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First 1.1Mpixel 192MB SmartPhone
Daath writes "It just came to my attention, that LG Electronics announced a SmartPhone with 192MB memory and a built in 1.1 Mpixel CCD camera. It's a slide-down type phone, running on a 400MHz Intel X-Scale processor with a 2.8" 262K color TFT LCD. It runs MS PocketPC 2003. Personally I think it blows the SE P900 away. Ok, time to wipe the drool off the keyboard! ;)"
However, it looks like a great unit from a technical perspective. However the styling looks like it was done by a bus manufacturer in downtown Seoul.. urgh.
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Don't get me wrong, it has nice features, looks good, more memory is always a plus, but frankly I don't need or want a camera in my phone. And since I work somewhere that cameras are specifically NOT allowed (a rule that is enforced by many men with BIG guns), the camera makes this completely useless.
Why can't a cell phone company make something with all the features of say a SE P800 or 900, or even this one without a camera? At this rate, I'm going to be stuck with my T68i for years to come, and when it dies, I'll be SOL.
What is the battery life on this thing? How hot does it get when you're using it? How expensive is it? What standards does it support? What kind of range can you expect to get out of it? This article is a little light on the important statistics for the cell phone part of the device.
I read the internet for the articles.
Is this another example of South Korea's latest efforts to establish itself as a technology trendsetter? (LG Electronics is a Korean company).
Or is it in fact an example of how South Korea is a technology trendsetter?
Oh sorry I forgot! The USA is the technology trendsetter, the rest of the world is just trying to catch up.
Am I the only one that doesn't want a PDA/Cell Phone/Camera/Portable Toaster in one?
I really like the idea of combining certain technologies, but this is crazy... I don't want a device that does tons of stuff half assed, I want a bunch of devices that kick ass. I want a 5.0 MegaPixel camera, 1.1 is useless for real photography, which is why I'd want to carry around a digital camera. The conversion of technologies leaves me with a bunch of sorta useful stuff that isn't really as good as the individual specialized devices they try and replace. Am I of a dying breed? Do consumers no longer want high quality instead of small multi-functional?
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The news item linked in the post doesn't mention whether it is a GSM or CDMA phone, or available as both. Anyone know? LG makes phones for both technologies.
The current PDA:s using XScales have horrible battery lives. Look at the ones from HP, Dell, etc.
I want to be able to use a gadget like this the way I use my cell phone now. Charge it once a week or so. A device like a PDA or a cell phone is something you should be able to trust while travelling. If you forget to charge a PDA one day, the next day you shouldn't have to worry about not using it too much. The P900 seemed like a better alternative with respect to this.
I'm also somewhat confused by this new trend of attaching everything to cellphones and making it suck.
So lets look at my options right now:
Cellphone with a sucky camera.
Cellphone with a sucky PDA.
Cellphone with sucky games.
Cellphone with sucky web browser.
Cellphone with a sucky mp3 player.
All of these costing in the area of $500+. Now please tell me how is this better than getting a free cellphone and a REAL PDA or a REAL camera?
For $500 I can get the following:
Apple iPod - top of the line 40 gigs.
Olympus C750 (10x optical, 4.0Mp, upto 512Mb xD cards)
GBA - And enough games to make my eyes bleed.
iPaq - 400Mhz, bluetooth etc..
So at which point does the cell phone become a good deal?
Oh but it's all in one! I only have to carry the cell phone. Lame. Look at how HUGE that cellphone is, carrying that thing alone is a pain, adding an iPod or iPaq would make no real difference but so many other advantages.
If the phone was $200 sure, good deal. But paying $500 for inferior devices maeks no sense to me.
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You call that impressive?
I hook up my 11 megapixel Canon EOS 1Ds to a laptiop with slott-in GPRS / GSM card. That gives me an 11 Mpx (nearly-)mobile phone.
On a more serious note: As a photographer, I think the whole videophone / cameraphone thing is a ridiculously bad idea. I have been using an Sony Ericsson t68i for years, and it syncs with my laptop via bluetooth. Brilliant, and it does everything I would expect from a simple PDA (calendar and syncs perfectly with my address book, even stores my notes), and telephone, in a minuscule package.
Blah, progress.
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And just why do you need to generate 2048x1536 images on your cell phone? That's twice the resolution of most people's monitors, and well above most quality monitors(1600x1200).
Plus, concidering you're probably going to be sending these images over the 3G network, where you'll be charged by bandwidth, I'd prefer to send a smaller image that gets the point across rather than a 4MB monster.
I don't see the point in anything higher than 1.5-2MP unless you're printing out your photos. They are too large to use as desktop wallpapers, too large to email or put on the web, and I HATE scrolling to see a whole image.
Bigger is not always better.
no comment
have a crappy knife, a crappy magnifying glass, a crappy saw, crappy tweezers... but their business has been going gangbusters for decades. So I'd say you're not necessarily a dying breed, there has always been a market for "do everything, crappily" devices.
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why not just make a cell phone that only makes telephone calls, simple and inexpensive...
Personally, I think this new phone looks pretty sweet. Yeah, it only has a 1mega pixel camera, but if i'm at the mall and my kids do something cute its good enough for a 4x6 print. Better than nothing. Sure, my 5 megapixel camera would take a better picture but I always carry my phone and PDA but not my camera.
I won't be buying another PDA until Internet connectivity is reasonably priced and available. I want to be able to check my mail, surf the web from anywhere and until that happens I don't think the sales of PDA's and smartphones are really going to take off.
I'm not entirely familiar with smartphones (other than the obvious) can their built in PDA's access the internet on demand?
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
I know i know it looks good etc etc but at the end of the day good stats do not make for a good phone, i have a p800 and i will get a p900 when it comes out, and it runs on Symbian (do not spell that wrong when doing a search.....trust me)
thats means there is plenty of free open source programmes out there to keep you going for years, if i want a top camera i'll either take my kodak 3600 out (3.2mp) or my Fuji Finepix s603(6mp).
Think before you buy, good stuff to LG for making this but dont rush to buy until you see the test (a pointless statement i know but the general tone of the intro has made me think twice)
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But it is DOA .. check the keyboard .. (or lack thereof)
I know what you mean....
The background texture on my website takes up more memory that what my first computer had. (8k)
My laptop has more memory in it's L2 cache than my fists floppy drive could store.
My server could fit the entire OS of my first multi-tasking compter in it's L3 cache.
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To me the Sony is the way to go. It looks like a good phone with some PDA features that I would probably use. I currently have an Ipaq 3970, that I hate and can't wait to replace with a phone like the Sony 900. Now the other product, looks like some PDA that they fit a phone around. It will still have all the same issues that the IPAQ has. Crappy OS, bugs and a battery hog. All that with the huge size to boot. It may be for some people, but for people like me that NEED a good phone and want SOME PDA functionality in it, the Sony is the way to go.
Now I just have to see if they have telnet and ssh for the Sony AND if anyone in the U.S. besides T-Mobile will support it. Man T-Mobile sucks also... I hope that Sony will work with Verizion, ATT&T or ANYONE but T-Mobile with their phone.
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