Yeah, yeah, we know that Nokia, Samsung, and probably every other top tier manufacturer has an 8 megapixel cameraphone cookin' in the oven as we speak. Problem is, you're impatient, we're impatient, and frankly, we'd like this stuff now. Chinese firm Lensas has the solution to the pollution, though: meet the F2218, quite possibly the orangest 8 megapixel candybar on the market today. There's even a xenon flash in there, too, and from the looks of the sample shots on PConline's review, the whole package does alright for itself. Of course, without some incredibly fast network (say, TD-SCDMA) to back it up it gets a little tricky to effectively get those massive shots back and forth, but it's a start -- and in a reversal of roles, it's the big guys who'll be doing the copying come next year.

[Via Unwired View]

Comparing cameraphone image quality can be a tough nut; apart from obvious things like poor focus or grainy quality, it can be a pretty subjective beast. PhoneArena went wild with high end handsets to give us a "thousand-angle" view of what it takes to stand out in an über (notice the umlauted u? We don't do that often, so this is serious business) shootout between three 3 megapixel cams -- including the D900, K800, and N93i -- and the KG920 and N95 at 5 megapixels. Each handset is put through a series of grueling tests including shooting outdoors, night shots, and macro mode with points awarded based on how they fare in each challenge. We won't spoil the read for you, but as a hint the winner rhymes with "okia." Hit the read link to check it out.

[Thanks, Orhan C]

It's no surprise that cameraphones are emerging as some folks' point-and-shoot of choice, and we've already seen LG and Schneider-Kreuznach team up to deliver higher quality shots from your multi-functional mobile, but now HP and Flextronics are trying the knot in order to allow users to capture photos "with the same high quality they achieve from their digital still cameras." The five-year deal gives Flextronics -- makers of Kyocera, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola handsets -- exclusive use of HP's image processing technology in return for an undisclosed royalty. The same technology used in HP's long-standing lineup of Photosmart digicams will soon be hitting the depths of your pocket, and promises to produce "significantly improved results" over current options, delivering shots that are "good enough to print." Although we're not sure if these forthcoming modules can outsnap the 10-megapixel SCH-B600, we're all well aware by now that megapixels aren't everything.

[Via CNET]

What's better than a review of Nokia's king-of-the-hill candybar, the 3.2-megapixel N73 with virtually every desirable feature under the sun? How about three reviews? Early reports suggest some discontent with the N73's build quality and processor speed, not to mention that the lack of WiFi leaves us wanting -- but viewing the phone as the N70's heir apparent puts everything into perspective for us. We'd normally refrain from teasing our US readers so incessantly with gorgeous equipment they can't have, but in this case, quad-band GSM is virtually a written invitation for the S60 lovers among us to get their import on.

Read - phoneArena
Read - CNET
Read - All About Symbian

If you're looking for some serious megapixelage in your phone and you're willing to sacrifice a little pocketability, your options are starting to expand (even if you're not in Japan or Korea): you've got a couple choices from Nokia's stable, Sony Ericsson's K790 / K800 series, and this here KG920 from LG, to name a few. MobileBurn's had the opportunity to put the latter through its battery of tests, and unless you're a diehard LG fan, it looks like the curiously-designed candybar is best skipped. Though picture camera was generally fantastic (as you would hope from a 5-megapixel CCD with autofocus and a xenon flash), the camera controls were sluggish, and the device itself is difficult to hold when snapping pictrues, thanks in no small part to its odd design. Making matters worse, the KG920 packs a dismal 820mAh battery, leaving the multimedia-centric device tied to its charger much of the time -- not to mention it tended to run hot after just a few minutes of active use. Add the miserable 8MB of internal memory, the old, slow LG user interface, and the love-it-or-hate-it keypad, and we're thinking your bucks are best spent elsewhere.

Are you loving the N93's spec sheet, but gargantuan clamshells aren't your cup of tea? No worries, friends; the 3.2-megapixel candybar N73 has just been approved by the FCC, and thanks to quadband GSM, we have a fighting chance of seeing this one drop in the States -- at least in Nokia's flagship store, if nothing else. Specs are enough to get the juices of any S60 fan flowing: UMTS (albeit on the 2100MHz band), 2.4-inch QVGA display, MiniSD slot, stereo speakers, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0, and the list goes on. Now let's just cross our fingers Qualcomm doesn't get its way, and we might be seeing this hotness before too long in these parts.

[Via Mobilewhack]

With S60 3rd Edition, UMTS, a 3.2 megapixel camera with optical zoom, WiFi, miniSD slot, and QVGA display, Nokia's N93 dual-pivot clamshell pretty much does it all -- at the cost of some considerable bulk, that is. Mobile-review had a chance to spend some quality time with the beast, and if you can get past the portly 188 grams of mass in your pocket, they appear to come away liking the device for all that it does. As flimsy as it may look, we're told the stalk connecting the display to the remainder of the phone is rock-solid: "Even if you shake the phone with all your strength, there is no way the halves will move towards each other." Triband GSM plus UMTS 2100 make the N93 a tough sell in the States, but everyone else seeking out a worthy N90 replacement can expect Nokia's latest superphone to drop this month for around €600 ($765).

Considering what Samsung has managed to do with 9.9mm, we're struggling to understand how they're just now trying to position the tri-band SGH-P858 as their crown jewel -- all brick-like 26.5mm of it. Nonetheless, it's worthy of a review, and that's just what our counterparts at MobileBurn have undertaken. You might recall mention of the P857 earlier this year, and we're told these phones are functionally identical, which means the 3 megapixel camera carries over -- as does the, uh, pleather coating on the phone's surface. MobileBurn's reaction to the phone is overall a negative one, panning the lack of multitasking support, sluggish microSD access, lack of simultaneous vibrate and ring, and generally exorbitant price tag considering its spec sheet. Check a couple more shots of the P858 doing its thing after the break.