Photos: Hands-on with the Samsung i8 and its many hats

Having just come back from IFA, this travel-weary Craver is fully onboard with the idea of reducing the amount of stuff we gadgetheads have to carry around. So we're in the right frame of mind to test out the Samsung i8, an 8.2-megapixel point-and-shoot with not just whistles and bells, but also pipes, cymbals and euphoniums dangling off it. Like its i-series predecessors, the i8 is an MP3 player, portable multimedia player (PMP), world tour guide, text viewer, storage device and voice recorder.

But that's a great many hats for one camera to wear, so we'll be seeing how each function shapes up in our forthcoming in-depth review. We first met a non-working model of the i8 at CES 2008. On the snapping front, it boasts a decidedly average 38-114mm focal length, equivalent to a 35mm camera. Features include face detection and nine different photo style settings, including forest, cool and calm. You get neat little sliders to adjust colour -- using individual RGB sliders if you want -- as well as sharpness and saturation, all controlled by the E button.

We like the chunky rounded buttons, but we're less keen on the horizontal zoom rocker, which is slo-o-o-o-w. Aesthetically the i8 looks less like its grey plastic twisty-turny older sibling, the i7, and more like an iPhone. Seriously. It has the same black plastic frame, rounded corners and silver bezel. It also has a largeish screen, measuring 69mm (2.7 inches). Although it does feel a touch plasticky, the sockets are all securely covered, with a very slick sliding cover for the USB connection. 

The Samsung i8 is available now for a very friendly £115, which is pretty darn reasonable for the number of gadgets you get in one package. Click through the photos for more on this multimedia maven. -Rich Trenholm

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