Aug 25, 2009

Samsung's Dual-LCD Cameras

Samsung on Thursday unveiled two cameras that feature the world's first dual LCD screens, one in the front and one in the back.

Samsung also unveiled cameras that feature three built-in radios: GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. Most smartphones already come with these features, but this is the first standalone point-and-shoot camera to feature all three.

First up is the 12.2 megapixel Samsung TL 225. It features a 3.5-inch touch LCD screen in the back and a 1.5-inch LCD in front. Users simply tap the front LCD to turn it on and off.

Samsung TL 225 - Front

The primary use for the front LCD is for users who like to take pictures of themselves with friends by holding the camera out in front of them. In this scenario, the LCD screen helps users frame the shot, and face detection boxes pop up so you know if you're in focus.

Samsung added two other functions to the front LCD. When the timer is active, the front LCD displays numbers that count down so subjects can anticipate when the camera will fire. A cartoon animation of clowns can also be played on the LCD in order to get babies to smile for the camera.

The 3.5-inch touch LCD screen on the back of the TL 225 is also unique since it is very high-resolution and offers haptic feedback. When you touch a virtual button on the camera's rear LCD, it gently shakes to confirm you pressed it. LCD screens on most compact cameras contain 230,000 dots - the more dots, the more detail. The TL 225's back LCD screen contains 1,152,000 dots so images should look very sharp.

Samsung TL 220 and Samsung TL 225

The Samsung TL 225 will retail for $349. A less expensive model, the Samsung TL 220 will also be available for $299. It will have the 1.5-inch front LCD, but the back LCD will be a smaller, 3-inch haptic touch LCD with 230,000 dots. Both will be available in September.

Last up is the Samsung CL 65, which will contain three different radios: Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi and GPS. The GPS radio will be used to "geotag" photos so they have city, state, and country information attached to them. The Bluetooth radio can be used to send photos from the camera to other Bluetooth-equipped devices like cell phones, printers, and computers.

The Wi-Fi radio will let the camera jump onto any Wi-Fi network to transfer photos to devices on the network. The camera's Wi-Fi also supports the new-ish DLNA networking protocol, which attempts to simplify network sharing of pictures, video and music. (story Link)

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