New Multi-cam

[Demori]

I'm looking for a cam/multi-tool with:

slim/small ultra-compact (pocket-sized next to phone)
6MP+ stills
3x Optical zoom or more
Vid recording in MPEG4 @ 30fps+ (or anything that gets good record times, not MOV) @640x480+
MP3 Playability
Voice recording
Possibility for uploaded vid playback (I'm use to doing this on the ewear)
~2''+ LCD screen
Image Stabilization is a plus but not required
Rechargable Battery

The closest I've found to this is the Digimax i50 which means there are probably even better cams available.

If at all possible, phone functionality would be nice, but I realize this is likely a few years away. I've found a few models that look promising but most don't seem to be available in the US or English. The first instinct was an Ewear upgrade which led to the D-Snap SV-AS3 but this does not have a good digicam and no optical zoom whatsoever.

Okay, I know this is most likely not available, but I don't want any flak for not looking. I've spent hours and hours over the last 8weeks looking at different cams and most of the time I'll waste hours only because I'll find something new that I didn't know could exist (happened 3x in the past week). I'm just looking to find a cam that is or will be available by the end of Jan 06.

I started my cam'ing a few years ago with an Ewear sv-av30. It is wonderful and I do still use it, but I'd like to upgrade. I'm sorry if any of this is unclear but I just spent a few hours at 3AM looking during my "free" time. I will eagerly respond for any clarification tomorrow.

[Caelum]

Except forthe MP3 playback: the Sanyo C6 (check the Sanyo forum) looks good. Check outSteve's review of it's predecessor,the C5.

In the Hybrid forum you will find a few cheap hybrids that will meet all of those specs, but they might not live up for quality.

I'm sure Samsung will have the device you want soon enough. They're doing well with MPEG-4 in their cameras,now have a8 MP camera phone, can you seeit combined with their 10GB HDD MP3 phone? :G

[Demori]

I remember looking at the C6 and being disappointed that there is no MP3 function, as this would have made it my cam of choice. It has everything else, but I'm looking for an all-in-one that I can keep on me at all times. I notice that it has voice recording/playback which means it CAN play audio, but it does not say if this is in MP3 format. Does anyone know?

As for the 2 phones you mentioned -- I nearly drooled on my keyboard over the first one :shock: but it looks to be a while away. I'm not used to the phone industry lingo, but the last 2 products I've waited for from announcement took 2 and 4 YEARS to hit the market. :/ Do you have any clue how long these releases take?

Thank you for taking the time to help me

[Caelum]

Demori wrote:

[...]I notice that it has voice recording/playback which means it CAN play audio, but it does not say if this is in MP3 format. Does anyone know?[...]

Actually it records up to 13 hours of audio only in the .M4A (AAC MPEG-4 audio) format, which provides better compression and quality than .MP3 but I haven't heard of people playing imported .M4A files into the C5/C6? I was also curious about importing .MP4 video files to play them on the C6. It must be possible? But it's certainly not sold as a media player.

Oh, and about the phones, you mean it takes forever to get to the west. :G Korea has the 5 MP now, not sure but they might have the 7 MP already?

[Demori]

Yes, in the west.. Darn staggered marketting. I looked at the review for the samsung i5 (closest to i50 I could find) and found the problem that the image stabilizer really messes up the video recording (which seems to kind of defeat the purpose in the first place).

I heard about a Samsung Minikit and found this: ( http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news...tory_4325.html ). This seems nearly perfect save for the lacking MP but this is something I could live with (until those nice phones are available). I have 2 questions about it though.
One is whether or not it is available yet because I've found minikits, just not that model. (if not, has a date been set?)
The next question is whether it has a protective covering for the LCD & Lens, I saw this on the i5 and was impressed with the concept.

[Caelum]

Details on that miniket are scarce, I'm not sure if it will everget hereconsidering they also announced the SCD-K50 miniket which looks targetted to Koreans (DMB TV)and they never released the VP-M2100in the west. It's strange how Samsung comes out with things non-stop, it's almost crazy, they're notjust prototypes either, they actually did release 164 different phones in 2005 alone but they targetted different markets.

[Demori]

From everything I've read so far, the i50 is still the only cam (available to the west) that comes close to what I am seeking. Although the i5 review I read indicated the uselessness of the stabilizer and video recording I am trying to find samples of the i50 movies. Do you know what format they use?

[Caelum]

I haven't found a review or sample videos of the i50, only for the i5(<- in Samsung forum). The i5 uses the .AVI container with VGA Xvid videoand MPEG mono audio, justunder 2Mbps total bit-rate. I'm pretty sure the i50is the same, but not certain.