Samsung's 12-megapixel camera-equipped smartphone was supposedly the only bloated-sensor cellphone rumored before Mobile World Congress, but it looks like Sony Ericsson wants to join the party too. It just unveiled the Idou, which boasts a 12.1-megapixel sensor.

The smartphone is an all touch-screen one, with a 3.5-inch, 640 x 320-pixel LCD, and full media capabilities, mated to a 12.1-megapixel camera unit. The absolute specs are still unknown, but it looks like there may be a user-facing webcam on the unit, and though the camera lens is covered by a slightly bulky sliding door, it doesn't protrude--which precludes having much of a zoom function on the camera. The camera also appears, according to the released images, to be very tiny.

The aperture on that tiny lens must be equally as tiny--the amount of light falling through it onto the sensor chip will be a fraction of what most compact cameras can manage, and huge amounts less than a serious digital camera. And since photography is all about capturing light and focusing it onto a sensor, that doesn't bode well for the image quality that this phone can achieve. There's also no info on an auto-focus mechanism, but at least it has what appears to be a proper xenon flash.

It also looks like Sony is taking a shot at the iPhone. There's an all touch-screen design, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, four "home" icons at the bottom of the main display, and even a similarly-shaped speaker grille. Plus it's being touted as a device for "full media consumption." This all points at it being a video and music-playing handset.

For sure, the iPhone can't compete with the camera on the Sony--Apple's device packs only a 2-megapixel unit and no flash. Hopefully Sony worked on its battery tech, that 12.1-megapixel sensor will push out lots of data, that will have to be managed on the phone itself and eat up a lot of battery resources. And the photos taken with the device will also get moved around to fill-up memory cards--presumably using Sony's proprietary and relatively expensive Memorystick format.

We won't know any more on the phone's price and specs until it launches in the summer, under a new name.

[via Technologizer, Akihabaranews]