Question about my digital camera(s)!?

i know megapixels do not have any direct proportion to quality but...

well we used to have a 5MP samsung digital camera which produced very good images, and each file would be about 1.4mb big

the camera broke, so we bought a replacement, a kodak camera which boasts 8.1MP and "HD Still shots". However when i upload these photos up to the computer, the files are always 1.44mb big.

now i know the cameras have software built into them which corrects photos and makes them look nicely, but the amount of compression on the 8.1mp digi camera must be pretty big, if the images are the same size and surely this must cancel out all the megapixels!

my nokia N95 can produce 1.8mb large files and thats only 5 megapix.

any ideas why?!

Have a look if you are really shooting at 8 MP and also at the quality/resolution settings in the menu.
I can't tell specifically about your camera but mine (different brand) produces 1,5 MB files when set to 4 MP and the resolution set to fine.

The JPG files that the camera produces does not always correspond with the "megapix" size--this means you don't always get as 8 megabyte file from a 8 MP camera--because they are usually compressed. You have to see how large the file is (resolution, by pixel) by right clicking it (Windows). I don't know exactly the value of an 8 MP could be, but if it's 640 x 480, it isn't from an 8 MP camera.

jpg have different kind of compression.
high lvl.. low lvl... depending on the chip on the camera and the compression level the file size will be different.
even though the size size is small, but the resolution should be at 3000++ by 2000++ if you have set the Resolution to highest

Solution :
1) ensure that your pic quality is set to highest.this will reduce the compression,

btw i think u posted another question regarding this right?

It depend on the quality you set to find or super find.
Also the details in the picture are the factor that increase the file size. Compare the scenery sky picture and close up picture with many details will get around 1 mb difference file size.