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Taking a cue from the video recording function that is increasingly found in high-end cell phones, a South Korean company has developed a cell phone that looks like a camcorder.

The PH-L4000V from Pantech&Curitel went on sale late last week and at first glance could be mistaken for a small camcorder. When used for video recording it can be held like a camcorder and its QVGA-resolution 2-inch fold-out display can be twisted to face the user or the subject.

It also features a 2X optical zoom lens and the video camera records to 128MB of internal memory or an RS-MMC memory card. It can be connected directly to a television or monitor so recorded video can be watched on a larger screen.

Image Quality

The phone differs from conventional camcorders in one of the most important areas: image quality. The MPEG4 video resolution is about the same as that of a camcorder at 640 pixels by 480 pixels but the phone manages to record only 15 frames per second, which is about half the rate used by many camcorders and by broadcast television. The smaller number of frames per second could mean a slightly jerky picture.

There's also a still image photo mode, with a maximum resolution of 1632 pixels by 1224 pixels, and the phone includes an MP3 player and FM radio and transmitter. The latter can be used to play stored music through an FM radio on a frequency of the user's choosing.

The camcorder form factor makes for a slightly larger and heavier cell phone than is typical today. The handset measures 3.5 inches by 2.1 inches by 1.0 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces. Standby time is 150 hours and talk time is 3 hours and 20 minutes.

The phone is compatible with the CDMA2000 standard and available through LG Telecom in South Korea. It costs around $600 and there are no plans to put it on sale overseas.