sony ericsson

It's true when they say the best stuff can usually be found in Japan only. While the rest of the world is ogling at the latest mobiles from Sony Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Japanese-Swedish phone maker has already announced in Japan the W61S--possibly the most feature-packed Cyber-shot to date.

Set to debut with operator KDDI this March/April, the W61S is loaded with an extensive camera feature set that puts it almost on par with some midrange standalone cameras. Onboard are a 5.11-megapixel CMOS sensor (employing the same "Exmor" technology as the Sony Alpha dSLRs) and 3x optical zoom lens. In addition to anti-shake and autofocus, the camera-phone also comes with Kaokime Lite (auto brightness with face detection for natural skin tones) and Smile Shutter Lite (similar to the Smile Shutter for the T200).

What's noteworthy about the W61S is that its cutting-edge features extend beyond its camera profile. For instance, it comes with onboard GPS which allows geotagging of images. A 2.8-inch WVGA (480×800) screen equipped with Bravia technology will also be something worth looking out for, not to mention a microSD card slot, Bluetooth, TV-out, LED flash and automatic lens cover. Unfortunately, the W61S will work on only CDMA 1XWIN networks supporting EV-DO Rev.A technology. So until a GSM version comes out, if it ever does, this remains pretty much a Japan-only handset for the rest of the Asia and the world to get green-eyed over.