As The Doors once said "This is the end. My only friend, the end" and it certainly looks that way for the digital camera following the unveiling of Sony's Idou, the 12.1 megapixel smartphone at the Mobile World Congress 2009.
For a long time now we've been told that smartphones will soon have the power and functionality of a digital camera and, until yesterday, I accepted that as something that will happen in the next three years or so. That reality is a lot closer now Sony Ericsson can boast a smartphone with face detection, touch features such as a 16:9 widescreen format and a xenon flash. Other than the camera features the Idou also has GPS, WiFi, and the Symbian Foundation OS.
So why is this the end? Well, I own a Sony Cybershot (camera and mobile) and I can honestly say that my 3mp Sony camera phone takes better pictures than my 5mp LG. If the Idou has the quality of the Cybershot range then your average Joe photographers will be hard pressed to lug a camera as well as a mobile around.
The digital camera market could soon be for professional photographers only, going down the same road as the film-loaded SLR cameras.
For a long time now we've been told that smartphones will soon have the power and functionality of a digital camera and, until yesterday, I accepted that as something that will happen in the next three years or so. That reality is a lot closer now Sony Ericsson can boast a smartphone with face detection, touch features such as a 16:9 widescreen format and a xenon flash. Other than the camera features the Idou also has GPS, WiFi, and the Symbian Foundation OS.
So why is this the end? Well, I own a Sony Cybershot (camera and mobile) and I can honestly say that my 3mp Sony camera phone takes better pictures than my 5mp LG. If the Idou has the quality of the Cybershot range then your average Joe photographers will be hard pressed to lug a camera as well as a mobile around.
The digital camera market could soon be for professional photographers only, going down the same road as the film-loaded SLR cameras.
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My concern with the phone is that in cramming so many megapixels into a small space is just a recipe for large file sizes for a sub-par picture full of noise...
And what's the quality of the lens like?
I'd need to see some impressive real world use images to be convinced.
Yes, noise is a problem but that's a problem in general with digital cameras.
From what I've read to get less noise on the Idou it's best to set it at 8mp which is still very good bearing in mind this is still in production.
It has expandable memory so big file sizes can only present a problem if it has a long loading time but from the videos I've seen it looks quite quick!
Hey have you seen this link?
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilmania.sk%2FMobilnetelefony%2FAR.asp%3FARI%3D11070&sl=sk&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
They say that the SE HAS 3.5mm jack. These guys have the latest info about Idou(as in up to March 19th). Is it true? Maybe it's just a bad case of translation.
Hi, sadly I can confirm there is no 3.5mm jack... yet. There has been a lot of disappointment that Sony haven't put a jack on it so it looks likely that if they don't add one to the final version then they will release a converter at a later date.
Thanks
I am new to smartphones so please bear with me,this looks real cool but i dont see anything new here apart from the 12mp camera, for instance can i have all the cool apps of an I-phone and if not why would i even consider it?
Well, I agree that it looks like it's nowhere near as good as an iPhone but, this will a smartphone and will have apps. Whether the apps will be any good remains to be seen but as a phone it's very good.