Samsung P858 3 megapixel camphone coming to US?
By Marc Perton 
posted February 2nd 2006 11:25AM
posted February 2nd 2006 11:25AM
American cellphone users may have another option
when it comes to high-res cameraphones now that the FCC has approved Samsung's P858, a clamshell phone with a 3
megapixel camera. The phone also features dual color displays, a body that rotates 180 degrees, a MicroSD slot and TV
out. Of course, FCC approval is no guarantee that a US carrier will pick up the phone, but here's to hoping.
One would hope it yeilds better quality pictures than the Nokia M80. More megapixels doesn't really mean better pictures and nokia has definitly proved that. I'd wait for Wilma if you need that 3mp as sony's cell cams yeild the best pics but i fear my phone won't make it till then and i'll end up getting the w810i.
Man, I knew engadget was looking for a new cellphone guy, but whoever they found is overdoing it! Like 9 of the last 10 articles have been cellphone related. Jeez. How about dropping an article about CNET's recent head to head of AMD 64 vs Intel 64? Didn't see any coverage of that.
When is the mighty SGH-P300 going to be available? That's the hottest Samsung phone ever and they are so slow to put it out. This one is too dull...
More than hoping, I'd say- this seems timed well enough to be part of Helio's starting line-up.
without autofocus, anything over 2MP is going to be iffy {at least for pics outside the DOF of the static lens}.
As many engadget readers know, megapixels are not important. Lens quality/brightness and sensor size trump pixels every single time.
Doubt a carrier will pick this up.
Doubt a carrier will pick this up.
You've really got to be careful about camera phone images, unfortunately. I spent a lot of time looking at camera phones as part of my consulting and have a weblog about camera phones. The problems are numberous.
For example, the quality of the lens is crucial. A 1.3 megapixel camera phone should be able to take a pretty decent photo. Most don't, and lens quality is one reason.
The quality of the sensor is another problem. The best sensors are, typically, CCD. Most cellular phones have CMOS because of cost. (Yes, there are good digital cameras with CMOS.) Without a high quality sensor -- CMOS or CCD -- you don't get a good photo.
Software is another problem. The image has to be "processed" and if the software in the camera phone isn't good, the photo isn't good.
There are other issues, too, including the size of the sensor, the poor flash (if you even have one), shutter speed versus f-stop, etc.
Sprint already offers a two megapixel camera phone and if I had to bet, I'd say Sprint would be the first to offer a three megapixel model.
But you've really got to see the quality of the photos before purchasing.
It's really a shame. A three megapixel camera phone should be a sort of tipping point -- offering photos that good enough to print for just about everyone.
But the cost and size of higher quality products makes most camera phone photos pretty poor.