Aigo A8/Leo 14 megapixel camera phone

Aigo A8/ Leo, a new camera phone that seems to be more of a camera than a mobile phone was revealed by Aigo at the CES 2011.

Aigo A8, as the device is named, will be available on China Unicom, though the device reviewed at CES 2011 by tech publication Engadget was unlocked and worked with many SIM cards including AT&T 3G and T-Mobile’s EDGE networks as well. The company hasn’t revealed launch details or pricing yet.

Aigo’s A8 looks a lot like the Taiwanese digital camera manufacturer Altek’s Leo 14 device, which technology blog Pocketnow.com said would be released by the first quarter of 2011 and would run Android 2.1 Eclair. Related: Top camera phones in the market

Photo: Aigo A8 Phone

Aigo A8 is capable of recording 720p HD quality video. It is a bar shaped phone with rounded edges and four rectangular buttons in a line at the bottom of the screen. A8 has a large 14 megapixel lens, auto focus, CCD sensor, xenon flash, collapsible 3x optical zoom, and runs Android 2.1 Eclair.

Version 2.1 of Android is now outdated though, with Gingerbread (version 2.3) being the latest for smartphones. On top of that Android 2.4 aka Ice Cream Sandwich is also in the works with an upcoming Samsung GT-i9023 phone said to be running Android 2.4.

Moreover, Aigo A8 doesn’t have the usual Google apps such as Gmail, Google Maps and Android App Market. Engadget says the device seems to use a 600MHz processor – which is about half as fast as the best smartphones in the market at present that use processors running at up to 1.5GHz. Aigo A8 (or Leo 14) connects using quadband GSM, HSPA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

That it has GPS is some consolation because the technology would be useless without some sort of maps or navigation service. Therefore, Aigo will have a way for the A8 to download apps – for navigation and for utilizing the Wi-Fi capability that the phone has. In fact, Aigo A8 will very likely come installed with apps for uploading photos to photo sharing services directly after they’re taken.

Engadget says Aigo’s A8 looks thicker than an iPhone 4. The device has a 3.2-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, a collapsible zoom lens at the back, and an aluminum battery cover. Although it is slow, Engadget found it easy to use and was impressed with the phone: picture quality seems to be well worth the gadgetry and Engadget also found the touchscreen to be very intuitive. Also see: Cheap camera phones in India

Aigo, it appears, is continuing to further develop the phone’s hardware and software, so perhaps the company will still update the OS and related software. Aigo will perhaps also upgrade the processor in subsequent versions of the A8 for the international market.