Review The ST1000 was Samsung’s first Wi-Fi enabled Camera that not only allowed users to e-mail pics from a hotspot, but had GPS thrown in just to prove you were really there. With the SH100 wireless compact, the company goes beyond snap and share by offering tight integration with its top tier Android products enabling tethering with a compatible handset or tablet, so that it becomes the SH100 viewfinder for remote capture.
The SH100 sports a 14.2Mp sensor, 3in touchscreen and a 5x optical zoom with the 35mm equivalent of a 26-130mm lens. It can handle 720p HD video recording and has an ISO range between 80 and 3200. At 93 x 54 x 19mm and 110g, the SH100 is highly pocketable and designed to operate as closely to an Android phone as possible. Read the rest of this entry »
The success of Flip’s pocket camcorders has seen a fair few manufacturers scrambling to grab a share of this potentially lucrative market. Many of us, it seems, quite like the idea of owning a product that lies somewhere between a cameraphone and a camcorder. Samsung’s HMX-U10 is for the person who wants a highly portable camcorder with high definition video, plus a few extras – a fairly enticing combination.
Samsung’s me too Youtuber cam, the HMX-U10
First impressions are good: the HMX-U10 is compact, sleek, stylish, and from the back, could easily be mistaken for an upmarket MP3 player. It also sports a 7-degree bend in its body, which Samsung says makes it more ergonomically-friendly. In practice, it makes little difference to how the HMX-U10 handles, but it certainly ensures that this pocket camcorder stands out from the rest.
The Camera features a 1/2.3-inch CMOS chip with a 10Mp resolution, plus a fixed focus f/3.0 lens. The HMX-U10 offers a wide, some might say, bewildering choice of shooting options. There are three HD shooting settings: 1920 x 1080/30p; 1280 x 720/60p and 1280 x 720/30p. You can also record in SD quality (720 x 480/60p), and in slow motion in QVGA resolution at 120fps. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Samsung’s ST550 is a rather innovative point-and-shoot compact Camera as it features both a front and back LCD. The idea is to make self shots and timed group pics easier to compose. With the ST550, standing with arm outstretched and looking silly – just to end up with snapshot of just half your head in front of the Tour Eiffel – will become a thing of the past.
The narcissists’ choice: Samsung’s ST550
The ST550 is a slim 12Mp compact with a 4.6x optical zoom 4.9-22.5mm f-3.5/5.9 lens equivalent to 27-124mm on a 35mm Camera. The LCD on the back is a 3.5in touchscreen LCD and a 1.5in front LCD to take perfectly framed self-portraits. It also sports an 80-3200 ISO range and a 1280 x 720 HD video recording at 30fps. Designed for gadget lovers and budding narcissists, the ST550 will set you back around £260.
With the ST550, Samsung leads the way not only in originality but also in technology. The large rear LCD screen has an impressive resolution of 1,152k dots and uses a very clever, if not perfectly functional, touchscreen technology. The Smart Gesture User Interface and motion-detection system let you access all the Camera settings directly on the screen through a series of interactive finger taps, hand gestures and Camera tilts.
If you want to scroll through your photos you can just tilt the Camera one way or the other or if you want to delete a picture you just have to draw an X on it with your finger. Should you not want to use the built-in orientation sensor that allows for hand gesture recognition you can still operate the Camera by tapping on-screen buttons. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Camera manufacturers are always looking for some unique selling proposition. In the case of the Samsung WB500, it’s been marketed as world’s first compact with the equivalent of a 24mm, ultra wide optical 10x zoom. But with a few other models, such as Panasonic’s DMC-TZ6 and DMC-TZ7, already equipped with a 25mm lens, this isn’t exactly a massive leap forward in Camera technology. However, the WB500 does have one or two other tricks up its sleeve.
Taking the wide view: Samsung’s WB500
There are times when advertising copy makes you splutter into your coffee cup and Samsung’s website certainly had that effect on us. The website blurb says: “See how the unbelievably compact WB500 hides a 24mm ultra wide 10x optical zoom lens in its thin design”. Well, thinness is clearly in the eye of the beholder, because the WB500 is anything but slim. In fact, it’s a rather chunky model measuring 105 x 61.4 x 36.5mm and weighing 250g when loaded with battery and card. Read the rest of this entry »
