Imagers, the pixilated chips that capture light and turn it into a digital photograph, are advancing rapidly, thanks to Moore's Law and clever engineering. Micron Technology, for instance, recently started producing an imager with pixels measuring 2.2 microns a side. The shrink is partly from having the pixels share some electronics; increased processing power also compensates for the photo defects that come from chip miniaturization.

As a result, more pixels will fit under those tiny 1.4-inch diameter lenses on cell phones. With the 1.7-micron pixel chips, a 3-megapixel camera phone with video will be a snap, costing only around $7 to $12 per handset.

"If you are going for a bigger lens, you can get a 5-megapixel camera phone," said Sandar Barna, the director of business development in Micron's imaging group. "The big manufacturers are going to push the cell phone to become a person's primary camera."

How you feel about the inevitable omnipresence of cameras and sensors, which can capture similar information, is one of the major personality tests in the technology world today.

One group immediately smells Big Brother. With cameras planted on phones--and eventually, on walls and street lights--police, federal agencies, corporations and our own personal enemies will be able to track us all as we go about our business. Forget about getting away with something: All the authorities will have to do to check your alibi is look at hours of stored video tape on your recent whereabouts.

Then there are those who see the all-seeing eye as handy. When you come back to the parking lot and see that your car has been rear-ended, a vibration-activated video camera integrated at the base of the rear window will have captured the license plate and face of the person who hit you.

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