Ah, another day, another 12MP camera phone announcement. This time, it’s LG’s turn, and according to GSMArena, they’ve cooked up something rather special, although it seems to be a case of ‘good news, bad news’.
The good news: as well as a 12MP camera, the LG GC990 Louvre will also be able to capture HD video. The bad news: er, it might not ever actually get made into a real, on-the-shelves phone.
Y’see, the LG Louvre, as the manufacturer is at pains to point out, is merely a concept phone. It’s not a phone that’s going to hit shelves, and people shouldn’t get all excited about it. In their own words, “The GC900 or ‘Louvre’ mobile phone from LG, is a great example of the type of mobile technology innovation LG is developing. This is a concept model only however, and as such there are no confirmed plans to bring it to market.”
Of course, the hardened phone mentalist inside me is jumping up and down, trying to point out that they wouldn’t make a working prototype, and subsequently show it off to the world, unless there was something there they wanted to sell. I don’t doubt they’d build a prototype phone that doesn’t go into production, I’m just having trouble computing the fact that they’ve shown off a fully working prototype to the world, to the point where I’m very tempted to say, “Yeah, right. My bottom it won’t end on shelves.”
It’ll be nice if it does, since the specs are pretty damn spectacular. The LG Louvre’s got a 12MP camera, with Intellizoom (whatever that is), ISO (low light) settings up to a whopping ISO3200, and zero shutter lag (like a proper, standalone camera). But it’s the video capture that’s a killer: the Louvre will capture HD video, just like the Samsung i8910 HD. But the Samsung phone’s only 8MP (granted, that’s a pretty big ‘only’), so on paper, the Louvre’s a better camera phone. Although I doubt very much that it’ll use Symbian, or any other smartphone OS.
But hey, it’s got the S-Class UI, so at least it’ll be pretty and intuitive.
So, do I reckon the LG Louvre will actually be released, or is it, as LG say, just a concept phone? Well, put it this way… if it weren’t for the i8910 HD, the LG Viewty Smart would dominate the 8MP camera phone range. LG will release a 12MP phone, without a shadow of a doubt, to try and dominate that megapixel bracket. The Louvre could stand a chance of doing that, but will it actually be the Louvre?
I don’t know, but I will personally hack off and eat my own leg if it’s not the same phone in everything but name…
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