Photo gallery: Samsung ST550It's hard to make yourself stand out amidst a sea of boring black cameras, each equipped with a 3x optical zoom, the stock standard 12 megapixels ... well, we could go on but we'd suggest a strong cup of coffee to keep your attention. Enter the ST550, a curious contender for the quirkiest camera of the year.
What?
The smiley face is really more Worzel Gummidge than Wonder Woman... (Credit: Samsung)
Fortunately, Samsung is playing the game a little differently with the release of the ST550, a 12.2-megapixel compact digital camera that features not one, but two LCD screens. At the back is a 3.5-inch touchscreen with 1,152,000 dots packed inside. To give you an idea of just how many dots that is, the standard camera comes with just 230,000. It's also equipped with haptic feedback, which means that the screen vibrates to provide you with confirmations when you press the screen, and Smart Gestures — so, draw a cross on the screen and your photo is deleted.
Those doing their best audition for The Sartorialist will love the addition of the 1.5-inch LCD screen at the front of the camera, designed for self portraits and to hold a child's attention while their picture is being taken.
And if you're wondering how Samsung intends to hold your child's attention, you set the camera to Children's mode and a smiley face appears on the front of the screen. It's a little scary even for us, so we don't know how a kid will react to it.
There's also the wide-angle 27mm lens that extends to 4.6x optical zoom and the HD movie recording at 720p, 30fps.
When?
Available from September, the ST550 will retail for AU$499 and come in three colours — black, orange and purple. A tad garish, until you realise the colour option is just a gentle stripe against the front fascia. Thank goodness. Expect a full hands-on review shortly.
2%
1%
More comments... 11 - 20