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Samsung blurs line between camera, multimedia device

Steve Conaway Labs Manager / Senior Technical Project Manager
I am the Labs Manager for CNET's Home Division based in Louisville, KY. My interest in technology began in the early '90s, and soon after I began my double major in computer science and computer engineering. I've worked in many areas, including computer hardware, software, technology, networking, graphic design, instruction, construction, music and even ballroom dancing! 65% Ron Swanson, 25% Ben Wyatt, 10% Andy Dwyer.
Expertise I've been an outdoor enthusiast my entire life. I also renovate, flip and build houses in my 'spare' time. Paired with our test lab facilities, I write about lots of outdoor related things - portable power stations, tools, etc.
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Steve Conaway
2 min read

Samsung wants to take a bite out of Apple. Since Apple's iPods are the default standard for portable audio and video players, industry players like Samsung are thinking innovatively to get a piece of Apple's pie.

SamsungNV
Credit: Samsung

Samsung's new line of NV cameras takes sharp pictures while blurring the line between traditional camera and multimedia device. Features like a built-in camera, MP3 player and video player are normally added to cell phones. Samsung is bringing the pressure the other way with the Samsung NV3. The camera has some juicy features, like a 7-megapixel digital still camera, MP3 player and video player all built-in. The brushed black, stainless steel camera has a 3x optical zoom that is equivalent to a 38-114 mm lens in 35 mm format.

Good digital cameras are able to record video that can be downloaded to your computer. Samsung took the next logical step with the NV3 digital camera, giving it the ability to load video and music from your computer. Digimax Converter software is included with the camera, letting users import MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF video, as well as MP3 files. The software also lets the user view subtitles, but that seems like an attempt in futility on a 2.5-inch screen.

Industrial spies and international men of mystery will appreciate the text recognition feature that allows the photographer to take shots of secret documents, plans to take over the world, or other text-bearing documentation, and then extract the text using the bundled Digimax Reader text recognition software. When storage space becomes tight, a picture resizing feature can be used to shrink the pictures and reclaim some space.

The 3.7 inch by 2.2 inch by 0.7 inch NV3 camera includes stereo speakers, earbuds, 16MB of internal memory and a lithium ion battery.

Rounding out the NV series is the NV7 OPS and the NV10. The 7-megapixel NV7 features a Schneider 7x optical zoom lens that is equivalent to 38-270 mm in 35 mm format. The combination of a high-quality lens on a 7-megapixel camera should provide much better picture quality than simply having a high MP rating. The NV10 combines the best features found in the NV3 and NV7, but with a 3X optical lens. The entire line of NV cameras can record VGA video at 30fps.

All three cameras will be available in the fall. The NV3, NV7, and NV10 have MSRPs of $349.99, $449.99 and $399.99, respectively.