Not content to end the megapixel wars, LG is showing off a concept camera with a 12-megapixel sensor.
The phone, referred to as the CG990 Louvre and spotted by GSM Arena at a Korea Products Exhibition in Warsaw, looks a bit like a handheld digital camera on one side, with a gray paint job, flash bulb and sizeable lens. The flip side looks quite a lot like an iPhone due to the grid of apps on a vertically-aligned touch screen.
Schneider-Kreuznach provide optics for the camera, which includes auto and touch focus, xenon flash, a supposed zero-lag shutter and ISO of up to 3200. The camera can also shoot 30 frames per second HD video at 1280 x 720 pixels. If the Louvre gets out of prototype any time soon, it may be the first to combine HD video with a 12-megapixel camera.
Of course, as Wired points out, a high pixel count on a camera phone sensor runs the risk of being "noisier than a Spinal Tap concert." On looks alone, the Louvre looks like a convenient hybrid of phone and digicam, but only time will tell if it would be a suitable replacement for a standalone camera.
I'm more interested in the reported zero lag shutter. Camera pictures are so in-the-moment that any delay could ruin that perfect picture, regardless of photo quality. If anything, this feature, not pixel count, is what I'd like to see more of.
