Camera Phones Plaza

Looks are everything these days, and we have the long standing RAZR craze to thank for that. The RAZR in it's various forms has sold 50 million copies and every manufacturer, including Motorola themselves hopes to replicate that success with the "next big thing".

So far the likes of the SLVR, PEBL, LG Chocolate and other pretty faces haven't managed, though some have done well in their own right. The KRZR is Moto's most recent attempt to meld Jaguar tastes with slim-is-in hip good looks. The K1m is the CDMA version of the KRZR not to be confused with the blue GSM network KRZR K1 (not offered by any US carrier at the moment).

Actually the KRZR isn't impossibly thin, though it's certainly slim enough to look good and fit in most any pocket without requiring careful sit-downs. To give you an idea, the RAZR V3 is .54" thin and the KRZR is .67".

But it is very narrow, unusually so. The RAZR is a wide beast, though nobody seemed to mind and the KRZR is so much narrower it almost doesn't look like a phone when closed. It might be a bit too narrow for big-fisted men, though women will likely find it fairly comfy.

Music quality through the built in speaker is surprisingly good and quite loud. Along those lines, should you wish to watch V Cast video sans headphones, you'll be pleasantly surprised (though those around you might not be if you're in a public place). Music quality is of course much better through a set of stereo earbuds and the phone makes a decent MP3 player.

The KRZR can take up to a 1 gig card, which means you can carry a decent amount of tunes with you (approx. 350). Some folks have reported sucess using 2 gig Micro SD cards. Video playback on Verizon's $15/month V Cast service looks good on the 1.9" 176 x 220 main color display which is bright and sharp though not an industry best. We did note loss of audio-video sync and some stuttering frames however.

The 1.3 megapixel camera is good compared to other 1.3MP camera phones with generally correct exposure and pleasant colors. The camera sometimes sets color balance incorrectly, so some photos show a purple or overly warm color cast and there is noticeable JPEG noise, but it's better than most (non-Nokia) smartphones and though as good as the 1.3MP LG phones on Verizon. The camera can take photos at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 in JPEG format as well as lower resolutions for caller ID and MMS. It has a self-timer, multi-shot mode, brightness, contrast and white balance settings, color effects and you can turn off the shutter sound. If you close the flip, the outer LCD becomes your viewfinder which is handy for self-portraits.

The camera can take videos at 176 x 144 resolution in H2.63 format and you can set video length to short, medium, "fit to video message" or long (limited only by the amount of space on your memory card). The KRZR can save photos to a memory card if present.

The conclusion is that it's hard to get better looking than the MOTOKRZR; the phone will turn heads (at least until everyone has one) and it looks like a $500 fashion accessory. Fortunately, it sells for a good deal less than that, though the price is a bit high for the phone's features. Then again, the ever so fashionable Nokia 8801 will set you back even further, so the KRZR might look like a bargain in some circles.

But this is more than a fashion accessory, and thankfully the KRZR performs well at its primary job: making and receiving calls. Call quality is excellent, among the best in Verizon's current offerings and the phone has good ergonomics and is easy to use, though broad-handed men might find it a tad too narrow. The music player is good, though not earth-shattering but it makes a nice way to carry around a few hundred tunes if you get a MicroSD card to store then and a set of stereo headphones. Given the KRZR's music prowess and price, we are disappointed Verizon didn't include a stereo headset in the box.

Read full review on MTR.

Samsung introduced two new slider phones, the Samsung X530 and Samsung E250.

Samsung X530 has a similar design with Samsung SGH-D900 model. The X530 is another slider phone from Samsung with a slimmer body. The phone features a 64k colors screen and support EDGE connection. Not much information is revealed, but it should have a music player, VGA camera, Bluetooth, and IrDA connection.

The Samsung E250 features a music player with a micro SD card slot that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+ playback. No further information related to this phone.

Via Engadget.

The Nokia 6708 is the latest smartphone from Nokia, and the first to feature a touch screen. Looking suspiciously like the BenQ P31 that was announced eons ago, the 6708 runs on the UIQ platform, similar to the one found in the Sony Ericsson P-series of smartphones.

With a 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth v1.1, the Nokia 6708 seems equipped with yesterday's technology. It is a tri band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) phone, so business users who travel frequently will have to look elsewhere, since this isn't a world phone.

The Nokia 6708's 65k color 208x320 pixel display is relatively small when compared against typical PDAs on the market today, but quite massive for the typical phone. The display covers a good 60% of the face of the phone, and is used as the primary input mechanism for many of the phone's functions since it is touch sensitive. It is decently bright, though not as bright as some of the current PDAs on the market.

It is viewable in just about all lighting conditions, though again perhaps not as much so as many current Palm OS or Pocket PC devices. With 262k color displays the norm these days, a 65k color screen isn't really up to scratch on a smartphone. However, the 6708's display does handle colors well, and overall I would say the display is quite good.

As a still camera, the 6708 is capable of taking photos of up to 1280x1024 pixel resolution at one of three quality settings. The camera can also be used to take smaller 640x480, 320x240, or 160x120 sized images, too. When shooting 3GP or MPEG4 video clips, the image resolution is 176x144 pixels in one of the same three quality settings, and the audio can be set to one of two levels or off.

Whether using the camera for video or still images, you have the choice of a number of other settings, including a few manual white balance options (indoors, outdoors, fluorescent, automatic), TV flicker control for both 50Hz and 60Hz sets, adjustments for contrast and brightness, and an option for compensating for a backlit subject. Overall, it is quite impressive for a camera phone. The image quality itself is decent, considering the camera is of the non auto-focus type.

Once you have an image or video clip created, you can easily and quickly send it off to another person via MMS, Bluetooth, or Infrared. I was able to use all of these quite easily, sending myself MMS messages (to both a mobile phone and an email address), and files to my various Bluetooth/IR capable computers and PDAs. You can also move these onto your PC by way of the USB data cable.

The conclusion is that the Nokia 6708 is a dated machine. It is similar to the Sony Ericsson P900 in many ways, and if it were released three years ago, it might have been a real hit. I cannot recommend this phone, even if it is a slight improvement over the P900. There is still the fantastic P910i to recommend over this. Moreover, the terrible handwriting recognition software is a huge hurdle for anyone who wants to use this phone. Therefore, if you're looking for a touch screen phone running on the UIQ platform, go for the Sony Ericsson P910i or the new P990i. The Nokia 6708 is better off in the days of yesteryear.

Read full review on mobileburn.

Nokia continues the "Music Edition" upgrades, and today announced the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition. The phone's memory is upgraded with a 512 MB microSD card and it has a carrying strap, bycicle holder and sports handset.

The rest of the phone features are the same with the regular Nokia 5500 Sport. It has a 256K 208x208 display, a 2 megapixel camera, it is dust and splash resistant and it has sports tracking features: stopwatch, steps calculator, calories burned.

The Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition's expected retail price before taxes and subsidies is approximately 350 EUR.

The official Nokia press release:

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->"Nokia today announced the latest addition to its family of "Active" phones with the introduction of the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition. Adding to the well-received concept of the Nokia 5500 Sport, the Music Edition is enhanced with a 512 MB microSD card for enjoying up to 375 songs, as well as a fitness carrying strap, bicycle holder and sports headset packed in a new energetic color.

"Music is a great source of energy and inspiration for many - during a workout, a fitness routine, or just relaxing," says Antti Koivula, Director of Lifestyle Products at Nokia. "To complement its sporty and fitness-inspired design, the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition offers an expanded range of music features and bears the Nokia XpressMusic feature brand which guarantees an outstanding mobile music experience."

The innovative carrying strap of the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition allows it to be worn around the waist or strapped around an arm to ensure that the handset stays in place, even during vigorous exercise. The sports headset also offers handsfree convenience for music and conversation with an anatomically engineered, over-the-ear design. For a complete music experience, the Nokia Music Manager application makes music transfer in multitude of different digital music formats from your PC easy and convenient.

As a sports companion, the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition packs a lot more than just music.
Featuring an integrated pedometer, this "smartphone with a six-pack" lets users know the distance travelled and calories burned during a run. Other activities, such as a bicycle tour or cross-country skiing can also monitor distance and calories with an optional GPS module. Results of workout routines can then be transferred from the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition to a PC to follow individual progress.

When it comes to messaging features, the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition is as versatile as a decathlete. With the press of a single button to activate three dedicated "modes", the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition can switch from a phone mode to stay in touch, a music mode to relax or energize, and a sports mode to help users go the extra mile. With a high-powered smartphone at heart, the handset can even support text-to-speech technology. With two taps, the Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition reads an SMS aloud. A 2 megapixel camera completes the well-rounded feature set of the Nokia 5500 Music Edition.

The triband Nokia 5500 Sport Music Edition (GSM 900/1800/1900) is now available in select shops around Europe. The expected retail price before taxes and subsidies is approximately 350 EUR."

The LG KG320 forms the bar-style entry into LG's Black Label series of slim and sleek mobile phones. Measuring only 9.9mm (0.39") thick, the KG320 certainly looks the part, and with a casing made out of a mix of stainless steel and plastic, the phone oozes class and quality.

This candy bar style phone is equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera, along with 128MB of onboard memory, making it a real beauty with brains. The KG320 is a triband (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz) phone, and features GPRS connectivity.

The 262k color display on the KG320 has a resolution of 176x220 pixels. It is adequately bright and readable under sunlight. Nothing to shout or complain about here.

The LG KG320's 1.3 megapixel camera is capable of capturing images in five different resolutions - 72x72, 220x176, 320x240, 640x480, and 1280x960. The KG320 provides quite an impressive range of settings for you to tweak with. Brightness can be adjusted to one of five settings, white balance can be set to auto, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent, or daylight, and a 4x digital zoom is provided. In order to zoom, however, you need to change the resolution of the picture first.

Changing it to 640x480 will allow you to zoom 2x, and changing it to 320x240 will allow you to zoom up to the maximum 4x. This was extremely cumbersome, since it involved so many steps just to get a zoom. Additional effects such as sepia, black and white, and negative color tones are also available. A big letdown here is the time the camera takes to activate - the user is left waiting for three seconds before the camera starts, and shutter lag is an agonizing three seconds on top of that.

The conclusion is that the LG KG320 is a pretty capable phone. For its looks alone, I am very tempted to give it a Highly Recommended rating. However, LG's user interface still needs a lot of work, and the lag in the camera menu, along with the shutter lag, really need to be improved on. If you can live with these minor niggles, the KG320 could be the phone for you, especially with its attractive form factor, but can only manage a Recommended rating from us.

Read full review on mobileburn.