I just had one of those 'gee whiz!' moments...

Back in July thru about mid-August of 2023 we replaced our cell phones ("it took 2 months? to change phones?!" What can I say? I'm old!). Cell phones have come a long way since I first started using them in mid-1999. **

C & I have had a range of cell phones over the years including Nokia, Motorola (remember their flip phone?), Blackberry with its typewriter keyboard and trackball, an early iPhone, and more recently a couple different Samsung phones. 

The Note 8 was our first Samsung. We got the phones at COSTCO for a bargain price then paid too much for 4 lines of cell service from Verizon when they included 2 free tablets. [Free? Yeah, right!] So part of the recent plan was to change providers from Verizon to T-Mobile. That step reduced our monthly bill from about $275/mo for 4 lines unlimited (but throttled after hitting a target amount) down to $100/mo for 2 lines with unlimited and un-throttled. The T-Mobile unlimited service allows us to piggyback our WiFi-only tablets via the phone's hot spot at $0 extra charge... we still have tablets but now they have no direct cell connection. Internet is via WiFi or the hot spot feature. Yeah, there are probably better deals out there but we (I!) feel more comfortable with one of the big three.

But there was also another incentive. I had noticed there were significant improvements in the cameras embedded in some new phones. Apple's iPhone has always had good imaging but recently Samsung and Google Pixel phones have been making significant advances. I compared a few specs and suggested we get Samsung 23 Ultra phones. It was a revelation.

Samsung 23 Ultra

More recently Samsung introduced a new improved version - the Samsung 24 Ultra. That phone has camera features not all that different than our 23 Ultras. Then in April Samsung upgraded the software in our 23 Ultras to match the S24 and Presto! we are pretty darn close to the current S24 Ultra offering from Samsung. Which in itself is no big deal except that the new software has made significant improvements to our 1 year old camera performance. 

So how do you improve a camera with software while leaving the camera hardware untouched? Well apparently current cell phone cameras are software & AI driven. It's now less about optics (they have that down pat with a 200 MB photo sensor and sufficient optics) and more about AI driven software to do the magic. Move people around in a photo, erase distracting background, improve color, fade the background, on and on. And btw, at Samsung AI = Advanced Intelligence (vs. artificial intelligence).

The features are endless and probably driven by the work done at Google and Apple for their phones. Others have to keep up. It sounds like iPhone has great camera hardware and Google Pixel phones keep up and maybe edge ahead with software manipulation of the image. Samsung is close and I'm a happy camper. The most recent software update seems to have improved our cameras to pretty close to the current S24 Ultra phones.

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** Wow- mid-1999 was 25 years ago as I write this Apr 2024. An anniversary apparently. That's pretty amazing how long I've taken for granted all the features offered by our modern phones. I recall getting ready for work one morning at the marina in Redwood City- perhaps 1990. The tow truck driver who also lived aboard came into the restroom with what looked like a land line phone embedded in a leather 'brick'. It was a 'portable phone' which he used to take service calls while on the road in his tow truck. It wasn't a cell phone- the array of cell towers arranged in 12 mile separations is the base for modern cell phones and came along later. It was a big advancement compared to the 'mobile phone' my father used on service calls when he worked for Bell of Nevada post WW-II. That thing took up half the trunk of the Chevy coupe where it was installed.