Samsung has announced the launch of the the i8510, an "almighty entertaining mobile phone," due to go on sale in August 2008.

With the claim that is takes mobile handset photography - and multimedia - to new heights, it is Samsung's first ever 8-megapixel cameraphone complete with such photo tech as auto focus, smile shot, blink shot and face recognition.

Images can be displayed on the phone's 2.8-inch 16 million colour LCD, while storage comes in via the 8GB or 16GB flash memory plus microSDHC external memory slot that can support up to 16GB cards.

As well as the photo abilities, the device claims to offer a surround-sound video experience, "the best" mobile internet browsing experience and mobile gaming capabilities - it will be sold pre-embedded with "Asphalt" and "FIFA 08"

Video playback comes in with DivX, WMV, Real Player and MPEG4 format support, while external dual speakers and 3D surround sound supported by DNSe 2.0 takes care of the audio.

Browsing is said to be "PC-like" with an optical mouse and four-way navigation key, with both HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity included.

Other specs include Bluetooth, FM radio, music player, DLNA hook-up, USB slot and talk time is up to 510 minutes while standby is up to 310 hours.

Running Symbian OS V9.3, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, the phone also gets A-GPS technology, offering navigation and geo-tagging service.

Due for launch in the UK in August, pricing and operator details have yet to be announced.