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Did you know that there exists a smartphone with a front cam with more megapixels than its main one?

posted by Victor H. / Aug 03, 2014, 1:49 PM

Did you know that there exists a smartphone with a front cam with more megapixels than its main one?

Smartphone photography has improved a great deal in the last few years, and we now have the choice of just about any smartphone camera on a smartphone - from a whopping 41-megapixel one on the Nokia Lumia 1020 with a sensor the size of some point-and-shoot camera, to the 20-megapixel shooter on the Sony Xperia Z2, the 16-megapixel shooter on the Samsung Galaxy S5, and countless 13-megapixel cameras out there.

But did you know that one phone has a front-facing camera with a megapixel count that actually exceeds the one of its main, rear camera? It’s a strange, but true fact. Which one is that phone? It turns out, the HTC One (M8) is the one - its 4-megapixel (or UltraPixel, if you prefer) camera actually has less megapixels than its 5-megapixel front, selfie cam.

What gives? More megapixels are usually associated with more detail in the image, but don’t be fooled - it’s not just about the count, it’s also a lot about how the information is processed. Sometimes, more pixels on a tiny sensor also mean very noise images when light is scarce. In either case, it’s an interesting occurrence - to have a phone with a front shooter with more megapixels than its main one, isn’t it?

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Display 5.0" 1080 x 1920 pixels

Camera 4 MP / 5 MP front

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad-core, 2300 MHz

Storage 32 GB + microSDXC

Battery 2600 mAh(20h 3G talk time)

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38 Comments

1. cezarepc

Posts: 718; Member since: Nov 23, 2012

Still, it's Ultrapixel... boo.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 1:52 PM 7

15. engineer-1701d unregistered

this is just to put something on the page no news this weekend, i forgot the name of it just china or japan somewhere around that area have 8 mp front cam,

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 3:10 PM 1

26. Neo_Huang

Posts: 1067; Member since: Dec 06, 2013

The ZTE Nubia X6 has a 13 Megapixel front-facing camera. The Oppo N1 and Oppo N1 Mini have single, 13 Megapixel cameras that can swivel to the front, so I guess you can count them. The Gionee Elife E7 and several others have 8 Megapixel front facing cameras.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 6:05 PM 1

2. fzacek

Posts: 2486; Member since: Jan 26, 2014

Wow, it must be a really slow news day...

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 1:55 PM 31

5. billgates

Posts: 555; Member since: May 29, 2014

I was going to say the same thing

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 1:58 PM 2

10. Dr.Phil

Posts: 2340; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

What's bad about this too is that when real news does come out you have to sift through all of these snail news and trivial articles to find it. I think PA should add a new category at the top beside "News" that just says "Random" and have articles like this.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:15 PM 2

17. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

It's so funny, users on PhoneArena just want new news every 30miniutes. Unlike, Gsmarena, Pocketnow, Bgr, Engadget, AndroidCentral, KnowYourMobile, Phoned, users never complain. People on here makes a post and never discuss anymore further on the topic, leaving one post, unlike on the others the discussion goes on and on. Looks like this site is full of youngsters, unlike on other tech websites, their all matured...

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 3:35 PM 2

18. Arte-8800

Posts: 4562; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

Especially Engadget and GsmArena, AndroidCentral, Wpcentral and 9to5 generates more posts then PhoneArena.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 3:42 PM 1

28. Neo_Huang

Posts: 1067; Member since: Dec 06, 2013

If you want news every 30 minutes, you're gonna have to go through several tech websites, like I do.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 6:06 PM 0

35. StraightEdgeNexus

Posts: 3689; Member since: Feb 14, 2014

Easy question, easy answer- Disqus's comment system is way more interactive and immersive than phonearena's. Also disqus has way more registered users.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 8:38 PM 0

38. billgates

Posts: 555; Member since: May 29, 2014

Or you could just leave.. Please leave

posted on Aug 04, 2014, 7:10 AM 0

3. csoulr666

Posts: 116; Member since: Nov 04, 2013

Sigh...... most people go "MOAR PIXELS" without even using those particular phones with a lesser count. The M8 for one gives photos good enough for people posting on Social media, though not for photography enthusiasts which are comparatively smaller than the former crowd.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 1:56 PM 1

6. billgates

Posts: 555; Member since: May 29, 2014

If you don't ever have to crop or do any modification to the photo it's still only alright. Regardless of if we need a million mp's 4 just isn't going to cut it.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:00 PM 2

16. engineer-1701d unregistered

still it should be 8up not 4up for the reason of detail but more so for the zoom factor, if i am on a job site take a pic then later have to look back on the pic for info on the nameplate i need zoom.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 3:13 PM 0

22. cezarepc

Posts: 718; Member since: Nov 23, 2012

4MP superultramega pixel (or whatever you want to call it) is not worth the money.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 5:12 PM 0

24. UglyFrank

Posts: 2193; Member since: Jan 23, 2014

The "good enough for social media" argument relies on the consumer being able to settle with something average. It is a slap in the face and insinuates that customers are stupid.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 5:31 PM 2

4. bradley8795

Posts: 64; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

Was there really anyone that visits this site that did not know that? Seriously no news is better than this.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 1:57 PM 8

7. jsdechavez

Posts: 793; Member since: Jul 20, 2012

Lame 4MP camera on that engineering wonder.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:04 PM 1

8. CyberFalcon

Posts: 223; Member since: Apr 17, 2014

i think PA ran out of new articles...

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:05 PM 3

9. yahia_malka

Posts: 186; Member since: Mar 27, 2014

You idiots , 4 ultra pixels means 8 mpxl or more , I saw it in an interview for a HTC employee

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:13 PM 0

11. billgates

Posts: 555; Member since: May 29, 2014

No its not, 4 mp is still just that. The pixels are just bigger but not more detailed. Read up before you call everyone idiots. It's a great phone but the camera was the weak spot

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:27 PM 11

27. Muayyad

Posts: 240; Member since: Oct 05, 2012

Compare the two cameras. The front one made by Samsung and has no details at all compared to 4 mp UltraPixel camera. Picture size is bigger but pictures have no details at all. I even prefer the 2.1 mp omnivision front camera from the m7 than the 5mp on the m8.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 6:05 PM 0

12. Skidro13

Posts: 65; Member since: Jul 27, 2010

This was one of the reasons I traded my M8 for the G3. I do miss that huge selfie prowess.

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 2:53 PM 0

13. billgates

Posts: 555; Member since: May 29, 2014

How do you like the g3?

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 3:01 PM 0

29. Skidro13

Posts: 65; Member since: Jul 27, 2010

I adore every part of it! So much! The interface mainly. It subtly has an insane amount of useful options while looking clean like sense 6

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 6:48 PM 1

23. zhiae unregistered

im sure u dont like display ,interface and u miss cold metal if ur geek u will miss its dev community

posted on Aug 03, 2014, 5:27 PM 0

30. Skidro13

Posts: 65; Member since: Jul 27, 2010

The display is incredible dude? The dev community is growing quickly since its an awesome phone. metal is cool, but not when I slapped a case on it on day 1.