A shiny new 8 megapixel digital camera has just rolled of Casio’s well-used photographic slipway, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z850.
The EX-Z850 offers 8.1 megapixel photos, a 3x optical zoom with both manual aperture and shutter speed priority AE options for advanced users who aren’t afraid to delve about with exposure options.
There’s a sizeable 2.5″ Super Bright 115k pixels LCD onboard and the EX-Z850 includes the latest version of the EXILIM Engine, featuring the software-based Anti Shake DSP to reduce the risk of blurred shots.
Although effective, this is never as good as a proper optical stabilisation system, and relies on ramping up the ISO and shutter speed to freeze action – so you often get sharp pictures at the expense of increased image noise.
Operation looks to be pretty fast, with the Casio boasting a one-second power up, 0.005 second shutter lag and high-speed picture playback of approximately 0.1 seconds interval.
An intriguing Zoom Continuous Shutter feature creates a “shot within a shot”, with the user selecting an area of an image to zoom into and the camera then taking two images with a single press of the shutter.
We’re not quite sure what that means or how the effect is achieved, but we hope it doesn’t involve digital zoom.
The camera’s got a decent battery life capable of notching up 440 shots on a single charge, with the camera sporting three new flash functions:
Rapid Flash blasts out three flash photos in only one second, Soft Flash prevents overexposure of subjects photographed up close and High Power Flash reckons that it can illuminate subjects up to 12.1 metres away.
Casio have also included its Revive Shot, which claims to “refresh faded colours of old photos by bringing them back to life in digital format.”
Apparently it does this by “automatically adjusting for obliquity even when photos are shot while still in the album” – whatever that means.
The camera looks nice enough but without proper optical stabilisation and extended ISO performance, we reckon Casio are going to have to offer a really competitive price to make this one stand out from the pack.
EX-Z850 SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor 1/1.8 ” Type CCD, 8.1 million effective pixels
Image sizes 3264 x 2448, 3264 x 2176 (3:2), 2816 x 2112, 2304 x 1728, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Movie clips 640 x 480, 320 x 240
File formats Still: JPEG (Exif 2.2)
Movie: AVI (MPEG-4)
Lens 38-114mm equiv, F2.8-5.1, 3x optical zoom
Image stabilization Anti Shake DSPDigital zoom up tO 8x
Focus Contrast type AF (selectable between spot, multi), 9-point Multi AF
Exposure Modes Program AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE
Focus Macro mode, Infinity mode, Pan focus, Manual focus
AF assist lamp Yes
Focus distance Normal: 40cm to infinity, Macro: 10 to 50cm, Manual: 10cm to infinity
Metering Multi-pattern, Centre weighted, Spot
ISO sensitivity Auto (Max ISO1600 when using ‘Anti-Shake’ or’ High Sensitivity’ BEST SHOT modes)ISO50, ISO100, ISO200, ISO400
Exposure compensation +/-2EV in 1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed
Program AE: 1/2 to 1/1600 sec
Shutter Speed Priority and Manual Exposure AE: 60 to 1/1600 sec
Aperture Priority AE: 1 to 1/1600 sec
Aperture
Program and Shutter Speed Priority AE: F2.8-8.0 (Autoswitching)
Manual Exposure and Aperture Priority AE: F2.8/4.0 (Autoswitching)
Connectivity USB 2.0
Storage 8MB internal memory, SD / MMC compatible
Power NP-40 Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Weight (no batt) 130 g
Dimensions 89 x 58.5 x 23.7 mm
When it comes to Friday, our thoughts are drawn to life on the sea with the inevitable weekend sojourn to Monte Carlo (doesn’t everyone weekend there?).
The latest innovation from Volvo Penta is bound to add extra ammunition to the yacht-owners dislike of Motor boats and their owners. It looks like it makes it a doodle of maneuver a boat, with almost super-human skills.
They’ve taken the idea beyond simple X-Y joystick movements to incorporate a twisting action and a couple of buttons. X-Y provides the obvious forward/backward, plus an interesting side-to-side action, which doesn’t swing the boat around, but literally slides it sideways – neat.
The joystick’s twisting action rotates the boat, seemingly on a six-pence, in either direction, right or left – again, most impressive.
It’s rare that there are inconsistencies in the Digital-Lifestyles clan, but there’s one subject that brings a split consensus. Some of us, me included, think that different forms of controllers for video game is a trend that is just starting – a more natural way of working with the games console is inevitable, like the 
Rock-power-fiends will set their fingers a flyin’ around the five frets, strum-bar and whammy bar. Beyond the buttons, there’s an alignment sensor used to gain extra style points when it’s played vertically. Expect the inducement of dizziness as heads are thrown around in a frenzy.
With the Multiplayer mode seeing two players facing-off in what are described as ‘an electrifying series of guitar duels’, it’s quite unclear what will happen over artistic differences, or even usages of the power axe (otherwise known as guitar) as there’s only one shipped with the software.
Initial previews have been strong and it’s gained from PR boosts with the like The Darkness talking about on MTV Overdrive. It looks like there’s high hopes from this one.
Motorola has unveiled their new, mass-market Motorola W220 phone at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain.
There’s no external display for caller ID purposes, with Motorola instead offering a simple set of three icons on the outer fascia displaying call status, message status, and battery remaining.
With such a slender feature set, we expect the W220 to be offered for next to nowt for contract deals sometime in Q3 2006.
Samsung have released a few more details about their new i320 Smartphone, which was unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.
For a fully featured smartphone, the dimensions aren’t too bulky- 111mm x 59mm x 11.5mm only – so you won’t feel too much of a berk walking around with it stuck to your ear.
Connectivity comes in the shape of Bluetooth with the tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM phone capable of GPRS/EDGE but no Wi-Fi as far as we can see – a major omission in our book. Bad Samsung.
Video : Video capture/playback
With PMA 2006 (Photo Marketing Association International) looming ever closer on the horizon, there’s been a flurry of new camera announcements, and of real interest is Fujifilm’s successor the award-winning 
The camera comes with a 3x (36-108mm equiv) F2.8-8 zoom and uses a sixth generation Super CCD and Fujifilm’s groundbreaking Real PhotoProcessor II.
As with the F11, the camera boasts a sizeable 2.5-inch LCD screen, coated with Fujifilm’s proprietary CV film for reducing glare and reflection.
We like the addition of a dedicated exposure compensation button on the back of the camera as we found some functions on the F11 to be annoyingly buried deep in menus.
Sony Ericsson has slipped out is slimmest-ever 3G handset at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Naturally, there’s an integrated music player lurking inside the rounded lines of the K610, with supported formats including MP3, AAC and e-AAC+.
Sony Ericsson K610i Specs:
Panasonic have released two additions to their popular Lumix digital camera range which the company are claiming are the world’s smallest in their categories.
The 5 megapixel camera comes with Panasonic’s well regarded optical image stabilisation system (you’ll definitely need that at the far end of its monster zoom) and sports the newly developed Venus Engine III, offering quick response times and an improved battery life (250 shots).
After the dire high ISO performance of the Lumix flagship model, 
There’s also 13.4 MB of internal memory onboard, a SD/MMC card slot and a 2.5-inch, 207k pixel TFT LCD.
The f/2.8, Leica zoom lens gives users a handy wideangle range of 28-102mm equiv., and the camera come with the usual smorgasbord of scene modes for every conceivable occasion.
The camera is also expected to be out in March for $349.95.
Ahead of the big PMA (Photo Marketing Association International) show at the end of the month in Florida, Sony has announced two new 6-megapixel cameras in their ‘W’ range.
Looking somewhat reminiscent of the Canon Ixus / Elph range, the miniaturised, re-engineered W-series offers a compact, highly pocketable design (89x59x23mm) with a price that’s easy on the pocket too, with the DSC-W30 retailing for $230 (~£132, ~e193) and the DSC-W50 for $250 (~£143, ~e209).
At higher ISO ratings noise can become a real issue, but Sony are claiming that their Clear RAW imaging technology keeps the multi-colour snow-storm effect to a minimum.
To help fumbling newbies and the easily baffled, Sony has added a new function guide which displays a short onscreen text explanation whenever a shooting mode is selected. This can be turned off once the user becomes familiar with the icons on the mode dial.
Scene modes Twilight, Twilight Portrait,Landscape,Beach,Snow,Soft Snap
Launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia’s new 6136 phone is being touted as the handset that brings GSM and wireless LANs together.
The quad-band Nokia 6136 will be able to connect to GSM networks at 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz (so no problems using it in the States as well as Europe) and comes with a built in 1.3 megapixel camera and FM radio.
At a press conference on Monday, Jorma Ollila, Nokia’s chief executive said, “We want to help our customers complement their existing mobile services with mobile IP. UMA gives users an alternative to PC-based VoIP,”