Finally, A Real Camera Phone

Many people have been asking me for a good camera phone recommendation. I’ve never taken cell phone cameras seriously, so I’ve always answered that question by saying, “cell phones and cameras don’t mix. Don’t buy a phone for its camera capability if you actually want decent pictures because you won’t get it.” I don’t say that anymore since Sony launched its newest camera phone.

The Sony Ericsson S710a camera phone takes its photo-taking capability seriously. The S710a has a new, unique 180-degree swivel-open design that easily converts from mobile phone to digital camera. With its 1.3 megapixel picture quality, 8X digital zoom, photo light, and 2.3-inch color screen, it is by far the best camera phone on the market today. The pictures are sharp and vibrant. Now I have the confidence to travel light and not carry my regular camera with me.

All images, pictures, music and video clips can be stored either in the phone’s 32 megabytes of internal memory or the included 32-megabyte Memory Stick Duo card. Of course you can always upgrade to a larger Memory Stick Duo to maximize the capacity of the S710a.

The S710a is a tri-band phone (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide fast access to messaging, content downloads and interactive online gaming. It has Sony Ericsson’s QuickShare feature, which allows you to rapidly send and download picture messages, e-mails, music and games. It also includes an MP3 player (don’t throw away your iPod for that feature), MusicDJTM (to personalize ringtones) and has up to seven hours of talk-time and 300 hours of standby time.

Star Wars fans will appreciate the special Star Wars Edition of the S710a. It comes complete with Star Wars ring tones, graphics and interactive software from Star Wars III – Revenge of the Sith. The S710a is offered by exclusively by Cingular for $299.99 with the activation of a new plan (www.cingular.com). If you can get past its high price, you’ll be rewarded with its nice high-resolution pictures and all the multimedia extras.