Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the commercial availability of the first real camera phone. Granted, Nokia's N90 came close - but at 3.2 Megapixels and with stunning picture quality, the Sony Ericsson K800i blows the competition out of the water. Fitted with autofocus, an Xenon flash and a camera-inspired user interface, it also boasts 3G, Bluetooth and Memory Stick Micro expansion to boot - all in a compact, stylish and ergonomically pleasing candybar design. For extra bonus points, its BestPic burst mode snaps four before-and-after shots in the course of a second. One word: splendid.
Scoring a world first, Sony Ericsson has also managed to integrate photo blogging software compatible with Google's popular Blogger service into the K800i, rendering the act of sharing drunken shenanigans with the world that much easier. Users simply snap a picture and choose to send it to their blog, subsequent to which the image is resized to a suitable size and uploaded. Blogger accounts can be setup straight from the phone, and once posted, users can display their works of art in the phone's HTML capable microbrowser.
Price and availability
The Sony Ericsson K800i is now shipping across Europe, selling in the €475 range without subscription.
Specifications
2.2-inch QVGA high resolution display
3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, Xenon flash and burst mode
MP3 player
MP3 ringtones
MB of onboard memory
Memory Stick Micro memory card expansion, 64 MB card bundled
Bluetooth dial-up networking, headset and stereo headset support
USB 2.0 connectivity with PictBridge support
Stereo FM radio with RDS
3G with video calling
Tri-band GSM
105 x 47 x 22 mm, 115 g
4 hours of talk time, 8.5 days of standby
More 3 Megapixel camera phones
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Nokia N80
Score: 76% When: May 2006 Worth: €675
Read the full article » Starting off on a high note, the Nokia N80 camera phone lines up a brilliant high-resolution screen and 3 Megapixel-pushing camera only to put its foot in its mouth seconds later through the absence of an autofocus, which hampers its ability to produce quality stills with predictive consistency. Although it also includes the most extensive line-up of printing, publishing and image management services of any camera phone to date, it still falls marginally short of its N90 predecessor - yet retains broader overall appeal due to its music, business and wireless photo streaming functionality, rendering it a superb 3G phone. Read the full article » |
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Samsung SGH-Z710
When: August 2006
Read the full article » An impressively compact clamshell, Samsung's SGH-Z710 comes equipped with an otherwise good keypad which is marred by the poor layout of the navigational array. Its high-resolution display measures up nicely, as does video calling and the capabilities of its 3.2 Megapixel camera. We can't say we facour its mediocre music player - but with the right price tag and given broad availability, the SGH-Z710 could very well become one of this summer's best-selling handsets. Read the full article » |
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