Multi-mania – Cameras take on PMPs
25 September 2007
Mobile phones have long since carved
into the camera market as well as the PDA market but camera makers have
not been idle either. In recent times, we are witnessing a new class of
cameras that you don’t just look through but can also watch and listen
to. They are digital cameras that incorporate functions of a Portable
Media Player (PMP). However, these cameras must satisfy a list of
criteria for us to pin the PMP insignia upon it.
What makes a camera a PMP digital
camera (PMP DC)? MP3 and video playback first come to mind, as a PMP DC
should be able to play music as well as movies. With video playback
capability, the formats playable and LCD quality are crucial. A 3-inch
LCD with at least 230,000 pixels is the benchmark to balance a large and
lucid screen for viewing with a small and light body for carrying.
Moreover, an anti-glare coating is a must in order to safeguard your
viewing experience from bright sunlight. Of the models in the present
market, the Samsung i7
and i70 come closest to this ideal with the former also offering a large Touch Screen LCD, along with 180 degrees of
orientation angle for convenient viewing and playback.
It’s important to look beyond the
screen though, as even the best visual delivery would be hampered by the
memory capacity available and battery life. Cameras like the Samsung NV3 have more than enough space for MP3s with their 256MB of
internal memory but still fall short of the 1 to 2GB required for
storing full length movies or a collection of movie clips. In light of
this, an ideal PMP DC should either emulate the capacity of Sony’s
DSC-G1
with up to 2GB of internal memory or rival Samsung’s i7 in
allowing external memory of up to 4GB. Support of the new compression
format, the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, would also help maximise available space
without sacrificing image quality. On the battery front, it would be
very annoying if your PMP digital camera kept powering down on you.
Ideally, you should be able to enjoy up to 3 to 4 hours of playback time
with enough power to spare for photography.
Surprisingly, models from Samsung’s
Digimax and NV-series are the ones that most resemble our profile of a
PMP DC. With the i7 already meeting most of our requirements and
additionally capable of being a text viewer and voice recorder, Samsung
looks all set to put a strangle hold on this niche. With Wi-Fi
capability already seen in some cameras, it’s just a matter of time
before we see all these features consolidated in a PMP DC. However,
let’s hope that manufacturers don’t lose sight that a PMP DC should be
primarily a digital camera or we may well end up with a basic PMP with
ornamental camera functions.
|
