Camera phones of the future look to arrays and software rather than megapixels

If you have ever used your mobile phone to take pics no matter the brand we have all wished the image quality was better. I know I am waiting for the day when my camera phone will take pics as good as a point and shoot will. A company called Pelican thinks it has found the way to leverage the processing power of smartphones to deliver much better image quality.

Pelican Imaging isn't using huge megapixel numbers to improve photos, the are using an array made up of multiple small camera sensors and software to take the image from those sensors and work it into a single high quality snap.

The other big benefit to the new sensors that Pelican is touting is that they are smaller and thinner than the larger resolution sensors today. That means that the phones the sensors are used in can be thinner and a smaller sensor may mean less power consumption and longer battery life. The module has 25 micro cameras and the software will allow the user to interact with the photos before and after taking them and can even apply 3D depth. At this point when and if the modules will come to market is unknown.

Via gigaom