INBOXIn the battle for digital camera supremacy, compact cameras are beating cameraphones, writes Mike Butcher

IF YOU'VE never seen a journalist eat their hat (complete with press card stuck in the band, then, dear reader, conjure that image now, because I am about to feast on a tasty tile.

There was a time when it seemed right to sound the death knell for the compact camera, as cameraphones were becoming increasingly powerful.

Now, however, I'm about to slam on the brakes and head in the opposite direction.

First, though, let's take a step back in time to see what has led us to this point. In 2005 I wrote about several new cameraphones, one of which was the BM-200 from Pidion, which packed a "whopping" two-megapixel camera with flash, along with an array of other features, such as WiFi.

The phone sank without trace, but two megapixels in a cameraphone was a big deal back then. These days it's practically standard.

The next year, the digital camera industry hit back with a number of moves to increase their camera quality. Canon came out with the EOS 30D, a semi-professional snapper with an 8.2-megapixel capability. At the time I wrote: "This should be enough megapixels for anyone!"

How wrong I was.

The megapixel wars continued with the launch in 2006 of Sony Ericsson's K800 and K790 phones, which carried the Cyber-shot brand and featured a 3.2-megapixel digital camera with autofocus, Xenon flash and Sony's BestPic technology. It also had a proper lens cover, dedicated shutter button, automatic red-eye reduction and image stabilisation.

Then, in 2007, Nokia brought out the now iconic N95, with a five-megapixel camera, WiFi and GPS. Can you see where this is heading?

The camera people hit back, heading towards form factor and lens quality over the multifunctioning mobile phone.

Canon brought out the seven-megapixel Ixus 70, at 19mm thick. Sony countered with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 at 22mm. Then came the Fuijifilm Z5fd at 20mm and the Nikon S500 at 22mm.

Sony also mounted an attack on the market from the left-flank, focusing on the camera's strength with a massive 15x optical zoom lens on the 8.1-megapixel Cyber-shot H7 and H9.

Today, the war between cameras and phones is reaching preposterous proportions.

Reports are surfacing that Motorola is working on an eight-megapixel cameraphone codenamed "Alexander", described internally as the company's "last stand".

At the same time, Sony Ericsson has once again blurred the line between handsets and compact cameras with the launch of the 8.1-megapixel C905 Cyber-shot. It has face-detection technology, an image stabiliser and autofocus. And that's just the camera, never mind the GSM/GPRS/Edge wireless connections and HSDPA 3G.

But here is the problem with these trends. Cameraphones are never going to match real cameras, (this is the sound of me eating my hat, by the way), because of the physical limits on lenses.

Real cameras will continue to get smaller and thinner, but the optics of the lens will remain centre stage. In a mobile phone, you still have to pack in all the equipment required for the phone itself. I doubt we'll ever see a mobile with an optical zoom lens.

In addition, eight megapixels in a cameraphone is slightly crazy. Sending an MMS with that size of image would require your entire month's data allowance.

That's why I'm going back to a mobile handset that takes quick snaps, and will hunt down a slim but capable compact camera to compliment it.

Sometimes, convergence just doesn't work.