Since captivating the attention of all with their unique Samsung 'Smart Touch' interface last year, Samsung has really outdone themselves this time with the announcement of their latest Samsung NV100HD and the Samsung NV9 camera. While the NV100HD is bound to make headlines all over the net for its staggering 14.7 megapixels, the NV9 will be gaining its share of oohs and ahhs for its 10.2 megapixels and the ability to play your favourite movies and music.

When the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 was released earlier this year, we honestly believed that its 13.6 megapixels was going to mark the end of any further hike up the megapixels ladder. But not to be denied, the Samsung NV100HD has just showed us it can go higher with 14.7 megapixels. If megapixels are what you crave, consider getting your fix here. However, more than just megapixels, the NV100HD has a lot of other good things going on like the optically stabilised 28mm wide-angle lens and the intuitive Smart Touch interface. Now called Smart Touch 2.0, this interface gets revamped on the NV100HD and now operates via touchscreen on the 3-inch LCD monitor. Also, as the "HD" suggests in its name, the NV100HD will provide 720p HD movie recording.

While the NV100HD and its 14.7 megapixels promises to bring fun of all sorts to users, the NV9 is really where all the fun and entertainment is at. Backing away from the extremes of 14.7 megapixels, the Samsung NV9 is a slim figured 10.2 megapixels camera that gets attention-grabbing power for its PMP functionality. Playing substitute to your movie player, mp3 player, text viewer, voice recorder, portable hard drive and camcorder, you might as well carry the NV9 with you than with all these separate gadgets weighing you down. The camera's 5x optical zoom will be giving it the slight edge over the NV100HD's 3.6x, but what users will find most intriguing and useful will be the Mini-Dashboard status gauges on top that are used for reading battery and memory status.

With the two new NV cameras consisting of different strengths and characteristics, they also manage to share a lot of the same features. Featuring the now mandatory Face Detection, both cameras will extend the usage of this technology to Smile Detection which allows the camera to take photos with just the hint of a smile. Similarly, Blink Detection will notify users when subject have closed their eyes. Also, taking away the pain and agony of accidentally deleting photos, the Recycle Bin Function allows deleted images to be retrieved. All in all, the Samsung NV100HD and Samsung NV9 are both immensely feature-rich cameras and by adding features only exclusive to Samsung, we wouldn't be surprised if you caught yourself at the centre of envy with either or both cameras in possession. The Samsung NV100HD and Samsung NV9 will be available in August 2008, start envying now.