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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! ;)"
> Ok, time to wipe the drool off the keyboard! ;)
I generally don't drool over 1.1 megapixel cameras. Let me know when they release something that is at least 3MP and then I'll start to drool. Until then, anything with the picture quality of a today's webcams is crap in my book.
They can put 192MB into a phone but they can't make the phone any smaller.
Call me when it fits in my pocket.
I bet if god needed cellular service, he'd have a phone like that
Its a PDA with phone functionality built in and with a lousy 10 digit keypad. Give me a proper PDA or cheap mobile
, but not this jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none mongrel (that probably will cost a small fortune for the suckers who'll buy it).
Take that!
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.
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
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.
This looks really nice. I had to get rid of my Danger Hiptop (TMobile Sidekick) because of the incredible bulk. This looks like a great replacement for it, although lacking the nifty keypad and "cool" swivel-screen. And of course, the PDA functions of it should be a lot more refined than the Hiptop.
I don't see any specifics stating it will be GPRS capable. Anyone have any insight?
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?
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
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.
I hate these jack-of-all-trade things. I'd like a separate computer for web surfing, compiling, writing emails, word processing, watching movies, and playing games.
How tough is it to be a master of cell phone? Not too hard. Most of the "advanced" features of a cell phone exist in PDAs these days - reminders, address books, web surfing, bluetooth, etc. So why not combine them?
I concider this a kickass PDA with the feature of being a cell phone too. My only concern is size, it would feel a little odd to hold that sucker to your face, but I imagine most people would use a headset so they could also use the PDA functionality while on the phone.
Also, with that much ram and processing power, does it play MP3s? movies?
no comment
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.
Shit that looks good! a really tasty phone, shame about the embedded os its using, I would have preferred something more open like Symbian.
...
nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
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.
The Mini Repository - more links
. It runs MS PocketPC 2003. Personally I think it blows the SE P900 away. Ok, time to wipe the drool off the keyboard! ;)"
Maybe its my bad memory, but I swore I saw a story or 2 earlier toting a Linux PDA, and now a Windows CE device is being immensely praised.
I'm confused. Next thing you know we'll have another RIAA lawsuit story, then a story plugging a movie a day later.
That's not drool, and you'll go blind if you keep doing that.
... of this thing if there are restrictions for the size of MMSs and you can only transfer the pics you take via a PC?
This is the perfect phone for geeks who need a new excuse for not getting laid.
"I can't date because I'm too busy playing with my phone to use it for calling girls!"
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.
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, it's just a goddamned piece of paper!" - George W. Bush Nov. 2005
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."
This reminds me of a scene from Zoolander where one of the models gets a call on a postage-note sized cell-phone...
My first computer had 64K of RAM and a 1MHz processor. My second computer had 2MB of RAM and a 25MHz processor. My third computer had 64MB of RAM and a 300MHz processor. ... and now they have a PHONE that's more powerful and has more memory than all three of my first computers combined - and it has a built-in camera too! I'm sure it'll be cheaper than any of the computers as well.
Advances in technology really amaze me sometimes.
-- Dr. Eldarion --
Minor detail: this phone will only work on Korean wireless networks.
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)
Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
If you buy this phone, Microsoft gets your money. Install what ever you want, you STILL payed for it.
;-)
On another issue Im not really sure if it is a bright idea to install linux on this beast. You would at least have to rewrite the drivers for the digicam and the phone. Have fun and call me when its done. I might pick one on ebay for a buck by then...
"...running on a 400MHz Intel X-Scale processor" Surely this has enough horsepower to implement realtime voice encryption and authentication on. I wonder if the phone's digitized audio is available via an API.
I get the impression all the doo-hickey digital cameras out there right now really are the polaroids of the modern world. It looks like this one doesn't even have a flash. Convenient, but...in the end, we want our memories stored in a format that doesn't look like crap. Plus, with the tiny ultra-compacts Minolta and Canon have available, you're certainly not sacrificing much space or weight to have a real camera with you.
There are CF Cameras available to PDA users currently, but the reception to them that I have observed is generally luke warm. Neat idea in theory. But in the long run, when a year-before-year-before-last 2MP pixel can be purchased for practically nothing these days, using a 1.1MP or 1.3MP camera just doesn't make much sense.
Just because you CAN integrate it doesn't mean it's a worthwhlie idea.
The latest smart phone is equipped with a 1.1 million mega pixel built-in camera, Intel 400Mhz Xscale processor for PDA, 192MB memory, and 'Pocket PC 2003 Korean version' of Microsoft as its O/S.
;-)
Freaky
agreed. i'm really gonna miss the handspring visors. my visor deluxe is fantastic (still running fine after almost 5 years) and i wish like heck i'd gotten a visorphone for it when they were still available.
unfortunately, the form factors for a good PDA and a good mobile phone have very little overlap, but me, that's all the convergence i really want. 320x320 browsing i don't really need, frankly: it's only function, IMHO, is adding e-mail connectivity.
ed
Right. It's almost like Slashdot is made of more than one person or something. What's up with that?
I read the internet for the articles.
I've been carrying a Kyocera 7135 PalmOS SmartPhone for the last three weeks, as seen on TV. I like it -- it feels like a phone that does useful things, rather than like a PDA that can also make phonecalls. I get real wireless Web browsing on it, that's a given. The MP3 player gets a little choppy sometimes; I haven't figure out why yet -- but mostly it plays pretty well. The MMC/SD slot enables me to hook in all sorts of cool gizmos: VGA adapters, printers, keyboards, cameras, etc. Cost a little under $500. It's by far the most useful toy I've ever had.
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
Its obvious that people who make comments like 'crappy camera' don't really use theirs. Because if they did, they would realize that there plenty of occasions that they don't have it handy to capture spontaneous situations. Or, maybe they just don't have any friends/family/kids.
Currently I always carry my phone and my PDA. This smart phone looks alot smaller than 2 of these put together and it has a toy (KEYWORD) camera in it. The pictures will only look decent at a 4x6 but hell, thats better than nothing.
My phone has some PDAish features in it and its internal capable but I don't use them. Why? Because the screen is too damn small and useless. I want a PDA that has a phone built into it that I can read a decent size email or surf to a webpage without giving me an aneurism!
Yeah, it might not be the best camera, or the best PDA but i'm sure it will do more than enough and i'll certainly use it more than the one I have now.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
really that is the only thing holding back my getting a camera phone. i dont need 192MB built in - i have a 256MB card laying around (since i upgraded my Nex2e and my digital camera to 512).
data service for those phones is unnecessarily expensive (in the US) and yet i see the benefits of having a small average quality digital camera with me for all the times where i haven't thought to bring my 3MP monster.
why is it that these phones never have a decent expansion slot? don't lock me in with your 'no one will ever need more than 128MB' short-sightedness.
(no proprietary DRM'd media thank-you-very-much. i appreciate my price/performance/flexbility superiority to memoryStick or SD)
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I really need to take pictures with my phone.
Grainy, low res, out-of-focus, blurry shaky pictures.
I also need to spend hundreds of dollars on a crappy cell phone with a crappy camera.
This is just the product for me.
My employer makes me carry a kyocera "smart" phone that crashes when it rings and has about a 15 minute battery life. Fuck convergence. All-in-one devices inevitably do nothing well.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Look at the belt realestate a camera, phone and PDA takes up. Adding the capabilites of a phone to a PDA probably isn't going to increase the PDA's size significantly at all. The benefit is, I don't have to carry a second device.
I'll still have my digital camera for good pictures but i'd love to have a tiny 1 megapixel camera that I could carry around in my pants pocket to capture spontaneous moments. Since I always carry my PDA, i'll be all set.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Im running in a nextel i1000+ you know, the big bulky black thing with the 5 line monochrome LCD screen. Since it works and my company pays for it, I cant justify getting something new. :(
I should just snap the damn thing in half and say "it fell".
if you don't feel better tomorrow, we'll just cut your legs off about here. - Theodoric of York
except the P900 has a touch screen & doesn't run windows - case closed :D
My Portfolio
I can only image the comments had /. been around when the Swiss Army Knife was intruduced.
So it's got a sucky knife, sucky scissors, sucky saw, sucky file, sucky toothpick. Am I the only one who would rather carry a real knife, real scissors, etc...
Reality check! This device is not intended to replace a photographer's 5MP camera or the audiophile's iPod. It's like the Swiss Army Knife of electronics. When you are in the situation where that priceless picture presents itself and you don't have your 5MP camera in your pocket, you can whip out the phone and get a quick snapshot. When you are waiting at the doctor's office longer then expected and forgot to bring your iPod, you can listen to a few tunes off your phone. The reason the phone has been the host device for these functions is that it has become the ubiquotous (sp?) device that just about everyone carries.
From the linked page: "The single most important characteristic of the smart phone is that it represents the development of a smart phone...."
As opposed to all those smart phones out there that are actually lizards with antennas strapped to their backs, I suppose.
My experience with LG phones has been very good. Before switching from my basic Motorola which had mediocre reception and even worse style I did quite a bit of research. The site www.howardforums.com can provide switchers with some exceptional feedback on mobile phone performance and cellular service providers.
Feature for feature the LG phones rate as good or better than most and I have been nothing but impressed with the LG6000 that is my pocket right now. I did not think that I would use the camera much, but it has turned out to be a really nice feature. Grandma gets pictures, and when I go for a bike ride and see one of those WOW panoramas I can just pull out my cell phone and take a shot (vs. remembering to load a camera into my bag and actually use it, etc.). Also, by forwarding all my office email to the text-messaging feature of my phone I can read the first 154 or so characters of any email that I get when I am out on one of those bike rides or otherwise away from my desk. This is nice when someone is away from their desk but expecting an important message as it tracks you down wherever you are. Finally, I just bought an adapter that allows me to hook it up to my laptop and use it as my modem to surf the web. Granted it is not blazingly fast, but it let's me hook up from ANYWHERE. This just takes from my regular minuets and is not some "special data service" that my provider sells. The cool part is that after 9:00 PM and all weekend, every weekend I get free airtime, so my web surfing is free on these off peak hours. Adding all this stuff up makes that silly little phone and all those superfluous features pretty attractive.
Eww.
Seriously, people, please dispense with any reference to bodily fluids on keyboards on Slashdot. That's just not right.
Thank you.
Doug
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.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
Is that a new LG Smartphone in your pocket... Or are you just excited to see me???
It runs MS PocketPC 2003. Personally I think it blows
You can stop right there--no need to go on.
I think Symbian is a far better OS than PPC2003. And the difference between 1.1Mpixel and VGA is not enough to make up for that.
My cell phone get covered in gunk from pockets, backpack, car seats, etc. My PDA is a palm V in the "armor" style case, and it still gets dust on it.
I wouldn't buy a digital camera that doesn't cover the lens, and I'm at least careful with the digi-cam.
If this thing is supposed to withstand the abuse of going with me everywhere, why can't it come with a lens cover?
--
Anyhow, I think once they make these rugged and with a super-LED flash-light, I'm on for one. (Rugged as in Siemens ME45 - shock-proof, water-proof and stuff.)
Yesterday was the time to do it right. Are we having a REVOLUTION yet?
... that the majority of picture taken will be of somebody's ear? "What was that again? Oops! Damn, I just took another picture!"
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
The press release only mentions IR, so it seems that the phone will be lacking bluetooth support. I'll wait for the P900.
I assume you mean the P900? Well AT&T should support it on their GSM network. They might not sell it at first, but you can always plug your SIM into it (assuming you buy an unlocked one). As far as I know, Verizion doesn't do GSM, so they won't carry it.
...then they would not say things like
"It has 192MB of memory" then later
"It has 128MB of memory dedicted for multimedia,
making a total of 196MB memory"
Sigh.......
That's an "interesting" combination. A 1.1 MPixel picture is around 300k, IIRC. So you can hold 576 pictures at a time. Which seems rather sufficient.
I'll pass on the Nimda-in-your-pocket phone
and wait for something with non-viral software.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Sorry, but I just looked at the spec. I own a P800 and from my experience, any PDA/Phone combo without bluetooth for handsfree is a serious design/Feature flaw. I have seen friends with Palm/Handspring devices fumble with "handsfree" wires everytime a call comes in. I have seen other people hold up a fat PDA to their heads and chatting. Neither beats leaving the phone in your pocket or briefcase while talking on the phone... And driving at the same time... with both hands on the wheel! Just some usability feedback....
I think the people who pay bucks for CCD products are going to be bummed when they realize in a few months that 1.3MPixel CMOS is going to be hitting the shelves as early as the beginning of next year.
The Taiwan trade mags have had a lot about how the 1.3MP CMOS is already in full swing and they're starting on the 3MP.
I still have to carry my digital camera. I'd need at least 3MPel camera to reduce the device count - and for MMS, a lousy VGA will do anyways.
- 4r0g
It's not the megapixels, it's the lens that differentiates professional cameras. If it doesn't have depth-of-field control (either aperature and/orr a seperate DC setting) and manual focus, you've got little creative control and it's just a snapshot. Cameras with small lens and high f-stops might as well be focus free, so they don't count. Also, a good range of lenses is useful, as is macro.
My point is that you're not going to get all that in a phone camera, irregardless of the resolution -- it's a bulkiness/user friendlyness problem.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
The grandparent made the observation of 'confiscation and destruction'. if here were caught carrying a camera, even one attached to his phone.
I have the same problem, I cannot bring a camera to work or it will be confiscated and destroyed. As companies get more and more proactive about guarding their secrets, more employees will be faced with the same problem.
You have to admit that, of all of the phone's features, the camera is the most gimmicky and least-used. The fact is it is only a stopgap to make everyone forget how delayed 3G and video phones are, and buy a new phone that they don't need.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
More and more places are starting to restrict cell phones with cameras.
When I went to jury duty, every person with a camera phone had it confiscated. Some art galleries are doing the same. Even my grocery store has posted a sign stating that you are not allowed to photograph anything in the store.
The way things are going, camera cells will be more trouble than they are worth.
You can lose something that is loose, so tighten the loose item so you don't lose it.
You were correct. I ment the P900. Thank you very much!!! I checked out AT&T's page and it looks like I would have an excellent selection of phones to work with. They currently support the P800, so I would assume that they would support the P900 when it comes out.
Thanks again.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
I just want regular phone with a decent camera. Standard phone that has a smartmedia/memory stick slot and a 1+ megapixel camera.
I'm sick of lugging large things around, even if they do everything..
The latest smart phone is equipped with a 1.1 million mega pixel built-in camera, Intel 400Mhz Xscale processor for PDA, 192MB memory, and 'Pocket PC 2003 Korean version' of Microsoft as its O/S. That is awesome...better than Pro camera's!!
Am I mistaken, or hasn't Japan has more advanced picture phones much longer than us? IIRC, this last August when I was in Japan, my host sister bought a 1.3 megapixel phone. I hear about these new "most advanced" phones here, and I know I have seen this technologoy in Japan much earlier. I can personally vouch that they have had full color LCD screens since at least 2001. Or am I insane?
I have a basic one (2 blades, can/bottle openers, saw, corkscrew, hole punch, tweezers, toothpick), and it's one of the best pocketknives I've ever had - both the blades sharpen up easily and hold a great edge. The others..well...the openers are OK, the corkscrew is actually useful...but everything else sucks, yeah.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Everything but PocketPC ewwwww. Maybe if you install Linux on it, but I wouldn't touch it with a 10 meter cattle prod otherwise.
"It runs MS PocketPC 2003. Personally I think it blows the SE P900 away."
Wrong.
Unless you're aiming to make the world's heaviest and power-hungriest phone, you use Symbian.
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
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.
The point here, even though most people miss it, is that one day, the "sucky" will be removed from your statement.
Manufacturers have to start somewhere. Someone has to buy it because either they think it is cool now, or they feel the investment will help get them to where they want to go.
I thought the Philips Nino was cool for it's time. It sucked, but it was headed in the right direction. Same with the Zaurus. I purchased both and used them as best I could.
Remember the Newton?
...now if it only ran a decent OS (preferably PalmOS, but Symbian would do in a pinch).
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Just wanted to point out that the 1.1 CCD camera isn't new. Sony annouced their PEG NZ90 handheld with a 2 megapixel camera half a year ago.
http://www.palmzone.net
forgotten the actual phone?
seems like they're trying to compete with the PDA market.
before you know it, we'll have cell phones where placing phone calls isnt packaged in, it's an addon.
I think that would be where they should stop.
last thing we need are more little handheld gadgets that people will concentrate on while going 90 mph down the freeway, bad enough just TALKING on phones makes them swerve around like drunks, all we need is IRC chats and web browsers on cells. think of the possibilities for newspaper headlines "Driver flies off a bridge after being shown an overstretched human anus"
or "Driver runs into a retirement home after being told so on a chatroom while driving to work"
Smartphones are voice centric devices with PDA capabilities. This one is PDA with voice capabilities.
It's called Pocket PC Phone Edition.
Since this is different, it's not the same as comparing with the P900. You can compare the P900 with the Motorola MPx200.
You have to compare this LG with the Treo600 or Palm Tungsten W.
OK. This phone/PDA has quite a few uncommon features.
- the sliding form factor with a number pad in a pocketpc device
- a megapixel-plus camera in a pocketpc device
- a 2.8inch, 18 bit LCD in a pocket pc device. Personally I think this the most important feature. Most pocketpc's these days have 3.5 inch 16 bit displays; shaving the screen down makes the device much more easily pocketable and the greater color depth means (among other things) that font antialiasing (cleartype) will be improved.
- 192mb built in memory. I've not seen anything higher than 128 so far.
- Did I read that it has built-in GPS? If so, that's definitely news.
What remains to be seen is:
- What wireless protocols does it use? GSM/GPRS? CDMA? Both? What frequency bands?
- From pictures that I've seen, it has an SD slot. But what about SDIO?
- Does it support bluetooth? wifi?
- How big is the battery?
- Will it be made available outside of Korea?
- Exactly what are its dimensions? How much does it weigh?
- How much will it cost?
What it almost certainly lacks:
- A full thumbboard. I don't care if it's qwerty; if it had one key per letter I'd be ecstatic.
- A CompactFlash slot. With all that stuff and such a small package, there's just no way it'd fit. I'm not too disappointed.
- Optical zoom on the digital camera. This may just be a pipe dream, but I can't help but think that an internal zoom lens like the one in the Minolta DIMAGE X series or the recently announced Sony DSC-T1 would fit quite well inside a PDA.
This device is the closest that anything has come to what I'd consider the ultimate convergence device. Where do I sign up?
It's called compromise.
First 1.2Mpixel 198MB SmartPhone!
640x480 cameras have been under $100 since at least 1999 (when I bought my first one), and under $40 for over a year, and 1024x768 pocket-sized cameras with LCD screens are under $100 now, or credit-card-sized without LCDs. The 1999 Toshiba PDR-2(?) was about the size of my current cellphone, and I'd still be using it today if it had a lens cap to prevent scratches (sigh...), and my $40 SiPix is smaller than the smallest phone I've seen.
Both of those not only have space for the battery, but also cost and space for a processor and RAM and communications interfaces, all of which would be cheaper if they could piggyback on the cellphone's hardware.
The first $40 digital camera I bought a few years ago was either 352x288 or 320x240, and it was about enough for a thumbnail of a real picture (its thumbnails were 160x120). It was too lame to bother keeping (even as a present for my sister's 7-year-old kid.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
On the other hand, when I was meeting with them, I was meeting with them, so unless I was having lunch at their cafeteria before the meeting, I wouldn't be using a cell phone there anyway. So having to check a camera-phone at the front desk wouldn't be that much of a problem.
Besides, any information that fits on a 352x288 camera-phone picture I can remember in my head :-)
I no longer carry the camera in my briefcase, but that's mainly because my work laptop is running Win2000 in "you're not the administrator" mode, and there's some sort of driver problem that just doesn't like to talk USB to it...
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks