Chapter 6

Using the Camera

It wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of a camera on a cell phone was considered crazy. Cameras on phones were widely considered unnecessary, frivolous additions to a device that should just focus on being really good at making phone calls. It took a little while, but having a camera on your phone started to grow in popularity. Once the trend started, it was less than a year before every phone sold had a camera built into it. They weren’t great cameras at first, and the screens on most phones were so small and so poor that you would have to transfer the picture to your computer to really enjoy it. That is not the case today.

Today, cameras on mobile devices are expected to take pictures that rival point-and-shoot cameras, as well as record high-quality video to be quickly shared with friends. Now, a new trend has started. Secondary cameras are also being placed facing the user with the same expectations as the other camera. With a front-facing camera, users are able to take pictures of themselves, as well as participate in video calls with other users. This trend, slow starting at first, has quickly spread so that many tablets now have two cameras. In this chapter, we will discuss the different uses for these cameras, including some third-party apps to give you some additional features.