In yet another example of an automobile manufacturer leveraging the brand to release a distinctly non-car product (see: BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini), Fiat has announced that it will begin selling a line of cellphones conspicuously emblazoned with the company's logo. Suggesting that this lineup values fashion over function, no specs are immediately available for any of the individual models, although we do know that all will feature cameras, MP3 playback, Bluetooth, and the usual suite of Internet functions. Crafted out of "cold" aluminum, the handsets were designed to be displayed in engine piston-like cases that are meant to invoke the good times you can only find by tooling around the European countryside in your Fiat Panda Monster. The new models -- which were built to easily pair with the Microsoft-powered Blue&Me in-car Bluetooth system -- will be available in chichi Italian boutiques later this month, with a general European rollout to follow this summer.

[Via textually and Autoblog]

In yet another example of an automobile manufacturer leveraging the brand to release a distinctly non-car product (see: BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini), Fiat has announced that it will begin selling a line of cellphones conspicuously emblazoned with the company’s logo. Suggesting that this lineup values fashion over function, no specs are immediately available for any of the individual models, although we do know that all will feature cameras, MP3 playback, Bluetooth, and the usual suite of Internet functions. Crafted out of “cold” aluminum, the handsets were designed to be displayed in engine piston-like cases that are meant to invoke the good times you can only find by tooling around the European countryside in your Fiat Panda Monster. The new models — which were built to easily pair with the Microsoft-powered Blue&Me in-car Bluetooth system — will be available in chichi Italian boutiques later this month, with a general European rollout to follow this summer.

[Via textually and Autoblog]

Wasn’t it just a few years ago that $300 wouldn’t buy you much of a digital camera? How times have changed, because these days, you can not only score a compact 7.2 megapixel model for under three C-notes, but a good one at that — especially if it’s the Sony DSC-W70, says Digital Camera Review. We’ve known all about the W70 since before this year’s Photo Marketing Association show, where it was introduced along with four other Cybershot models, but this one really seems hit that sweet spot of providing the most features for the least amount of dough. As you probably recall, the W70 sports a 3x optical zoom and 2.5-inch display, along with 54MB of internal memory and a 300-plus-shot battery in a case barely bigger than a deck of cards, yet according to DCR, still manages to capture quality images with good color accuracy, white balance, and detail — although it does produce visible noise at ISO settings above 200. Still, with almost no shutter lag, ergonomic controls, and intuitive menus, the W70 sounds like a serious contender for consumers looking for a hassle-free model that takes a good picture at a fair price — which is probably, like, most of them.

hspace="4" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/ex-z5.jpg" alt="" />Casio has just
announced a new member of the Exilim family, a 5 megapixel shooter with 3x optical zoom called the EX-Z5. Successor to
the Exilim EX-Z4, the new Z5 also sports a 2.5-inch TFT LCD (but as usual, no optical viewfinder), an odd 8.3MB of
internal memory (expandable via SD/MMC), and the usual suite of burst mode, in-camera image enhancement, and multiple
flash options. Of special interest to photo buffs will be the Revive Shot function, which lets you take a picture of an
old photograph for the camera to perform a little digital restoration on, all without taking your photos out of the
album. No word yet on pricing or availability, but with Casio calling the Z5 a “perfect companion for the
summer,” it’s probably a safe bet to expect this model on shelves prior to September 21st.

The faint of wallet can bail out now, we're about to engage in some multi-thousand dollar camcorder biz up in here: we've got two new 3-CCD 720 / 60p options for you, indie filmmakers, so welcome JVC's GY-HD250U and GY-HD200U. The $7,995 GY-HD200U rocks the same accessories as their previous GY-HD100U, as well as new 1/3-inch mount HD lenses; the $8,995 GY-HD250U can also record to hard drive via JVC's optional DR-HD100U Direct-to-Edit recorder for dual MiniDV tape and drive recordings. Both should ship in October, which should be more than enough time to decide what you love more: your car, or the up and coming Sundance-bound documentarian in your life.

[Via Mobilewhack]

Casio just gave a bump to the top-end of their Exilim Zoom line-up by introducing the 10.1 megapixel EX-Z1000. The Z1000 features the same anti-shake DSP and meager, 3x zoom we saw in Casio's 8.1 megapixel Z850 but doubles the pixels count on the LCD to 230k. They also double the ISO sensitivity to a massive ISO 3200 (likely) just for show -- but let's hope that tiny 1/1.8 inch CCD can cut through the noise a bit better than Z850 can, eh? All this largeness impacts the size as well giving the case a bump by a few millimeters in all directions. Still, at 22.4-mm thin, she ain't no fatty. Hey Casio, how about some pricing and release date? Picture of the LCD on the flip.

[Via Akihabara News]

Even though we didn't previously know its name, we've been waiting around for Kodak to announce the EasyShare V610, their first Bluetooth-enabled camera ever since we saw it appear in the FCC not too long ago. What we weren't expecting was a device that claims to have 38-380mm focal length 10x optical zoom (which can be engaged while recording video!). This is a feat not accomplished by mere mortal compact digital camera makers, and has previously only gone into cleverly designed cameras like Ricoh's R4 (7.1x zoom) and Panasonic's TZ1 (10x zoom). We're still trying to figure out exactly how a camera with no expanding barrel or crazy folded prism optics system is going to work a 10x optical zoom (and how useful we can make that without a little OIS assistance), but each of the V610's two lenses, much like the V570 before it, feature a 6 megapixel sensor capable of shots up to ISO 800 (with pixel binning, no doubt). It also features, as mentioned, Bluetooth 2.0 for transferring images on the go, as well as to Kodak kiosks and printers (sounds like it will have the OBEX profile), a 2.8-inch display, 28MB of internal flash, SD slot, and comes ready to roll in a 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.9-inch body. It could be available as early as May for as little as $630 US, but we don't have any solid info yet; check out a comparison shot of it and the V570 after the break.

Following up on that farewell to Konica Minolta, Sony just announced their new D-SLR sub-brand hitting the streets this summer: Alpha. Yeah, Alpha as in "beginning" or "essential," not pre-beta instability (we hope). Sony will produce the complete camera system including the lenses (no Carl Zeiss?), accessories, CCD (hopefully not those CCDs) and CMOS imaging sensors, and other Sony imaging technologies. And like we already knew, the new Sony shooters will be compatible with Konica-Minolta lenses and accessories. That’s it, we can all go back to waiting now for actual products to be announced. Oh, and we linked to the Sony Alpha website per the press release which is, er, down at the moment… "Alpha" indeed.

Update: Thanks to everyone who pointed out that Minolta’s SLRs were marketed in Asia under the Alpha brand. At this point, it looks likely that Sony will be using the brand globally, dropping Minolta’s previous use of Maxxum (North America) and Dynax (Europe) branding for its SLRs. We’ll let you know if we learn otherwise.

[Via Sony]

PC Magazine just laid-out a postivie review on Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FZ7 six megapixel superzoom shooter. The reviewer fawned over the “excellent image” produced by this “very inexpensive” cam's “outstanding” VARIO-ELMARIT 12x optical zoom lens steadied by Panny’s MEGA Optical image stabilizer. The ability to shoot 640 x 480, 30fps video in both bright and low light with "little noise" was found to be “above average” -- especially in this price range. Yeah, there was some noticeable shutter lag and the non-articulating 2.5-inch LCD solarised when viewed from a sharp angle. Still, that didn’t stop PC Mag from slapping an Editor’s Choice, 4/5 rating on this $400ish cam when all was said and done.

Of
course the first thing you notice about the Ricoh href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/23/ricoh-caplio-r4-and-rr630-announced/">Caplio R4 six megapixel compact is
how freakin’ huge that lens is — and luckily, at least according to Digital-Lifestyles, it knows how to use it.
Equally impressive at both zoom extremes, the 28-200mm equivalent, 7.1x barrel of a lens includes handy features such
as optical stabilization for negating hand shake on tight shots, and even an on-screen cursor for manually selecting
the focus area in macro mode. Other nice touches include a skew-correction feature that adjusts non-level shots and and
histogram function for technical types, but some issues with picture quality — most notably visible banding in a few
shots and significant noise at higher ISOs — earned this model a good-but-not-great 84%. Still, the Ricoh definitely
gets a thumbs up from D-L, and the sub-$450 pricetag won’t break the bank.

Digital Camera
Review is doing what doing what they do, and have a review up of href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=Pentax">Pentax’s headline Optio, the 8 megapixel href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/03/pentax-intros-optio-a10-and-optio-e10/">A10. Including a 3x optical zoom,
2.5-inch LCD, and optical image stabilisation, the camera looks to be a decent deal for it’s roughly $300-350 asking
price, but the low battery life and sub-par default settings might be a turn-off for some. The back of the camera is
rather dominated by a 2.5-inch screen, leaving out an optical viewfinder, but probably not much the worse off, thanks
to the sharp and accurate LCD. The camera is fairly small, but manages to have decent ergonomics, and easy
customization makes it even nicer to use. Unfortunately, you might be using those menus a bit more than hoped, since
the default image settings were oversaturated and underexposed. Otherwise the image quality was fairly good, with
standard light response and uniform sharpness. Shake reduction worked well, which is a big plus, and while the
rechargeable battery wasn’t quite up to snuff, you might have a bit of cash left over for a second one at this price.

The 7 megapixel href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/26/olympus-updates-stylus-mju-line-with-three-new-models/">Mju Stylus 720SW
from Olympus has some pretty steep claims, including waterproofing up to 10 feet deep and shockproofing for up to 5
foot drops, but does seem to live up to its claims and happens to be a pretty good camera to boot. Available in pink,
silver, or blue, the camera’s metal housing is the main story here, with claims to be the world’s only shockproof
digital camera. With all this banging around we would hope for some optical image stabilization, but the digital
version seems to do a decent job. The pictures are generally low noise, the camera does a good job of focusing, and the
small flash manages to light up an indoor scene quite well. The reviewer liked the 2.5-inch screen, though the
resolution was a bit low, but found the workings of the camera to quite quick, and the camera body easy to use and
comfortable to hold. You could easily find a 7 megapixel shooter for less than the 720SW’s $410 asking price, but good
luck with dropping one of those in the drink.

Although not as much of an upgrade from the 20D as photography enthusiasts would have liked, the Canon EOS 30D DSLR nonetheless retains the quality performance and full feature set of its predecessor while addressing some key concerns that users had with the 2004 model. DPreview comes to these conclusions prior to bestowing their "Highly Recommended" rating on the 30D -- which obviously fared well in their rigorous testing -- finding it to be a strong competitor in its category for both image quality and value. Most welcomed by the reviewers was the addition of spot metering, variable continuous shooting rates, and the jump to a 2.5-inch LCD, although problems that plagued the 20D such as AI Servo banding with certain lenses and poor incandescent lighting results were not improved to their satisfaction. Still, besides these relatively isolated issues, most of the gripes with this model are minor quibbles, and it seems safe to say that anyone in the market for a mid-range DSLR would be more than satisfied with Canon's offering.

We have yet to see quite how well Samsung's Digimax i6 compact shooter will hold up to PMP duties, but Samsung is billing it as the "world's first PMP slim camera," so hopefully it does something right. The 6 megapixel i6 is now available in Europe for £200, while US pre-orders are available at a reasonable $300. Along with your average camera features like a 2.5-inch LCD and a 3x optical zoom, the i6 includes a mini headphone jack for enjoying MP3 files, along with video playback capability for XviD files made using an included converter. Not exactly groundbreaking, but we can't fault this sexy, 0.7-inch thick shooter for trying.

[Via SamsungHQ]

It's not been long since Nikon announced their latest volley of (WiFi enabled) digital cameras, and we've been pretty curious to find out how the P3 in particular stack up to the competition. Digital Camera Review snagged one of those 8.1 megapixel, 3.5x optical zoom, 802.11b/g-equipped shooters to play around with, and they seemed to dig the camera in whole with its Vibration Reduction (VR) image stabilization and manual features, even despite its chunky size and drab aesthetics. The WiFi still isn't apparently anything to write home about -- and it won't be until your camera doesn't require a host computer to do things like move around photos (or post them on the Interwebs) -- but the P3 definitely seems to have the hobbyist-ready features and image quality to make up for the limited use wireless and its size.

We're not entirely sure of the purpose here, but Kodak filed with the FCC for a Bluetooth camera module that "is to be installed only by the professionals and used only with any product produced by Kodak." Yes, this thing's internal -- normally they'd just file for a camera with the radio, but this isn't the camera, this is the component. See why we're a little confused? So unless Kodak's going to start offering Bluetooth upgrades for their point-and-shoot cameras (which would arguably cost in parts and labor more than the camera itself), it's dubious this is anything more than a proof-of-concept for future, yet unearthed-in-the-FCC cameras, like the one in which the device appears to be implanted (that dual-lenser that sure as hell aint a V570, that much we can tell you).

[Via MobileWhack]