Motorola unveils a Kodak camera-phone with Wi-Fi

Motorola today unveiled a new 5-megapixel camera brought to market with the aid of Kodak, with emphasis shifted to the built-in camera and away from the features on the phone itself.

During an official event hosted in Beijing, Motorola introduced the MOTOZINE ZN5 -- the first device in a newly created line of phones optimized for multimedia.

The camera part of the phone is more like a good consumer-grade digital camera, offering auto-focus, Xenon flash, optimized settings for low-light environments, sliding lens cover, white noise reduction, white balance, and built-in panoramic image stitching ability. The auto focus is said to take a second or less to focus. Competing camera phones with auto focus comparably are not as fast as the ZN5.

Motorola has remained quiet about picture pixel count and the lens maker for the camera, but 16" x 20" pictures can be printed with satisfactory results.

The ZN5 measures 4.7" x 2" x 0.63" and weighs 4 ounces. It has 350 MB internal memory, though a micro-SD card slot can expand storage up to 4 GB.

Users have the ability to share pictures with one touch, using the GSM phone's built-in Wi-Fi -- unique among camera phones -- to access the online Kodak Gallery. ZN5 also features EDGE, Bluetooth, and GSM radio. Photos can be transferred to a computer via USB cable, Bluetooth, or WiFi. Images can be viewed using the 2.4-in. display that has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and 262K colors.

Aside from the phone's camera technology, the ZN5 will have an integrated full HTML browser to help make it easier to browse web sites using the EDGE or Wi-Fi connections. The phone will also support text messages, photo messages, instant messages, and e-mail.

There have been a number of camera phones that have at least a 5 megapixel camera, including the Nokia N82, Samsung G800, Sony Ericsson K850i and C905 (with 8 Mp), and LG KE990 Viewty. With MSRP prices ranging from $500 up to $700 for current 5 Mp camera phones, the price range may still be too high for the casual phone owner...especially when decent and comparable cameras without phones cost considerably less. Motorola has yet to release pricing data for ZN5.

Motorola and Kodak have a 10-year working agreement, and will collaborate to develop more phones for the MOTOZINE family. The ZN5 will launch in China next month, and will roll out to international markets throughout the remainder of 2008.