"Later this year"?

I hate it when companies do this. Hate hate HATE it.

"Here's something awesome! Want it? OK, come back a few months from now and we'll sell you one. What? No, we can't tell you exactly when. We can't even tell you yet what it will cost. It'll be a few months, and cost some amount of money, that's all you need to know."

Then the few months pass, all the hype dies away, and when the device launches for real, nobody buys one.

I'm sure there's a marketing rationale for doing things this way, but I can't see it. What good is all this press attention now, when you can't actually take orders for the thing the press is raving about? When your ability to do so is so far away that you can't even give a specific date?

* Let the public markets know there's something good in the pipeline to keep the stock price as a decent level

* Let the distributors / carriers know (+ no worries about leaks)

* In some ways, it's better than the alternative of a leak, where all the marketing messages come from some crappy blurry cam mixed with a bunch of fake images

I agree it's a little risky from the consumer's POV. Bear in mind a couple things though:

* Even for consumers, when it gets released, they feel more positive towards a product they've heard of previously

* It's possible that the interest will be maintained over that period, although this is a stretch for anyone that isn't amazing at marketing.

What...on Earth...does this all mean?!? Consumers don't care about any of this. I'm tech savvy and I still don't know why having a 8MP camera makes pictures look any better? Furthermore, I have no idea what my iPhone has in terms in Megapixels, so I have nothing to compare it to...

The optical image stabilization is nothing short of revolutionary on this device. It enables both smooth video and low-light images. See the comparisons in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cimDfEIEiu0

With a ban I could also get stable shots.

Trying to fool customers, they are so desperate.

I very much doubt the actual consumer pitch is going to be like this.

But they do care - everything about a phone is what makes it. My GF doesn't are about the HP in my car, but she does care about how fast it goes when she presses the pedal, therefore, she does care about HP.

The specifications are not rendered moot because someone, like yourself, is too short minded to realize them...but unlike you, they know enough to keep their ignorance inside their head.

It means you need a slightly larger SD card, to store all the sensor noise.

Edit: i meant the camera mpx and not screen resolution. If you dont know tha your 8mpx camera phone has 8mpx camera, you are NOT tech savvy.

I'm tech-savvy. I honestly couldn't tell you how many MP the camera in my iPhone has.