Our best source told us few weeks ago that Panasonic will come with a surprise. And finally here it is! Panasonic has put up a teaser site for its first Lumix-branded phone! The website is available here: http://panasonic.jp/mobile/lumixphone/.
| Size (when closed) | Height: About 116mm × width: approx 52mm × thickness: about 17.7mm |
|---|---|
| Weight | Approximately 146g |
| LCD | Full widescreen 3.3-inch VGA LCD |
| Sensor | CMOS Approximately 13.2 million pixels (effective) CMOS |
(Source Panasonic Japan).
Panasonic will unveil all details on October the 5th!
UPDATE_1: via Engadget: “It’s also noteworthy that Panasonic’s press release indicates a folding mechanism for this handset, which, given current trends in Japan, makes it most likely to be a clamshell device. It’s also got some DLNA voodoo inside and is coming out by the end of this fiscal year (April 2011) ”
UPDATE_2: Although this is a non-related (m)43thirds news I think this could have signifcant influence on future (m)43 camera development. Can you imagine a GF3/GH3 running on a new OS with API to create dedicated application for the specific camera? Am I the only one dreaming here? 🙂
UPDATE_3: It features a new high-intensity flash. Touch-operation is available during shooting and playback. Wi-Fi, microSDHC/SD and easy touch-share operations.
66 Responses
Is this a japan-only telephone?
most likely…
but there’s always… hope, right?
If it’s on Softbank/Vodafone perhaps, there’s hope the radio will work outside the land of rising sun.
But seems like they usually supply phone for DoCoMo.
Oh no! (But still I’m curious what the heck is it)
OMG! Finally Panasonic did it!
It has been my dream for quite a long time having a digital-camera with cell-phone function, instead of a cell-phone with digital-camera function
You’re joking right?
+1 – I hardly use my phone at all, but I still need one. It would be nice if a great camera could just have a crappy phone jammed inside.
Sony-Ericsson already did it. About 4 years ago I think.
Then have a look at the Samsung W880.
12mp – 3x optical zoom – AMOLED screen.
Announced about a year ago.
FZ100 and FX700 have both 1/2.33 ” 14mpx CMOS, so I guess, that’s the sensor and this has nothing to do with us 4/3 crowd, but let’s dream for a while: if this thing has 4/3 sensor and m4/3 mount ( there’s no way to put the 4/3 lens in 17.7mm ), than WOW! I’ll take two immediately.
No lens mount, it’ll have digital zoom: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9189078/Panasonic_to_unveil_Lumix_phone_next_week
Totally awesome! A phone with a m4/3 mount! Then put the 4/3 Adapter and the Oly 90-250 or 300 f2.8 and then walk around talking on it with this massive lens coming out of your ear!
That’ll look totally cool.
Yeah I was thinking the same!
Yaaawwwwnn….
+1!
I’ll apologize for for my post and i hope i speak for more people then myself,
Dear admin, please tell your source that this is 4/3 rumors site and he can keep that “new exiting surprise” to himself.
Highly disappointing.
your not speaking for me, but apology accepted.
HIHI LOL
Hi Frosti. I don’t know if it is correct to quit this news as a minor event. Am I the only one that believes lowe-end cameras and cellular technology will merge into one device?
That’s why this news “could” be so interesting. Of course not with that specific camera, but might it be in future…
I’m with admin on this one. Interesting industry development for sure, even if you have zero interest in the actual product…
I have nothing against posting that news bit, my claim is with the anticipation for something special for the 4/3 mount,
i know your dreaming about OS and API’s, but i am dreaming about IQ video and ability to take better photographs,
I really dont think that a camera should be a phone, maybe in the future when we would be able to capture anything in super hi-def w/o moving a finger, that reality is not true to 4/3 mount of today.
I hope also Olympus come by a phone camera but i hope the is a Olympus Tough phone so i can use the on jobb and sport.!
+1 for Olympus Tough underwater camera phone. Be available everywhere :).
Even under water, now you can be productive while scuba diving! let’s hope it’ll be android so you can do spreadsheets too while you’re 8 feet under!
this is the most useless post i have ever see on this site
disagree !
Ay yay yay admin
4/3 or not 4/3, that is the question !
Pany and/or Oly, THAT IS NOT THE QUESTION !!!
Admin, please, stick to your nice legend, that will perhaps not be as notorious as Hamlet…
However that will be great.
If it’s an Android phone, I’d say bring it on!
Well, any smartphone that has a camera with lens mount will revolutionize photography. Many here and on various forums have long been asking for a camera with OS ( so you can add apps ) and a manufacturer that accomplishes that first will make great waves.
But this one, I fear, will be much like Cybershot phones form SonyEricsson – good camera for a phone, but worst than the cheapest P&S.
android Altek Leon has 14MP 3x optical zoom : http://www.gsmarena.com/14mp_altek_leo_to_hit_it_off_in_europe_in_an_android_outfit-news-1964.php
symbian^3 Nokia N8 released yesterday, with 1/1.83” sensor size, ND filter and Carl Zeiss F2.8 lens:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n8_camera-review-476.php
Pana phone with 17mm thickness better have optical zoom with an excellent fast lens!! A big sensor as Nokia N8, and Android as OS…with a front cam for video calls which until now has stopped me going android. 😉
maybe same sensor as lx5 with a Leica lens too! 😉
I am delighted!!!! 130 megapixels in a camfone! And no, i DO NOT want to know the size of the sensor, who cares? (Certainly not 43rumor’s news editor.) Just bring it on, let’s all order it, m43’s newest cherished product.
My God, what a hard audience!
No body can tell how relevant this post is until we can project ourselves several years into the future! Some people need to get a grip!
Wind back the clock in time and post a news about Panasonic announcing 3D TV and those same complainers will take the time to yell how useless this post is. In your face : 3D lens announced.
What Olympus and Panasonic announces may be linked to future development of m43, even if they are not now. We just don’t know now, so it has to be taken for what it is, a minor news.
Garmin/ASUS is selling the nuviphone, which seems a good duo to explore the key benefits from the Garmin GPS/MAPS knowledge.
Certainly a LUMIPHONE is a way to explore a market niche, perhaps a LEICAPHONE will soon follow?
However there are many players coming from the computer side, like ASUS mentioned before, but also DELL and HP, not to mention the iconic iPhone from APPLE.
SONY created a joint venture together with ERICSSON, NOKIA bought SYMBIAN and wholly owns it’s subsidiary NAVTEQ and advertising their cameras using ZEISS lenses.
The phone as we see them today is a marvel of wireless radio tools, just look at how many antennas these tools needs for operating:
-QuadBand GSM
-MultiBand 3G (LTE is coming soon)
-Bluetooth
-WiFi (802.12 b/g)
Question: When will we see the iPhone replacing the car keys, currently operating in the ISM band 433 MHz /850 MHz.
But where did the IRDA go? Few phones uses infrared communication protocol nowadays. I miss that, since programming the phone to remotely operate the air conditioner, home theatre etc. via IR + more powerful repeaters is a future too.
For sure still camera & video is here to stay within these phones.
I therefore welcome Panasonic to this segment. They do very good cordless phones (competing with Philips and Siemens), and their GSM phones were reliable too from my own experience.
forgot: GPS is a radio too, that needs a separate antenna!
And many have FM radio, while some have DVB receivers. Various forms of near field communication will appear in the next few years …
I’d also like to see return of IR, to be able to control all the household appliances via phone, but I think the manufacturers of those devices are wrong to hold on to IR remotes for so long.
It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. The one device we carry with us all the time is our cell phone. I use my iPhone to take snapshots all the time. Having a higher-quality sensor on my phone has always been something I’ve wished for, and it seems someone’s listening. This would be a nice little P&S with a built-in phone – after all, the electronics in a camera aren’t all that much different than the electronics in a phone. Add a phone communications chip, throw in some phone software, and you have a camera with a phone. Can we call it a phone camera yet?
I love the idea of a 4/3 camera running Android. Unfortunately, I don’t think Olympus is ever going to do it… the E-5 was a major disappointment as far as vision and innovation. Panasonic seems to have those, but has dumped 4/3 and the GH2 is such a tiny camera.
I want an Olympus weather sealed 4/3 body, with Panasonic sensors and video capabilities, Olympus TruPic engine, wifi, 8 GB onboard flash memory, that runs Android.
“Can you imagine a GF3/GH3 running Android and with the ability to create dedicated application for that camera? Am I the only one dreaming here?”
I hope so.
Seriously, are you thinking that a pro camera and a phone can be merged together, ever? In my view these are completely different animals – an ideal phone, or smartphone, should fit comfortably in your palm, and amongst other things, be light. Now, a quality camera should not really be too small, nor light, right?
Can you imagine taking professional photos with a credit card?
Well, we will know in five days 🙂
They will never merge. But I am talking about the software. I would love to have an open OS for professional cams.
If you want that, you have to go Canon. There are options like CHDK for a lot of Canon models, even DSLR Canons can be hacked.
so then it would be wise for panny to do this so people don’t go to canon as you suggest,
therefore this is important news and it being a success will one way or another benefit m43
+1 this would be great for efficiency even if its not open source
No, not soon, but a m4/3 body could be made with a SIM card slot for fast transfer of photos for people who work far from Internet connections: field journalists, doctors, engineers etc.
On the other hand, if Panasonic could make a small m4/3 body with basic phone functions added to it, it would blow all the NEXes away for some time.
Do you think this photo will feature a 4/3rds camera on board?
If not, why featuring this news on this site? Why not posting news here when Olympus releases a new endoscope? I hope this kind of news is not the future of this website.
– Correction –
Do you think this PHONE will feature a 4/3rds camera on board?
If not, why featuring this news on this site? Why not posting news here when Olympus releases a new endoscope? I hope this kind of news is not the future of this website.
My goal is to understand the future development. When I wrote about 3D people said that this had nothing to do with 43 (or m43). And now we have the 3D for MicroFourThirds. The real question we should made here is if the Lumix Phone software will reveal us something about the future of digital photography. As a rumors site we have to investigate that or not?
+1
Dear Admin!
Seven month ago you posed a question on 43rumors.com:
http://www.43rumors.com/what-are-your-questions-to-olympus/
What are your questions to Olympus?
Have a look at issues 3., 4. and 5.
(in the original different order and no numeration)
Could they show some potential for the new LUMIX PHONE?
PAULUS said (seven month ago):
Dear all,
here are my questions to Olympus:
1. Will the “E-4″,”E-5″, “EM-1″ will be the long awaited mirrorless
camera for the 3/4 and the MFT-Standard (flexible integrated adapter
system – super flexible camera design?)
2. Will it have the size, weight and ergonomic quality of the
Olympus E-620?
3. A second wireless Telecontrol-LCD with shutter release (simultanous
mobile phone, mp3-player, voice recorder, picture viewer (slot for
SDHC-, SDXC-cards), mobil-TV … perhaps in cooperation with Panasonic
– one product for Olympus and Panasonic cameras?)
4. Bluetooth compatibilty 3.0 and wireless-lan photo transfer to windows
mobile, apple ipod, blackberry, symbian, android and palm os for
instant image transfer by mobile phone/WIFI?
5. special olympus software for camera and video controll, which runs on
all that operating systems and on windows, apple and linux platforms?
ö. Highspeed USB 3.0? (upwards compatility)
7. Phase detection and contrast autofocus-ability?
8. Fastest autofocus for Zuiko and M.Zuiko lenses
9. Full HD-Video 1920 x 1080 progessive, 50/60fps, H264, AVCHD?
No time limitation for Full-HD-Videos – 4 hours AVCHD on a 32 GB
SDHC-Card?
10. Double memory slot for SDHC-, CF-, SDXC-Cards ..?
11. GPS-Modul?, Geotags (Google Earth, Microsoft Maps)?
12. Professional M.Zuiko 12-75 mm/F2.5-3,3 like Panasonic or even faster
with motor zoom for video – zoom-controller on the “E-5″ (for example
like the Olympus C 8080 Widezoom?)
13. Dynamic autofocus for HD-Video
14. Superior LCD-resolution? MP Sensor (or more) ?
15. Better low-light sensivity?
16. Superior image stabilization ?
17. Superior live view?
18. Sequential shooting speed approx. 5 – 8 frames/sec.?
19. Wireless flash controll via integrated flash?
20. Splash Proof?
21. Dust Proof?
22. External microphone input for HD-Video (perhaps even for bluetooth
microphones)?
23. Earphone output?
24. HDMI-Output?
25. Will there be a clear roadmap for future camera and lenses for one
integrated Olympus-System (3/4 and MFT in one system?)
Well done, admin! I have always felt that a site like this needs to embrace other directions besides what is 100% current (or promised) m43. It is good that you publish things that are not hard-core m43 right now but show the path forward.
Thanks RW!
+1
How is he to know it won’t be a 4/3 sensor?
You could have posted similar set of questions after couple of news about Fuji X100 posted here. It doesn’t have 4/3 sensor either.
Some people here are interested in 1950s camera lookalikes, some are interested in iPhone clone with m4/3 mount. If I don’t like the post, I simply skip it.
“If I don’t like the post, I simply skip it.”
words of wisdom
Thanks Miroslav!
I guess the potential here is that the new flash technology might make its way onto m43 cameras. The touch screen menus might also be better implemented than the G2 and GH2. In short, as Admin is saying, the exciting part here is NOT the phone or the sensor, it’s the other stuff that’s required to implement picture-taking on a small device.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRT_wQsBWOA
look at how the live view is integrated with the viewing photos already taken ( @ 0:45)
this would be so helpful on the G cams
Its the new 4/3s phone…
http://panasonic.jp/mobile/docomo/p04b/design/
Errr…. 13.2Mp …. with Venus Mobile and some extra camera controls/buttons (and perhaps a touchscreen)
That’s my bet… 🙂
+1
They have whole range of dumb phone there. There’s also no words out about the lens specification either so likely not such an extreme change from what’s already in the market over there.
Seems like the Windows Mobile and Android smartphones are left to the business range devices in that carrier and being for Japan market only (also most likely) they’ll just do the specs from the carrier and care less about mind share of smartphone crazed gadget crowd abroad 😀
The touch on the GH2 and G2 are great compared to the fact that no other system camera has that feature…
BUT
the touch compared to phones like the iphone HTC and other high-end smart phones, it is very poor…
THAT IS A FACT
this is important new as the admin said because it could translate to further and quick advancement to UI’s on m43 system cameras
the cameras could use multi touch with “pinch to zoom” feature when viewing photos, that a no brainier
look at how windows phone seven implements its camera and photo viewing so efficiently, this can easily be done one a G camera and it would make the work-flow more efficient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRT_wQsBWOA
@ 0:45 sec
look at how fast pictures are scrolled on smart phones like the Iphone compared to the G cameras
not knocking the G cameras but me being a phone person, the touch operation was automatically compared to smart phones and in that respect the G cameras failed. they are poor and this announcement could lead to them being made much better
I 100% for sure wont get a lumix phone, but it is important, think about what it could mean before start stoning the admin for posting it
Like the admin said its about the software… the OS and UI that this could offer m43
not a m43 phone and a lens coming out of the ear or a phone as a backup camera.
The venerable Symbian is in the process of being killed by major manufacturers and mobile veteran, Samsung’s Bada, is fighting an uphill battle. I hope Panasonic will adopt an open OS like Android… We don’t really need a new mobile OS.
If Panasonic can ride on the Android craze and create a series of cool Lumix apps or even create a version of the OS for cameras, that would be cool.
You will then start to see multitouch, kinetic scrolling, advanced connectivity capabilities and other cool UI features on Lumix cameras.
win phone 7 would be a better choice