Samsung Electronics has developed the world's first 3-inch VGA LCD screen for digital still cameras which can also be used for portable media players and other small devices that utilize little power and require high resolution screens.

Previously, LCDs could not be made to such tiny specifications. Samsung's ability to create LCD panels that operate at 30hz (instead of the usual 60hz) made it possible for them to create VGA images on the tiny screen without compressing or otherwise manipulating the signal.

Without the advances Samsung discovered, low power, high resolution LCDs of this size wouldn't be possible. According to a Samsung press release, "the three-inch VGA LCD also incorporates a dot inversion scheme that lowers power consumption while substantially reducing the image flickering that has prevented such an approach in the past."

The public will see the new monitor at IMID 2006 (International Meeting on Information Display), in Daegu Korea on August 23. A commercial version of the 3 inch VGA LCD will be made available in the first half of 2007.

About a month ago, Samsung released the SC-X210L which was billed as a sports camera that could record you in action while bungee jumping or skiing, so that you can show off your conquests to everybody. This one comes with a remote lens unit that could record those ''helmet cam" moments, Fear Factor style. The only problem is that the remote lens had to be connected via USB cable to the cam, so recording yourself while rock climbing is gonna be more challenging with the cable always smacked right in your face.

Samsung became well aware with that problem and has now released the SC-X210WL, an upgraded version where the lens went wireless. It has a 15-foot range so you still need to stay close to your man, but you need not worry about the cord being stuck to the harness or something. It works via tried-and-tested RF technology, keeping the bandwidth high enough for video and the power consumption low enough to actually be useful. This one will be available in September and the 1GB model costs $679, if 1GB is too small for you, you could always make use of its SD card slot.

This will be one of Samsung's newest and greatest movements into the point-and-shoot market. Introducing the NV3, a 7.2 MP camera with PMP support for audio, video and text. It is placed all inside a slimline 17.5mm case, and has a dedicated MP3 chip for which delivers 3D, jazz, rock and other sound effect equalisers. The chip then allows you to listen to music while you are taking pictures and video. Video capturing features recording levels of 20fps at 720x480 and 30fps at 640x480. There is a bit of included firmware which minimises the sound made by the lens when zooming in video capture mode, called AGC (Audio Gain Control). The camera can also display eBook's and other text on its large display. The camera should be out priced £229 at most UK stores and online. For those in the US, there is no confirmed price, however it is being rated against similar camera's priced $300-499.

 

We've featured Samsung's jack-of-all-trades digital camera, the Digimax i6. This baby is far from basic - not only does it take pictures but it could also be your own personal media player (PMP). It is also equipped with the Samsung Digimax Converter software that allows you to hear mp3 tracks, watch tv shows, music videos or movies. It is blessed with a 6 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom lens.

So ok, ok, we got that covered already, but what do the reviews say about this thingamajig? Are they satisfied with it or do they think it's just a big waste of benjamins? Well, a review from DigiCam will perhaps give you an idea if you should go ahead and buy one, or if you should just forget about it. So on we go with that.

With regards to the PMP feature the review says that the critic was "able to play videos for 2 hours and 10 minutes and then the battery went flat - if you need to watch videos for longer than this then you'll need to either plug the camera into the charger or buy a second battery." That small thing can play videos for more than 2 hours? Cool.

Read the rest of the post after the jump!

If you're the type who's concerned about being stylish all the time, then the Samsung Digimax i6 Titanium Limited Edition is for you. The design makes it look very elegant - like nothing less than a piece of jewelry. Just have a look at the photo in this article (which, by the way, was taken by Kumio Yamada).

But the Digimax i6 Titanium is not all about looks; it has an array of features too that will tempt even the fussiest consumer.

The Digimax i6 Titanium Limited Edition is a personal media player (PMP). It has the exclusive Samsung Digimax Converter software that allows you to enjoy movies, MP3 files, television shows, and music videos. The image quality of the still pictures taken by this 6-megapixel camera are outstanding, mainly because of its 3x optical zoom lens.

The Digimax 16 Titanium has a 2.5-inch LCD display like the previous model Digimax i6. But the similarities stop there as this limited edition digital camera has many other features that made it stand out during the Korean Photo & Imaging 2006 event. There are special effects functions for creative control in-camera, scene modes, a built-in image editing function, and the ability to record videos in VGA format, among others.

This camera/PMP from Samsung is certainly one of the most attractive choices if you're looking for a feature-packed digital camera - typically Samsung. However, you might want to check out the price for this one before going out to buy it.

At the Seoul International Photo & Imaging Industry Show 2006 in Korea, Samsung Techwin invited us to take a peek at its first digital SLR camera. Dubbed as the GX2, this 10-megapixel digital camera is the first product of Samsung's and Pentax's partnership.

The specs of this digital SLR has not been disclosed yet, but we can expect it to have almost the same features like those of Pentax's 10-megapixel camera showcased at the PMA 2006.

We'll keep you posted when Samsung and Pentax finally announce the release date and specs of the GX2. For the meantime, check out this photo of the Samsung GX2 from Kumio Yamada.

Samsung will be showcasing its latest model of the Samsung L-Series digital cameras at the Korean Photo & Imaging 2006 in Korea. The Samsung L70 (or Kenox X70 in Korea) is being promoted as the next generation PMP-digital camera.

Not much information has been given about this 7.1-megapixel digital camera, but we know that the L70 has a 1/2.5-inch CCD image sensor and a 2.5-inch TFT LCD. It also has a 3x optical SHD zoom lens and runs on Lithium Ion batteries. JPEG format is used for still images. A 9-key multicontroller design at the back of the camera makes it relatively easier to operate.

Here's a photo of the L70 taken by Kumio Yamada. It's a plain-looking digital camera, but features-wise it's got a lot of potential. Stay tuned for more from us.

Samsung's just announced a new variant of the venerable MMC card.  As per its name this new sort of MMC card features OneNAND technology,  which, in a nutshell, incorporates buffer memory, NAND flash memory and a controller on a single chip to speed up performance immensely.  As a result, Samsung claims, OneNAND MMC cards are approximately 10x faster than competing memory cards and twice the speed of regular MMCs.

These cards are now available in sizes between 32 and 256MB.  512MB and 1GB cards will be on sale at the end of the year. (We haven't received word on pricing yet, though.)

It's good that companies are still keeping the MMC format fresh, despite the fact that the format's been more or less superseded by the SD card and rendered practically obsolete by all the physically smaller card formats out there.  The fact that so many devices still work with them - some companies, Nokia among them, are still ardent supporters of the format - ensures that this old memory-card format will be with us for a while yet.

Samsung DOES care about consumers! I never would have thought Samsung had that compassion for its users. (Laughs heartily.)

Kidding aside, this digital camera is appropriate for the point-and-shooters, because its features are less complicated than those of the i6 and the S600 of the Digimax series. It has the basic optical zoom and digital zoom features (8x and 5x respectively). It also has nine scene modes and other special effect functions.

The 5-megapixel Samsung Digimax A503 digital camera even has less built-in memory of 24MB and a smaller LCD screen (2 inches) compared to the i6 and the S600 cameras.

This digicam really seems appropriate for those point-and-shoot type of consumers.

You'll like it for its MP3 playback feature, or maybe for its voice memo and recording functions. You might like it because it's small (depth-18.5mm), or because it feels just right in your hands. You might want it because even though it's so small it has a 45MB internal memory and has an external SD memory slot.

You think others want it too because of its 3x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom features, or because of its large 2.5-inch LCD screen.

Whatever your reasons for craving for the Samsung Digimax i6, they're probably logical. This digicam's so nice to look at anyway.