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Pretty soon, you'll be able to use much more than words to communicate the beautiful sunset you're seeing, the house you're thinking of buying or the antique you've just unearthed. Cellular telephones, once meant just for talking, now almost universally come with built-in digital cameras. That means users can snap photos and ship them instantly to loved ones almost as easily as placing a call.

Camera-phones are rapidly gaining credibility as legitimate devices for taking pictures -- more than just the ones you view on computer. New studies indicate that the latest generation produces images good enough to turn into keepsake prints.

The new phones are the hottest trend in amateur photography and perhaps in all of consumer electronics. Shoppers in North America will purchase an estimated 9 million camera phones in 2004, according to InfoTrends Research Group Inc. of Massachusetts. That number will grow to 25 million in 2006, according to the group. Others are even more optimistic, predicting that cell phone cameras will soon outsell digital and film cameras combined.

Getting started in mobile photography is as simple as buying a camera phone and signing up for cellular service that will allow you to send pictures as well as make calls. The first challenge is deciding what kind of camera phone to purchase. And on the score, the landscape is changing very quickly.

Until this summer, U.S. consumers could buy camera phones that produced just low-resolution images, suitable for viewing only on personal computers or handsets. But higher-resolution camera phones with a broader set of photographic features, such as zoom lenses and flashes, are now on their way to store shelves in the United States.

For example, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications in the fourth quarter will begin selling the S710a camera phone in North America. It contains a camera that captures images with 1.3 million picture elements, or "pixels." Pixels are the collection of dots that make up a digital image. The company, based in London, is a joint venture between Ericsson and Sony Corp. of Japan. Prices have not been announced.

>>Click here for more information on the Sony Ericsson S710a...

Another  example: Verizon Wireless in August will start selling the Motorola V710. That model comes with a built-in, 1.23 megapixel camera and other groundbreaking features. The V710 includes a 4x digital zoom, LED flash for night photos, video clip recording of up to 3 minutes, and a large 16MB memory capacity. Verizon will sell the phone for $249 with a $70 rebate for consumers who sign up for a two-year service plan.

>>Click here for more information on the Motorola V710...

The notion of a camera phone may in fact by shifting under our feet, though not right away in the United States.

Samsung, the Korean electronics maker, introduced a phone in late July that looks more like a camera than a phone -- but allows users to get the best of both worlds. The company's SPH-S2300 includes a 3.2 megapixel digital camera with a 3X optical zoom -- enough resolution to capture and print images at sizes such as 5-by-7 and 8-by-10 inches. The zoom is backed by a 4X digital zoom and a real camera flash. The camera contains a memory card slot for storing pictures and will sell in Korea for about $700.

One side of the device looks like a camera; the other side, a phone. Samsung wants consumers to embrace both functions. "The S2300 shows how efficiently and harmoniously a camera phone can embody the functions of a digital camera," said Kitae Lee, president and chief executive of Samsung Electronics.

"This is a serious piece of photo equipment," said Tony Henning, analyst with Future Image Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., a widely respected industry analysis firm.

>>Click here to find out more about the Samsung SPH-S2300

The increasing photographic sophistication of mobile phones is important because it will likely lead to more images worthy of turning into prints, according to experts.

That could be good news for traditional photographic companies such as Eastman Kodak and Fuji Photo Film Co., which are working to make it easy for consumers to get their hands on those prints. Both Kodak and Fuji are now selling and installing ATM-like digital imaging kiosks that communicate directly with phones. Users will be able to transfer their images instantly by pointing their phones at the kiosks and pressing a button. Once transferred, consumers can zoom and crop, adjust color and make other changes. They can also explore turning their pictures into enlargements.

The CVS pharmacy chain has installed Kodak's newest generation of PictureMaker kiosks in more than 3,000 locations across North America. Those machines communicate wirelessly with mobile phones.

Kodak has also installed the new generation of kiosk in all 3,000 Wal-Mart stores nationally, numerous Target Stores, Rite Aid pharmacies, Albertson's groceries and other locations. Prints are made in seconds while you wait using a thermal printing process.

Fuji, meanwhile, has partnerships with Wal-Mart, Ritz Photo, some Walgreen's pharmacies and other chains. Those stores have installed so-called Aladdin kiosks equipped with the Bluetooth and infrared technology. With this setup, consumers will walk away with prints on photographic paper from attached photofinishing machines.

IN-STORE kiosks are just one of many pathways for transferring images from cellphones to printing devices. Both Kodak and Fuji are working with major cellular service providers and phone manufacturers to provide software applications that will allow users to interact with their pictures easily.

Kodak, for instance, has created the Kodak Mobile service application, which is being offered to users of Verizon, Cingular, AT&T Wireless and other service providers. www.kodakmobile.com

Kodak Mobile is an extension of Kodak's Ofoto online photofinishing site. Pictures taken on cell phones are stored in the user's Kodak Mobile account online. The user can call up and view the photos on demand, send them to other cell phones and ship them as e-mail.

In certain instances, users may also be able to connect and send photos their favorite local photo retailer and order prints -- then pick them up on their way to work or home.

Fuji has similar partnerships with Sprint PCS and others. People who take pictures with Sprint mobile phones can upload them to a special Sprint website, where they can then be redirected via e-mail or sent to print at Fuji's website at digtalcameradeveloping.com. It's not quite available in the United States yet, but Fuji is also marketing a new printer, the NP-1 Photo Printer. The device communicates wirelessly with mobile phones and prints instant photos about the size of a credit card.

Camera-phone users who want to print pictures are getting even more options all the time. Sony's online photofinishing site ImageStation recently unveiled its new Mobile Access Service. Snapshooters will be able to upload images from their phones to the site, at www.imagestation.com. They'll also be able to download other images from their personal albums at the site, whether they came from cameraphones or not. Users can sign up now for a free 90-day trial, with pricing to be announced later. The service, Sony says, works with "most" mobile phones and carriers.

And Yahoo, arguably the best-known search engine, has now launched Mobile Photos Upload, which it says will work with any camera phone from the five major U.S. wireless carriers. If users want to see photos already stored on the site on their handsets, they can sign up to pay $2.99 a month.

Prices for camera phone photo services will vary depending on the carrier and the application. Some carriers are charging $2.99 a month for Kodak Mobile and the Fuji service. Every provider handles charges in a slightly different way. Cingular, for example, sells "multimedia messaging packages." For $2.99 a month you can send 20 picture messages a month; additional messages are 25 cents each. Pay $9.99 a month and you get 75 messages included. By contrast, AT&T Wireless offers 10 picture mails for $2.99 and 40 cents for any extra
Kodak and Fuji aren't the only players in cell phone printing. Pixel Magic Imaging, for instance, which has installed kiosks in many Eckerd Drug stores, is also producing kiosks with wireless links to camera phones.

Another alternative is Pixel Magic's print to store program. Users can upload pictures to the retailer of choice, then pick them up at their leisure.

Another name to know is Pixology, a British company. Pixology is working with the Duane Reade pharmacy chain, located in the New York City area, to install kiosks in 160 sites. The kiosks will eventually communicate with camera phones.

Consumers will be getting better and better prints from their cameraphones as the printing services expand, according to some recent research. In a recent study sponsored by Future Image, camera phones outperformed so-called single-use film cameras and did as well as some digital cameras in the prints they produced. Prints from each type of camera were scored in four performance categories - sharpness/level of detail, color accuracy and saturation, compression/interpolation artifacts, and dynamic range. Each device got an overall quantitative score for each subject and for each performance dimension.

Camera phones deliver "acceptable" 4x6 snapshots in virtually all cases; higher-resolution models provide "keepsake" prints universally, Future Image said. "Other than the occasional high risk or party-favor application," Future Image concluded, "most of the reasons for buying a (single-use) camera will rapidly disappear." And soon, most of the reasons for not playing show and tell with your cell phone will also disappear.

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i like it its resourcefull Posted by: kenn george cavalida Jul 12, 2006 @ 12:0 AM EST

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