Sony Ericsson announces 12-megapixel Idou, W995 Walkman phones

Getting a head start from the rest of the pack, Sony Ericsson has officially announced the W995, formerly known as the Hikaru, and the Idou.

The Sony Ericsson W995 is their latest addition to their Walkman phone family and comes with 2.6-inch scratch-resistant diplay, 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, dual-band HSDPA/tri-band HSDPA for North American version, quad-band GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP support, A-GPS, accelerometer, 3.5mm headset jack, YouTube play and will come bundled with an 8GB M2 card. It’ll be available in the 2Q in three colored variants (black, red, and silve) though pricing is yet to be known.
The Sony Ericsson Idou, meanwhile, is still currently under development, but it is officially the first 12-megapixel camera phone to be unveiled to the public. Aside from its massive megapixel rating, it also boasts of autofocus functionality, a Xenon flash and a host of other imaging features. It’ll come with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, and, get this, an OS developed by the Symbian Foundation. Not only will it be groundbreaking in terms of its imaging features, but it might also be the first Symbian Foundation-powered phone.
They’ve already put up a microsite and released this demo video to get us all excited for it.

The Sony Ericsson Idou is expected to become available in the second half of 2009.
Samsung was also rumored to be unveiling a 12-megapixel camera phone this year, but apparently, it won’t happen at the MWC. However, with Sony Ericsson already announcing one this early on albeit releasing it at a later date, Samsung might just be pressured to come out with one a little sooner than planned.

Source..