Optical zoom arrives on 12Mp cameraphone

Samsung claims world's first

Samsung has followed up its recent launch of the 12Mp Pixon cameraphone by unveiling the world’s first 12Mp cameraphone that has an optical zoom.

Samsung's W880: supports optical zooming for - hopefully - better stills

Digital zooms, as most gadget fans know, don’t result in particularly good quality long-distance shots. So Samsung’s new SCH-W880 cameraphone features a 3x optical zoom that the firm has promised will enable users to “take perfect pictures”.

The phone still features a 2x digital zoom, in addition to touch-screen auto-focus tracking and a 720p, 30f/s video capture mode.

'Huh? My camera's ringing...'

Speaking of touchscreens, the W880 has an 800 x 480, 3.3in display and – according to Samsung – genuine compact camera styling.

Imaging aside, the W880 will play all the standard media formats, offers Bluetooth connectivity and 4GB of on-board storage, and presents several “value added features”, including a TV tuner.

Samsung said that the SCH-W880 will be available across Korea from next month. A UK launch date or price hasn’t been released. ®