LG Viewty Smart drops this month, with 12 megapixels on the horizon

LG is still promising that the follow-up to the 7-million-selling Viewty, the Viewty Smart, will be alighting on shelves this month.

With an 8-megapixel camera, light sensitivity up to ISO 1,600 and an LED photo light, the Viewty Smart packs a bunch of photo-taking power into an ultra-slim 12mm-thick body.

But the Smart may soon be old news, as LG is hinting at a 12-megapixel camera phone, to be launched by the end of the year. That's up in the megapixel stratosphere with the upcoming Sony Ericsson Idou, which will have a 12.1-megapixel camera. Check out our video of the Idou doing what it does so well.

LG says its 12-megapixel phone will have "even more smart features", which will hopefully include an 'are you sure you want to upload that drunken video to Facebook?' app.

We can sympathise with phone manufacturers' race for the big megapixel numbers, but size isn't everything in the digital camera stakes. A decent flash and optical zoom would go much further towards making a camera phone that could really compete with a dedicated snapper -- get on it, people!