Kodak parades photo-sharing compact
Slice of social networking life
Kodak has designed a touchscreen compact camera for posting pictures directly onto social networking websites and digital photo frames.
Kodak's Slice hopes to take the hassle out of FaceBook uploads
Called Slice, the camera has a rear-mounted 3.5in touchscreen that displays images according to various user-definable categories, including person, place, date or occasion.
Simply ‘slice’ through the thumbnails with your finger and tag any images you think worthy of upload onto Flicker, FaceBook or You Tube. An image sharing button congregates tagged images and performs the upload on your behalf.
Kodak has yet to say how Slice communicates with social networking sites, but it is reasonable to assume that the camera is Wi-Fi compatible. Bluetooth may be onboard too, given the camera’s ability to send images to digital photo frames.
The 14Mp camera offers image stabilisation and can capture videos in HD – well, at 720p and 30fps frame rate.
Kodak’s Slice compact camera is available in black, nickel and “radish” body colours this April, priced at $350 (£218/€243).
PlaySport
Slice probably won’t withstand video capture while mountain biking or jet skiing. For this market Kodak has designed a “rugged, durable and pocket-size” handycam called PlaySport.
PlaySport is waterproof and should handle a few knocks
The 5Mp PlaySport can capture 1080p, 30fps video and is waterproof up to 3m. Electronic image stabilisation features too and Kodak says its in-house “Imaging Science” technology will ensure that your videos are vibrant and blur-free.
PlaySport’s small 2in LCD may put off some video junkies, but it is nice to see that Kodak has given the camcorder’s screen with an anti-glare coating for true outdoor use.
Other notable features include face tracking technology – handy if you’re riding backwards on a mountain bike while filming your friend ride over a rocky ridge – and an SD memory card slot for cards of up to 32GB.
Kodak’s PlaySport hits the stores in April, priced at $150 (£93/€104) in black, blue and purple body options. ®
