The First Camera Phone
https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/pictures/samsung-sgh-v200/
As much as we hate to admit it, as 21st century Americans, we take our phones for granted. After all, by the time we were old enough to care about technology, the IPhone had already been invented, so for the large majority of us, it’s the only camera phone that we’ve ever been exposed to. However, the history of the camera phone goes far beyond that fateful day in late June of 2007 when the first IPhone was created. In fact, we need to go back over half a decade before then to experience the creation of the first camera phone.
First released in June of 2000 by Samsung, the SCH-V200 was the first camera phone ever created. It was released in South Korea, and began a trend of many of the first camera phones being released in eastern Asian countries. As the first phone, it’s no surprise that the phone had multiple limitations. For example, the pictures taken on it were only viewable if hooked up to a computer. In addition, it could only take 20 photos at a time. Furthermore, its megapixel resolution was only 0.35 megapixels. Then six months later, Sharp released the J-SH04, the second camera phone, this time in Japan. It had fewer limitations then the SCH-V200, as photos taken on it could be sent electronically. It also had a megapixel resolution of 0.11 megapixels, in comparison to the 0.35 megapixels from the SCH-V200.
So why was the camera phone invented? That can be attributed to French engineer Philippe Kahn. In 1997, Kahn’s daughter was born, and the Frenchman expressed his desire to capture that moment with a phone. Many other people also expressed their desire to be able to capture events and take photos on their phone, which ultimately led to the creation of the camera phone three years later.
Looking back on the past 24 years, it’s easy to see how much this invention has changed our lives for the better. With the camera phone, we can take endless amounts of pictures and capture any moment that takes place in our lives with just the click of a button. We can then share that with millions of people online and easily connect with others about what’s happening in our lives.
But like any good invention, there are obviously going to be negatives, and that might not be any truer than with the invention of the camera phone. As mentioned earlier, the camera phone led to the invention of the IPhone, something that countless Americans, especially teenagers, are addicted to. In a recent study done by Alex Kerai of Reviews.org, it was discovered that people spend approximately “four hours and 25 minutes each day on their phone” which equates to “65 days in the calendar year” (Kerai). This means that in a year, we’re spending almost a fifth of our time on our phone. Therefore, it’s not an overreaction in the slightest to call our relationship with our phones unhealthy and one that needs serious work in the coming years.
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