Camphone with a Capital C

My cell phone contract expires at the end of the month. We went into the local AT&T store to check out upgrade options. Nothing jumped out and grabbed us, just the typical array of models with no way of keeping all the differences in one's head at the same time, to enable a rational decision.

But then an extremely nice and professional salesperson, Vanessa, approached us and explained a lot of the pros and cons of the various offerings, even volunteering to give us a $30 reduction on our AT&T bill for having an AARP card. Who knew? In this brave new consumer world, one must assume that hidden discounts exist and always ask for them.

Some of our kids have iPhones, and I am an Apple fan boy since 1984. But since the iPhone has a last-generation photo capability, no built-in video, no stereo bluetooth, no memory card, no user-replaceable battery, and other cripples of the sort that Apple uniquely likes to burden their products with, it seems too big a bite just for interface sexiness. This fan is looking elsewhere. This even considering my entire 200gb tunes library is in Apple lossless format, and only the iPhone handles this format.

In researching mobile phones just a bit today, I am excited to be seeing digicam and mobile phone melding into a single device, a Camphone, that is equally competent as camera or phone, and also offers video, music player, and online access/browsing. I may never text or game on a phone, but I love taking pictures. Available now are 8 MP CMOS sensor, Xenon flash, optical zoom, auto-focus, digital image stabilization, auto ISO and white balance, panorama multi-shot stitching, VGA video at 30fps, GPS, WiFi, stereo bluetooth, memory card expansibility. What's not to like? My main camera is a hulking big DSLR that only accompanies me on official photo excursions. For the other 99.9% of the time, what a joy to have a capable camera in my pocket.

I sense it's a little early yet; prices are in the $400+ range, there are no carrier plans available, and all the above features aren't available in a single model. So I'll keep the research going and be looking for deals. Next year, there may be born a new Camphone fan boy.