We've been hearing about 8-megapixel camera phones for a while--but the Samsung innov8 raises the bar, with smile shot, blink shot and face recognition features. And users can personalize and edit their photos, videos and music with the included Movie Maker and Story Board applications. The innov8 sounds more like a camera with WiFi abilities than a phone with a camera.

The handset can also be a digital photo frame, letting you display your favorite images on the 2.8-inch LCD screen.

The camera phone can play DivX, WMV, Real Player and MPEG4 videos. Its external dual speakers and 3D surround sound supported by DNSe 2.0, make video clips and movies more realistic. The phone is also equipped with GPS technology, offering navigation and geo-tagging. And it comes with the Symbian OS V9.3, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, which helps you easily download various ready-made applications for Symbian mobiles.

Samsung launched the first 5-megapixel camera-phone in 2004, 7-megapixel camera-phone in 2005, and the 10-megapixel SCH-B600 in the Korean market in 2006. The Samsung innov8 will be launched in Europe in August, and then other markets during September.

[Via PhotographyBlog]