Casio Launches Exilm Engine 8.1MP Cameraphone Comments

Its interesting actually, and probably a reflecion of the mobile phone market now after a certain phone I wont mention here came along and properly shaken up the market, but one of the main questions I find that I ask when reading about a new phone is "what about the operating system"....

Let's hope it is a when and not an if question, sounds like a fantastic device. Does it have a touch screen?

About time we had a proper camera phone rather than these Mickey Mouse half-arsed jobbies from Sony Ericsson & Nokia...

Even more important - does it have a killer on-screen QWERTY keyboard? So that real people can send real messages and no have to email with silly little buttons made for leprechauns.

OLED screen will be great indoors, but in direct sunlight it'll be a real disadvantage compared to some LCD screens that cope with that far better. For a phone that should double as a camera, I hope this does not turn out to be much of a problem.

The OS is likely to be a linux variant (jointly developed with the likes of NEC and Panasonic) heavily customised to Casio. The phone is unlikely to ever go outside of Japan as it would be a commercial flop. 8.1MPix, yes; but the handset will be big and ugly and no-one will want to buy it.
The phone market in Japan is markedly different to the rest of the world (not necessarily technologically advanced, but differing consumer habits).
Also, to cram in the camera electronics there will be no room for world radios and antennae, so it will probably never be banded for use abroad.
I'd even be surprised if it had Bluetooth on board as the Japanese don't use the wireless technology greatly.

I thought the iphone would bring a market shakeup real fast, but instead, phone manufacturers are drip-feeding us their technology!
Back in July, Japan had yummy phones like this: http://www.mobilegazette.com/sharp-sx862-08x07x15.htm
... and we sit here in Europe while our 'big-brand' companies design handsets that are years behind the ones that casio/sharp have?!

Well, shut my mouth: it does have Bluetooth for music playback and short-range gaming; but it is CDMA, so not for Europe.

@GherkinG

They've been drip feeding us for the last 10 years. Back in 1998, Orange used to have the service whereby one SIM card could handle TWO lines! But in the last 8 or 9 years network operators & handset manufacturers are in bed together and would rather sell us two contracts & two phones instead of allowing our phones to use technology they are easily capable of. It's very sad.