Cameraphone pictures suck, generally speaking. It's because the lenses are tiny and garbage. But this Jabil cameraphone module with a physical shutter could change things.
The module measures 10 x 10 x 8mm and has a moving blade-style shutter that prevents light from entering the lens until you've press the shot button. It also has an autofocus feature.
Of course, problems may very well arise when you try to stick moving parts like that onto a phone that's going to be sharing pocket space with your keychain, but it's good news that they've shrunk a physical shutter module down to a size that would be reasonable on a smartphone. It's advancements like this that are going to kill the point-and-shoot market. [Reg Hardware]