The Worlds SMALLEST camcorder?... The Samsung HMX R10

Samsung have announced the new HMX R10 to be the worlds smallest HD camcorder.
Where as this statement could well be true lets look at what the HMX R10 has to offer?

Filter Diameter - No Filter Tread
Focal Range - 6.8-34.0mm
Focal Range (35mm equiv.) - n/a
Aperture - F3.5-3.7
Type - CMOS
Size - 1/2.33"
Pixel Count (gross) - 9,160,000
Pixel Count (effective) - 5,600,000

These are some of the statistics and i'll let you decide for yourselves if its good enough for its £380 price tag.

The one thing that i'm sure has been eating away at Samsung is what will people think of the 25-degrees angled lense? Well Samsung stated that it was supposed to be held at the waist to reduce the fatigue of video recording.

One thing that has to be said is the utter lack of ergonomics used to create this camcorder, its a pain to hold, the buttons seem just that extra bit out of reach and the design looks like something out of Men in Black.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the poor quality of video recording the images appear pixelated and lack clarity... but what did Samsung expect when trying to make the smallest camcorder?

Also the HMX R10 lacked a hand strap. Not that this is a major set-back though.
I will say one good thing about it, and that is the fact that for the smallest in the world the HMX R10 has excellent sound quality through the built-in microphone.

Overall I didn't like the camcorder but if your looking for the smallest most compact of camcorders then the HMX-R10 is the one for you.

Check out this Digital Camera Blog for more!!

Blackberry Storm vs iPhone

First of all Welcome to the Technology Preview Blog, this will be the first post I hope you enjoy the review.

I am going to be talking about the new iPhone and the Blackberry Storms features, similarities and differences.

iPhone - The iPhone is a new generation smartphone from Apple, that has taken the market by storm, giving Apple a massive 26% increase in sales.
Blackberry Storm - The Storm is the dark horse in the race and is expected to quickly overtake the iPhone and achieve the higher sales. But what's the real story?

There are 3 main things I want to review about these smartphones and they are Style & Usability, Features and Value for Money.

Style and Usability - First off there is no denying that either of these products are stylish, with sleek designs and quality finishes there aren't really any design flaws with the looks. The iPhone however seems to be the winner in the Usability section as both phones may be Touchscreen but the iPhones simplicity seems to be the one trumping the Storm's "Clickable Screen".

Features
First off is the Blackberry Storm:

• Camera (3.2 MP)
• Built-in GPS
• Media Player
• Video Recording
• BlackBerry® Maps
• Wireless Email
• Organiser
• Browser
• Phone
• Corporate Data Access
• SMS/MMS

Now for the iPhone, well I couldn't actually find a list for the iPhone butlet me tell you, there isn't much difference. Features such as a Browser, Phone, SMS, Media Player and Email are all fairly standard with the SmartPhones. The Blackberry Storm also has a mapping system - BlackBerry® Maps which incorporates GPS, but then again the iPhone has its own mapping and GPS system leaving not much difference between the two.

Value for Money - As both of these phones are mainly sold on contract this is again a close one with the iPhone currently priced at £99 with a £35 per month tariff and the Blackberry Storm at a very close match these smartphones are both similar in price but due to the fact that Apple has a much larger range of applications at its disposal such as the AppStore and iTunes there are much more options available to it.

To Conclude it has to be said that this seems like a battle to the end between these two mighty companies and we can only watch the race between them. With the new iPhone 3G and the Blackberry Storm 9500 released it seems the race is still on.