Jan 9, 2009

Sony Cybershot G3: World's First Camera You Can Surf the Web On

The Cybershot G3 is a camera so special Sony Sir Howard Stringer himself did the honors: It's the world's first Wi-Fi camera with a built-in browser.

END Besides stealing your neighbor's Wi-Fi, it has free access to any AT&T hotspot until 2012, but then it won't matter since we're all going to die then anyway when the world ends. It's worded so it might mean you can only use AT&T spots for free to hit Sony's Easy Upload Home Page (which provides quick access to sites like Shutterfly, Picasa and YouTube), not furries.meetup.com. But we'll find out. Oddly unmentioned in the list of supported services is Flickr.

Still, it doesn't really matter if it has a web browser, if the browser can't render itself out of ASCII paper bag—we're hoping it's a WebKit dealio 'cause that would make it a quick call from the sidelines. But we're not holding our breath on that (we are talking Sony, after all), so we'll have to grab some hands on time to see how well it handles the real internet. Sony's seeing this more as a flexible, fast way to dump and check your photos and videos online, direct from your camera, not so much as a way to compulsively watch YouTube videos or read Gizmodo, even though that's exactly what we want, and will try to do, practicalities aside.

Oh hey! I think there's a camera somewhere in there too. 10 megapixel sensor with 4x optical zoom, but it's got 4GB of storage built-in (optional expansion is Memory Stick only, grrr), with a 921,600-dot, 3.5-inch touchscreen and photo browsing software integrated. Otherwise, it's got typical Sony features like Intelligent Scene Recognition (automatically picks the best automatic scene setting, automatically), Face Detection, Smile Shutter (it snaps when people smile) and Dynamic Range Optimizer, which automagically balances contrast and detail.

It's available rightnowomg for $500. (full Story)

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