CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
REVIEWS
» Cell phones
» Cameras
» Camcorders
» Archive » Product Guide
» Compare » Expert guides
» RSS & Alerts » Ask The Editors
Home / Digital cameras / Compact digital cameras / HP Fall 2007 Preview
Hands on with HP's new Photosmart R937 cameraBy Philip Berne, 21 June 2007
GALLERY
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
HP Photosmart R937
Enlarge
The new top-of-the-line Photosmart features a massive touch screen and photo tagging. We got our hands on it last night; read our full impressions.

At a consumer-focused event yesterday, HP gave us a sneak peek at their newest Photosmart cameras, including the Photosmart R937. The R937 stands out with its huge, 3.6-inch screen, which HP claims is the largest screen on a digital camera. The extra room helped while viewing photos, but also allowed for larger icons, which is nice because the camera uses a touch screen interface. Playing with the camera, we found the screen to be nice and sharp, and the touch screen was perfectly responsive. Though we had no problems pecking at it with our fingers, HP also includes a guitar-pick-sized stylus that dangled from the end of the wrist strap.

The R937 comes with the slew of features common on the better compact digital cameras these days, including panorama stitching, anti-shake technology, red-eye removal and plenty of options to crop and edit your pics. Unfortunately, the anti-shake feature is not hardware-based, it simply improves the image by increasing sensitivity and tweaking the resulting shot. HP also has some unique features, though, in their pet-eye reduction, for which they had a dog present at the launch event to demonstrate, and a tagging feature. Tagging allows you to type keywords into the camera, using an on-screen, touch sensitive keyboard. These tags are recognized by Windows Vista and Apple's iPhoto. We use tagging often to organize photos, so being able to tag photos in the field intrigued us. In practice, we were happy with the responsiveness of the touch keyboard, and we'd like to spend more time with the camera to see if this feature is as quick and useful as it could be.

The camera comes equipped with a 3X optical zoom and an 8-megapixel sensor. The design places the lens in the center of the arching face. The display is large enough that users with small hands may want to hold on with both, but hardware buttons, like the shutter release, are kept simple, and within reach. The tripod mount is way off-center, which doesn't make sense on a camera with panorama-stitching built in. Otherwise, we definitely liked the touch menu interface, which was modern-looking and easy to read. Perhaps this represents a step away from the megapixel war that manufacturers have been fighting, and a step towards the display size battle. We'd definitely take a larger display and a good interface over a few million pixels, any day.

Look for our complete review of the HP Photosmart R937 as soon as we can get our hands on one for more than a few minutes. We'll have more to say about image quality and battery life then. The R937 will be available in August for $300.
Best Compact digital cameras
Name Score Price
C
Click here to see full and advanced chart »
 
 
DIGITAL CAMERA RESOURCE CENTER
Upcoming Releases
 
Specs Search
 
Side-by-Side
HOTTEST
DSLR Cameras
 
Performance Cameras
 
Point-and-Shoot Cameras
Canon Cameras
 
Nikon Cameras
 
Panasonic Cameras
Pentax Cameras
 
Fujifilm Cameras
 
Olympus Cameras
TOP STORIES
New Canon Cameras
 
Hottest Upcoming Point-and-Shoot Cameras
 
Hottest Upcoming Performance Cameras
Nikon D300s
 
Sexiest Compact Cameras
 
Nikon D700 Review
Best High Performance Compacts
 
Canon Eos 5D Mark II Review
 
Pentax K-7 Review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 Review
 
Nikon D5000 Review
 
Olympus Tough 8000 vs. Panasonic TS1 vs. Fujifilm Z33WP in Waterproof Shootout
NEW DIGITAL CAMERA RELEASES
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35
Canon PowerShot SX20 IS
Canon PowerShot SD940 IS
Nikon D3000
Fujifilm Finepix F70 EXR
NEW IN-DEPTH REVIEWS
Digital Cameras
 
Camcorders
 
Cell Phones & Smartphones
NOW IN COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS
Canon SD770 review
 
Nikon Coolpix P6000 offers more creative control
 
Nikon Coolpix L18 review
 
Nikon Coolpix L18 video review
 
Pentax Optio E60 10-megapixel compact camera announced
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, DMC-FX150 and DMC-FX37 hands-on
Panasonic Announces New Performance Compact
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780 review
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780 video review
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 Wi-Fi camera hands-on
NOW IN DIGITAL CAMERAS
Casio EX-G1 Is Ultra-Slim Waterproof Camera
 
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV Gets Release Date
 
Frankencamera is open-source digital camera
 
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 finally takes Micro Four Thirds compact
 
Samsung WB5000 focuses on the high-end with 24x mega-zoom
Canon EOS 7D is new mid-range DSLR with Full HD recording
New Canon Cameras
Hottest Upcoming Point-and-Shoot Cameras
Next 25 stories
MUST READ
CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
LAPTOPS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
INTERNET TABLETS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
GPS NAVIGATORS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
HDTVs
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMCORDERS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
About us | Site map | How to advertise | Feedback | RSS Feeds | | Archive
Copyright 1999-2009 © infoSync World