Camera Phone Reviews

'In a world of candy-bar phones, flip phones, and slider phones, the Kyocera Koi/KX2 is a rare swivel phone. Push the screen to the left and it swivels up out of the way to reveal the phone keypad. Keep the phone folded and slide away the handy lens cover, and the phone automatically drops into camera mode—no scrolling through menus or pushing buttons. There's also a big, colorful screen acting as a viewfinder....

Taking pictures is a breeze: You just hold the phone sideways and click the shutter button at the top. A jog dial lets you change the camera's settings, all the way up to 1,280-by-960 resolution (or up to 15 seconds of video at 176-by-112 and 15 frames per second). The phone stores about 40 pictures at maximum resolution. We wish it had a memory card slot, but it doesn't.

Sadly, the photos taken with the Koi's 1-megapixel camera don't live up to its camera-like interface. Our simulated-daylight shots looked washed out and suffered from color noise; the noise got even worse on pictures taken in low light. The camera was better than the Motorola V710's or the LG VX7000's (both Verizon phones), but it isn't nearly as good as the Nokia 7610's (a non-Verizon phone). This phone won't replace a standalone camera, even a 1MP model.

Read More at Kyocera Koi/KX2 review by PC Magazine