Samsung’s Wi-Fi Enabled ST80 Digital Camera with 14 Megapixels
Wireless Camera Review
Ridgefield Park, NJ—Samsung Electronics unveiled the ST80, a 14.2 megapixel point‑and-shoot model that joins the company’s line of Wi-Fi enabled digital cameras. With Samsung’s AllShare (DNLA) connectivity and Wi-Fi wireless technologies, the ST80 is designed to make it easy to share images and video.
“We want to let people share their favorite pictures quickly while they’re on the move, and the ST80 does just that,” said Sangjin Park, president of Samsung Electronics’ Digital Imaging business. “Connectivity is everywhere, and at Samsung we are committed to bringing these wireless capabilities to the digital imaging world by developing innovative cameras that satisfy the distinct needs of our consumers. The innovative and stylish design of the ST80 is also a testament to the strong vision of Samsung’s design engineers. It’s the perfect digital imaging solution for today’s well-connected consumer.”
The ST80 also takes 720p HD video at 30 frames per second utilizing the H.264 format—said to provide up to three times more recording capacity than the MJPEG video format. And utilizing an available Wi-Fi Internet connection, consumers can e-mail the images and video taken with the ST80 to individual e-mail addresses or to those stored in the camera’s address book. They can also upload images and videos to social networking sites such as Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, Photo Bucket or Samsung’s own website (samsungimaging.com). In addition, the camera includes an account with mobile hotspot provider Boingo, to deliver broadband speeds at more than 120,000 Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide.
Wireless connectivity is further enhanced by Samsung’s AllShare, which allows users to sync the ST80 to DLNA-compliant electronics in their homes, such as HDTVs and digital photo frames, and wirelessly connect and share content between each device.
The ST80 sports a slim, rounded casing that houses its 3x optical zoom and its 3.0-inch touch‑screen LCD. It comes equipped with Samsung’s new “smart crop” feature, an editing tool that’s used in-camera to crop images taken at any angle or slant, such as banners or signs, and straighten them as if they were originally taken straight on.
For ease of shooting, the camera also provides Samsung’s smart auto (still & movie) scene recognition technology, which automatically recognizes the user’s current shooting environment and selects the appropriate settings to achieve the best results.
Samsung’s ST80 will be available in September for an MSRP of $249.99.