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Camera Phones Fastest Selling Tech Device

Dec. 8 - They're a phone, they're a camera and they're the fastest-selling tech device.

Since calling on the U.S. market about a year ago, camera phones are ringing up huge sales.

"Everyone is going to be carrying a cellphone anyway, being able to take pictures on the run and also being able to email them right from the phone is just a huge thing for most people and it explains why cameraphones have just exploded in the past year," said Cory Greenberg.

You can distinguish cameraphones from other mobile phones by the small lens. Some are static - installed in the back of a phone or on the top of a flip phone.

Some have an adjustable lens which you can toggle up and down.

While pictures look pretty good in the small display, Corey Greenberg of beststuff.com warns don't expect the same quality on here that you'd see from a separate digital camera.

"You gotta throw that right out the window to begin with. The maximum resolution for a cameraphone is 640 by 480 pixels, which means, it's a good size picture for emailing but that's not even the equivalent to a 2 megapixel camera, which you can pick up for $99 these days."

The price of the phone isn't the only cost to consider. While it doesn't cost anything extra to take pictures and keep them in your phone, send and receive pictures can add a chunk to your bill. Some carriers charge by sent photo. Others provide "unlimited" monthly usage. But check out what that means.

Despite its definition, "unlimited" can mean from 10-to-40 a month with an extra per photo charge after that. 

You may also be limited in who can receive your photos - some plans allow you to send pictures to other phones with different carriers. Other companies want you to stay within the same service.

As for being a photo fad, Greenberg thinks not. "I always see the U.S. telecom market being 5-to-10 years behind Europe and Japan and if Europe and Japan are any indication, I expect them to be very popular for years to come. Which is good news for consumers, as prices are nosediving from $400 when they first came out to as little as $50.