the next iteration.

In my opinion, the camera is the distinguishing feature that puts the top players above the rest. Yes, a high end flagship phone uses nicer materials, faster processors and all that jazz, but most of that stuff doesn't really justify the price increase. Do I really care that my phone is made with aluminum when i'm using a plastic case anyway?

However, the difference between the cheap and high end cameras is fairly big. And for people who use instagram a lot, or want to take good photos of their kids (I'm in the latter group), the camera matters a lot. In fact, we're getting to the point where high end cellphone cameras are rivaling amateur DSLR cameras. No, we're not there yet, but as Annie Leibovitz says, the best camera is the one that you have on you.

"Good enough" is a sliding window when it comes to cameras.

Would I like my phone camera to be good enough to take pictures I can blow up and put on the wall? Yes, and I'm willing to pay a little bit for that.

OTOH most other features? Nah, they were settled some time ago. So long as there is enough processing power (there is) and storage (there is this too), the screen is shiny enough (last few handset gens from most vendors have been), connectivity is good enough (we're how many years into 4G?) then really the camera is the only feature I'm interested in seeing improve. Android or iPhone. Maybe the battery life too.

I very much second this: the camera is like the snakes game on old Nokias, it's very cool it's there but it's not what I need the most.

Also, on the iPhones it has actually made the device more annoying because of a very simple thing: the back is not flat! This creates a very bad experience when the phone is on a table or any surface. So the ideal phone would not be an iPhone SE as many suggest this week, it would be an iPhone SE with a flat back, whatever the camera is.

The vast majority of users will put a case on the phone anyway, and that negates the issue of a non flat back.

I never used a case, ever on any iPhone, and never broken any. I still have the non flat back issue. Does that mean I must buy something more to my x00$ phone to make it behave "normally"?

If it really bothers you. Yes. For $10 your issue can be solved.

So an SEv1? (Hat tip to Apple for the brain-dead reuse of a model name which requires disambiguation.)

I think most people use a case. Not using a case on a glass body $400-1200 device you're going to carry around in your pocket is pretty risky.

This is not acceptable: having to use a case to fix a "defect", are you Steeve Jobs from the antenna gate?...

Most people DO use a case and for many reasons unrelated to “fixing” the camera bump.

It has nothing to do with Steve Jobs or Apple. I've never owned an iPhone. Every single Android phone I've owned, I used a case. Same with pretty much everyone I know who has moved beyond the flip phone. It's just a fact of life for pretty much everyone.

Oh, I don’t know - I treat it like the $1K device it is and I have only ever broke one screen in over a decade. Stuff happens - oh well. I love the thinness and weight of the iPhone and detest the bulk and weight added by cases. Just don’t toss stuff around haphazardly.

Also, the Apple Watch has dramatically cut down on the number of times I have to fish my phone out of my pocket; usage patterns shouldn’t be discounted.

If I had kids using my phone all the time or was constantly juggling it I might feel differently, but I reject the notion that everyone should just put their phone in a case and that be considered the norm.

Not only are there cases, which resolve the issue, but most people use phones while held in their hand, so the bump doesn’t lie against anything. The problem with the bump is purely aesthetic.

Having to use a case to fix a "defect" is not acceptable. Are you Steeve Jobs from the antenna gate?

I personally never used a case, ever on any iPhone, and never broken any.

I used to be the same. Then I broke one. Replacing the screen wasn't a huge burden, but I use a case and a (glass) screen protector now anyway.

Why should a phone be required to lie flat on its back? And if raised a little by a bump, how does that impair usage? What’s the defect? The bump, if anything, is a feature, because it prevents the whole back of the phone from being placed against a surface and possibly being scratched.

It's not a defect. You want the phone to work differently from how it was designed, and you have a tool to achieve that (a case). You can use the tool, or rage at something you don't have the power to change.

I bet it's more important than the ability to make phone calls.

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