Sony Ericsson have just announced a November release date for the first of it’s new generation of multimedia phones, the Satio. It will feature a staggering 12.1 megapixel camera and run on the same Symbian operating system as the Nokia 5800 and N97. Until now, most phones have either concentrated on being primarily a music or camera phone but the Sony Ericsson Satio seems to do it all. The camera is not only a staggering 12.1 megapixels but also features a xenon flash as well as smile and face detector features. The operating system, which is all new to Sony Ericsson, is run on a 3.5″, 16 million colour, 360×640 resolution touchscreen with an accelerometer controlling the orientation.

With full HSDPA and HSUPA support alongside WiFi, Bluetooth, A2DP and GPS the Sony Ericsson Satio also covers every base when it comes to connectivity and the external MicroSD card slot allows easy memory expansion as opposed to the less readily available memory sticks used in previous Sony Ericsson models.

With all the above features packed into such a good looking handset, Sony Ericsson seem to have all the bases covered with their new top end multimedia handset. With an already proven, functional and easy to use operating system will this be the handset to give the iPhone a run for it’s money?

Sony Ericsson Satio image via Mobile Phone Shop

Although its easy to look at a camera phone and decide how good the image quality will be from the resolution its not quite that simple. Sometimes the number of megapixels isn’t the only factor to consider when buying a camera phone. Unfortunately without testing each phone first it’s impossible to choose. Thankfully GSM Arena has tested 2 of the best camera phones to see which is really the best.

Until the Nokia N95 is released the LG K920 is the only 5MP camera phone on the market and it’s being tested here against the very popular Sony Ericsson K800i and the Nokia N73. Both mass market phones albeit at the high end of their respective ranges.

All the cameras produced great results as you would expect but each had subtle differences resulting in marked contrasts in the image quality. If you want to see the full results visit the link at the end of this post, a quick summary is below:

Via GSM Arena

Engineers in California have announced the development of a new lens that could drastically improve the quality of camera phone images.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) created the ultra thin camera using origami to fold up the telephoto lens. They are hoping that the development will yield thin and lightweight high resolution cameras for use in mobile phones.

The resulting imager is around seven times more powerful than a standard lens of the same depth meaning cameras can now be much thinner and more powerful at the same time.

Joseph Ford, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Jacobs School who leads the camera project, commented:

In order to reduce the camera thickness while retaining high resolution and good light collection the team replaced the lens with a folded optical system similar to old telescopes such as the Cassegrain, developed in 1672.

To reduce camera thickness but retain good light collection and high-resolution capabilities, Tremblay and colleagues replaced the traditional lens with a “folded” optical system that is based on an extension of conventional astronomical telescopes that employed mirrors, such as the Cassegrain telescope, which was developed in 1672.

Instead of using mirrors the team used a 5 millimeter thick optical crystal to bend and focus a beam of light. The resulting resolution is the same as in a conventional mirrored lens seven times thicker.

Tremblay stated that

Although the technology is not new, recent advances in the mechanical machining process of “diamond turning” have allowed the development of these types of lenses.

The team is hopeful that the technology will find its way into camera phones and believe that it’s a strong possibility.

Leading tech consultancy firm Accenture are predicting 2007 will be a big year for the mobile phone.

Dr Martin Illsley, director of European research labs at Accenture is predicting that as the number of mobile phones with camera units attached reaches critical mass lots of new applications will emerge and some businesses may struggle to keep up.

Dr Illsley said:

Some businesses are likely to suffer at the hands of complaining customers taking photos of shoddy products but other companies with good customer service and product support are likely to thrive.

Via BBC News

Following on from our post about the best camera phones to buy this Christmas flickr has updated their popular cameras feature with some interesting stats on camera phones.

The chart confirms our experience with the phones sold in the UK but its very interesting to note how quickly the Sony Ericsson K800i and Nokia N73 have shot up the rankings compared to the gentle rise of the Nokia N70.

Via Mobile Tracker and flickr

With only a few weeks for Christmas we have been receiving quite a few emails asking which camera phones we would recommend. Several high quality models are on the market but until you are able to use and test the phones its impossible to choose between them.

Luckily the team at mad4mobilephones.com have been able to test some of the top models and we have picked our top 5 for Christmas. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Sony Ericsson K800i
The Sony Ericsson K800i is the fist phone we tested and it’s as much digital camera as mobile phone. The 3.2 Mega Pixel Cyber-shot camera with video and image stabiliser function takes professional quality photos without compromising on handset size or style. An interesting addition is the BestPic feature which takes a series of images before and after the moment the shutter is pressed to allow you to choose the best possible image. The auto focus is our favourite feature on this phone. Click the button to take a picture and watch the screen as the lens adjusts to capture the perfect picture. Photos taken indoors and at night are also high quality thanks to the red eye reduction and a powerful automatic flash. Best for: Value, this phone is free on most contracts.
LG KG920
Next up in our camera phone tests goes to the LG Leo KG920 with its class leading 5 mega pixel digital camera. A powerful strobe flash to reduce red eye, auto focus lens and video recorder are crammed into a handset just 18mm wide. The LG has a twist screen to make self portraits easy with the image shown onto the high resolution screen. Best for: its 5 MP camera and twist screen.
Nokia N93 The Nokia N93 may be the most advanced camera phone on the market. The 3.2 mega pixel camera uses a Carl Zeiss lens and will happily take DVD quality movies. Quality comes at a price and its no surprise that the N93 is the most expensive out of the high end camera phones we tested. A twist open design really makes the phone look like a proper video camera and allows the N93 to retain its sleek size. An impressive 3x optical zoom and expandable 50Mb internal memory is also included Best for: video capture.
Nokia N73
Slightly less of a video camera and more of a mobile phone the Nokia N73 is still a perfectly good digital camera replacement. The 3.2 Mega pixel Carl Zeiss optics and huge 2.4 inch display make taking great quality photos remarkably simple. Although the point and shoot simplicity doesn’t have quite the results of the Sony Ericsson the advanced auto focus is still very effective. Best for: people who want a camera phone that still looks like a phone.
Samsung D900
The slimmest phone on test at only 13mm the sliding Samsung D900 weighs in at a featherweight 100g. Samsung have taken time to pack lots of features into the D900 and the 3.13 mega pixel camera take photos that put a lot of digital cameras to shame. For those of you who are not satisfied with viewing your video clips and snaps on the high quality colour screen the D900 includes a TV out lead to play slideshows directly onto your TV. Best for: size, this was the slimmest phone on test.