Samsung Digimax i8 - Multimedia Meets Photography
Reviewed on 20 February 2008

Samsung's got an exciting new camera out this February and it goes by the name of the Samsung i8. Frankly speaking, we find it almost an injustice to call the i8 'a camera' because it's really much more than that. In fact, the i8 does more than your average point and shoot with impressive PMP functionality towed on board. To us, it's like having the best of both worlds here. Just when the moment calls for a photo, the i8 diligently answers your call with the quality of an 8.1 megapixels camera. Once you're done with the snapping, the i8 clings on by keeping the entertainment pumping with movies, music and text for the senses.

With already four cameras deep in the Samsung 'i' series, the i8 marks as the fifth and the latest addition to this exciting family of PMP cameras. With the latest i8 camera, it's obvious right from the get go that this camera is out to score some serious style points. While previous 'i' camera swayed towards a boxier and somewhat bulky body, the i8 is the lightest, thinnest and arguably the most stylish of the series. Given its new and contemporary styling by Samsung, the i8 is refreshingly curvaceous and exudes youthfulness in a dazzling new range of colours. Suiting well the purposes of both camera and PMP, the i8 sports a large 2.7-inch LCD on its rear to serve a wide view of both photos and media.

Being first and foremost a camera, the i8 takes photos in a brilliant 8.1 megapixels with a 3x optical zoom. On top of that it pretty much has everything else that consumers look for these days. Expected features like the standard face detection, Digital Image Stabilisation, Noise Reduction and a MPEG-4 movie mode are all present on the i8. With the addition of PMP technology on the i8, we think Samsung's just made this camera all the more sweeter. To better match the traveler in you, the i8 also stores a World Tour Guide to keep you informed of local sites from over 30 countries.

If you're passionate about photography just as much as you're passionate about your movies, music and novels, you simply couldn't ask for more with the Samsung i8. Offering you the ability to take photos with the added bonus of media entertainment, it manages to pack this wealth of technology into a conveniently compact body. Given the benefit of this duality, it quite possibly cancels out the need for carrying that extra mp3 player or video player, which means lesser weight to carry on the go. Finding PMP on a compact camera maybe surprising at first, but the Samsung i8 has just convinced us how much sense this makes.