Samsung may have a megapixel or two (or twelve) up its sleeve for the upcoming MWC 2009 expo in Barcelona. According to leaked information from two Korean news sources, Samsung is expected to debut a 12 megapixel camera phone that builds upon the success of the 8 megapixel Innov8. The only relevant information available is that Samsung may begin mass production at the end of February with a European launch soon thereafter. Anyone hungry for additional details about this mobile shooter and whether the optics behind the 12 megapixel will live up to the marketing hype will have to wait a few more weeks for that information to materialize.

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Mobile shooters may now have a new Camera-centric handset to anticipate in 2009. A NAM friendly variant of the 8 megapixel Samsung i8510 Innov8 has just passed through the FCC. Unlike the European model with UMTS 900/2100 that was released earlier in 2008, this apparently new variant will have 850/1900 3G. With Samsung having a history of producing subsidized phones for the North American region, hopefully we can expect to see the S60-powered Innov8 come to North America possibly with AT&T and/or Rogers branding and a consumer friendly contract price.

[Via IntoMobile]

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We told you a few weeks about an 8MP shootout between the LG KC910 “Renoir” and the Samsung M8800 Pixon, but GSMArena outdid the folks over at Mobile@Mail.Ru by doing their own 8MP shootout testing four of the hottest 8MP camera phones out there. In their in-depth review, GSM Arena compares the LG KC910, the Samsung M8800 Pixon, the Sony Ericsson C905, and the Samsung INNOV8.  We wont even try to cover all the details of their 7 page review in a single post. Suffice to say that each camera phone has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Samsung INNOV8 is the best universal performer with excellent image quality, capable video recording, and a large display. The Sony Ericsson C905 has the best camera interface, camera handling, and controls. The LG KC910 has a beautiful high resolution touch screen with well balanced camera features and very good image quality. Last but not least, the Samsung M8800 Pixon brings up the rear in terms of image quality and camera features, but has a well organized user interface and above-average video recording. If that piques your interest and leaves you wanting more, then hit the read link and get more one on one mobile camera action than you can stand.

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You might have seen us lust after this device in the past, if so, know that we got our hands on it and you didn’t. Just kidding, guys! Sort of. This phone is the true definition of a beast. It’s packed to the brim with more features than you can count, and it oozes futuristic sexiness. There’s only one problem for us uncivilized Americans… there’s no U.S. 3G. Mayjah fail. We’re about to start tearing it apart for our review, but here’s a couple of our first impressions… The screen is absolutely gorgeous, we LOVE the optical joystick, sound quality is probably as good or better than the N95 8GB, and well, who can hate on S60 FP2? What we’re not feeling is the fact that some S60 applications do not work (most of Nokia’s and Qik… get your act together!), the phone when slid open is a little uncomfortable to use sometimes, and as much as Samsung tried, their custom home screen and theme is absolutely horrendous. Hit the gallery for all the shots you can handle!

Click on over to our Samsung Innov8 I8510 hands on gallery!

The announcement of the upcoming Samsung Innov8 caused Nokia fans all over Europe to break into a bit of a sweat it would seem. How is it possible that the hottest S60 handset in the world could be made by anyone other than Nokia?! Ok everyone just calm down. It remains to be seen whether or not the Innov8 will have the feature set to back up that 8 megapixel camera but we have to be honest here – it looks pretty sweet. We’re all a bit closer to find out however, as the boys over at AAS have given the Innov8 some head to head treatment, pitting it against the N95 8GB in a comprehensive walk through that even includes a few sample images from the Innov8′s camera. In case you were wondering, yeah, it takes some pretty solid images. In terms of size, comparisons show that the Innov8 is plenty taller than the N95 8GB but it’s also significantly thinner. This is something that Nokia fans have been asking for with regards to the N95. The N96 takes a step in the right direction, albeit a small step as the depth of the device is down only 1 mm. The Innov8 is still 3 mm thinner than the dieting N96 so S60 fans yearning for a trim multimedia handset may need to give the Innov8 some serious consideration over the N96. Hit the read link for more but until we see “850″ next to a WCDMA listing in the Innov8 specs, none of it really matters.

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Honestly, we don’t know whether to laugh or cry. What would you say if we told you that the hottest most well-specced S60 handset in the world was made by Samsung as opposed to Nokia? What would you say if we told you that Samsung finally came around and threw a quad-band GSM antenna into it? Right, us too! Now what would you say if we also told you that Samsung opted out of WCDMA 850, leaving North Americans to hunt for WiFi when we need to get our high-speed on? Heart wrenching, we know. The phrase “so close but yet so far” seems apropo. Last night Samsung made a reality out of the rumored 8 megapixel beast of a slider otherwise known as i8510. Its specs are amazing:

• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), dual-band WCDMA (900/2100MHz)
• Symbian 9.3 S60 3rd Edition FP2
• 2.8″ 16m color QVGA TFT display
• Built-in GPS receiver and accelerometer
• WiFi
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with image stabilization and face, smile, and blink detection
• Video recording QVGA @ 120 fps or VGA @ 30fps with full editing suite onboard
• 16GB internal storage, microSD card slot
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• 106.5mm x 53.9mm x 17.2mm (3.9″ x 1.9″ x 0.6″)
• 1200mAh battery

N96? What’s that? An S60 smartphone that will have WCDMA 850, that’s what. If not for the AT&T 3G compatibility issues you can believe that we would be snatching up the Innov8 faster than you can say “Europe’s hottest S60 camera phone”. 2009 should be an interesting year for S60, to say the least.

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