Remember when phone cameras were a joke? We’re talking grainy VGA snapshots, blown-out highlights, and zero control over anything. It’s almost hard to believe that’s the same technology that just put a professional filmmaker on a plane to South Africa with no camera gear at all. vivo partnered with filmmaker Sam Kolder to produce “The Garden Route,” a cinematic short film shot entirely on the vivo X300 Ultra. Kolder, known for high-production travel films, left his usual camera kit at home for the project. Just his crew, the open road, and a couple of X300 Ultra devices across the Garden Route, a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve. The film takes in coastlines, kelp forests, savannah, and wildlife. “I thought leaving my cameras behind would make the job harder. It ended up being a liberation,” Kolder said. How Phone Cameras Got Here That kind of statement would have been laughable ten years ago. But smartphone camera hardware has come an enormous distance.…