Sharp/Vodafone announces GX30

Well it is here at last. Vodafone has announced the March launch of the Sharp GX30, the fourth in its series of acclaimed clamshell camera phones.

The big news is that it is the first camera phone in Europe to take images of a mega pixel. Up until now the standard has been VGA, which is about half the resolution.

In theory one mega pixel cameras should take reasonably good images – perhaps good enough to actually print out. Of course you won't be able to send them as the files are too large. Instead the images will be stored on a Secure Digital card.

It has also improved the screen and battery life and built in an MP3 player and Bluetooth.

it will sell for between £100-200

Anyway here’s Vodafone’s take on the GX30’s key features

1 mega-pixel camera

It is the first GSM-enabled camera-phone that can take pictures of a
resolution of 1 million pixels, which is three times the resolution that is
normally available in camera-phones in the European market today. It can
take stills in five different sizes - from 858 x 1144 pixels down to 120 x
160 pixels - and there's a 7x digital zoom for the smallest picture size.
Like its predecessor, it has a macro setting for taking close-ups and a
torch is fitted alongside the lens to light up objects when taking photos in
poor light. And with the GX30's photo editing program, you can put the
finishing touches to the pictures you have taken. Pictures taken at the
larger sizes are simple to transfer to a computer by inserting the mobile
phone's memory card (SD card) into the computer's SD card reader or via a
USB cable.

240 x 320 colour screen boasts 260,000 colours

The Sharp GX30 has two colour screens: the main screen (LCD) has a 240 x
320-dot resolution that boasts 260,000 colours for pictures even sharper and
richer in contrast than its predecessor. The outer display is larger than
the Sharp GX20's and it has a 64 x 96-dot resolution and 65,000 colours.
With both screens, users can add their own wallpaper. Both screens also
display caller ID information, as well as the time and date of each call.
The outer screen can also be used as a viewfinder when users want to take
their own pictures.

Mobile entertainment

The Sharp GX30 is the perfect partner for accessing the award-winning
Vodafone live! services. With its high-resolution crystal clear colour
screen the there is a richer mobile game playing experience. What's more,
with its 40 track polyphonic ringtones abilities, the GX30 is optimised to
accommodate Vodafone live!'s extensive range of downloadable ringtones
(numbering some 2,500). It is also equipped with an audio player that
supports the MP3 format and a video function to record video clips of around
10-20 seconds.