Samsung ST1000: GPS, Wi-Fi, touchscreen, 5x zoom, kitchen sink

By Rich Trenholm on 13 August 2009, 5:37pm

We can't help but crave gadgety goodness in all its forms, but every now and again something comes along that we physically can't wait to get our hands on. Today we're hopping from foot to foot with excitement over the Samsung ST1000, a touchscreen camera with built-in Wi-Fi.

Up to now, the only Wi-Fi camera has been the underwhelming Nikon Coolpix S50c series, while the frankly awesome-sounding Eye-Fi wireless memory card still hasn't made it to this sceptred isle. By contrast to the bonkers-barmy ST500 and ST550 also unveiled today, and Nikon's distinctly average S50 cameras, Samsung has chucked just about everything at the ST1000: GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, touchscreen, 5x zoom, high-definition video: the works. The only thing missing is the projector.

As well as the option to send your snaps winging wirelessly away to the Web, the 12.2-megapixel ST1000 includes built-in GPS for geo-tagging your pictures. Helpfully, the camera shows the city name and region on-screen in case you forget where you are. Meanwhile, Bluetooth allows you to zap pictures to phones and other Bluetooth devices.

Samsung

The ST1000 also includes a 5x optical zoom, 35mm wide-angle lens and chuffin' enormous 89mm (3.5-inch) touchscreen. Samsung has pre-loaded the 'intelli-studio' PC software package on to the camera, to install itself on your computer when you first plug your camera in to transfer files.

Colour options include silver and red, red and black, black and gold, blue and grey, and the curious black on black. Prices are yet to be confirmed, but the camera will drop before the end of this month.