Sony Ericsson Idou – Hands-on video and pictures!

The Sony Ericsson Idou is still riding the hype-wave generated by Sony Ericsson’s PR team, and with good reason – the Sony Ericsson Idou smartphone boasts a class-leading 12-megapixel autofocus camera, GPS, WiFi, and the Symbian Foundation OS. As a smartphone, the Symbian Foundation OS is expected to deliver all the functionality you could want, in a familiar and usable package. As a cameraphone, the Sony Ericsson Idou tops them all with ease. While other shooter-phonesout t their sub-double-digit resolutions, Sony Ericsson went straight for the high-end with a whopping 12-million pixels of imaging resolution!

We wandered over to Sony Ericsson’s booth in hopes of catching the Sony Ericsson Idou, only to be pleasantly surprised with a working demonstration model! After putting hands on the Sony Ericsson Idou, we can say that, early prototype or not, the Sony Ericsson Idou looks to be a strong contender in the cameraphone segment. Oddly, the 12-megapixel camera on the Idou lacked any Cybershot branding. We figure Sony Ericsson is looking to market the Idou more as a Symbian smartphone with a badass camera rather than a cameraphone with smartphone functionality. Whatever the case, the Idou’s early-stage development looks promising.

If you’ve ever handled any of Sony Ericsson’s metal-accented Cybershot cameraphones, you’ll have a good idea of what the Idou feels like in the hand. “High-quality” is a good way to describe the Idou’s fit and finish, but company reps told us that things would only get better as the Idou closed in on its final production status.

In the hand, the Sony Ericsson Idou feels a bit lighter than its size might suggest, but that might be due to the Idou’s early-prototype status. The handset is a bit thicker than we’d expect from a Sony Ericsson cameraphone, but then again, a 12-megapixel camera module isn’t exactly going to be small and thin.