Photography

Samsung's shock, water and dust-proof W200 Pocket Cam

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Samsung has announced the W200 multi-proof pocket camcorder designed for active users.
Both the lens and the LCD display are coated to help shoot clear, sharp and bright videos and stills
Samsung has announced the W200 multi-proof pocket camcorder designed for active users.
Less than an inch thick but quite a rugged pocket cam - waterproof to about 10 feet, dustproof and shockproof to 6.5 feet
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Despite the killing off of the FLIP there's still some movement left in the Pocket HD camcorder market. Samsung's latest release is a shock, water and dust-proof rugged unit capable of recording full high definition video and snap 5.5 megapixel stills. The bright lens and LCD screen are coated to help keep videos blur-free and the sensitivity is twice that of previous models thanks to the inclusion of backside-illumination technology.

Samsung's waterproofing of the HMX-W200 Pocket Cam to a depth of about 10 feet (3 meters) is not the only feature to help action lovers to best capture full 1080p high definition underwater scenes, the F2.2 lens features anti-fog coating to disperse steam and the 2.3-inch, 230,000 dot resolution LCD screen benefits from anti-droplet coating for wipe-free framing. There's also a special Aqua Mode setting which automatically adjusts the device's settings for optimum underwater video.

The 2.36 x 4.44 x 0.77-inch (60 x 113 x 19.7 mm) Pocket Cam is dustproof and shockproof, loow lighting noise and distortion is kept in check by the backside-illumination technology of the 5 megapixel CMOS sensor and, like the FLIP, the W200 gets its own pop-out USB arm for direct connection to a laptop or computer.

Both the lens and the LCD display are coated to help shoot clear, sharp and bright videos and stills

Other features of note include the ability to pause filming during shooting so that the captured video can be stored as one file, and fish-eye and vignetting filters to add some arty creative spice. The 1300 mAh battery is said to offer about 2 hours between charges and content is stored to micro SD/SDHC media.

The Samsung HMX-W200 Pocket Cam will be available from next month for US$159.

Rugged qualities aside, it will be interesting to see if there is indeed a post-FLIP Pocket Cam void for the W200 to fill given that many of the latest smartphones are already capable of shooting 1080p video and capturing multi-megapixel stills.

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5 comments
Wombat56
QUOTE: Rugged qualities aside, it will be interesting to see if there is indeed a post-FLIP Pocket Cam void for the W200 to fill given that many of the latest smartphones are already capable of shooting 1080p video and capturing multi-megapixel stills.
Why leave the rugged qualities aside? Are you going to risk attaching a top-of-the-line smartphone to your helmet to video your dirt bike practice . . .and where are you going to get such a smartphone for US$159 before discounting?
Michael Mantion
VOID?? HUH. This is a rugged, waterproof camera that shoots 1080. My smart phone is not water proof and certainly not very drop proof. It is strange a couple hours ago I was looking at the samsung 2710, 2100 phones which are rugged and waterproof.
Paul Jensen
I think FLIP should have taken this approach rather than throwing in the towel. I have a smartphone which would cost me a lot more than $159 to replace, and like wombat said: it is neither shock or water proof. You would not catch me taking pictures of my rafting experience or any other risky outdoor activity with my smartphone.
Tim Sozio
I was just about to buy a flip - glad I waited - and not all of us use top of the line smart phones - for some of us this absolutely fills the void and if all is at it seems this will be in my Harley side bags this summer for our trip -
Dennis Learned
Rugged and waterproof is good. But if the battery is \'built-in\' service replaceable only, it is not such a good deal. A camera or camcorder should never have a built-in battery. Kodak proved it could make a waterproof (10 ft) with a user replaceable battery (Playsport ZX3). However, the playsport lacks a few features. For example, it has a plastic tripod socket. Not good. There are two things that stop me from parting with my hard earned money and those two things are: non-user replaceable batteries and plastic parts that really should be metal. Other than that, sounds pretty good. If those freshmen engineers could just get away from the Apple engineering model. Now, if you could continue shooting while the thing is charging...