What camera phone should you take to a festival?

The accommodation may be lo-fi but music festivals are getting ever-more tech friendly. There are now plenty of festival apps out there to help you get the most out of the experience and an array of gadgets designed to make your campsite a bit more luxe. But why brave the mud with two devices when you could take one? Grab a new phone and leave the camera at home: we’ve rounded up the cream of the camera phone crop to help you decide which one to take.

Best for battery: Nokia Lumia 1520

It may not have the 40MP camera of its older sibling, the Nokia Lumia 1020, but the Lumia 1520 sports an above-average 20MP camera and Nokia’s excellent Pureview tech. This basically means that 1520’s camera can take high-resolution photos, deals well with darker scenes like campfire sing-alongs and also has a top-class digital zoom for those longshots of Alex Turner strutting his way around the Pyramid Stage. Couple this with its top-notch battery power (32 hours of standby, 25 hours of talk time) and you’ve got yourself a killer festival phone.

Best for amateur photographers: HTC One (M8)

The Android-running HTC One M8 comes with a Gorilla Glass screen which means it’ll take more than a 3am stumble over a tent peg to damage its display. It runs Android so you’ll have a whole host of apps to choose from. Add to that the One M8’s slender, light frame and the advanced photo tech that lets you adjust the focus of your photos even after you’ve taken them and you’ll wonder how you ever took a decent photo at a festival without it.

Best for the rain: Sony Xperia Z2

The Xperia Z2 is a phone with an identity crisis: it can’t decide if it’s a sharp high-end smartphone or a rugged off-roader. The good news for festival-goers is that it’s both waterproof and dust-resistant so whether the rain is lashing down or it’s as dry and dusty as the Sahara, you can keep texting, Instagramming and snapping pictures. What’s more, the Z2’s 20.7MP camera shoots super-high res 4K video and can even take photos underwater; not sure how well they’d come out in mud though.

Best for standing at the back: Samsung Galaxy K Zoom

Half phone, half camera – the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom looks as strange as some of the people you encounter at Glastonbury. The phone’s camera comes with an optical zoom – the zoom lens extends out of the back of the phone and protracts back in when you’re finished with it. Great for when you’re not quite as close to the stage as you’d like. Samsung’s Selfie Suggest software will make sure all those festival selfies come out flatteringly too, while the built-in image stabiliser will keep things straight and fuzz-free even if you find yourself a bit, um, squiffy.

Best all-rounder: iPhone 5C

It may not have a zoom lens or take pictures underwater but the iPhone can’t be beaten on apps. The 8MP camera on the iPhone 5C is a decent enough snapper and even if your shots aren’t amazing you can touch them up with the host of free image editing apps on the App Store. The plastic body of the 5C makes it a little more robust than the pricier iPhone 5S, plus the fun yellow, pink, white, green and blue cases will match whatever festival onesie you decide to don.

So that’s your phone sorted – but what other festival gadgets should you be packing this summer?

Will you be taking a smartphone to a festival this year? What’s your must-have music app? Let us know on our Twitter @O2.

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