China gets a real “professional” camera phone through the Altek T8680
Aug 3rd
Sure anyone can go and order a Nokia, Sony, or Samsung camera phone boasting of 5, 6, 7+ megapixels. But no one can hold a candle to the Chinese bound Altek T8680. While it isn’t hte first 12 megapixel camera phone on the market, the real juice behind the story is the 3x optical zoom. 3x may not sound like much in a world with larger lenses on more “professional” cameras, but on a cellphone, any optical zoom is a god send. As you all know, digital zoom is worthless. There simly isn’t any replacement for good ‘ol glass. Besides the eye popping optics, the T8680 is rather substandard in other areas which are highlighted by the unusually limited radio support for tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM/EDGE and absolutely no 3G. I hope to god you don’t try to wirelessly transfer any of those pictures with a lack of 3G. You could be waiting a while! Other worthwhile mentions include a 3″ WQVGA TFT touchscreen, USB, TV out, PictBridge, DPOF, and Bluetooth 2.1 A2DP handle the not so photo centric features. Powering this device comes by way of a 1020 mAh rated battery meaning you will probably want to keep a charger or spare battery close as the battery size really isn’t that substantial for such a photo centric phone. For now this mobile picture taking powerhouse is a China only model. Hopefully soon some other countries can feel the love — albeit with a few more features including 3G. Feeling lucky?
Source: GSM Arena
Samsung reveals the M8910 Pixon12 - 12 megapixel beast
Jun 1st
While the actual usefullness of 6+ megapixels in a tiny, less than optimumly sized CMOS censor is debatable, Samsung is eschewing all naysayers and doubters with the announcement of their M8910 Pixon12. This alphabet/number soup phone’s main claim to fame is first and foremost that 12 megapixel’s worth of digitized life sitting right smack dab in the middle of the phone’s back side. Secondly, Samsung is touting the 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display’s (claimed) 10,000 : 1 contrast ratio! That is actually pretty darn good.(Now that I think about it, I don’t really know the contrast ratios of pretty much any other camera phone display…do manufacturers even publish those?) Of course, ocular attraction isn’t everything to be all giddy about. What else does this megapixel pig pack under the hood?
Camera phone megapixel race getting out of hand?
Feb 20th
Think back two to three years and try to remember what camera phones were like…0.3/1.3 megapixel cameras were the norm (and sadly more or less still are), and 2 megapixel camera’s instantly shoved you to the VIP club of cell phone users. My how times have changed. While 1.3 megapixel cameraphones still make up the majority of cell phone cameras, 2 and 3.2 megapixel cameras are swooping in fast. And at Barcelone this year many 8+ megapixel camera phones were shown off including word from LG of an up and coming 12 megapixel camera phone! Now at what time does the pixel count become ridiculous?