Rui CarmoBefore the Apple hype hits full stride, here are a few notes on the K800 and K790, which push the envelope by including 3.2 Mpixel cameras and picture blogging support. I'll be filling out the Wiki nodes on either over the next couple of days, but there are a few things that need saying right off the bat:
- These are not UIQ phones. They're EMP phones, based on the usual mid-tier SE version of that platform. People keep confusing UIQ/Symbian with better features, when SE has a perfectly good, non-licensing-encumbered platform able to do at least as much as Series 40.
- 3.2 Mpixels does not ensure getting decent photos. It helps, sure, but the optics and CCD response curve are more important than raw resolution. Remember the first Nokia 2.0 Mpixel devices...
- I have absolutely no idea what sort of XHTML support the built-in browser will have, but their bundling an RSS reader is interesting indeed (if a bit, er... geeky). I only hope they got the hint about their UI wasting screen space (especially title bars and soft keys, which take up around a third of the screen in normal use).
- They did get one hint: the delay between hitting the shutter and actual capture was one of the main gripes everyone had, so they decided to create a feature called BestPic out of fixing it (now you get a set of samples from the CCD to pick from).
- Their focus on picture blogging isn't just a response to Lifeblog. But their association with Blogger and Google ought to be taken as a wake-up call to operators. MMS isn't dead, but it just became a lot more pointless.
Sadly, these phones seem to use the new SE connector and not a mini-USB plug, so I'd say there's some room for improvement yet.
But I have a feeling the K800 will be this year's pick for Xmas...