How the Camera Phone Came About

This week in class every student did a presentation on the evolution of different technologies, my presentation was on the evolution of the camera phone. Every presentation opened up my eyes to how technologically advanced our world has become. The following is what I presented. 

In 1997, Philippe Kahn created the idea of the camera phone by connecting a camera to his flip phone through his computer. His idea of this invention was sparked by the birth of his daughter. He took a picture of his newborn daughter and then sent this photo to 2,000 people in real-time, which was unheard of at the time.

The first commercial camera phone was the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210. It was released in May 1999 by Kyocera Corporation in Japan and it retailed at $335 which was considered to be expensive back then. It had a 110,000-pixel front-facing camera which some people did not understand the need for the camera being on the front. However, today almost everyone uses their front-facing camera whether it is to FaceTime someone or take a selfie. This phone could transmit and receive images in real-time which is something that has become normalized and expected through the advancement of technology today. Lastly, it could store up to 20 JPEG images, which is an extremely small amount compared to storage on smartphones today.

The camera phone has impacted society today in numerous ways. Today it is hard to find a phone without a built-in camera. The cameras in smartphones have become so advanced that it negatively impacts photographers and their business. People may think why hire a photographer when I can take just as good of photos on my phone? In addition, it can impact the photo printing business because most people no longer print their photos because it is all stored on their phones. However, the ability to combine communication and imaging has allowed people to stay connected with one another.

Through the use of social media such as Instagram or Snapchat people have the ability to share what the are doing when they are doing it. This too can have negative impacts as one can become addicted to social media and people can judge others' quality of life based on what they post.

To learn more about the impact camera phones have on the world today click here.