Sony Ericsson K850i vs LG KU990 Viewty vs Samsung G600 vs Nokia N95 8GB

If you're a hopped-up megapixel junkie, insatiably craving the latest camera phones with the best specs, you'll be thrilled to hear there'll be four phones available before the end of the year that'll proudly boast photo-inspiring 5-megapixel cameras.

The Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot is set to launch around Christmas, the LG KU990 Viewty is out in October, the Samsung G600 is already out and the Nokia N95 8GB should hopefully be out by the end of the year.

If you're wondering what the differences between them are, here's a quick roundup of all four handsets. For more information on camera phones and phones in general, make sure you check out our big pimpin' mobile phone reviews section.

Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot
Behold Sony Ericsson's first 5-megapixel camera phone, the K850i (pictured) -- potentially one of Sony Ericsson's best Cyber-shot cameras yet. We had a quick play with it the other day and our first impressions were very good indeed.

The K850i's star feature is its 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus, xenon flash and automatic lens cover. It also has HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity for high-speed Internet access, and supports a 4GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) or 2GB microSD card.

Our only initial concerns with the K850i are the four-way navigation key, which is unusually embedded in the keypad and can be fiddly to press. The touch-sensitive section of the screen is also a little awkward to use.

LG KU990 Viewty
The strangely named Viewty has some of the most interesting features we've ever seen on a camera phone. It comes with a large colour touchscreen that can be set to vibrate when you touch it, which makes it much easier to tell when you've pressed an onscreen key.

Similar to the Sony Ericsson K850i, the LG Viewty has HSDPA and a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and xenon flash. Unlike any camera phone we've seen, it can shoot video at 120fps and play it back in slow motion.

Our only concerns with Viewty are that there's no lens cover, which leaves the camera vulnerable to scratches, and the flash, although better than an LED photo light, isn't as bright as the ones on the Sony Ericsson K800i, K810i or K850i.

For more information, check out our full review of the LG KU990 Viewty.

Samsung G600
Unlike the Viewty or K850i, the Samsung G600 is quite simple in terms of features. There's no HSDPA, touchscreen or xenon flash -- it's just a camera phone. But at only 15mm thick, this is the most pocket-friendly camera phone of the bunch.

Impressively, the G600 still manages to cram in a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and we were generally impressed with the image quality. Unfortunately, it doesn't perform very well in low light, but if you just want to take shots in daylight then it's great.

Overall, we were impressed with the G600 because it's so slim, and while it doesn't have the same features as the other 5-megapixel camera phones, it's easy to carry around, which is handy if you wear skinny jeans and don't like unsightly bulges.

For more information, check out our full review of the Samsung G600.

Nokia N95 8GB
If the Samsung G600's bulge-eliminating slimness isn't as important to you as having a phone that does it all, then you have to check out the Nokia N95 8GB. It's almost identical to the orginal N95 but comes with 8GB of onboard memory and updated GPS firmware.

Having a shedload of onboard memory is particularly important if you planning on taking hundreds of pictures and shooting hours of video. Like the Sony Ericsson K850i, the N95 8GB comes with HSDPA for broadband-speed mobile Internet, but it also packs Wi-Fi and GPS.

Our only niggle with the N95 8GB is that the LED flash doesn't perform as well in low light as the K850i's xenon flash, which is one of the best flashes on any camera phone we've seen so far.

Update: A full review of the Nokia N95 8GB is now live.