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!).

So far into the series of iPod Touch competitors, I’ve taken a brief look at four alternatives and how well they stack up against the iPod Touch. They’ve all been very tough competitors, but I think that this one is the toughest and most promising of the bunch. Released at around the same time as the iPod Touch, Samsung looked to capitalize on the same niche of the market with their product, the P2. From what I’ve found, there are three things that make the Samsung P2 exceptional.

Source: http://www.gadget-paradise.com/news_images/000071_samsung-p2.jpg

Aesthetics

The Samsung P2 definitely succeeded the most in this department in contrast to the rest of the iPod Touch competitors – it’s arguably the darker, sleeker, smaller twin brother of the iPod Touch. Its GUI looks great – typical Samsung quality (which is meant as a good thing, although some can interpret otherwise). It sports a 3″ screen – smaller than the iPod Touch’s 3.5″, but larger than the iPod Video’s 2.5″; the resolution is similarly slightly smaller in comparison to the iPod Touch (480x272px vs. 480x320px). The Samsung P2 is definitely a looker.

Video

I know that the Archos brothers play movies very nicely on their 800x480px screens, but the Samsung P2 is no wimp. Sporting a 480x272px screen, as mentioned a couple of sentences ago, it’s got a nearly perfect 16:9 resolution. With all this talk of widescreen and hi-def nowadays, the Samsung P2 sounds more like a device from the future than the norm.

Source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1159/1406111980_f6b6c5ce29_o.jpg

The Future of the P2

It’s got Bluetooth 2.0 integrated into it, which allows it to connect it to wireless headsets – ones similar to the headsets used with cellular phones. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg – rumour is Samsung plans to incorporate file sharing, between other P2s and PCs, which is actually a very feasible addition (all they’d have to do is mod the firmware, since the hardware is all ready to go).

A Couple of Cons

There’s only eight gigabytes of storage on the Samsung P2 – comparable to the cheapest version of the iPod Touch, but the difference is vast when the full potential of the iPod Touch is acknowledged (the maximum storage on the iPod Touch is thirty-two gigs – whopping, eh?). Also, there is no wi-fi incorporated into the P2 – I’m dearly hoping that Samsung retains the sleek shell of the P2, but incorporates wi-fi connectivity and more storage the next time around. All-in-all, it’s not too bad.

If you’re serious about how your gadgets look on the outside, or if you need something that just plays music or has a touch interface and you’re on a budget, the Samsung P2 is for you. However, if you desperately need wi-fi connectivity or have a huge multimedia collection, move on up the list of iPod Touch competitors, because this is the last.

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It’s been great writing this series, but I’ll probably be leaving the runner-ups alone. To be honest, I’ve gotten pretty sick of writing about personal media players/digital audio players, and I’m pretty sure you’re just as sick of reading so many of them in such a short time. It’s ok – I’ve got a more broad variety of material planned for the next week or two.

Other iPod Touch Competitors:

1. Olympus M:Robe 500i
2. Archos 605 Wi-fi
3. Cowon Q5W
4. Archos 705
5. Samsung P2

Runner Ups:

• Cowon iAudio X7
• iRiver Clix 2
• Microsoft Zune