World's first 5 megapixel camera phone unleashed

Samsung has taken the wraps off the world's first five megapixel phone, the SCH-S250, taking the handset's photo capability above to the level of most conventional digital cameras.

To go with the souped-up camera, Samsung has improved the handset's display, upping the number of 'colours' it can display from a regular mobile's 262,000 to 16 million. The phone also comes with a built-in flash and was developed with camera maker Pentax.

Among its other features, the camera phone lists MP3 player and text-to-speech conversion.

From this month, the stretch design phone will, however, only be available in the company's native South Korea.

The UK currently has no operator offering even a two megapixel camera phone, although Vodafone have announced they are to release one in time for the Christmas phone buying rush.