T-Mobile G1 Google Phone Can Scan and Fax

If you're interested in the T-Mobile G1 Google phone, you'll be glad to know that you can scan and fax with it.  T-Mobile, Google and HTC have included a great 3 megapixel camera in the G1!

Simply take a photo of a document, whiteboard, or business card, email it to scanR, and get a digital scan in just few seconds. Then, download your scan as a PDF, text, or vCard file or send a fax anywhere in the world. 

To scan or fax, send your photo to these email addresses:

• For documents: doc@scanr.com
• For whiteboards: wb@scanr.com
• For business cards: bc@scanr.com

scanR will reply with a link to view your scan online, fax it or download it to your PC or phone.

Nokia E71

We've been waiting for this.  The Nokia E71 is the first phone with a keyboard that puts it all together for scanR.  The E71 has a 3.2 Megapixel auto-focus camera and a small, light design that really fits in your pocket. 

The camera works great with scanR and captures all of your business and personal information in a few clicks.  Below is the photo of a document taken with the Nokia E71.  Click the image to see a larger version.

Here is the scanned document from scanR. You can click this image too or download a PDF version: Download Nokia_E71_document_PDF.pdf.

scanR also creates a text version of scanned documents. 

"July 15,2008
Dear Parent,
Thank you for participating in the summer Stroke and Conditioning competitive swim

clinic." 

Read the full text: Download Nokia_E71_document_text.txt.

The Nokia E71 is only available in Europe and Asian markets now.  We're looking forward to the North American version from Nokia and similar smartphones from other companies.

Sony Ericsson 8.1 megapixel camera phone

Wow! Sony Ericsson managed to get an 8 megapixel camera into a small mobile phone.  Take a look.

For scanR, this will represent the first camera phone that can capture letter and A4 sized documents at the same resolution as desktop scanners.  A 3 megapixel camera can scan documents at around 200 dpi while an 8 megapixel camera can produce 300 dpi scans.  While this number is only 50% greater, the resulting difference in document quality is substantial.  This means that scanR is inching closer to our goal of replacing the copier and scanner for everyday tasks.

This phone is shipping in Q4 2008 and we can't wait to get our hands on it.

Top phones in April 2008

Here were the top 20 phones used to create new accounts with scanR in April 2008:

Worldwide, excluding Japan

1. Nokia N95
2. Nokia N73
3. Nokia N95 8GB
4. Nokia 6120c
5. Nokia E90
6. Nokia E51
7. Nokia N70-1
8. Nokia N82
9. Nokia E65
10. Nokia 3250
11. Nokia N72
12. Nokia E61i
13. BlackBerry 8310
14. Nokia N80
15. BlackBerry 8100
16. Nokia 5700
17. Sony Ericsson K750i
18. Sony Ericsson K800i
19. Nokia 6110
20. BlackBerry 8130

Top phones in February 2008

More megapixels.  That's what we like to see and that's what is happening.  Here were the top 20 phones used with scanR last month:

Worldwide, excluding Japan

1. Nokia N95
2. Nokia N73
3. Nokia N95 8GB
4. Nokia N70-1
5. Nokia E90
6. Nokia 6120c
7. Nokia N82
8. Nokia E65
9. Nokia E51
10. Nokia N72
11. Nokia N80
12. Sony Ericsson K750i
13. Sony Ericsson K800i
14. Nokia E61i
15. Sony Ericsson W810i
16. Nokia 6630
17. Nokia 3250
18. Sony Ericsson K550i
19. Nokia 6300
20. Apple iPhone

Nokia is really strong with scanR, reflecting the quality of Nokia's cameras and power of their distribution.  iPhone makes an appearance in the top 20, with its users' heavy browsing offsetting its relatively poor camera.

Japan

1. au W54T
2. DoCoMo F905i
3. au W51CA
4. au W53CA
5. DoCoMo SO905i
6. DoCoMo D905i
7. DoCoMo N904i
8. DoCoMo P905i
9. au W43H
10. au W44K
11. au W52CA
12. au W52K
13. au W55SA
14. Softbank 911SH
15. DoCoMo N903i
16. DoCoMo P705imyu
17. DoCoMo SH903i
18. au W47T
19. au W52H
20. au W52T

Nearly all of the Japanese phones in the top 20 have 3.2 megapixel cameras or better.  Take a look at the specs for the au W54T and the DoCoMo F905i to see what you're missing.

Beating the iPhone

With all the excitement, free press coverage and raving fans of the Apple and its iPhone, the incumbent phone companies probably are starting to worry about how to compete.  In particular at the high end of the market, where Nokia, Sony Ericsson, RIM and Palm earn their livings.

Apple is clearly going to take the music and fashion segments.  With a few tweaks, they could take share in the business market.  But for the bulk of the consumer market, there is an opening.

The iPhone is missing two things that appeal to the mass market: a lower price and a good camera.

It's clear from the early reviews that the camera has disappointed.  Take a look at these reviews from the web:

"The one HUGE thing that’s keeping me from getting rid of my Nokia is the camera." Robert Scoble. 

"Camera: horrible. Really Apple... what the deal!?!?!"  Jason Calacanis.

Even MacWorld doesn't like it: "It's definitely more appropriate for fun shots when no other camera is around than as a replacement for your digital camera, even if your camera is five years old."

No phone can have everything and Apple chose a cheap camera.  This leaves an opening for the next year or so for its competitors to respond.  Music in your pocket is great, but photography is a vastly larger market.

Go get 'em..while you can.

Oh yeah.  The iPhone works great with scanR Whiteboards, but won't work well with Documents or Business Cards.   

Motorola MOTORAZR maxx Ve

If you're a fan of good camera phones, like us, you have to be happy about the new Motorola MOTORAZR maxx Ve available from Verizon Wireless. 

This RAZR is the first to have a truly good camera.  The model features a 2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, ensuring high quality digital photos.  The images are quite good.  In fact, the RAZR maxx currently leads all camera phones on the scanR quality score which you can view at www.CheckMyCameraPhone.com.

This is an impressive victory for Motorola which in the past has not produced market leading cameras.  We're looking forward to seeing more from Motorola to help the US catch up to the rest of the world in camera phone quality.

Most popular cameras - Feb 2007

Here's the latest chart of camera phones used with scanR.

Nokia phones still lead the pack, though the Sony Ericsson K800 is coming on strongly.  We're looking forward to the release of the first 5 megapixel models from both of these companies.

A scanR in every pocket

Here's a quick view of the current and forthcoming 2 megapixel and higher camera phones.

There are more than 300 models.  The growth is really quite amazing considering that when scanR was started there were no 2 megapixel models available in the US and only one 1 megapixel model.

Most popular cameras with scanR

Inspired by Flickr's camera finder, we thought you'd like to see the most popular cameras used with scanR.  While Flickr is dominated by digital cameras, scanR is used most often with camera phones.

Since scanR released an application for Symbian S60 phones in October, Nokia phones have really taken off and now hold 5 of the top 10 slots. 

As Flickr notes, this isn't a complete list as many camera phones don't list their model names in the photos.