Not so long ago we gave the
Nokia N73 a test-run. Why? Because they claimed it was as good as a camera.
Now it might not have been quite as good, but considering that it's sold as a phone, it's certainly no bad measure to have one that is approaching the lower end compact camera standards.
It would seem that Sony Ericsson are looking to push the envelope that bit further - with the announcement of the K850 Cyber-shot phone.
Housed up inside this little black case there's a 5 megapixel camera, with auto focus and Xenon flash.
There's some nice little features too - 'Photo fix' (for light balance) and PictBridge technology compliment the ability for rapid picture and video blogging.
There certainly seems to be a move toward the fusion of quality camera devices within mobiles. It still might not be quite to the same standard for a number of reasons - lens quality, poor image sensors (see the megapixel myth) - but is certainly a move in the right direction.
With the saturation of digital images, and the frequency of unprinted images that only ever live their lives on Flickr or Facebook, the ability to blog direct from device is a clever addition that will be seen across many other formats in the near future.
Expect to see this hit the shelves towards the end of 2007. When we get one we'll take some photos and see how it really holds up.
