Eight megapixels – new arm race

Mobile-review have posted an interesting article comparing the Sony Ericsson C905 and the Samsung i8510. Here are their final words.
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Wrapping it all up, I have to note that the i8510’s 3D accelerator also handles video rendering (DivX, H.264) in the phone, therefore most movies are played back by the INNOV8 without requiring any prior conversion. Needless to say, the C905 can’t do the same trick – you will have to convert all files first.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is due for release in early September, and will be priced at 700 Euro for the 8Gb version and 810 Euro for the 16 Gb edition. The C905 will arrive some time in October and will retail for 120-130 Euro less, which will make for a very well-justified gap, given the INNOV8’s prowess in just about every department. At last, Samsung have come up with a top-notch imaging-centric solution that will be released much earlier than any of its rivals. Nokia is also working on its 8 Mpix monster, which is a pretty good phone at that, but it seems that it will start shipping only in November-December, 2008.

As far as Sony Ericsson is concerned, once again they have fallen pray to their own stereotypes. Back in the day they delayed the release of the K850i, as they failed to see a threat in a steeper Nokia N95. And these days, when Sony Ericsson are banking on the C905’s more affordable price tag, they can’t just realize that the difference of 140-150 is not that crucial at all as far as the “600 Euro and above” price bracket is concerned. So it seems that the Sony Ericsson C905’s price curve will prove to be pretty steep over the next year, meaning that we’ll get an affordable 8 Mpix cameraphone soon enough, if only Nokia won’t decide to torpedo it, just like what they did with the Sony Ericsson K850i. All in all, the phone wars are getting more and more exciting, and luckily we, consumers have ring side seats.
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