Well... I'm moving to Korea.

I would rather jump off a cliff than depend on my cell phone's camera for taking pictures. Which is unfortunate because I use my BlackBerry Storm for almost everything else. Let's ignore the fact that the BlackBerry Storm is inferior to the iPhone in many ways... yeah yeah yeah, I get it. I can basically use my phone for everything I could need during the day. In addition to using the the web surfing, memo, email, calendar and calculator functions for work, the voice recorder is actually far better than the $40 digital recorder I used to use for taking notes. Plus I can file the recordings on my computer or email them to myself or others.

So two of my most important needs as a journalist are met, mobile web and a recorder. Now if I could just get a decent camera on it, I could carry one device in my pocket all day. And that's why I'm moving to Korea, because this 12 megapixel, 3x optical zoom Samsung phone is only going to be available there.

See ya America, you just do not fulfill my cellphone needs any more. Yeah sure the freedom, culture, entertainment and language are all better suited for me but come on.... it's got three times optical zoom!!!

Here's what this baby also comes tricked out with:
* Wi-Fi
* GPS
* Bluetooth
* 4GB of on board memory
* microSD slot that allows expansion up to 32 GB
* 3.3 inch, 800x480 touchscreen
* 1,280x 720 video

Take a look at that shutter button, those zoom buttons, the flash and shooting mode dial! Throw a little 3G on this baby and I'll think about marrying it. I would still want to see some sample pics before I quit my job and tell the people I work with what I really think... I'm talking to you Gail! The true test for a camera is always the size and quality of the sensor. Case in point, my old Nikon D1H has a 2.1 megapixel sensor in it. My Sanyo Xacti video camera has a 7.1 megapixel still photo sensor in it. The quality difference could not be greater, especially in low light. Nikon wins it hands down there. It ain't all in the megapixels, it's in the sensors. But I would like to think the good people at Samsung Korea have thought of this.


This is something we need to see more of in this country, cameras that incidentally act as phones. I get the feeling that most people don't give a crap about the exact phone they have as long as it performs multiple functions for them and keeps them connected their peeps or tweeps or whatever the hell the kids say these days Anyway, the days of weighted down pockets are through, onward came the cellphones that act as (good) cameras. And if you're interested, there's Wired's list of the five gadgets cell phones killed. Oh and here are seven more. Until next time, An-nyeong Hi-gye-se-yo!