What's the big deal about optical focus?

[Robert Carpenter]

The article from WPCentral seems to be making a big deal about optical focus, as if it's never been in a smartphone camera before.

The Lumia 920 and Lumia 928 have optical focus. Am I missing something? Shouldn't this have been expected?

 

[gsquared]

I'm not a photography expert by any means but I would suspect optical focus provides much greater accuracy than software based focusing.

 

[hopmedic]

Optical focus or optical zoom? I'm not familiar with which article you're referring to. I'm not aware of a non-optical way to focus, but adding optical zoom would be awesome. It would also mean a big hump. Oh, wait - it has that.... :wink:

 

[Laura Knotek]

Optical focus or optical zoom? I'm not familiar with which article you're referring to. I'm not aware of a non-optical way to focus, but adding optical zoom would be awesome. It would also mean a big hump. Oh, wait - it has that.... :wink:

I think it's optical zoom. That's what it sounds like to me. Nokia EOS 41-Megapixel Windows Phone camera caught on tape, optical focusing in tow? | Windows Phone Central

It shows the lens cover open and shut plus it shows the camera having optical focus. You can see the front element of the lens move back and forth as it focuses.