Samsung Unveils 12MP Phone with Optical Zoom Comments

More a phonecamera than cameraphone. But I like!

The digital zoom might not be pointless - if you can select a lower output resolution than 12MP, you might have the chance to apply digital zoom without causing any resampling (so proper cropping), and it could be achieved before the JPEG compression starts making a mess of things.

@Gordon:
< "Why is digital zoom so hopeless? It doesn't zoom closer, it just zooms into your image."

Ah, but what if you're only taking a sensible 5MP image with your ridiculous 12MP camera? The phone *should* (ideally) use the extra pixels available to maintain a true 5MP image as you zoom in. This being camera phones though, it's entirely possible they aren't that sensible...

For the most part though, this megapixel war is just marketing-driven nonsense.

DrDread nailed it.
If the camera is of any real use this device will be quite appealling, I never thought I would say that of a phone with a camera included, OK, needs a viewfinder, I always say that.

If it is released here and a review sample comes your way, please, please, give the job to Cliff Smith.

You can find a preview here (not final hardware or software):

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_sch_w880_amoled_12m-review-398.php

What's really impressive is the HD video recording.

So what does anyone think is the best camera (my top priority) - phone out there and currently available? The 12mp offerings get great reviews and yet there seems to be agreement that such high resolution is more marketing gimmick than anything else....
Many thanks for your thoughts.

Without doubt this will be the best camera phone once it becomes available in Europe. What Samsung seem to have done is use their high end point n shoot cameras and added phone functionality. Not vice versa which is the norm.

A 5 to 8 megapixel is more than sufficient for the small lens used inside phones. More megapixels doesn't mean better quality sometimes it can mean worse. The best thing to do is read reviews on the net and find plenty of shots taken by the phone camera. Judge for yourself...

IMHO the Nokia N86 or the Samsung Pixon 12 is currently the best.