Samsung i85 Review

The Samsung i85 offers an eight megapixel 1/2.5" CCD imager and 5x optical zoom lens with an effective focal range of 36-180mm, in an attractive, utra-compact package.

The Samsung i85 has no optical viewfinder, in favor of making room for a large 3.0" LCD display with 230,000 pixel resolution on which images are framed and reviewed. As well as capturing still images the i85 can record movies at up to 800 x 592 pixels, although the frame rate is limited to 20fps at this resolution. At VGA and below this improves to a maximum of 30fps. Editing of movies is possible in-camera, and the i85 can also function as an MP3 player, movie player, text viewer, voice recorder and storage device.

Perhaps most unusually for a compact camera, the Samsung i85 can be attached via a 24-pin connector to an optional Samsung GPS module, allowing it to automatically set the time and date (and correct it as you travel between time zones), then record into the EXIF header the latitude / longitude / elevation at which images are captured.

Images are stored on SD / SDHC cards, or in the generous 256MB of internal memory. Power for the i85 comes from a proprietary Lithium-ion battery, and the i85 comes bunded with Digimax Master and Digimax Converter software.

The Samsung i85 goes on sale in the fall of 2007, priced at US$349.