Pantech to focus on camera phone features, not higher resolutions

Pantech says it's not going to race against other South Korean camera phone manufacturers -- Samsung and LG Electronics -- to be the first to produce cameras with increasingly higher resolutions, according to an article in Telecoms Korea.  Instead, Pantech is focusing on improving usability.

Telecoms Korea quotes a Pantech official as saying, "We think that it is waste of time to compete with Samsung and LG to develop mobile phones with higher resolution camera.  Five megapixel camera phone is out of a short term product line.

"Maybe we could use the energy put on making such phones to develop other useful functions of mobile phones.  The company will concentrate on introducing innovative technologies and differentiating handset designs."

This seems like a good strategy to me.  Camera phones with one to three megapixels could product photos that are just fine for the overwhelming majority of users.

More than megapixels

However, the camera has to offer superior optics and usability -- closer to a digital camera.  Just as handset manufacturers are developing phones that emphasize music and games, so am I seeing them developing phones that are designed for imaging, with improved components and ergonomics.