News Bits - 5-7 megapixel camera phones from LG, 1GB miniSD Card from SanDisk, Ricoh Caplio R2 announced

LG planning on 5, 6, and 7-megapixel camera phones in 2005

LG has announced plans to go head to head with Samsung, the current record holder of the highest megapixel phone (5MP), this year.  They plan to produce 5, 6, and 7 megapixel camera phones.

The 5 megapixel model is supposed to be release at the end of Q2 with the additional models being released later in the year.

SanDisk doubling the capacity of their miniSD card

SanDisk Corporation has annonced that they are doubling the capacity of their miniSD line with the release of a 1GB card.  From their release, this would allow users to store 2000 pictures from a 1-megapixel camera phone.

According to a report from IDC, the market for removable storage cards in mobile phones is expected to increase to 258 million units in 2006.  This will certainly be the case if LG can follow through on their plans to product 5,6, and 7-megapixel cameras in 2005.

Ricoh Caplio R2 released

Ricoh Japan has announced the latest camera in their Caplio series, the R2.  The Caplio R2 is a 5 megapixel camera with a 4.8x zoom, wide-angle lens.  It also features a 2.5-inch TFT screen, 32MB of built in memory, and an SD slot.  The downside is that there is limited, if any, distribution in the US.