Six clicks: Top six camera phones compared

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Six top camera phones of today
It's difficult to judge the camera capture capability of most high-end phones today because with the right lighting and setup you can capture great photos with nearly all of them. I took the latest and greatest phones out for a spin this weekend and tried to see if any device stood out from the rest.
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I took photos using the Samsung Galaxy S5, Apple iPhone 5s, HTC One (M8), LG G2, Nokia Lumia Icon, and Nokia Lumia 1020.

In the particular shot I took of the side of the yard, showing lots of shapes and colors, I thought the Nokia Lumia Icon stood out as the best. Check out the following gallery for the photos and judge for yourself.

You can view the full-size images I used to gather these Six Clicks photos in this Flickr album. There are two other photos taken with each phone too. This album does not include the full resolution Nokia Lumia photos, but just the default ones most people use for typical sharing purposes in order to offer the fairest comparison with the other camera phones. With the full 38 and 20 megapixel images, the Lumias stand out from the pack.

The camera software on these phones, other than the iPhone 5s, is full of features that let you take amazing shots with some settings changes. I enjoyed the software on each of these phones, especially seeing it evolve and get better with continued development from the manufacturers.
Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
Nokia Lumia Icon

The Nokia Lumia Icon is only available on Verizon, but there are options from AT&T and T-Mobile for devices with a similiar camera.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
Apple iPhone 5s

The iPhone has the simplest software, but honestly it takes great photos and is still a device I recommend for many folks.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
Nokia Lumia 1020

There is no doubt the Nokia Lumia 1020 is an amazing camera phone that is more a camera with a phone attached. For some reason, it didn't take as good of a shot in this situation as the Lumia Icon, IMHO.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
HTC One (M8)

HTC's newest phone may still not have much depth and detail when you zoom in, but for typical shots it still performs very well.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
Samsung Galaxy S5

I have been impressed with the new S5 camera software and performance. There was too much light in this photo and it was blown out a bit, but that may have been due to the focus point. Check out the other photos I captured with it in my Flickr album too.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller
LG G2

The LG G2 is still a solid performer, even though the phone is approaching a year old. It has a 13 megapixel shooter.

Published: April 21, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)
Caption by: Matthew Miller

I had the opportunity to capture photos with the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8), LG G2, Apple iPhone 5s, Nokia Lumia Icon, and Nokia Lumia 1020. They all take great photos, but I did notice some differences.