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When it comes to the hottest camera phones, aside from the iPhone, Uncle Sam is usually standing at the end of the queue. Campho makers frequently introduce their sizzling models in Europe and Asia before seeking a beachhead on North America's shores. All good tech, though, gets here eventually, and that's the case with the Sony Ericsson C905 smartphone.

While Sony Ericsson may have wanted to keep the mobile's pending landing a secret for a little longer, the FCC spilled the beans this week releasing more than a half-dozen filings by the company in preparation for a U.S. debut.

The C905, which was introduced overseas during the summer, is among the ranks of offerings by LG Electronics and Samsung that pack an eight megapixel camera in their chest of toys. The Sony Ericsson phone has an autofocusing system, digital image stabilization, face detection and three LED flash. What's more, its built-in GPS receiver will stamp pictures taken with the camera with geographical information.

Other features include tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100MHz) and WiFi support.

While 8MP in a camera phone may sound impressive to some gadgeteers, others have questioned the merits of such devices. "[B]lowing out resolution to 8MP doesn't mean squat when you're dealing with a tiny cellphone-chip sensor," wrote one skeptic at Gizmodo.

Move over iPhone. Here comes Renoir.

Renoir, also known as the LG-KC910, is a smartphone with a three-inch touch-screen and eight megapixel digital camera announced today by LG Electronics.

Schneider-Kreuznach optics are built into the mobile for the camera, as well as a Xenon flash. The imagegrabber also supports auto and manual focusing, a top light sensitivty setting of ISO 1600 and geotagging with A-GPS.

The campho sports a number of nifty tricks.

It has a Touch Shot feature where you can focus on a subject on the screen by touching it. When you lift you finger off the subject, the shutter automatically fires.

There's something called Beauty Shot that allows spots and imperfections in faces in photos to be corrected, as well as brighten and clarify mugs in a shot.

And Art Shot permits a shutterbug to apply special effects to images in the phone, effects like turning a color photo into a black-and-white one or altering its tonal temperature.

Once a shot is captured it can be easily shared over a 3G HSDPA or through a WiFi connection. Since photos are geotagged, they can also be easily uploaded to the Internet and plotted at a map site.

Video, too, is supported by the unit, which includes a noise free microphone. Renoir can shoot slow motion video at 120 frames per second or prolonged clips at 5 fps.

Photogs who like to bop as they shoot pictures can listen to music on the phone, the first for a worldwide market, according to LG, that has Dolby Mobile sound.

Renoir will be rolled out in Europe this month and be phased into other regions of the globe from November to January. No pricing has been released yet by the Korean company.

Hot on the heels of Sony Ericsson's announcement last month of a smartphone with an eight megapixel camera, Samsung has entered the market with an 8MP picpho of its own. Clearly aimed at spelling challenged text messagers, the new Innov8 (that's pronounced "innovation" for more orthodox users of the English language) supports all the latest state-of-the-art acronyms and abbreviations--HSDPA, WiFi and GPS, which can be used for geotagging images captured with the camera. It has a 2.9-inch QVGA non-touch screen and 8GB or 16GB of internal memory for storing music, video and photos. Another 16 gigs can be added to the device via microSDHC card.

Although the unit does not have a Xenon flash, it does have a dual-power LED flash. What's more, it has an impressive array of bells and whistles typically found in the latest point-and-shoot funcams--auto-panorama; smile, face and blink detection; and wide dynamic range capturing capabilities.

The brainy mobile, also known as the i8510, is scheduled to arrive on the shelves of European retailers next month and other unidentified markets in September. No pricing for the phone has been announced by the company.

Sony Ericsson tightened the screws today on makers of low-end digital cameras with a new mobile phone that boasts an 8.1 megapixel digital camera and a Xenon flash that doubles as a video light. The C905, which was announced in Singapore, has several features that have become staples for point-and-shoot DSCs--autofocus face detection, smart contrast, image stabilization, red-eye reduction and best picture selection. The phone also does geo-tagging and PictBridge printing. A 2GB Memory Stick Micro for storage is included with the unit. Also in the product's box is a USB adapter for easy transfer of photos to and from the phone.

The mobile also records video and has a video stabilizer. Rounding out the mopho's Swiss Army capabilities are a media player and FM radio. It also supports WiFi, Bluetooth and Bluetooth stereo.

Offered in Night Black, Ice Silver and Copper Gold, the mobile has a 2.4-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

GSM/GPRS talk time is rated at nine hours; standby time, 380 hours. UMTS talk time is four hours; standby time 360 hours.

No pricing information was released by the company but the phone is expected to be available in selected markets early in the fourth quarter of this year.