To test camera phones here at PC Magazine, I take pictures of a specially-designed still life in our photography lab, under simulated daylight lamps, in both "daylight" and "evening" levels of light. That lets me compare camera quality across time, no matter what the weather or lighting is like outside.

When I'm shooting the test photos, I set each camera phone to its highest resolution and image quality setting. I leave the white balance setting on "auto"—most people will—and let the flash try to illuminate the low-light scene (it never makes any difference).

There's a huge difference in camera phone image quality from model to model. Most phones tend to take cool, bluish images. A few tend towards red or pink instead, and the best will get whites right. Color noise is common. Low-light performance is also a general bugaboo: many camera phone images take harsh, contrasty low-light shots, full of blur from very low virtual shutter speeds.

You can compare camera phones for yourself in our image galleries. We've divided them by resolution. VGA camera phones, such as the popular Motorola RAZR V3, are the lowest quality available today, taking 640-by-480 images. They generally take what I call "novelty shots"—pictures you probably won't want to print or save as keepsakes.

One-megapixel camera phones are today's midrange. They take 1280-by-960 shots; the best ones don't look too bad when printed out at 4 by 6 inches. Some have macro switches to help you flip between focusing on nearby and distant objects, and some even have lens caps or covers.

Two and three-megapixel camera phones are for people who really want to print and save their images. Photo quality on these high-end models is a huge leap better than on one-megapixel camera phones. You'll find autofocus, and maybe even optical zoom on these high-quality devices. Still, they don't match the quality and convenience of a dedicated digital camera—yet—but you won't have to worry too much when you forget your "real" camera.

Check out our slideshows comparing VGA, 1-megapixel, and 2-megapixel plus camera phones. You can also see our old camera phone slideshow, with dozens of models from 2004 and early 2005, some of which are still on the market.

VGA Camera Phones
These are the lowest quality available today, taking 640-by-480 images. The pictures they generally take aren't what most people would want to print or save as keepsakes.

1-Megapixel Camera Phones
They take 1280-by-960 shots; the best ones don't look too bad when printed out at 4 by 6 inches.

2-Megapixel and Higher Camera Phones
Photo quality on these is a huge leap better than on one-megapixel camera phones. You'll find autofocus, and maybe even optical zoom

Check out our full cell phone reviews:
•   Nokia 6.1
•   DokiWatch S
•   KidsConnect KC2
•   Republic Wireless Relay
•   Motorola Moto G6
•  more