Technologies

Your Old Phone Can Still Take Excellent Photos With These Pro Tips

Don’t count out the camera on your older phone. It can still take fantastic photos.

The iPhone 14 Pro, Google Pixel 7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra are among the best camera phones you can buy in 2023. Packed with multiple lenses and amazing AI software, these phones can take shots that rival professional mirrorless cameras.

However, these top phones come with huge price tags that make them out of reach for many of us. Worry not. Even if you’ve got an older iPhone or Android phone or a budget-focused model without all the bells and whistles, there’s a lot you can do to still take beautiful images. After all, as any photographer will tell you, it’s not just the best camera that takes the best photos.

Still, you’ll need to put in some effort yourself to elevate your shots from simple «ho hum» snaps to «oh, wow!» pieces of art.

Here, then, are my top tips for how to get the best images from an older iPhone, Galaxy phone or any older Android phone.

In this shot, taken on the iPhone X, the road snaking its way into the frame helps to add a leading line that guides the eye up toward the cloudy mountains.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Nail your composition

You can take a photo using the most advanced camera system on the planet, but if you’ve messed up your framing, you’ll still get a bad photo. After all, if you’re taking a photo of a lovely church and you manage to chop off the spire, no amount of editing will bring it back.

Don’t just snap away wildly at your photo location. Instead, slow down, walk around and consider the scene in front of you and how you want it to appear in your shot. Taking a landscape shot? Look for leading lines such as pathways or old stone walls that snake their way into the scene. Or perhaps there’s some interesting rocks or flowers that could add some interest in the foreground.

20190620-161930 — Taken on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus. I used the curving rock face as foreground interest, shooting through the gap that points toward the reservoir in the distance.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

You can also turn on a «rule of thirds» grid overlay in the settings to help line up the different elements in your scene in a visually pleasing way — or simply to help keep your horizons straight.

If you’ve got multiple rear cameras that offer a zoomed-in or wide-angle view, experiment with these different options. Maybe zooming in can help eliminate distracting elements, or perhaps that wider view can capture more of the beautiful scene in front of you.

With no wide-angle lens on the iPhone 11 Pro, I used the panorama mode to capture a much wider scene here.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

If you don’t have a wide-angle view, try using the panorama mode to get a wider shot than the standard camera can achieve — or use clip-on lenses, as I discuss below.

Tell a story

The most impactful, iconic images through the years aren’t simply the ones taken with the best camera, but the ones that tell a particular story or capture a moment in time. And sure, maybe you’re not trying to win a photojournalism prize on your summer vacation, but thinking like a photojournalist can help you take images that you’ll want to look back on in years to come.

Perhaps you’re heading to the beautiful Italian coast this year. Of course, you’ll get a nice snap of the ocean from your hotel terrace, but keep in mind what else has made your trip so memorable; the plates of delicious food, the old, dusty streets, the musician playing in the square or the vibrant colors of the fruits and flower stands at the local market. All these elements will make for great photos that capture the heart of the location and tell a great visual story when you look back through them.

This beautiful, shaggy Highland cow wasn’t the reason I visited Scotland, but this was a great opportunity to capture an image of an iconic animal. And the shot really adds to the story told by the images I took on that trip. Taken on the iPhone 11 Pro.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

And it doesn’t have to be something you do only on a big family vacation. A weekend walk downtown to the street-food market will offer up great storytelling opportunities, from the graffiti art you see along the way to the plates of vibrant cuisine you choose on arrival. And none of these things require the latest camera hardware to capture beautifully.

Use the light to your advantage

Though today’s top phones can take great nighttime images, older models likely won’t have night modes. As a result, darkness won’t be your friend when you’re trying to get great images. If you’re heading to a viewpoint overlooking the city, try to get there during the day, perhaps when there’s a lovely blue sky sprinkled with fluffy clouds.

Though the middle of the day isn’t always a great time for landscape photos, you might capture moments of peace like this. Taken on the iPhone X.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Middle-of-the-day photography is often avoided by landscape photographers because of its harsh quality, but if you’re exploring city streets, it can offer some great opportunities to look for contrast caused by shadows, which could make for dramatic images.

No multi-camera iPhone? Use clip-on lenses

Older iPhones might lack the multiple lenses found on the most recent models, but you don’t just have to make do. Companies like Moment and Olloclip make lenses that attach to your phone, providing wide-angle, telephoto and even macro views.

img-2269-copy — Using its standard lens (left) the iPhone X can only fit so much in frame. But with the Moment wide angle adapter (right) we get a much wider view.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Sure, you have to carry an extra little item in your bag or pocket as you explore, but adding a clip-on lens is a great way to get a superwide view for those sweeping cityscapes without having to splash the cash in upgrading your phone.

Shoot in DNG raw, even on old phones

Apple’s ProRaw image format, introduced on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, uses computational imaging techniques like HDR but still provides you with a DNG raw file that’s much easier to edit in apps like Adobe Lightroom. It isn’t a function found on older iPhones, but those of you on older phones can still shoot in regular raw if you’re keen to do your own edits.

You can’t shoot in DNG raw in the standard camera mode, so you’ll need to use a third-party camera app that offers raw shooting. I usually use Lightroom itself, as its camera shoots in raw and automatically imports the images into your library. But I’ve also had good results with the Moment app.

img-2026-2-copy — By shooting in DNG raw, I had even more flexibility in Adobe Lightroom to make this portrait of my sweet bundle of beautiful wonder look even more heartacheingly gorgeous.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Shooting in raw allows you more flexibility to adjust white balance and color tones while generally making it easier to tone down bright highlights or lighten up shadowy areas. Those of you looking to squeeze every ounce of quality from your phone camera should consider using raw — as long as you’re willing to spend the time editing.

Keep in mind, though, that raw files are larger than their JPEG counterparts, so you’ll quickly fill up your phone’s storage if you shoot everything you see in raw.

Get creative with editing apps

Taking your photo is only part of the process, and a keen eye in the editing stage can make all the difference in creating beautiful photographic art. If you want to maintain a more natural looking photograph, look toward apps like Lightroom or Google’s Snapseed. These raw image editors give you control over colors, exposure and contrast and let you fine-tune your images to suit your taste.

prisma-edit-app — Edited in Prisma, the abstract art style means it doesn’t matter if the original image isn’t amazing quality.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

Or you can take your creativity to a whole other level with apps like Prisma, which transforms your shots into often psychedelic-looking scenes, or Bazaart, which lets you easily create wild photo collages that can look really cool. You can check out my roundup of my favorite image editing apps for more inspiration.

The great thing with editing is that there’s no right or wrong way to do things, and you can always go back to your original image if you don’t like the changes you made. But using some of these techniques can turn an otherwise forgettable shot into something that really stands out. My advice is to make a cup of tea, settle into a comfy chair and play around with the sliders in your app of choice and see what you can come up with.

Technologies

Hands-On With the Galaxy Z TriFold: A True Phone-Tablet Hybrid

Technologies

Honor’s Audacious Robot Phone Is Real and I Just Got a First Glimpse

Forget foldables, this might just be the most unconventional phone design I’ve seen in years.

When Honor first announced its quirky Robot Phone back in October, I said I would have to see it and hold it to believe it’s real. Three months later, I’m halfway there at least.

At CES 2026 I got a first glimpse of a prototype of the phone with its pop-out DJI Osmo-like camera and gimbal. Given that part of the body of the phone is given over to housing these elements when they’re folded away, it’s understandably not among the cohort of ultra-thin devices we’ve seen over the past year or so.

I wasn’t allowed to touch or manipulate the phone or its arm, but I watched as a member of Honor’s team moved the camera between different positions. It was interesting to see how neatly the arm packed away, leaving the black phone looking, at a glance, almost like any other generic device with a particularly expansive camera module. But I can’t deny that I’m still keen to get my hands on it to see how well the robotic element of the phone actually operates.

Fortunately, I don’t have long to wait. At Mobile World Congress, which takes place in Barcelona in March, Honor will allow me to touch and hold the phone. At that point, the robotic arm will be working, so it won’t have to be manually adjusted. We know frustratingly little else about the phone at this stage beyond its design, but its full specs will also be announced at MWC.

When it finally launches, the Robot Phone is likely to be something of a niche product that appeals mainly to content creators. But it will also inject a much-needed dose of design daring into an industry that has struggled to show much imagination over the past decade.

Tech journalists, myself included, are guilty of complaining about the homogenous designs of most smartphones, while urging companies to take more risks and give us something to really get excited about. The introduction of foldable phones has been a breath of fresh air, but the Robot Phone is a next-level example of thinking beyond the conventional boundaries of phone design.

I, for one, can’t wait to see — and hold — more.

Technologies

Finally, I’ve Found a Worthy Successor to the Iconic ’90s Tamagotchi

This virtual pet grows physically bigger the more you play with it.

Back in 1996, when Tamagotchis became the must-have toy, I was 8 years old — the perfect target audience. I remember handing over my crisp British £10 note to the good people at Toys R Us, shaking with anticipation. It was the most money I’d ever spent in one go, but I knew it would be worth it to own one of the magenta virtual pets just like all of my classmates.

Thirty years later at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, I finally found a worthy successor to my treasured pixelated companion. Sweekar is a Tamagotchi-inspired pocket pet, an AI companion that grows physically bigger as it matures.

Sweekar begins life as an egg with ears. In a demo, it lays in my hand, and I tap it gently three times on the head, making its yellow ears glow. The egg opens to reveal a screen displaying a cracking shell. A pair of sleepy eyes pops into view.

On the Las Vegas show floor, Sweekar was ready to go for my demo, but usually, the incubation stage can take up to two days. The egg perches on its base until the shell cracks open, from which point little Sweekar will spend between five and seven days in baby stage. Next up is the teen stage (21 to 45 days), followed by Sweekar adulthood.

With each life stage, Sweekar grows a little bigger. Just like the original Tamagotchi, each stage brings a series of new challenges for you as its owner. The early days mean high-frequency care with basic language learning. The teen years bring greater intelligence and a more distinct personality. Eventually, you can progress to owning a pet that’s autonomous, requiring less care, but which has more fun gameplay options. And… Sweekar can also die if you neglect it.

In all of these senses, it feels remarkably true to the spirit of the original Tamagotchi, but with AI technology that could ultimately provide a more rewarding experience in the long term. Hopefully, it will inspire owners to keep it alive longer than the many little Tamagotchi chicks that perished due to lack of care.

If you want to get your hands on a Sweekar to bring some ’90s-inspired magic to a kid’s childhood (or if you’re just feeling nostalgic — I won’t judge), it will be available via Kickstarter later this year. You’ll need more than a £10 note to secure one, however. Sweekar will be priced at a far more substantial $150.