Camera Phones Plaza

Today in London, Sony Ericsson announced their 3G barphone K618. The latest addition in their lines reminds very much of the K610 model and differs only by the 256 MB Memory Stick Micro memory card included in the package. Otherwise the phone has UMTS 3G networks support and is tri-band GSM device.

It will come with a display of 176 x 220 pixels resolution and 1.9" size. The TFT technology display will show up to 262K colors. K618 also has a 2 megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom and QCIF resolution video recording options. The memory card can be expanded up to 1GB and thus the phone can be used as a music phone. It supports lots of audio formats and has a Bluetooth headset included in the package. Connectivity features of K618 are Bluetooth EDR, USB 2.0 and Fast port.

Sony Ericsson K618 will be available in Q3 2006 in two color variants: Vibrant Black and Bright White.

Here is the press release from Sony Ericsson:

Stay entertained with Sony Ericsson’s 3G K618: a vibrant blend of work & play.
LONDON 8 August 2006 - Sony Ericsson today announces the K618: a slim, lightweight 3G phone that will launch in selected markets and deliver the perfect mix of mobile phone, multimedia applications and business solutions.

The new K618 has been developed for those users that want ‘the best of both worlds’; entertainment on the move & a powerful business tool. This high performance 3G device is as light and slim as a typical 2.5G phone, yet delivers blisteringly-fast speeds for streaming or downloading music & video clips, browsing the web or gaming. And staying in control of your inbox is made easier with support for push email, allowing messages to be sent directly to the phone without having to download them.

This compact phone is well equipped for both capturing & sharing photos, and playing music. Notably, the K618 features Bluetoothâ„¢ Streaming, which means that full-length music tracks (or video clips) can be sent wirelessly from the phone and listened to on a compatible Bluetoothâ„¢ enabled device, such as the Stereo Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS970.

One click of the dedicated camera button and the 2.0 Megapixel camera is activated, which comes complete with 2.5x digital zoom and Mobile Blogger This application allows the user to post (or blog) their images directly to their own blogsite, giving friends and family the chance to go online and view the shots. The K618 is also ready for making video calls; the separate video telephony camera and high speed 3G connectivity making this a reality.

With so many multimedia functions available, it’s possible to build up a sizeable collection of photos, music files, video clips and web pages. The 256MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) provided caters for this and will store around 700 photos or 230 music tracks for example*. There is also the option to expand the external memory up to 1GB as an individual’s media library grows.

The K618 is a striking, slim-line ‘stick’ design that will launch in a choice of Vibrant Black or Bright White. This UMTS 2100 device will be available in selected markets from Q3 2006."

K618's features:

* Entertainment
o Music player (with MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ support)
o OMA DRM phase 1
o Phone speaker
o Full streaming Audio/Video
o Polyphonic >64 ring tones
o Java MIDP 2.0
o 3D games
o Music DJâ„¢
o Video DJâ„¢
o Photo DJâ„¢
o PlayNowâ„¢
o Disc2Phone computer ripping software
o Stereo headset
o 256MB M2 card

* Imaging & Messaging
o 176x220 pixels, TFT 1.9” 262k colour display
o 2.0 Megapixel camera
o 2.5x digital zoom for still images
o QCIF video recording & streaming
o QVGA video playback
o VGA Video Telephony camera
o Consumer push email
o SMS and MMS
o Instant Messaging
o Mobile Blogger - Picture blog application

* Connectivity
o UMTS 2100
o Bluetoothâ„¢ EDR
o PC Tools & Software
o USB 2.0 Mass storage FS
o USB charging
o USB cable
o Fast port connector
o External antenna connector
o Flight mode
o HTML Full Browser with RSS

* Accessories
Core Accessories:
o Stereo Bluetoothâ„¢ Headset HBH-DS970
o Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-65
o Flash MXE-60
o Music Cable MMC-60
o Music Desk Stand MDS-60

Other Accessories:
o Desk Stand CDS- 60
o Travel charger CMT-60
o Bluetoothâ„¢ Headset HBH-GV435
o Bluetoothâ„¢ Headset HBH- IV835
o Bluetoothâ„¢ Car Speakerphone HCB-100

Why limit yourself to only 100 songs? Sony Ericsson answers that question with the Walkman phone series that can load up a lot more tracks than Motorola's iTunes phones. And the latest Walkman phone in the US, the Sony Ericsson W810i can handle even more than the previous Walkman model the W600i.

The W810i package includes a 512MB Memory Stick Duo card and is compatible with cards up to 2 GB. It has great phone reception, a bright and colorful 1.9” LCD, integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and an FM radio. The slimmed-down candy bar body is much smaller, more mainstream and more attractive than the W600i. And it’s got a 2 megapixel camera that takes even better photos than the Sony Ericsson S710a and comes close to the Nokia N90 on occasion.

It might not seem fitting to chat so much about the camera on the W810i is when the phone is billed as a Walkman music phone. But the 2.0 megapixel built-in camera is one of the best we’ve seen on a phone currently sold on the US market with a sharp lens and software that give you very high quality photos. The camera software’s user interface will make sense to most anyone, even if he or she never read a word in the manual.

The built-in camera has a relatively large lens (AF 4.8mm 1:2.8) with two bright flash bulbs above and an orange colored self-portrait mirror below. You can launch the camera by either going into Menu/Camera or by holding down on the camera shutter button. The camera uses the W810i screen as the viewfinder and has two soft keys for viewing photos/videos and changing settings. The settings are easy to follow and you can personalize the settings in all features the camera has to offer.

You can take photos up to 1632 x 1224 which is higher resolution than the W600i and the S710a’s 1.3 MP cameras. The lens has auto-focus feature, and you can zoom in and out by using the volume up and down button when in the camera mode. You can take normal still pictures or panorama photos by turning on the Panorama mode. The panorama mode allows you to take a series of pictures and stitch them together.

You can select macro mode for close-up shots, night mode for low-light conditions; you’ve a self-timer, special effects (black & white, negative, sepia and solaria), white balance settings (auto, daylight, cloudy, fluorescent and incandescent), picture quality settings, shutter sounds, time and date stamps and options to save the photos to the internal memory or the Memory Stick. All options are easy to access and quick to change.

Read full review here.

engadget presents the first photos of the new BlackBerry 8100. Here are their first impressions.

"The stealthy BlackBerry Stealth slinks behind the scenes no more. It's the BlackBerry 8100 and it's got a camera, microSD slot, EDGE data, and media playback functionality -- just like we'd expected (so where's the damn WiFi?). This should be due in November on Cingular (no guarantees), but something tells us to expect an even earlier launch on T-Mobile. Perhaps it's the T-Mobile branding. We can't tell you much else as of right now, but big ups to Random Asian Dude for the hookup. Click on for a bunch more pics."

VK Mobile announced what could be the last company's release, due to their serious financial problems, the VK-X200.

Akihabara News presented some of the features of the new VK, like 9.9mm thick thin for only 62g, a 2Mpix video camera, an Mp3 player and other top features.

Highly awaited as it is, Sony Ericsson P990 is going to be the flagship of the Sony Ericsson product line.

Equipped with every possible current connectivity features, an autofocus 2 megapixel camera, a second video calls camera, a conventional keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, Memory Stick slot, FM radio with RDS, the latest Symbian 9.1 OS, and last, but not least with a large 2.76" TFT touchscreen with a QVGA (240x320 pixels) resolution it surely made the news for many impatiently waiting fans when it finally hit the market. The handset has a lot to offer, our job is to see if it's got what it takes to become a bestseller among the sophisticated smartphones which are now offered on the mobile market.

GsmArena made a review of this fantastic phone and here are some ideas: The camera used in Sony Ericsson P990 offers autofocus, a LED flash, a dedicated macro mode and image stabilizer for video recording. It's supposed to produce the same quality pictures as those by Sony Ericsson K750 which has one of the best cameras in the 2 megapixel class. Unfortunately, it seems that the testing unit we've got had some issues since the autofocus just didn't seem to work well over distances longer than several meters. Otherwise the macro shots produce nice and crisp images with great focus.

The camera interface reminds a lot the interface of the latest Sony Ericsson phones. It has a rather similar graphics and functions but is completely redesigned. The highest resolution available is 1600x1200 pixels with three quality levels - Economy, Normal and Fine. The camera has a full automatic exposure control but offers nice manual overexposure control accessible from the main viewfinder interface.

Main advantages

* Autofocus 2 megapixel camera with macro mode and LED flash
* Memory stick Duo/PRO Duo memory card slot (hot-swap)
* Walkman MP3 player and stereo FM radio with RDS
* 3G support with video calls, GPRS and HSCSD
* Wi-Fi 812.11b support
* Touchpad TFT display with a QVGA (240x320 pixels) resolution
* Stereo Bluetooth 2.0, Infrared port and USB 2.0 support
* Conventional keypad on a removable flip along with a QWERTY keyboard
* Internal 128MB flash memory and 64MB RAM
* Symbian 9.1 OS with the UIQ 3.0 user interface

Main disadvantages

* Incompatible with older Symbian UIQ applications
* No EDGE support
* Records video with a QVGA 320x240 pixels resolution
* Display not very legible under direct sun light
* User interface is not always user-friendly