Android - In camera apps, is "zoom" a digital zoom, or an optical zoom?

More often than not, Digital. Consider:

  • How in the world would the motor for moving a lens fit in a phone case? For that matter, where would the find the room to have variable focal length?
  • Would the manufacturers really put such a battery-drainer in the unit? How much more expensive would it be, too?
  • Should somebody actually come up with a phone with optical zoom, it would be a big deal and a huge marketing gimmick. ("The only phone camera with optical zoom!") I haven't seen any. Have you?

That's not to say that someday someone won't make hasn't made such a phone. There sure aren't any right now. Unless they make a big deal about the camera zoom, you can assume it's digital.


Al Everett has suggested that "no Android camera has [optical zoom]", but the 14-Megapixel Altek Leo Android seems to have 3x optical zoom "(not digital like other cellphones)."

The Altek Leo won't be available until at least 2011, though.


The best way to tell if it is digital or optical: Do the pixels look blown up (and therefore blurry)?

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Camera

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