News

Swivel lens on camera phone; why?

The first time cameras with "swivel lenses" made it into the news, they were "snooper" cameras, to allow the taking of "intimate" pictures on the beach, without making it look as if the camera was pointing at the real subject. The Samsung V200 phone will have a swivel lens ...

The MMS enabled Samsung V200, which will sell at around £199 (with contract) "will be the only phone to have a camera on the hinge of the handset," says Samsung's press release. Why? "Users can point the lens towards themselves and easily see the photograph that is being taken," is the answer.

It's a GPRS phone, and triband; works in America as well as the rest of the world. And it's not quite a Smartphone, but it does include animated wallpapers, alarm clocks, some personal information management features, and storage enough to hold 100 of its own pictures.

The first camera phone from Samsung, it is making its debut this spring. It also features "life-like 40-bit polyphonic ringtones," and high-colour; up to 65,000 colours on the large display (128x160 pixels) for maximum picture quality.

The easy-to-use one touch keypad can control brightness and includes a 10-point zoom for close-up shots.