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For June 2010

• Google Sites — 179 million unique visitors
• Yahoo! Sites — 170 million unique visitors
• Microsoft Sites — 161 million unique visitors
• Facebook — 141 million unique visitors
• AOL 108 — million unique visitors

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The World Wide Web is one of the greatest accomplishments in human history. At its inception the Internet was simply a library of static web sites. These static pages were created and maintained by an elite few. Those corporations and government agencies that rarely engaged because it was an excepted practice.

Over the past decade there has been a fundamental and global change in who defines what information is on the Internet. Web 2.0 is nothing short of a revolution — a climate shift in which an everyday consumer has the potential to become a producer of content. We no longer lay wait impatiently for the next morsel of information. The Web 2.0 tools available to us – allow us to create, curate, distribute and comment. These tools are household names – Twitter, Facebook, the Huffington Post and Mashable just to name a few. These platforms have given us an alternative to the mainstream channels.

By 2014 the mobile Internet will overtake the static Internet.

Please read the rest at the Huffington Post.

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Yesterday Microsoft invited us to a private preview of Kinect for XBOX 360 — at the beautiful MPE Penthouse. Now we have been invited to a handful of private previews this past year. What made last night such a pleasure was being able to see a very polished Kinect sensor. We were met by a handful of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices representatives — they were very eager to show off all the refined features. Throughout the salon Microsoft had a number of Kinect stations setup for demonstration. We started off the night with Video Kinect.

Microsoft explained that XBOX movies can be accessed either through NetFlix or Zune – which supports 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound. The Kinect philosophy is – “a controller free experience.” So after a number of hand gestures Harry Potter begins to play. As the movie starts you immediately see a scroll bar pop up. This scroll bar is controlled by simple hand gestures – which allow you to stop, fast forward, play and rewind a movie. It was impressive to watch how easy and accurate the sensor was.

Please ready the rest at the Huffington Post.

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The mobile market has been rockin’ and rollin’ over the past year and a half.  From the rise and demise of Palm’s WebOS, to the almost weekly release of Android devices, the mobile OS drama was in full swing.  It’s funny to look back and see the comments written about Android’s failure due to a lack of hardware devices.  Now it seems to be the complete opposite.

Meanwhile, back at the bat-cave, Microsoft has remained relatively quiet about their next jump in that space.  That is, of course, until a few months ago when Windows Phone 7 was announced.  Some basic screen-shots were released, and a few select people were able to see the project first-hand, but there has still been a close to the vest approach to their release.

Dads On Tech was given amazing access to the newest version of the Windows Phone 7, last week.  And in addition to a walk-through of some of the newest features, we were given a device to test out over the upcoming weeks.

Our embargo was released on Monday morning, so I can now give a few comments about the mobile environment we have used for the past few days.

The Phone

The hardware was not the focus of the preview, mostly it was just the canvas for the OS platform to run on with some basic specs.  So don’t get too hung up on the appearance or capabilities of the phone, but rather the Windows Phone 7 interface.  Microsoft did mention, however, that there will be certain minimum requirements for their OEM companies to have on their equipment to be able to run WP7.  Specifically, a minimum of a 1Ghz processor, and at least 512MB RAM.  Also, each phone will have the same 3 button layout on the bottom, under the screen (Back, Windows Home, and Search).

Setup

The initial setup is easy.  It is similar to how Android phones set up their mail accounts, contacts, and calendar.  There are a few main services that you can sync with (Google, Windows Live, Facebook, Yahoo, Exchange, etc.) right away, and that allows the WP7OS to begin the back-end collection of data.

Walk-through and interface

You can see that Microsoft decided to depart almost entirely from their previous mobile environment, and for anyone who has used the WinMo platform will attest to, that was needed.  WP7OS takes a minimalist approach to the mobile market, by using very subtle color elements, but keeping the transitions and fonts modern.  If you are familiar with the Zune, this is very much a relative of that interface, and the music side of this OS is practically the same.

The entirety of what you would consider the ‘desktop’ or ‘Home’ are two main screens, an ‘Applications list’  and settings, and another ‘Tiles’ screen where you can place (Pin) animated informational icons (kind of like advanced shortcuts) of your calendar, phone, individual contacts, or links to applications.  There is a feeling of supreme efficiency in that design.  I would only assume that future applications would allow for their ‘Pinned’ widget to provide graphical weather maps, or dynamic content on the ‘Tiles screen’.  But the main reason for this is to have an action wall of information most important to you.  Animated contact icons display the person’s picture, name, and their latest social media status update.

As of this release, there are only two background color choices, white and black, plus 10 accent colors available on these screens.  Background images are only on the lock screen, mind you, and I do expect that to change once consumers get their hands on it.  The keyboard is really good, and has suggestive text as well and auto-correct.  IMHO, all manufacturers should just adopt Swype and get it over with.

Once you go into some of the native applications, you will see the Zune-like fonts at the top, tapering off to the sides to indicate there are more screens if you swipe to that side.  It takes a little getting used to this approach, because we are all so familiar with formal screens and menus.  While it does become more normal as you use it, perhaps the amount of space these font cues take up would better be utilized by the actual content of that application.

Mail

The mail application was the first thing to test on my list.  If you are like me, you get a lot of email every day, and you are about as attached to your email client as you are your nose.  A bullet-proof client is essential on any successful mobile platform, especially if you are going after the corporate Blackberry market, which is precisely what Microsoft is trying to do.

Sorting through all those messages needs to be efficient and simple.  The average consumer may get a few dozen messages a day, but business professionals need a client that best suits the suit, so to speak.  That said, the mail client left me a little disappointed, which surprised me.  As we all know, mobile platforms have to balance form and function due to a very small footprint on that screen.  The real estate is so small that you need to make use of every corner, nook, cranny, and even behind that as well.

Unfortunately, the design elements somewhat overpower the efficient layout of the information.  Titles are too big, folder names at the top eat up 20% of the screen, fonts are too thin, and there are no controls for how many preview lines of the email body you can see.  UI design in the email space is very difficult because it really is a personal preference, and sometimes the more artistic the worse your reading experience is.  You have to think of it like an e-reader.  Power users read a lot of email everyday, and eye strain is a big issue.  That is why some people have HUGE size Ariel fonts on their Blackberry, even though their eyesight is perfectly fine.  Of all applications on the OS, this should be the most configurable for UI elements.

Also, if you have multiple email accounts (exchange for work, gmail for personal, etc.) , you will have a separate mailbox for each account.  There is no universal inbox to organize all of your messages in one place, which is a bummer.  And multi-threading , like you see on some other mobile platforms, as well as Microsoft Outlook, is absent.

Color choices for background, fonts, or type size doesn’t seem to have made it in this release.  Speaking of which, the entire platform has no Accessibility options, from what I can tell.  If you have an issue with your eyesight, there doesn’t seem to be any way of increasing fonts throughout the environment.  Just like in Android and iOS, you can pinch-zoom inside of the actual email itself (which is not efficient either), but that doesn’t address the needs of a significant segment of the market.  This is a pre-release version, so I hope that is addressed.

Transitions

Transitions between objects or after pushing buttons are really beautiful and informative.  Many times the transition indicates you should do something, bouncing, or in many cases delaying the withdrawal of an icon to signify that it was the last thing you touched.  Windows Phone 7 is certainly a very animated Operating System, and designed for aesthetic beauty on every task.  Microsoft took a lot of pride in the crafting of each of these elements.  My fear is that there may be an over-use of menu transitions, in some cases.  For example, when flipping from one email message to the next, the buttons on the bottom will be exactly the same, but will animate each time.  This is totally unnecessary, and probably confusing for some.

Camera

The camera and video functions are fantastic.  The WP7 team got this right.  When you take a video, the recording time is shown on the screen very clearly.  You can send photos (not videos) to Facebook, Mail, SMS, or Microsoft SkyDrive very easily.

Social Media:

The real strength of this platform is how it weaves in content from social media outlets like Facebook and Google using the ‘Hub’.  The Pictures application, for example, shows photos added by any of your Facebook friends.  If you look up a contact inside of the People application, you can see an aggregation of all of their social media updates.  I would use this a lot.  I was surprised to see that Twitter and Linkedin were missing from the Services link.  No doubt they are in the works.  Plaxo and Digg would be a great addition too.

What was most impressive was the focus of Social Media as a core component of the WP7OS.  Apple’s iOS4 doesn’t address this at all, and Android only does it with the addition of a widget or custom App by the hardware manufacturer.  It is really good to see that Microsoft was taking this very seriously and decided to integrate it so intensively.

Applications:

Right now there are few applications available for Windows Phone 7, other than the built-in ones provided for this pre-release.  A WP7 Marketplace is available, and I do hope that they take some cues from Apple on this.  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just improve what exists already.  Microsoft is also very interested in spurring development on their new platform.  There is a big game of catch-up, but I am sure they can use the strong development base to get going.  The 2 most important things that Microsoft needs to do are, a) make it simple to develop using the current Windows developer environments- like Visual Studio, and b) make it lucrative.  We’ll get more updates as we get closer to launch.

A bigger concern of mine is that the ‘Application List’ screen will have to be redesigned.  The window will become unruly when you install 30, 40, or 50 apps.  We may end up going to a multi-screen icon-like desktop in the end, with the Tiles as just one of those screens.

XBox live:

Microsoft is keeping this element close to their vest, but integration is afoot.  The XBox Live application will allow you to have a consistent experience between different platforms.  It’s going to be interesting to see how this works.

Office:

The Microsoft Office 2010 applications are a huge draw to this platform.  Business customers will absolutely love the capabilities of OneNote or SharePoint, for example.  The ability to create or edit Excel or Word documents, or view PowerPoint presentations, makes this a big win.  There are limitations though- you can’t cut and paste, or change fonts and colors.

Maps:

Maps is another pretty application.  Even though you cannot get street view, or directions using public transportation, the maps are presented really well, and tapping on each numbered step changes the map accordingly.  I am not really sure if the directions take traffic into account when giving directions, although there is an option for showing traffic on the map.  I would love to see turn-by-turn voice navigation on this app, similar to how Google did on Android.

Music, Movies, and Podcasts:

As far as media goes, the interface is very similar to the Zune.  You can sync up with the Zune software on your machine over USB, or though wi-fi.  My main gripe is with the Zune marketplace, which I find confusing and arbitrarily obtuse.

Web:

The built-in web browser is based on the IE7 platform overall, and doesn’t support Flash.  Pinch-zoom was very responsive, and the controls are nice.  Page loads are fast from what I can see, and the Opera-like floating tabs layout is helpful.  Not much else to say other than the browser seems like a win.

Summary:

Initially, I really didn’t know what to expect from Windows Phone 7.  I live on my iPhone, use the Blackberry for work, and test the Android OS on a regular basis, so I didn’t really see where WP7 was going to fit in.  After spending a few days with the product, I can say that it is really growing on me.  There are some dark corners of the environment I hope they fix, and some features I would love to see expanded, but overall this is a very fast, beautiful, socially connected Operating System.  Microsoft’s biggest mistake was not doing this sooner.

Preliminary Rating:

Design
Performance
Features
Camera
Battery
Overall Rating: 3.8

More images:

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Like many computer users, over the last 10 years I have probably purchased about 4 or 5 different printers.  Why, you may ask?  Well, every time my ink runs out, I am faced with sticker shock at my local office retailer.  I call that PPPD (Post Printer Purchase Depression).  The prospect of spending $50-70 on a full complement of ink replacement cartridges makes the brand new $50-70 printer seem like a really good idea.  It seemed wasteful, and drastic, but financially made sense.  There had to be a better way.

Kodak, whose name is synonymous with print quality, released a new printer for the SOHO (small office, home office) community that will attempt to alleviate this disjointed situation.  They set out to design printers with the lowest ink (pigmented inks) replacement costs in the industry.  So when you go back to buy new ink, you won’t have to think about replacing the printer you love, for the printer that is on sale.

The Kodak ESP Office 6150 All-in-One Printer is an addition to their current suite of all-in-one products.  It uses some of the same internal components, but beefed up options and gave customers even more ROI (return-on-investment), which is most important for the SOHO market.

Some of the features are:

• 200-page high-capacity paper tray
• 2.4 in. LCD (color) display
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b, g, n)
• 30-page Auto Document Feeder (A4, Legal);
• 100-page fax memory
• Mac, Windows (XP, Vista, 7)
• 10-Mbps Ethernet
• USB 2.0
• borderless photos up to 8.5 × 11 in. (US letter size), and (A4 size);
• documents up to 8.5 × 14 in. (legal size)
• 4 × 6 in. photos in as little as 29 seconds
• documents up to 32 pages per minute in black and 30 pages per minute in color

Unboxing

Right out of the box, you can see the printer is moderately sized.  It isn’t a huge monstrosity like some of the other office printers out there.  It fit perfectly on my desk, and the design/color were unobtrusive.  My first impression of the printer is that it doesn’t look like a cheap baby-office printer.  No doubt, it has professional appearance.  The single yellow line on the black case was a nice touch.

One big pet peeve of mine is the gadget trend of putting bright blue led lights on the front of things like TV’s, routers, and printers.  Companies have to consider that these devices will sometimes be in living rooms, bedrooms, or sitting close to the user where the blue light can be really distracting, especially in a dark room.  The 6150 uses one for the wi-fi indicator, and I wish there were a way of turning these off.  It isn’t super bright, but I think it should be changed.

One interesting thing I noticed was that they used a separate removable tray head for the ink cartridges to sit in.  That was really smart because over time, ink trays tend to get messy as you are on your umpteenth replacement cartridge.

The front panel can also be adjusted, angled or flat, depending on what you prefer.

Setup

After a brief setup of the cartridges, tray, and power, it’s on with the show.

The menus are very simple to navigate through, and the printer setup process is good.

I opted for wi-fi, since most SOHO users will go this route.  I connected using a bunch of common wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, and Apple Airport) without any problems.  I then used WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security encryption, again without any problems.

Not only that, but it supports 802.11 b, g, or n!  Those who have had a difficult time making your wireless network N-only because of that one wireless printer, this will solve it.

Wi-fi allows you to put this printer anywhere, and that is a huge benefit.   I didn’t have a chance to connect the Blackberry or iPhone to the printer, but there seems to be a function for that.

There is a quick print and scan alignment process, and then you are fully configured on the printer.

Computer Setup

As far as the computers go, you will need to install the software that came along with the printer, or download the latest suite from the Kodak website.  I really wish all manufacturers would make their devices Bonjour capable out of the box, although I do understand that these all-in-one printers need more software for scanning, faxing, etc..

My only gripe is when you have to repeat the install process on every machine in your SOHO, it become quite tedious and prevents the visitor with their laptop to just quickly print something out.  For example, if you are using Windows 7, the suite is several hundred MB (Megabytes).  So, when you are at grandma’s house setting up the printer, the horrible internet speeds she gets will make the process take a while.  That being said, the software provided is very good, and you will get use out of it.

Printing

OK, so now all THAT stuff is done, how well does it work?  The answer is, it performs very well.  Despite what some reviewers have said, the 6150 is quiet.  My HP printer is super loud, and while I wouldn’t have this in a baby’s room, I was able to print at night in the office, one door down the hall from the kids, and they didn’t flinch.

I found print speed good, color quality was solid and not overly saturated, and photo printing was gorgeous.  The 6150 comes with photos paper to try, and I would recommend using Kodak paper… just a personal preference.  The trick with home photo printing always comes down to the settings for paper size and type.  Kodak makes a point of telling you the settings for best results.

Another cool feature was the automatic double-sided printing.  This allows you to print on both sides without having to turn the paper around.  I used this for text documents a lot, and I was very surprised to see this on an inexpensive SOHO printer.

Scanning

It was very easy to scan documents and pictures with this printer.  The scanning bed is large, scanning is quick, and the software menu allows you to scan and send the documents directly to a computer on your network.  Scanning can also auto separate documents into multiple files.  There is an auto-feed tray on top, which takes up to about 30 pages, and works well.  If you are going to scan anything, I always tell people to get one with a top auto-feed tray.

Faxing

You still fax?  Seriously?

Yeah, faxing was easy too.  Let’s move on.

Wrap-up

Likes:

• Low ink replacement cost
• Wi-fi printing
• 802.11 N support
• HUGE paper tray (about 200 pages)
• Top auto-load feeder
• Quiet printing
• Easy setup

Dislikes:

• Required to install software
• Front panel blue indicator light

Overall, this printer is a really big win with me.  I think it has all the right features, the engineering and layout of the trays, buttons, and software were clearly thought out.  And because of the lower cost of replacement ink, you will truly appreciate the total cost of ownership being less.

Take a look for yourself, and let us know what you think!

Design:
Features:
Performance:
Noise:
Ink Longevity:
Ink Replacement Cost:
Web Site:
Photo Printing:
Overall Rating: 8.8

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Pictures from the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Event in New York City:

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Ramon Nuez and I were fortunate enough to attend the Samsung launch party, where we got a sneak peek of the new line of Galaxy S mobile devices.  There were celebrities, there were musicians, there were cameras, there were little tiny hamburgers, and of course there was tech.

Samsung Mobile released 4 brand new phones:

1. Verizon –  Samsung Fascinate
2. Sprint — Samsung Epic 4G
3. T-Mobile — Samsung Vibrant
4. AT&T — Samsung Captive

Each phone has its own individual flavor.  Samsung has a long tradition of well crafted technology, and you can see that they take their mobile market seriously, and with great pride.

Another Android Phone?

Yeah, yeah, I know what you are saying.  Geez, it’s like another one is going to come out NEXT week!  Ultimately, this is what is most annoying about this platform.  So many phones, so many manufacturers, so much confusion.  I agree with you.

HOWEVER, this can also be a good thing in the long run.  Actually, a really GOOD thing.  We haven’t reached the over-diversity peak of the scale yet, but we are getting there.  Samsung realized that and offered 4 models that offer you the best of the Android platform, and will compete or exceed the specs of any of the other Android mobile devices out there.

Whether it be the amazing Super AMOLED screen, their TouchWiz user-interface, the custom TouchWiz apps (like Daily Briefing, Social Hub, Remote Control, etc.), hummingbird processor, or simply the quality design, you can bet that Samsung is now leading in this platform.

Which one, which one…

Look, it all comes down to your carrier.  Personally, the Verizon Fascinate is my favorite, followed by the thin T-Mobile Vibrant, but I really would liked to have seen a forward facing camera like the Epic 4G has.

The Epic 4G has a physical keyboard, which I personally think is a waste of space since the on-screen Swype software (shipped as default) is a really good input method.

The AT&T Captive looks a little like the Blackberry Storm 2, and is a perfectly good device, I just like the styling of the other two.

Is it perfect?

No device is perfect, and each person has their own needs.  So, this is where I wished for all phones in one.

For me, I would have liked an LED flash on the back, and a forward facing camera on all of the devices.  One thing to note, Samsung made a point in removing the trackball/trackpad on most Android phones, to make way for the larger screen.  I say, hurrah!  Manufacturers have to push Android to be a truly touch-screen interface… no ‘mice’ needed.

As far as Parental Controls, again, Android fails to deliver.  I am waiting to see if Android 2.2 or 3.0 will be adding any major changes to this shortfall.

Just try one

If you are looking for a new phone, I suggest you take a look at the Samsung Galaxy S line.  The speed, screen, interface, and design are really sweet advances to the existing line of available Android smart devices.

More Information:

Samsung Mobile Introduces the U.S. to the Galaxy S – Ramon Nuez (Huffington Post)

Check out our pictures from the evening:

Design
Performance
Features
Camera
Battery

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Zev Mo takes a look at the HTC MyTouch 3G Slide on T-mobile.  This smartphone is running Android 2.1, and we demonstrate the swype on-screen keyboard. Take a look and let us know what you think!

Design
Performance
Features
Camera
Battery
Overall Rating: 3.6

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Garmin is releasing an Android Garminfone GPS-centric smartphone on June 9th, 2010 ( with carrier T-Mobile).  Map applications are one of the top uses on smartphones, and as a result GPS manufacturers are trying to reclaim part of the mobile market.

Make no bones about it, this is a GPS smartphone.  Garmin’s UI is mainly focused on that aspect of the device.  If you weren’t Android savvy, you would have no idea that is at the core of the device.  It makes it incredibly easy to use as a Map device, but for those looking for the pretty wallpapers, or fancy widgets to update Social Networking statuses, you will have to work around their UI wrapper.

The hardware is designed to best be used in landscape mode, and the 3MP camera is decent enough for traditional short-range pics, but don’t expect to be printing out 8×10 glossy’s.

Overall, the Garminfone is snappy, clean, and works just as you would expect.  Button placement and responsiveness is good.  There are some nice features that the standard Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation doesn’t give you, and accurate traffic updating is a huge deal, which is why you would rely on an experienced GPS company like Garmin.  However, Android’s built-in street-view approach to turn-by-turn is definitely a cooler way to navigate.  Whether that is really a practical thing, or just a flashy gimmick, it up for interpretation by the driver.

Between the Garmin provided (POI) Points Of Interest library, gas prices service, or the free (as part of the purchase price of the phone) traffic integration, getting a GPS-centric device ensures you a consistent and easy to use user experience.  When you are clueless to where you are, and you need directions fast, it certainly is a comfort to have a reliable, well thought out device.

Let us know what you think!

Specs:

Size: 4.57 x .49 x 2.46 inches

Weight: 4.9 ounces

Networks: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, GPRS EDGE Class 12, UMTS HSPA 2100/1700, HSDPA Cat 8, 7.2 Mbps

Platform: Android

CPU: Qualcomm MSM7227

Memory: 4GB Flash + 256 MB SDRAM + 256 MB ROM; accepts microSD cards

Memory Slot: micro-SD™ (support SDHC)

Connectivity: WLAN 802.11b+g, USB v2.0 (HS), Bluetooth 2.1

GPS: Qualcomm GPSOne, Assisted GPS, Aided GPS and standalone GPS supported

Display: 3.5″, HVGA 320 x 480, TFT capacitive touch

Battery: 1150mAh Lithium Ion

Camera: 3 Mega-Pixel, Auto Focus

Advance Navigation/LBS feature: North American maps & POIs, Connected Services1, Indoor location, Junction view with lane assist, Where am I?, Where’s My Car Parked?, Track Logs & Route Planning

Phone Applications: Google™ Search / Gmail™ / Google Calendar™ / Google Talk™ / Google Maps™ with Street View / YouTube™ / Picasa™ / Panoramio™ / Android Market™

Price (EST): $199 w/ 2-year contract

Design
Performance
Features
Camera
Battery
Overall Rating: 3.6

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Design
Features
Ease of use
Performance
Image quality
Battery life
Overall Rating: 7.5

Everyone knows that Kodak is a leader in photography.  As I have written before, they seem to be focused on the delivery of products that consumers can easily use and whose precious memories will preserved by great results.  That is clearly what sets Kodak apart from other manufacturers in this space.

The Specs

For the full list, you can check out the specs on Kodak’s site.  I’ll give you the essentials:

• 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor w/12.7 MP (12.2 MP effective) resolution
• 5X optical zoom/5X continuous digital zoom (Optical Aspheric Lens with 35–175 mm (35mm equiv.) focal length and f/3.0–4.8 aperture)
• Built-in mechanical lens cover
• 3.0-inch display (230K)
• 32MB internal memory with SD/SDHC card support
• QuickTime video capture VGA (640×480) @30fps or QVGA (320×240) @30fps
• Face detection (up to five faces)
• Blur reduction technology
• Multiple scene (19) and color modes (5)
• SHARE Button (uploading of pictures and video directly to YouTube™ or KODAK Gallery)

First Impressions

Taking the camera out of the box, you notice that it has a pretty solid feel at 5.6 ounces (some reviews said otherwise, but I disagree), and is certainly thin enough to go in your jeans pocket.  As you can see by the pictures, the buttons are clearly marked and are exactly where you would expect them.

The camera comes in Black Olive, Light Steel Blue, or Wine Red.  We had the Light Steel Blue, and it was very nice… all three colors are perfectly masculine enough for dads.  The chrome accents are nice, and the battery/SD slot door felt durable enough for frequent use.

After fully charging the battery, which can be done while in the camera with a USB cable into your pc or the wall charger, we threw in an SDHC card and were off to the races.

Performance

The camera is pretty fast, and driving the purposefully simple menus was easy.  Start-up shoot time (power-on until shot) was quick, about 2-2.5 seconds.  The Smart Capture Mode (fully automatic) setting will work for 95% of your shooting needs, but the custom scene selections seemed to help a lot in low-light, macro, or portrait situations indoors (like a birthday party or school play).

Your other choices off the top knob are: Program (Manual), Blur Reduction (electronic), Sport, Panorama (3 pictures), Scene (Situation photography), and Video. The flash seemed to have the best results from about 2-8 feet from shooting position.  Anything more than that, you are going to want to adjust accordingly.

Additionally, one important test that I always do with any camera is to give it to the kids to take a few pictures.  If they can figure out what knobs and buttons to press to get a good picture, then it is easy to use.  The M381 passed that test.

The menus are basic, and could use a quick UI refresh, but are clear and easy to understand, plus there is an ‘info’ button that gives you more information should you need it.  That is a really nice touch.

Pictures

Camera photo reviews are always a mixed bag, and are completely situational.  Every camera in this class will have practically the same review results, but there are exceptions.

Overall the results were good, due to the quality of both the optics and the Perfect Touch system.  Outdoor shots are where this camera really shines.  Even well-lit shots at night were also very nice.  But when you get above ISO 400 you start seeing some drop-off in picture quality.  You can compensate with using things like using the custom scene modes, or a tripod, but it will only get you so far an ultra-compact 1/2.3 CCD.

There is an option between Continuous AF (camera is always focusing) and Single AF (focus when the shutter button is pressed halfway).  My recommendation is to use Single AF.  Not only does continuous use a lot more battery life, but it is noticeably noisy.  Also, the preview of your picture on the back LCD is not the sharpest, and makes you think that your picture didn’t come out as well as it did.  This can cause some retakes, even though the picture was perfect the first time.

Battery life was not bad, we got about 300 pictures and videos in before we needed to recharge, but having the in-camera USB charging made it handy when we got back to the hotel.

On a side note, I really liked the panorama option (3 pictures digitally stitched together), which I think only works in horizontal position.  I could see using this a lot more, even though most consider it a niche format.

Video

The video results were OK for an ultracompact, but there seemed to be an overexposure in the automatic white balance settings (perhaps it is my issue) that made the video seem washed.  Keep in mind that the video is 640×480 @30fps, so it is NOT HD video, but I did expect better video results for this model.

The movies are in Quicktime JPEG format, and I assume they did some tweaking to the encoding to make the uploading to YouTube™ faster.  From what I understand, there is a 16 minute maximum clip time, but we never attempted to take movies longer than that.  Audio quality was also good.

Final Thoughts

We enjoyed using this camera because it was an easy to use, all-purpose camera.  The $129-169 price tag is VERY competitive for all of its features.

A few options that I would have liked to see:

• 720p video (as several competitors now do)
• geo-tagging (which may be asking a lot for the price/size)
• optical image stabilization (not electronic).

For an easy to use camera to use in bright conditions (or indoor with a flash), for around $130, you should consider the Kodak Easyshare M381 as a great option.

Other Links

Test Drive Features of the M381: HERE

On-line Extended User Manual: HERE

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