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NYC to make 911 work with picture messaging

Jan 19 2007 - 04:24 PM ET | Camera, Unique
New York City will become the first city in the country to upgrade its 911 and 311 call centers to handle picture messaging. Landline callers will also be able to transmit images to operators via the web. “Imagine someone caught...

Flickr camera phone marketshare

Nov 21 2006 - 05:39 PM ET | Camera
Popular online photo sharing community Flickr has put together an interesting feature to check out the most popular cameras. The data is pulled only from images uploaded to the service that still have the embedded EXIF data, so there are...

New tiny gyroscope targeted at camera phones

May 17 2006 - 05:43 PM ET | Camera
InvenSense announced that it has developed a very small gyroscope that it says can help improve the image quality of photos by reducing blur caused by motion. The chip is being targeted to mobile phone makers because of its extremely...

Universal camera phone 'Phlash' debuts

Mar 20 2006 - 02:28 PM ET | Accessories, Backpage, Camera
Phlash today announced what it's calling, "The world's first universal cameraphone flash." The $29.99 product is a portable LED flash that can either stick onto a handset or be held separately. The company says Phlash is 12 times brighter...

Samsung SCH-B600 announced, 10-megapixel cam

Mar 09 2006 - 10:41 AM ET | Camera, Samsung
Samsung announced the SCH-B600 this morning at CeBIT. It includes a 10-megapixel camera which makes it the highest resolution camera phone on the market. Besides the resolution, the B600's camera features auto focus and a 3x optical zoom. Engadget...

SanDisk launches ultra fast mobile memory cards

Mar 09 2006 - 10:31 AM ET | Camera, PDA Phone, Smartphone
SanDisk today introduced the SanDisk Ultra® II Mobile line of flash memory cards for mobile phones, at the CeBIT Show in Hannover, Germany. The new memory cards have faster read and write speeds than standard flash memory cards, which...

Yahoo launches S60 geotagging software

Feb 27 2006 - 12:07 AM ET | Camera, Unique
Over the weekend, Yahoo released some interesting alpha geotagging software called Zonetag. It's built for Nokia S60 mobile phones and automatically tags photos with the location where they were taken according to info from the cellular towers the phone...

Samsung Z710 preview

Feb 15 2006 - 02:40 PM ET | 3GSM, Camera, Samsung
3GSM 2006 -- One of the more intersting handsets that Samsung is showing off this year at 3GSM is the SGH-Z710. It's one of a few camera phones at the show that have managed to reach the 3 megapixel level...

Sharpcast connects cell photo albums to the desktop and web

Feb 07 2006 - 04:51 PM ET | Backpage, Camera, Miscellaneous
Today at the DEMO 06 conference in Phoenix, AZ new startup called Sharpcast is promising to seamlessly connect your computer, cell phone, and web photo albums together. Sharpcast promises "instantaneous backup of mobile phone pictures, speedy catalog recovery and...

Vizrea Snap launches at DEMO

Feb 07 2006 - 11:18 AM ET | Camera, Review, Staff Picks
Vizrea Snap was introduced this morning at the DEMO conference. The service attempts to simplify sharing photos and video from mobile phones. MobileTracker caught a sneak peek of Vizrea Snap last week and was impressed with the simplicity. Currently...

Liquid lenses now shipping for camera phones

Feb 06 2006 - 02:33 PM ET | Backpage, Camera
We missed this one last week, but it's still news worthy. Varioptic announced that it is now shipping liquid lenses for use in camera phones. Because the lens uses liquid to focus, it's much thinner than models that use more...

Motorola teams with Kodak

Jan 06 2006 - 02:51 PM ET | Backpage, CES, Camera, Motorola
CES 2006 - Last night at the MOTOMIXER event, Motorla announced a 10-year alliance with photographic juggernaut Kodak. Motorla and Kodak hope to make geting photos off of camera phones an easier process. Under the alliance, Motorola and Kodak plan...

Ithica College hosts cell phone film fest

Dec 22 2005 - 01:22 PM ET | Backpage, Camera
Ithica College is hosting a film festival for movies shot entirely with a mobile phone. The entries must be under 30 seconds long, which will likely be much more limiting than having to shoot it on a phone. Dean...

Samsung shows off 7.2 megapixel CMOS chip

Sep 11 2005 - 11:19 PM ET | Camera, Samsung
Samsung today announced a 7.2 megapixel CMOS chip that could come to a mobile phone near you. According to Samsung, the overall performance is comparable to CCD quality. CMOS uses less power though and is more popular in mobile phones....

Startup aims to sell cam phone pics to news agencies

Aug 06 2005 - 07:45 AM ET | Camera, Unique
A startup called Scoopt recently launched with the idea that news organizations would be willing to pay normal people that witness (and capture) news events. Camera phones took some of the most seen photos of the recent London bombings. After...

LG SV550, 5 megapixel camera phone

May 15 2005 - 11:45 PM ET | Camera, LG Mobile Phone
At a press event in Korea today, LG showed off a new 5 megapixel camera phone. The LG SV550 sports a 5 megapixel CCD with auto focus and a twist design. The SV550 is the second 5 megapixel phone announced,...

Man's life saved by camera phone

Apr 28 2005 - 04:12 PM ET | Camera, Unique
Some corporations ban camera phones for security purposes (corporate espionage!), but Matthew Stevens is alive because of the tiny camera embedded in his mobile phone. Mr. Stevens was bitten by a Brazilian Wandering Spider, which if not treated correctly can...

Liquid lenses for camera phones

Apr 06 2005 - 09:41 AM ET | Camera
In the April 2005 issue of Wired, Sunny Bains writes about what could be the next major step forward for camera phones, liquid lenses. We previously mentioned that Philips was working on a liquid focused lens, but not much more...

Mobile face recognition

Mar 01 2005 - 03:01 PM ET | Camera, Security
Omron yesterday announced OKOA, software for camera phones that enables face recognition security. The phone must have a OKOA Vision Face Recognition Sensor to be compatible. Here's how OKOA works: bq. To use the unit, the user simply takes his...

Camera phone pictures are not printed

Dec 28 2004 - 01:25 AM ET | Camera
The Wall Street Journal has a piece in today's issue [paid subscription req.] about images taken with camera phones only rarely making it off the phone: bq. Keeping images trapped on phones hurts the printer makers, which generate much of...

Fees slow MMS adoption

Dec 03 2004 - 04:24 PM ET | Camera
Complicated billing for MMS (mutlimedia messages) have slowed the adoption rate of the technology, at least according to a report from analyst firm Canalys. bq. Although almost two thirds of mobile phones sold in the previous quarter had integrated cameras,...

Cingular running mini film festival

Nov 18 2004 - 09:46 PM ET | Camera, Cingular
Following Nokia's heels, Cingular Wireless has put together a cellphone produced film festival. Cingular is running two versions, one for film students and one for non-film students. The prize for the winning entry in both categories is a Motorola V551...

Xerox launches camera phone scanning software

Nov 16 2004 - 02:07 PM ET | Camera
Xerox announced new software yesterday that turns megapixel camera phones into document scanners. The new process involves four steps: # Capture the image on your phone. # Apply Xerox software to correct for blurring. # Convert image to black and...

Cingular launches camphone postcard service

Nov 11 2004 - 03:40 PM ET | Camera, Cingular
Cingular today announced a service that lets customers turn pictures taken with mobile phones into post cards. This is similar to an offering announced by PictureTrail last month. Cingular's service is powered by FujiFilm: bq. Cingular customers can now use...

Phone night vision filter causing problems

Oct 26 2004 - 12:38 AM ET | Camera
A filter for the V602 SH camera phone from Vodafone K.K. that allows users to take pictures in the dark is catching negative press for the lesser known feature that lets it see through certain clothing. This is a similar...

4 megapixel camera phone module announced

Oct 19 2004 - 03:14 PM ET | Camera
Mitsubishi today announced a breakthrough 4 megapixel camera phone module. It's a CCD type (not CMOS which results in lower quality) and can record VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second. The new modules should be shipping in volume...

Sprint, Fujifilm team on cam phone prints

Oct 06 2004 - 12:32 PM ET | Camera, Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS today announced a deal with Fujifilm that will allow Sprint's Picture Mail customers to send digital camera-phone pictures from their online Picture Mail album to any participating retail photofinisher. Currently Ritz Camera, Sam's Club and Wolf Camera are...

Picture messaging slowly catching on

Oct 01 2004 - 01:18 PM ET | Camera
Forbes is running an article about the slow adoption rate of picture messaging (MMS typically) even though the sales of camera phones have gone through the roof. Pictures messages were one way carriers planned on increasing revenue per customer, a...

10 megapixel camera phones in future

Sep 09 2004 - 02:13 AM ET | Camera
Carl Ziess has announced a new lens for camera phones that packs higher quality in a smaller space. At about the size of a pea, the new lens sports three-elements and extremely aspheric surfaces. Carl Ziess partnered with Dialog Semiconductor...

Camera Phone Obsession book published

Sep 03 2004 - 11:22 AM ET | Camera
Paraglyph Press has published an entire book dedicated to camera phones. Camera Phone Obsession discusses topics like: * Creating an image that can be instantly shared changes the way we think of our day-to-day experiences. * Technological limitations force the...

Brighter LED flash announced

Aug 18 2004 - 12:43 PM ET | Camera
Lumileds today announced the Luxeon Flash, a new type of LED that should make flashes in camera phones brighter. According to the company, the Luxeon Flash is up to 12 times brighter than the flashes currently on camera phones (a...

Camera phone ban at concerts

Aug 06 2004 - 06:07 PM ET | Camera
Here is a report of concert attendees given the choice of giving up their camera phones or not entering the concert venue. The RIAA sponsored event took place in Boston during the security madness that was the DNC. It is...

Camera phone bill proposed

Jul 23 2004 - 05:31 PM ET | Camera
A bill before the US House of Representatives aims to make, "photographing or videotaping a naked person without his or her consent in any place where there can be "a reasonable expectation of privacy" illegal. The bill, the dubbed Video...

Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq

May 23 2004 - 05:03 PM ET | Camera
No real surprise here, but Donald Rumsfeld has banned camera phones from US military installations in Iraq. The Defense Department believes that some of the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib were taken with camera phones (that explains the...

Casio shows off 3 megapixel camera phone

May 18 2004 - 03:10 PM ET | Camera
Japanese mobile phone carrier KDDI has announced the Casio A5406CA, the world's first 3 megapixel camera phone (technically 3.2 megapixels). Other features of the handset include a QVGA display, 16MB of internal memory and a miniSD slot for up to...

Qualcomm announces 6-megapixel cameraphone parts

May 13 2004 - 03:08 PM ET | Camera
Chip maker Qualcomm has announced chips for a 6-megapixel camera phone. VGA resolution, the standard for most camera phones, is a scant .3 megapixels. bq. In a volley of announcements coinciding with the company's spring Wall Street analyst briefing here,...

Congress takes up camera phone abuse

May 11 2004 - 12:46 PM ET | Camera
Congress is trying to combat "peeping Tom" type usage of camera phones with new legislation. Lawmakers want to make behavoir like taking pictures beneath women's skirts and posting them on the Internet a federal crime punishable by up to a...

The secret profit of camera phones, MMS

Mar 16 2004 - 10:25 PM ET | Camera
Forbes is running a piece on the profitability of sending pictures across multiple carriers (normally done via a MMS). Not only do the cellular providers profit, but the middleman companies that make it all happen get another piece of the...

25% of all new phones include camera

Mar 12 2004 - 04:12 PM ET | Camera
Research out today predicts that 25% of phones sold in 2004 will include a built in camera. That means 150 million camera phones will move off store shelves this year. bq. "The firm said that the camera phone market will...

Camera-less Treo 600's coming

Mar 12 2004 - 04:10 PM ET | Camera
Treo Central is reporting that Sprint PCS will ship a version of the Treo 600 that does not include a built in camera. The ship date is listed as April 21st, but not much else is known. The Treo 610...

Chicago ponders $500 cam phone abuse fine

Mar 04 2004 - 07:38 PM ET | Camera
The city of Chicago is contemplating a $500 fine for the abuse of a camera phone. What constitutes as abuse? Bathrooms and locker rooms are only one half the equation, store check-out lines are the other: bq. "Hairston wants to...

Philips announces improved camera for phones

Mar 04 2004 - 01:19 PM ET | Camera
Philips announced new lens technology that aims to work like the human eye. Designed to be in camera phones, the lens uses fluid in a tiny transparent tube to focus. bq. "By charging the sides of the tube with an...

Scottish schools ban camera phones

Mar 02 2004 - 10:27 AM ET | Camera
Back in December 2003 we mentioned that a movement to ban camera phones in Scotland was forming. According to the BBC, it succeeded....

Moblogger forced to stop at Oscars [updated]

Mar 02 2004 - 10:15 AM ET | Camera
While the red carpet is usually reserved for photographers, camera phones are not welcome. Emmanuelle Richard, a freelance journalist, was using a camera phone to "moblog" (taking pictures and posting them to the internet wirelessly) and was asked to stop...

Canon, Epson, HP to agree on cam phone prints

Feb 13 2004 - 02:30 PM ET | Camera
The big players in consumer level printers have announced a partnership to create a standard for printing photos directly from mobile phones. With cameras becoming commonplace on handsets, printers that can bypass the computer and costly data transfer are seen...

Verizon Wireless and Kodak team up

Feb 12 2004 - 01:30 PM ET | Camera, Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless today announced a deal with Eastman Kodak to provide Kodak Mobile Service to Verizon Wireless Get It Now customers. What that means is you can upload pictures taken with your phone to Kodak. Once they are on the...

NEC intros smallest cam phone

Feb 03 2004 - 05:20 PM ET | Camera
NEC has announced the world's smallest camera phone. The business card sized device is aimed at the Chinese market, but is gaining world press. Even with the size, NEC didn't skip out on features: * 1.8" TFT LCD * Digital...

Experts: Phones won't replace cameras

Jan 18 2004 - 04:23 PM ET | Camera
Proving once again that, "they just don't get it", so called experts have decided camera phones won't replace old fashioned cameras. bq. "Cameras built into phones are perfect for "incremental" spur-of-the moment snapshots. But for vacations, weddings and other important...

Castro says no to camera phones

Jan 11 2004 - 08:03 PM ET | Camera
Cuba's Castro has clamped down on tourists' camera phones according to a report from the Inquirer. bq. "Castro's regime is worried that tourists might photograph something they shouldn't and send it back home before the regime had the chance to...

Scottish teachers move to ban cam phones

Dec 24 2003 - 08:18 PM ET | Camera
Scotland's second largest teaching union is advising that camera phones be banned from schools. The request cites possibilities of childen cheating on exams and paedophiles taking pictures of children. Both of the examples sound unfounded: * The only adults available...

Camera phones banned in showers, real shocker

Dec 16 2003 - 10:43 PM ET | Camera
NewsFactor has a piece on the status of camera phones in locker rooms... No real surprise that people don't like illicitly taken naked photos being sent around....

Hungary locks down on camera phones

Dec 12 2003 - 12:37 PM ET | Camera
Hungary has taken a step to curb unwanted pictures being taken by mobile phones. According to the data protection ombudsman, if you want to take and send a picture of someone, you must first have their permission. The ruling came...

Verizon Wireless ships 2nd cam phone

Dec 12 2003 - 12:26 PM ET | Camera, UTStarcom (Audiovox), Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the US, has announced it is shipping the Audiovox CDM-8900. Available today the phone is only the second model with a camera available from the carrier, a latecomer to the red-hot technology. As...

Camera phone perv arrested

Dec 10 2003 - 11:42 AM ET | Camera
Jack Vu was arrested in Seattle on felony charges for allegedly sliding a camera phone under a woman's skirt and snapping pictures. It's good to see a city moving in on the real problem, the people who misuse technology, not...

Camera phone sales up 22% in Q3

Dec 09 2003 - 11:51 AM ET | Camera
According to the latest figures, camera phone sales are up an impressive 22% in the third quarter. Worldwide, 132.8 million camera phones were sold. Sales for the fourth quarter should continue the upward trend....

ALLTEL begins picture messages

Dec 06 2003 - 11:00 PM ET | Camera
Regional carrier ALLTEL has begun to offer picture messaging according to a release by the company. Axcess Picture Messaging is starting off free for the first month, but will cost $3.95 a month afterwards. That $3.95 will score unlimited picture...

CVS to do mobile printing

Dec 04 2003 - 08:49 AM ET | Camera
CVS/Pharmacy is planning on launching a service that allows its customers to print from their phones to KODAK picture maker kiosks. The service will be available in early 2004, making CVS the first national chain to provide printing from mobile...

CBS News on cam phone privacy

Dec 02 2003 - 08:51 PM ET | Camera
CBS News has posted a hack job article about the dangers of camera phones. The piece is obviously tilted towards privacy activists and proves our July rant on the media accurate. The article fails to go into detail about the...

Rumor: details on MPx200 camera

Nov 26 2003 - 05:04 PM ET | Camera, Motorola, Smartphone
MPx200.org has a scoop on the rumored camera attachment for the popular Motorola MPx200 smartphone. The device has an impressive feature set, but surprisingly lacks a camera. The yet-to-be-announced device fits into the phone's SD slot and is rumored to...

First phonecam art gallery to opoen

Nov 26 2003 - 04:46 PM ET | Camera
SENT will be America's first art gallery dedicated to images taken with camera phones. The exhibition will open to the public during February in LA at the SixSpace gallery. MobileTracker friend (and reviewer) Sean Bonner owns the gallery with Caryn...

Motorola kills Chinese camera phone

Nov 26 2003 - 01:41 PM ET | Camera, Motorola
Motorola has announced that the V295 won't make it to market. The phone, targeted at the Chinese market, was cancelled due to lack of demand according to Motorola. The company already sells two other camera equipped phones in China, the...

Investors give thumbs up to camera phones

Nov 24 2003 - 04:09 PM ET | Camera
While wireless carrier stocks are down, investors are loving mobile phone manufacturers. Thanks mostly to the brisk sales of camera phones, shares of some phone makers are way up. Investors are betting that 2004 will be the year of the...

NEC intros its first US camera phone

Nov 21 2003 - 03:21 PM ET | AT&T Wireless, Camera
NEC's new 525 HDM is its first camera phone for the US market. It's a quad-band GSM/GPRS handset with an impressive feature set. According to the company, it's already shipping through AT&T Wireless. * 162x216 pixel 65K color main screen...

Motorola intros new cam phone, the C550

Nov 18 2003 - 03:50 PM ET | Camera, Motorola
Motorola today announced a new camera phone for the European and Asian markets. The C550 sports an integrated VGA resolution digital camera, multimedia messaging and Java support. It should hit store shelves this year. One of the more interesting aspects...

Nokia goes push-to-talk

Nov 12 2003 - 01:16 PM ET | Camera, Nokia, Push-to-talk
Nokia has announced the Nokia 5140. It's the first GSM phone with push-to-talk (PTT). Besides the VoIP GPRS powered PTT, it comes loaded with all the things you'd expect from a high-end Nokia handset: * Tri-band GSM * VGA camera...

DoCoMo intros 2 megapixel phone

Oct 23 2003 - 08:34 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has introduced the Move 505iS Series, one of which include impressive 2 megapixel cameras. The phones are 2G, but all have removable memory storage for transferring/storing pictures. The S5050IS is the most impressive of the bunch: * weight...

Audiovox launches high-end cam phone

Oct 22 2003 - 05:54 PM ET | Camera, UTStarcom (Audiovox)
Phone Scoop noted that Audiovox has launched a high-end camera phone dubbed the CDM-9900. It should be available by the end of the year, and includes an impressive list of features: * dual color displays (the main screen is a...

T630 announced, to replace T610

Oct 20 2003 - 07:19 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson has been busy... Announced today is the T630, the replacement for the popular T610. It doesn't look like too much has changed, but here are the basics: * Updated design * Improved screen (TFT) * V-Rally 2 game...

Review: Z600 is near perfect

Oct 13 2003 - 12:28 AM ET | Camera, Review, Sony Ericsson
Michael Oryl at MobileBurn got ahold of a made-for-Malaysia Sony Ericsson Z600 and posted a review. To say he liked it is a huge understatement: bq. "All I can say is that the Z600 is a damn fine handset. I...

Nokia announces 3660

Oct 09 2003 - 08:17 AM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia
Nokia has announced the next generation of the Nokia 3650, the 3660. This confirms the report we made last month when the phone (at the time unannounced) was approved by the FCC. It looks identical to the smash-hit 3650, except...

Sanyo SCP 5300 review

Sep 30 2003 - 08:50 AM ET | Camera, Review, Sanyo
Howard Chui has posted a very in depth reviewof the Sanyo SCP 5300. It's a power user level camera phone that has been around for a while, but the review is still worth a read. It got knocked for being...

Nokia 3650 replacement approved

Sep 29 2003 - 05:04 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Rumor
The rumors were true--Nokia is prepping a replacement to the popular 3650 dubbed the 3660 (World) or the 3620 (US), it sports the same unique shape that the 3650 has, but has a semi-normal keypad (the abnormal keypad was a...

Cam phones hot, Motorola out of luck

Sep 29 2003 - 02:25 PM ET | Camera, Motorola
Camera phones are going to outsell conventional digital cameras this year according to the latest reports out last week. At the same time, it looks like Motorola will not have its upcoming camera phones out by Christmas (a big season...

Nokia 7600 offers radical new design

Sep 25 2003 - 07:42 AM ET | 3G, Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Staff Picks
Nokia has introduced a radical new phone dubbed the Nokia 7600. It sports a very unconventional design which can be seen at right (click to zoom). The feature set is quite impressive too: * 3G + GSM 900/1800 * 65K...

P800 successor surfaces

Sep 18 2003 - 03:40 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Rumor, Smartphone, Sony Ericsson
We first mentioned the Sony Ericsson P810 back in June, but more details have surfaced. Sony Ericsson accidently uploaded a Flash movie containing several promotional slides featuring the yet-to-be-announced phone. If you haven't had a look at this device yet,...

More 6850 pics surface

Sep 16 2003 - 10:10 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Rumor
MobileBurn has published more pictures of the upcoming Nokia 6850 (replacement for the popular Nokia 6800). It looks to be a pretty decent phone....

Roll your own phone cover

Sep 12 2003 - 09:33 AM ET | Camera, Nokia, Unique
Nokia recently showed off the 3200 at an event in Spain and at another in Thailand. It's got all the specs you would expect from a high end phone, but its also got one twist--cut-out covers. It comes with 10...

Sony Ericsson pumps two more clamshells

Sep 03 2003 - 01:27 PM ET | Camera, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson announced two new higher-end phones at an event in Paris (yes, a third phone was announced but it does not meet MobileTracker's tough standard). Both are tri-band GMS and sport the clamshell form factor: Z600: Camera phone with...

Motorola uncovers A920

Aug 28 2003 - 03:55 PM ET | 3G, Camera, Motorola
Back in March we posted details on a yet-to-be-announced phone from Motorola that was being looked at for approval by the FCC. It was called the A920, and it has officially been announced by Motorola. It's the most advanced 3G...

Camera phones not quite perfect

Aug 27 2003 - 12:59 AM ET | Camera
Forbes has a piece stating that camera phones aren't quite all they are made out to be. You know the commercials that feature smiling models who toss pictures back and forth before breakfast? According to Forbes it takes a lot...

GSL unveils its Xplore G18 Smartphone

Aug 22 2003 - 09:18 AM ET | Camera, Smartphone
MobileBurn takes a look at a new smartphone from GSL. The Xplore G18 has an impressive list of features: * Dual band GSM 900/1800 * Color LCD TFT (160x240 pixels) * 320x240 digital camera with digital zoom * 16MB memory...

Motorola launches first Linux smartphone

Aug 22 2003 - 09:11 AM ET | Camera, Motorola, Smartphone
Motorola launched its first Linux-based smartphone yesterday. While the desktop Linux world is in turmoil over a lawsuit from the US based SCO, there has been big progress in embedded Linux systems. The A760 sports a personal information management suite,...

Another wristphone in Asia

Aug 13 2003 - 03:24 PM ET | Camera, Unique
NTT DoCoMo was the first company to introduce a wristphone (dubbed the Wristomo) and Samsung soon followed suit ny showing off a watch sized phone that is promised for later this year. Now it's China's turn--meet the F88. It's the...

Samsung VGA1000 camera phone debuts

Aug 12 2003 - 11:35 AM ET | Camera, Samsung, Sprint Nextel
Samsung's newest offering for the Sprint PCS network isthe VGA1000. This is the 6th picture phone that Sprint has launched in the US, making it a leader among the major carriers (Verizon Wireless only hopped on the picture bandwagon a...

MobileTracker's T616 review

Aug 10 2003 - 06:55 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Review, Sony Ericsson
MobileTracker friend and Unwired member Sean Bonner has come aboard to write a review of his new baby—the Sony Ericsson's T616. As you might know the T616 is the US version of the popular T610. Feel free to discuss the...

DoCoMo to introduce slimmest handset in 505i series

Aug 06 2003 - 11:33 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo announced today that it will start marketing the P505i on August 8. At a scant 19.9 mm closed, the new clamshell model is the slimmest in the 505i series. Even though its thin doesn't mean it lacks features:...

Siemens ST55 debuts

Aug 05 2003 - 11:41 AM ET | Camera, Siemens, Staff Picks
Siemens has introduced the ST55, an integrated camera phone with a 4x zoom. According to the company, the ST55 "combines state-of-the-art technology with modern, elegant design". We have to agree--it's one of the prettiest phones we've seen in a long...

Teen abduction foiled by cell phone cam

Aug 01 2003 - 09:59 PM ET | Camera
According to CNN, an unidentified 15-year-old boy used his Sprint camera phone to take pictures of a man who allegedly tried to lure him into his car, leading to the man's arrest. Maybe this will take some of the heat...

Samsung SPH-A600 available via Sprint

Aug 01 2003 - 11:55 AM ET | Camera, Samsung, Sprint Nextel
The very spiffy looking Samsung SPH-A600 (pictured at right) is now shipping through Sprint PCS. It looks like a typical clamshell, but it sports a rotating color screen as well as a camera. It costs $349.99 and can be purchased...

Asus plans smartphone

Jul 28 2003 - 04:12 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Smartphone
Asus has a new clamshell smartphone in the works. The AGP-600 will run the latest version Microsoft's mobile OS, which is something few big names have done so far. As far as phones go, it looks decent: is a GSM,...

Samsung SGH-P408 review

Jul 21 2003 - 12:31 PM ET | Camera, Samsung
MobileBurn has posted a detailed review of Samsung's SGH-P408. Although it lacks a sexy name, the phone looks gorgeous. MobileBurn really liked the fact that the screen swivels (it's a clamshell, but with a screen that can do a 180º)....

3 unveils twin-camera 3G phone

Jul 17 2003 - 11:32 AM ET | 3G, Camera, Smartphone
NEC thinks 2 is better than one so is including 2 digital cams on the e808Y, its new 3G phone for 3 (the mobile-operator not the number). Why would one need two cameras? One for stills and one for video...

Quit Complaining

Jul 11 2003 - 06:03 PM ET | Camera
MobileTracker would like to second Gizmodo's rant about people (mostly media types who probably can't even turn on their stereo without asking for help) complaining that camera phones are going to ruin everything. Yes--there are some creeps that take pictures...

Verizon Gets a Camera Phone

Jul 08 2003 - 04:39 PM ET | Camera, LG Mobile Phone, Verizon Wireless
Verizon finally has a camera phone, possibly in an attempt to market towards younger consumers. The LG VX6000 has a full-color screen and a .3 megapixel camera. Not the best resolution, but not bad for a US camera phone. It...

Samsung Says No To Cam Phones

Jul 07 2003 - 10:14 AM ET | Camera
Samsung has made it clear that camera phones do not belong in their factories... Unless they are being made in said factories. The company is scared of corporate spies and sees camera phones as a security risk....

DoCoMo's New Surround Sound Phone

Jul 02 2003 - 07:13 PM ET | Camera, DoCoMo, Staff Picks
DoCoMo is so far ahead of everyone else it is almost sick. Their latest offering is the Mova N505i (related to the Mova SH505i we mentioned back in June) which boasts a dual speaker system with surround sound capability. If...

Cell phone voyeur faces jail

Jun 26 2003 - 01:23 PM ET | Camera
Over a week ago MobileTracker ran a storie on an attempt to curb camera phones--critics state that it's too easy to bring a camera phone into something like a locker room and take pictures of people without their knowledge. Switzerland...

DoCoMo To Market New Megapixel Phone

Jun 18 2003 - 08:34 PM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo announced today that it will start to market the new Mova SH505i camera phone on June 20th. The phone boasts an impressive resolution of 1.0 megapixels which puts it in the small group of camera phones that take...

Handspring Shows Off Treo 600

Jun 18 2003 - 12:41 PM ET | Camera, Handspring, PDA Phone
The much talked about Treo 600 is finally here. C|Net has been leaking details for a while now, but an official release went out this morning. The device will initially be available in two versions, a CDMA version will be...

Camera Phones in the Wall Street Journal

Jun 17 2003 - 10:36 PM ET | Camera, DoCoMo, In The News
In today's Wall Street Journal (sorry about the late post, it's been a long day at MobileTracker HQ), there is an article on megapixel camera phones. It's on the front page of the Marketplace section, and features a large photo...

Phonecams Being Banned

Jun 16 2003 - 07:28 PM ET | Camera
Xeni Jardin notes over at BoingBoing that Switzerland is banning camera phones on the beach and in public bath rooms. It's not clear how this will be policed, as most phones with built-in camera's don't look much different from those...

Mobile Printing

Jun 16 2003 - 12:30 PM ET | Camera, Nokia, Unique
We swear this is the last Nokia post for the day... Nokia and Kodak have teamed up to make mobile printing a piece of cake. bq. "Users of Nokia imaging phones, such as the Nokia 6600, will be able to...

Nokia 6600 Introduced

Jun 16 2003 - 12:23 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Nokia, Staff Picks
Nokia today announced the 6600 (seen at right), a camera phone with a lot of perks. It's aimed at the business sector and is loaded down with such things as a digital zoom, a video recorder and RealOne installed off...

Howard Chui Covers The T610

Jun 10 2003 - 01:29 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Review, Sony Ericsson, Staff Picks
Howard Chui has published his review of the Sony Ericsson T610. In his usual style the review is long and very detailed. Here at MobileTracker HQ we are really interested in this phone and are excited that Howard gave it...

Cingular Starts With Siemens S56

Jun 05 2003 - 11:23 AM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Cingular, Siemens
Cingular has announced the immediate availability of the Siemens S56 mobile phone on its network. This makes Cingular the first carrier to offer the S56 in North America. The dual band GSM handset boasts a full-color display, e-mail, an integrated...

P800 Long-term Review

May 29 2003 - 02:32 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Review, Smartphone, Sony Ericsson
The Register has posted a long-term review of Sony Ericsson's P800. The smartphone has gotten a lot of press lately, but according to the Register it's not all that. Don't worry though, they have some nice things to say as...

First Australian Megapixel Phone

May 28 2003 - 04:24 PM ET | Camera
MobileTechNews notes that KDDI and Okinawa Cellular recently announced plans to launch five new handsets. Among the phones is the Casio A5401CA which includes a built in digital camera with more than 1 pixel of resolution. By our count this...

Picture Spaming

May 27 2003 - 02:39 PM ET | Camera
MobileTechNews is running an interesting piece on "picture spamming" or sending pictures from camera phones (in the article it is the Sanyo 8100) out in mass. Something else to look forward to....

Samsung ships new PocketPC phone

May 12 2003 - 12:34 PM ET | Camera, Samsung, Smartphone
Samsung's SCH-i700 has started shipping. The PocketPC OS powered phone looks pretty spiffy on the outside, but still packs some punch on the inside. It's got an integrated digital camera, 64MB of ram (we assume that you can store photos...

Vodafone Launches Sharp GX10i

May 07 2003 - 12:03 PM ET | Camera, Sharp
Vodafone Sweden is introducing the Sharp GX10i through its consumer-concept package Vodafone live! It's almost impossible to wade through the BS in the press release, so we'll just say that the Sharp GX10i is a camera phone developed in Japan...

BenQ's New Smartphone

May 05 2003 - 09:04 AM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Smartphone
BenQ has announced the P30, a new Symbian powered smart phone. The name is awful close to Sony Ericsson's P800, and they even both run the same OS. Despite the rip-off quality's, the P30 has a decent feature set: *...

Kyocera's New Swivel Phone

Apr 26 2003 - 01:19 AM ET | 3G, Camera, Kyocera
Gizmodo points to a new phone from Kyocera that's got a unique swivel design. The Kyocera A5305K3G (try saying that 5 times fast) is a 3G phone and packs all the features you'd expect out of one (video for...

Sprint Camera Phone For $99

Apr 24 2003 - 01:36 PM ET | Bargain, Camera, Sanyo
Sprint is now selling the new Sanyo 8100 camera phone for a mere $99 after a $100 rebate. The rebate makes the phone the cheapest integrated camera phone on the market--Sony Ericsson's T300's camera is an external attachment. Sprint has...

O'Grady Reviews P800

Apr 18 2003 - 02:22 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Review, Smartphone
Mobile mogul Jason O'Grady has posted a very detailed review of his latest gadget--the Sony Ericsson P800 (seen at right). It's unique looks make it easily recognizable to most people, but it's amazing feature set makes it stick in the...

NY Times Does Camera Phones

Apr 17 2003 - 01:29 PM ET | Camera, In The News, Nokia
The New York Times has an article running that compares various camera phones available in the US. Free registration needed as always for NYTimes.com pieces. Among the phones featured is the sexy Nokia 3650 (seen at right) . "As cellcams...

The Neonode N1 Is Coming...

Apr 16 2003 - 01:07 PM ET | Camera, Smartphone
Gizmodo notes that the rumored Neonode N1 is indeed coming. The phone is one of the smallest we've seen, and since it packs smartphone functions (runs a Microsoft OS) it's even more amazing. Details are still sketchy and direct URL's...

Australia's First 3G Phone

Apr 15 2003 - 09:38 AM ET | 3G, Camera, In The News
As reported earlier this month, Australia now has a 3G network. NEC introduced the e606 for use on the new network, which makes it the first mobile hone in the country that can handle video calling. The camera phone supports...

DoCoMo's New Flash Enabled Phone

Apr 08 2003 - 10:57 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has announced details on its latest phone, the D505i. The phone (pictured at right) boasts a very impressive feature set: Macromedia Flash browser for rich content, 200K Scratchpad (double the previous amount) and a megapixel camera. The Flash...

Megapixel Camera Phones As Promised

Apr 08 2003 - 10:34 AM ET | Camera, DoCoMo
We broke the story last week, and as promised details about megapixel camera phones from DoCoMo came out today. Within the next 3 months, the company will launch 3 handsets with at least 1 megapixel in resolution. Since the resolution...

GSL's New PalmOS Smartphone

Apr 07 2003 - 05:59 PM ET | Camera, PDA Phone
Group Sense Limited (GSL) has announced a new PalmOS powered smartphone called the Zircon. It's going to be available in Asia and Europe with timing not known yet. Look for the European model in Q3 and the Asian model sometime...

Snapfish Mobile On 3 More Phones

Apr 04 2003 - 12:03 PM ET | Camera, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Unique
Snapfish Mobile is a wireless application that AT&T loads up on its mLife subscribers' phones that lets users share, print, and store photos. It's just recently been ported for three new handsets: * Panasonic GU87 * Nokia 3650 * Sony...

Megapixel Camera Phones In May

Apr 02 2003 - 10:35 PM ET | Camera, Sony Ericsson
J-Phone and DoCoMo are planning to team up and give Japanese consumers "high-resolution million-pixel camera-phones in May". Current camera phones are known for their low resolutions and rely on a "cool factor" to sell. A megapixel camera phone could actually...

More camera phones from Samsung

Mar 31 2003 - 09:01 AM ET | Camera, Samsung
Samsung has released three new camera phones, one of which uses the OLED technology we mentioned early this month. * SGH-P400 - rotating color screen (not unlike some models of the Clié) * SGH-P410 - two color screens, an internal...

T300 for -$50

Mar 29 2003 - 12:16 AM ET | Bargain, Camera, Sony Ericsson, Staff Picks
Amazon.com is selling the Sony Ericsson T300 with a T-Mobile service contract for just a penny... Not bad, especially when there is a $50 rebate on any service plans over $34.95 a month. The deal is good until the...

T-Mobile Video Messaging

Mar 27 2003 - 08:05 PM ET | Camera, In The News, Nokia, T-Mobile
If that camera phone doesn't attract enough geeks, try out video messaging. T-Mobile has launched the service which works with the Nokia 3650 (very cool phone, check it out at right). You can exchange video clips with audio, but only...

Siemens' New Offerings Coming to USA

Mar 27 2003 - 12:38 AM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, Siemens, Smartphone
According to InfoSync World, US readers won't have to be jealous of Europeans who can purchase the new offering from Siemens (at CeBIT). Look for Siemens to make a lot of ground in the US market over the next 18...

More New Motorola Phones

Mar 18 2003 - 08:47 PM ET | Camera, Motorola
It's that time of year--more new phones. Motorola has announced two new clamshell style CDMA phones: the V810 and the E310. The V810 features a color screen, integrated camera with flash (something that's missing on quite a few camera phones...

Web Server on the P800!

Mar 17 2003 - 02:38 PM ET | Bluetooth, Camera, PDA Phone, Sony Ericsson, Unique
A really smart guy with way to much time on his hands wrote up a web server (in Java) for the Sony Ericsson P800 [previous mention]. You can serve pages via GSM or GPRS. It's even got built in real...

3G Motorola Phone Leaked

Mar 17 2003 - 10:55 AM ET | 3G, Camera, Motorola, PDA Phone
Due to an FCC filing pictures and details about an upcoming 3G phone from Motorola have been circulating. The A920 looks pretty hip--it's pretty much one big color screen. It's got a built in digital camera that can take stills...

Motorola T720 Review

Mar 16 2003 - 07:55 PM ET | Bargain, Camera, Motorola
Howard Chui has posted a review of the previoulsy mentioned Motorola T720. Remember, this phone is still free at Amazon.com after rebate with a T-Mobile service activation. "If you're bored of silver coloured flip phones (and there are a lot...

Samsung's New Palm OS Smart Phone

Mar 16 2003 - 07:50 PM ET | Camera, Samsung
Smartphones are all the rage these days. Samsung has announced the world's first Palm OS powered GSM smart phone--the Mobile Information Terminals SGH-i500. It's pretty nice, but like all Palm powered phones we have seen so far, it's clunky. Features...

LG Announces 5 New Phones

Mar 16 2003 - 05:30 PM ET | Camera, LG Mobile Phone
LG Mobile Phones has announced 5 new models for North America at the CTIA Wireless conference in New Orleans. The phones vary widely in price/features but they all look decent: * 6000: On board camera, 262K color TFT screen on...

T300 And Camera For Free

Mar 13 2003 - 10:03 PM ET | Bargain, Camera, Sony Ericsson
LetsTalk.com is giving away the Sony Ericsson T300 With Camera Attachment along with free shipping. To qualify you must open mid-level service plan with T-Mobile before the end of March 2003. As for features, the T300 is loaded. It's...

Nokia 7250 Ships

Mar 10 2003 - 11:40 AM ET | Camera, Nokia
Nokia proves again that weird buttons can make buzz. The new 7250 has a lot of high end features (camera, polyphonic ringtones, FM radio), but the design is the standout feature. Even though it looks kind of goofy, it's...

MiTAC Announces Smart Phone

Mar 07 2003 - 03:26 PM ET | Camera, Smartphone
MiTAC has announced the first clam-shell style smart phone, the MiTAC 8380. We're not quite sure what's so smart about it--but it's got good specs: * Runs Microsoft's Windows Powered Smartphone platform * Powered by Intel's new XScale processor...

P800 Orders Being Taken

Mar 06 2003 - 09:41 PM ET | Camera, PDA Phone, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson is now taking orders for its new P800. It's probably one of the most anticipated phones of the year and will surely become a hit. The downside is the price--$649.99. For that money you could buy a...

Motorola T720i With Camera For Free

Mar 02 2003 - 05:15 PM ET | Bargain, Camera, Motorola
Amazon has a great rebate offer going for the Motorola T720i with camera attachment. After the $250 in rebates (this is a T-Mobile service contract dependant rebate), the phone is free. The downside? The rebate is good until tomorrow...

Sanyo Camera Phone On Leno

Feb 28 2003 - 08:50 PM ET | Camera, Sanyo
Last night on the Tonight Show, Ellen DeGeneres was holding her new Sanyo camera phone during the entire interview. Weird, but a nice phone. A MobileTracker investigation found out that it was the Sanyo SCP5300....