Back in August we reported on the new Sony TX1 digital camera and its innovative add-on, the party shot base.

We’ve now had a week to run both devices through their paces so read on to see what we thought.

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If you were wandering what the Samsung “Tap and Take” website was all about, the answer is now clear!

The new ST550 and ST500 digital cameras have a new front mounted screen that lets you compose a picture with yourself in front of the lens instead of behind it.

The new cameras feature smile detection, so you can just prime it to go automatically when it detects happy people – neat!

In fact there is some very cool technology hidden in these pocket cameras. Highlights include:

• 3.5” Rear LCD with the highest resolution of any camera in its class (at time of launch)
• Face recognition – an advance on face detection, this one actually remembers frequently seen faces and prioritises them for correct focus and exposure
• Blink detection recognises when your subjects are blinking and takes three shots in a row to catch them with their eyes open

Other features include dual image stabilisation (optical and digital), 720p HD video recording, a 27mm wide angle lens and 12.1MP sensor.

News of this neat gadget actually arrived as a footnote to the press release for the WX1 and TX1 cameras, but I thought it was too cool to get buried and deserved a post of its own.

The IPT-DS1 is an optional accessory for the aforementioned cameras. It’s a motorised base that automatically pans and tilts to cover the room. It controls the camera using the automatic face detection and smile detection features to take photos automatically – the idea is that it is constantly on the lookout for the sort of “happy smiling people” shots people love to take at parties, leaving you free to enjoy the evening.

The only downside is it may be a little disturbing to have a robot camera tracking you around the room…

Sony have launched two new Cybershot compact cameras - the WX1 and TX1.

Both cameras use Sony’s new Exmoor R CMOS sensor which promises better low light performance than competing models. With 10.2MP resolution it should be more than enough for most uses.

The WX1 (main picture) has a 24mm wide angle lens with 5x optical zoom while the slimmer TX1 (pictured below) trades versatility for size, packing a 4x zoom into a shell 14.1mm thick.

Both cameras feature a new “Sweep Panorama” mode where the camera takes a rapid sequence of pictures as you wave it around then automatically stitches them into a single extra-wide angle image.

Specs common to both cameras:

• 10.2MP sensor
• Hand held twilight mode takes 6 images in a rapid burst and superimposes them to capture better images in low light
• 720p HD movie recording with audio at 30fps
• Optical image stabilisation
• Face Detection and Smile Detection

Samsung are set to launch a new line of point and shoot digital cameras on August 13th. They’re not telling us what the killer feature is, but as a teaser they’ve launched a bizarre website featuring videos of funky urban trendsetters.

If you think that’s you, you can check it out at (wait for it) – www.tapandtake.com.

Samsung are also going to be running a twitter giveaway from shortly after the launch date so if you aren’t down with the cool kids yet you’d better sign up for an account now!

Olympus have launched this new compact camera aimed at the outdoorsy/action-oriented (or just plain clumsy) market - It has been engineered to withstand a drop of 1.5m, temperatures down to –10 degrees Celsius and can be submerged to 3 meters.

A 12MP sensor means detailed images while a 28-102mm lens should provide enough flexibility for most needs.

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Known for it’s slim and compact range of digital cameras, Casio have launched a the EX-H10 with 10x zoom lens. It’s also apparently the world’s thinnest and lightest 10x compact zoom, but the press release fails to mention any dimensions so we don’t know what that actually means…

The highlights include:

• 12.1Megapixels
• 1000 shot battery life (impressive)
• 24-240mm equivalent lens (impressive)
• CCD-shift image stabilization (impressive, but also necessary at 10x zoom)

HD movie recording at 1280×720 pixels rounds off the spec list.

[via PhotographyBlog]

As regular readers will know I picked up an Arena at an LG event 5 weeks ago. First impressions were good but I promised to write a full review when I’d spent some time with the phone. I’ve used the Arena in place of my Sony Ericsson W980 and now it’s time to tell you what I think of it. This is one feature packed phone and so I’ll limit myself to talking about the highs and lows of the phone rather than get bogged down in too much detail. The full specification and feature list can be found here.

Touch screen and User Interface

The S-Class User Interface is one of the Arena’s major selling points but is it any good? LG have done a great job with the touch screen UI and it’s almost as precise and responsive as the iPod Touch which is high praise indeed. Yes the rotating cube is a bit gimmicky but it does at least give easy access to the four shortcut screens and can also be used to impress you mates down the pub.

The screen is bright and clear but in common with most colour screens it can be difficult to use in bright sunlight. Touch the status bar at the top of the phone screen and a neat shortcut menu drops down giving instant access to: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Alarm, Music Player, Calendar items and Phone Profile functions.

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JOBO have just announced a new range of ultra-slim digital photo frames. Named the “Nano” series, these 7” frames are 0.35” thick (0.9cm for anybody born after 1970).

The buttons you see on the picture are normally invisible and only show when you touch the screen – a nice touch. Basic screen resolution is 480×234 but the top end “media” version gives you an 800×480 screen and displays photos or slideshows (with audio) from SD/MMC cards.

Right now we only have US pricing ($119 for the media version) but since Jobo are a German company I would expect them to hit our shores soon…

The Eye-fi still has to count as one of the most innovative gadgets I’ve seen for a while – even now, 2 years after the original card first appeared.

The idea, if you’ve not seen them before, is a simple one. The card is a 2 or 4GB SDHC card for compact cameras, which includes an onboard Wifi transmitter. It will send your photos either to your PC or (via any handy access point) across the internet to your photo sharing website of choice.

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