Panasonic preps camera-branded blower
Lumix Phone to debut next week
Panasonic is to bring its Lumix camera brand into the phone market this month.
The Japanese giant has posted a teaser site for the "Lumix Phone", which, it says, is coming soon. Beans will be spilled on 5 October.
Snippets revealed this far indicate it will have Wi-Fi, DLNA medai streaming, Micro SD slottage, Wi-Fi and the oh-so-intriguingly named "Mobile Venus Engine".
For a handset named after a camera family, its image grabbing capability seems decidedly below par: 3Mp, in point of fact.
Fans of Panasonic's Lumix cameras may also be disappointed to learn that the Lumix Phone doesn't appear to be set to debut outside of Japan. Put it this way, only Panasonic's Japanese phone division is acknowledging the launch so far, but we can't rule out a wider release given the strength of the brand. ®
COMMENTS
My first 3 GSM's were Panasonic
I had a G520, a Gd92 - the really light thin silver wap browser and then a gd87 flipper with mms.
My last camera 'phone was the C905 - still have it, in fact for wandering sim and overseas holidays as it's a super CyberShot.
I'd love to see this Panasonic in the flesh! Where have they been over the past few years?
It's not the MP that count
Or rather it's not ONLY the MP that count.
For all we know the lens and sensor make-up could be enough to push a 3MP to something quite a bit better.
I don't know how many people would contest that the SE did for a long time hold the best sensor/lens combos in their phones. I could actually quite happily use my C905 alongside my Panasonic G1 and get some comparable results. Okay the photos from the phone were smaller (print quality) in size but resolution was/is great.
The winner for me won't be the flashy carrot of MegaPixels that hook in the many idiots who really don't know better but the tech wizardry that turns a point-and-click into a useful tool. Even if the phone that comes out has only 3MP my bet is it'd still be better (print quality) that the rubbish that Nokia, Samsung and LG have tried to punt as Camera Phones.
***Side Note***
Any SE followers looking for an upgrade to the C905....there isn't one it's still the best combo that SE produced that holds a (admitedly puny) optical zoom and decent print quality!
Shortly to be followed...
...by a reassuringly expensive Leica branded phone
3 Mp?
Other sources say 13 Mp. Panasonic's own release confusingly says both, though reading between the Japanese lines a little, the 3 Mp may be the effective resolution at maximum digital zoom.
Though most of us know which would really give the better images in practice, all other aspects being equal!
