Off-axis geometry isn't as big an issue as uniform focus. If there is enough depth of field to have the whole image in focus, the geometry can be fixed; this is a nice closed problem as long as the paper is flat and the boundaries can be located.
The camera-phone space is moving with incredible speed - and there is a huge variety of devices out there. The quality and features of sensor and lens package still varies broadly. That said, the best of the 2MP cameras out there deliver truly nice snapshots - far better than the 1.3MP. That's primarily because the 2MP sensors are more and more often coupled with relatively nice autofocus lens packages. So far, the Sony and Nokia cameras appear to lead with Samsung coming fast. The trends are very promising too; Sony's upcoming K790 and K800 will have autofocus and anti-shake technology. Basically tech from the ultra-compact digital cameras is migrating quickly into phones. I've written more about this at http://blog.scanr.com/scanr_blog/2006/04/making_ev ery_pi.html (I'm on the team there.)
As a very loose rule of thumb - look for autofocus with 2.0 MP. If the phone manufacturer spec'ed autofocus then there are good odds the camera will perform well. If it's fixed focus 2.0.... caveat emptor.
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Off-axis geometry isn't as big an issue as uniform focus. If there is enough depth of field to have the whole image in focus, the geometry can be fixed; this is a nice closed problem as long as the paper is flat and the boundaries can be located.
The camera-phone space is moving with incredible speed - and there is a huge variety of devices out there. The quality and features of sensor and lens package still varies broadly. That said, the best of the 2MP cameras out there deliver truly nice snapshots - far better than the 1.3MP. That's primarily because the 2MP sensors are more and more often coupled with relatively nice autofocus lens packages. So far, the Sony and Nokia cameras appear to lead with Samsung coming fast. The trends are very promising too; Sony's upcoming K790 and K800 will have autofocus and anti-shake technology. Basically tech from the ultra-compact digital cameras is migrating quickly into phones. I've written more about this at http://blog.scanr.com/scanr_blog/2006/04/making_ev ery_pi.html (I'm on the team there.)
As a very loose rule of thumb - look for autofocus with 2.0 MP. If the phone manufacturer spec'ed autofocus then there are good odds the camera will perform well. If it's fixed focus 2.0.... caveat emptor.