You might’ve heard of the Sony Ericsson K850.  5 megapixels of glory, right?  Best camera on a phone nowadays, right?  And you would’ve been, but if you have been keeping up with the times, you’d have noticed two phones emerging from some manufacturer’s labs: introducing the LG Renoir and the Samsung i8510.  Both rocking 8-megapixel cameras that blow the K850 right out of the water.

Samsung i8510

Source: http://digital-lifestyles.info/copy_images/samsung-i8510-lg1.jpg

If my chronology is correct, Samsung revealed their i8510 a couple of days earlier than LG did with the Renoir.  Here are some of its specifications:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Physical Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm, 140 g
• Display: 2.8-inch 16M color TFT, QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels)
• Storage: 8/16GB flash storage, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• Camera: 8 megapixel autofocus, mechanical shutter, automatic lens cover, dual Power LED flash, digital image stabilizer, geotagging, auto panorama shot, face detection, smile detection, blink detection
  • Video camera: MPEG4 VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps high-speed recording
• Operating System: Symbian 9.3, S60 3rd edition UI, Feature Pack 2
• Battery Life: Li-Ion 1200 mAh, Talk time: 8 h 30 min, Standby: 310 h
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi with DLNA certification, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, universal microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS

For a full list of specifications, please visit GSM Arena.

CutEdge Analysis:

Samsung isn’t cheapening out on the i8510.  First and foremost, this phone’s got a whopping 8-megapixel camera.  Although I know it’s not much, it’s still eye-bulging.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any test pictures to prove the Samsung i8510′s camera quality, so we’ll just have to go with the hype for now.  Still, the camera overshadows its other features, which are at least up to par: honourable mention goes to its 16GB of flash storage, its 240×320 pixel display, its HSDPA connectivity, and last but not least, its remarkable battery life.

Don’t expect it to come cheap, people — I’m smelling a similar price tag to the Nokia N95 when it first came out.

LG Renoir

Source: http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/mobiles/lgrenoir/3.jpg

Sadly, that isn’t my hand.  Not that the hand looks particularly nice (no offense meant), but because I wasn’t the one that got to hold the LG Renoir.  Not only do I think it has a much better name than this “Samsung i8510″, but it’s also shinier, which scores some bonus points with me.

Head over to GSM Arena or Phone Arena for the Renoir’s specifications (yeah, I got a bit lazy, plus formatting would have been a pain — sue me).

CutEdge Analysis:

Where Samsung’s i8510 seems to have up-to-par specs, so does the LG Renoir.  They differ in only minor ways, several being: the Renoir has a maximum capacity of 8GB (half of the i8510′s),but its got a bigger screen (240×400 pixels).  Luckily for you readers, I was able to find a test picture taken with the Renoir’s 8-megapixel camera.  Yeah, it’s not the greatest quality, but it’s not half bad for a cell phone.

Source: http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/mobiles/lgrenoir/testpiclarge.JPG

Welcome to the Jungle

It just never stops evolving.  From less than a single megapixel, to five, and now eight, with recording quality of 30fps — that of DVD quality, arguably, cell phones are just getting more and more powerful.  They’ve got beautiful displays, powerful processors, ample storage, but probably hefty prices to match.  I would suggest putting off purchases until this kind of stuff becomes more mainstream — as they do, prices will go down.  However, if you’re a phone fanatic or a camera junkie, waiting might not be a good idea (hop onto the 8-megapixel bandwagon!).