Toshiba announces first Freeview+ HD PVR
Toshiba has announced a new PVR capable of recording HD Freeview streams for the UK.
The new HDR5010 has a twin Freeview HD tuner and Freeview+ HD capability - allowing users to watch and record HD channels simultaneously.
The box is packing 500GB of internal storage, which should be good for 120 hours of HD recording, and there are three HDMI slots with two USB scokets too.
Boosting the experience
It's also got an Ethernet port too, for viewers wishing to take advantage of 'new digital interactive features' if that's your bag.
Toshiba is making a big deal about how glossy and lovely the HDR5010 is, as well as the masses of storage on offer - so if you think a UK price of آ£350 is fair for this box, perhaps you should clear some space under the TV.
It's been given a UK release date for June this year, so we'll be looking forward to walking into our nearest outlet and asking 'good sir - hast thee the HDR5010?' just to see if they know their model numbers.
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Tosh announces entry level Blu-ray player
Toshiba has announced its second standalone Blu-ray player for the UK - with the BDX2100KB positioned for the 'entry-level' sector of the market.
The BDX2100KB offers 1920x1080p HD resolution, deep colour support, HDMI 1.3 and REGZA-LINK tech that ensures seamless integration with HDMI-CEC compatible TVs and audio systems.
The player is also BD Live Profile 2.0 and and brings Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio compatible.
Entry level
"Positioned in the entry-level sector of the market, the player is designed to offer consumers value for money, blending a strong set of specifications with a striking design at a price point that will appeal to the mass market consumer," says Tosh's release.
"High-quality DVD upscaling performance with HDMI connectivity enhances performance of standard definition DVDs by up-converting images to 1080p quality. A Digital Coaxial Audio Output ensures direct connectivity to audio decoders."
The Toshiba BDX2100KB has a UK release date of May 2010 and will cost around آ£129.99.
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Toshiba unveils touchscreen Satellite U500-1EX laptop
Toshiba has launched the new Satellite U500-1EX 13.3-inch touchscreen laptop for the UK.
The notebook has full Windows 7 touch support, so it's packing Microsoft Surface Globe, Collage and Lagoon software.
The ultraportable is based on Intel's Calpella platform, running variants of the Intel Core i3-330 processor. Other key specs are that the notebook will run Windows 7 Home Premium, have 4GB of memory and a 320GB drive.
Toshiba says the notebook has a "glossy black keyboard" so we're not sure what it will be like to type on – previous shiny Tosh keyboards have left us somewhat frustrated.
The notebook will have a recommended price of آ£649 when it goes on sale in the UK.
Specifications – Satellite U500-1EX
- آ· Intel Core i3-330 (2.13GHz, 3MB cache, 1066MHz FSB/64 Bit)
- آ· Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium with Microsoft Touch Pack
- آ· 4GB RAM DDR3
- آ· 320GB HDD
- آ· 13.3" TFT WXGA TruBrite 1,280 x 800 display Multi Touch Enabled
- آ· HD Widescreen Web Camera with Face Recognition
- آ· Eco Utility tool with Eco Button
- آ· Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- آ· Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
- آ· DVD Super-Multi drive
- آ· Intel HM55 Express Chipset, featuring the Mobile Intel HD Graphics
- آ· Weight: 2.15kg
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In Depth: Windows 8: what's coming for Device Stage
One of the neat features in Windows 7 depends on hardware manufacturers doing extra work, so today Device Stage really only brings together the multi-function features of a "few hundred" devices, admits Gary Schare, Director of Windows Product Management.
Of the first four categories of devices - printers, cameras, media players and smartphones - the majority of Device Stage devices are printers:
"Many of them offer what we call baseline printer support which means they don't have to do much work. But there's a couple of hundred printers that have invested in a true custom experience," says Schare.
This year sees the first phone with the logo that means Device Stage support, the Sony Ericsson Walkman E Series, and the first two DSLR Device Stage cameras come from Nikon and Canon.
The Nikon D5000 Device Stage showcases Nikon's photosharing site and online tutorials. Today the tutorial link opens in a web browser, but that could change, says Schare.
"They could have rendered this right inside Device Stage, but they don't. They run a Flash tutorial and that's the reason why they don't render this in here; on 64-bit Windows, IE is not able to host the Flash inside Device Stage and that will change when Adobe ships 64-bit Flash."
More to come
More camera models will be supported; at first, Schare says: "it was a proof of concept that didn't even relate to what the most popular models are. Now the business guys at Canon and Nikon are super interested and they see this as valuable so they're going to really broaden the adoption".
There's another reason development has been slow: "We don't have robust tools [that are] 'what you see is what you get', so you have to do the XML coding by hand. We are looking at some ways of making it easier."
The next categories in Device Stage will be webcams and keyboards; the Microsoft hardware team decided to use Device Stage to help people find the software that lets them customise the programmable keys and that helped shift the way the Windows team is thinking about Device Stage.
It's not just for multi-function devices any more; "it's really easy to come up with three or four tasks for any device," says Schare. "This area is meant to be for peripheral devices - but it doesn't have to be. For the next version of Windows [Windows 8] we're going to have a rethink on that. What other kinds of things maybe should show up here?"
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Toshiba announces Freeview HD-ready LED TVs
Toshiba announced today it is to offer both super-slim LED panels and Freeview HD TVs in 2010.
The Freeview HD technology will be integrated into 32-inch TVs and above and will be out just before the World Cup.
Speaking today at a press conference, with TechRadar in attendance, Toshiba revealed it was excited about the upcoming World Cup as it will change the buying habits of consumers.
"The World Cup offers an excellent opportunity for manufacturers, as there's an unseasonable spike in the summer," said a Tosh spokesperson.
"We have introduced slim LEDs into the line-up to take advantage of this and we want to make our TVs the centre of the connected home."
RV and WL series
The RV series will be the entry level 50Hz TV range and will be available in 32-inch, 37-inch and 40-inch and are aimed at the entry level.
If you have a bit more cash, the SL series are the LED panels, pumping out 100Hz and are 1080p.
The WL Series will be for those who want a bigger TV - coming in at 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch and also offering LED technology.
Toshiba will be pushing both Freeview HD and LED tech but it says it also has a focus on picture quality. Essentially this means the company will be porting its Resolution + technology into its TV range.
Smaller screens
Toshiba also announced the 'AV' and 'DV' Small Screen Series pitched as second sets for the home.
"Available in 48.3cm (19"), 55.9cm (22") screen sizes, each AV model comes bursting with a selection of impressive features that combine to provide quality performance and value," said Tosh.
Both sizes feature two HDMI ports, REGZA-LINK, Integrated USB connectivity for JPEG images and MP3 format audio, and a PC input.
The DV range, as you may have guessed, brings an integrated DVD player alongside a digital tuner for maximum flexibility.
"The series comprises four sizes, with 48.3cm (19"), 55.9cm (22"), 66.0cm (26") screen sizes perfect for the kitchen or bedroom, and a larger 81.3" (32") model offers a highly convenient front-room option for smaller homes," adds Tosh.
Specs for main TV ranges:
Toshiba REGZA RV Series
Available in 81.3cm (32"), 94.0cm (37") and 101.6cm (40") screen sizes
Full HD (1920x1080p)
Freeview HD (DVB-T2)
Active Vision II (50Hz)
MetaBrain Engine
Resolution+
Dolby Volume
AutoView
Wireless Ready (DLNA, Certified for Windows 7)
4x HDMI
Eco Panel
USB
Instaport
CI+ for top-up TV
Toshiba REGZA XV Series
Available in 81.3cm (32"), 94.0cm(37"), (101.6cm) 40" and 116.8cm (46") screen sizes
Full HD (1920x1080p)
Integrated Digital Tuner
Active Vision M100HD (100Hz)
MetaBrain Engine
Resolution+
Dolby Volume
SoundNavi
AutoView
Wireless Ready (DLNA / Certified for Windows 7)
REGZA–LINK
4xHDMI
Eco Panel
USB Input
SD card slot
Instaport
CI+ slot for top-up TV
Toshiba REGZA WL Series
Available in 101.6cm (40"), 116.8cm (46") and 139.7cm (55") screen sizes
LED backlighting
Freeview HD (DVB-T2)
Full HD (1920x1080p)
Active Vision M200HD (200Hz)
MetaBrain
Resolution+
Dolby Volume
SoundNavi
AutoView
1x CI+ slot, 4x HDMI, 1x USB
DLNA Wireless Dongle included in the box (DLNA, Certified for Windows 7)
Toshiba REGZA SL Series
Available in 81.3cm (32"), 101.6cm (40") and 139.7cm (46") screen sizes
LED backlighting
Freeview HD (DVB-T2)
Full HD (1920x1080p)
Active Vision M100HD (100Hz)
MetaBrain
Resolution+
Dolby Volume
SoundNavi
AutoView
1x CI+, 4x HDMI, 1x USB
Wireless Ready (DLNA, Certified for Windows 7).
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Samsung unveiling first Bada phone 14 Feb?
Samsung's first Bada phone looks likely to be announced at its press conference at MWC later this month.
Samsung's official 'tipster' account (which was the same teaser site and Twitter feed that built up hype about the Jet) has been posting about the upcoming press conference in Barcelona this Sunday.
In its feed, the site is offering such hints as "Something is glittering in the Ocean" and "We're unpacking a new product Feb. 14th. Activate your thinking caps, everyone!"
Ocean=Bada
It's pretty obvious that this is going to be something to do with Bada (with its Korean translation being ocean, and the majority of promotional material being Bada pictured on the sea).
The first phone running Samsung's Bada platform is likely to be coming in the next few months, and an MWC unveiling is almost certain based on that timeline.
We'll be on site to get one of the first hands on reviews of the first Samsung Bada phones, so keep your eyes peeled and your hands on the mobile tiller (sorry, we're getting lost in this nautical theme...)
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59% of web pros are using pirated software
A 'startling' number of web professionals are using pirated or unlicensed software, according to research conducted by .net magazine and Fasthosts.
Web hosting provider Fasthosts surveyed 500 of web designers and developers who read .net- which, like TechRadar, is published by Future - and found 59 per cent had admitted to using unlicensed software.
"Great web projects can often rely on the latest software and at times businesses may be tempted to cut corners with their software licenses," said Steve Holford, CMO of Fasthosts Internet Ltd.
Sub -standard
"Web designers should not struggle with sub-standard software or more importantly jeopardise their future by using illegal software," he added.
The report points out that unlicensed software can be a false economy, with users facing bugs and not able to lean on support services - and that it is employers who need to take a fresh look at their budgets.
Dan Oliver, Editor of .net magazine, comments, "With tight deadlines, and tighter budgets, it's understandable - though clearly not recommended - to hear of people being asked to use pirated software. It's unrealistic to put the onus on employees, the message needs to get through to employers."
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Adobe: 7m Flash download requests for iPhone and iPod touch
Adobe has announced that it has received a huge number of download requests for Flash on the iPhone OS platform.
The software developer said that in December alone it saw seven million requests for Flash for the iPod touch and iPhone, highlighting the desire for it from consumers (who presumably aren't familiar with the ongoing saga between the two companies).
While Apple and Adobe said they would be collaborating on Flash video for the iPhone in the future that promise is still to be realised, with relations between the companies seemingly getting worse.
"It's your fault... no it's YOUR fault"
Steve Jobs apparently called Adobe 'lazy' for not making a less buggy version of the platform for the iPhone and iPad.
Adobe hit back, saying it was Apple that was being the difficult one in the process, citing a 'lack of cooperation' from the Jobs' lot.
Either way, it's not what we want to hear right now - clearly people want Flash video on their Apple device, so Jobs needs to give Mr Adobe a ring and just say: "Look, let's just get this sorted... not for me, not for Apple, but for the fans. Think of the fans."
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In Depth: iPad games and gaming: what you need to know
According to a recent YouGov poll, 70 per cent of British adults are now aware of the existence of Apple's new iPad, although a shockingly high proportion are still asking the infernal question: "But what is it for?"
Most knew that the iPad had a touchscreen (72%) and that it can connect to the internet via Wi-Fi (65%). But quite a lot of people still think that the iPad can make telephone calls (37%), has a camera (38%) and that it has an OS capable of multi-tasking (54%).
Aside from confirming two well known facts (most people don't pay much attention to the small print and any new device from Apple gets lots of PR), YouGov's poll was marred by one flaw. It didn't provide any information or data of any interest to people that want to play games on computers.
But we care about what games we will be able to play on the iPad. And how. And who is making them. And who is funding them. And which are the best.
For the same reasons, we also want to know more about the new tablets on the way from PC manufacturers such as MSI, Asus, Lenovo, ViewSonic and all the many others that are hurriedly readying their own touchscreen tablet PCs for launch this spring.
Why iPad gaming matters
One thing is for sure. Sony and Nintendo were both a little too quick to dismiss the iPad as "a bigger iPod touch" that offered "no surprises" (Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata) and (in an incredible display of disingenuity from PlayStation marketing man John Koller) as "a net positive for Sony [because] when people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP."
Reading not very far between the lines here, those reactions stink of short-sighed panic. To wit: Apple has put the fear of Jobs into the gaming giants.
"The App Store ecosystem and in particular the existing billing relationship with customers is a massive advantage for iPad," says Firemint Games' Community Manager, Alexandra Peters – the developer of the hugely successful Flight Control for iPhone.
"Buying any content from iTunes is an incredibly smooth discovery and purchasing process. Apple tightly controls both the software and hardware experience to the extent where you don't think about them as separate aspects of the one device, and that will be very difficult to rival in a device where the hardware and software have been developed separately. Manufacturers are still playing catch-up with the iPhone, and it seems likely that the same thing will happen with iPad."
So are other games developers getting as excited as we are about the possibilities that the bigger multi-touch screens on the iPad and the Asus Eee Pad and other such devices might open up for interactive entertainment?
We spoke with a few of them to find out.
Mobile gaming - 'almost here'
"Thinking about mobile [phone] gaming, it has kind of been a bit of a white elephant for a while now," says Nvidia's PR Manager for the EMEAI region, Bea Longworth. "I remember back at Mobile World Congress in 2006 and 2007, when the industry was talking about the mobile gaming revolution and how it was 'almost here'… well, it is 2010 and it is still not quite here!"
Nvidia is, of course, leading the tech charge of providing decent'ish graphics on these new low-powered, long-battery-life tablet PCs .
"It will be interesting to see what kind of impact tablets have on gaming," says Longworth, "as their form factor does generally tend to lend itself much more to a better gaming experience, because these devices have been specifically designed to deal with HD video and with multimedia content online, so they are much more capable of giving gamers a really nice graphical experience without absolutely nuking the battery!"
Limited battery life has always been one of the main problems with mobile gaming, whether or not you are playing 'proper' games on your PSP or DS or those daft-yet-infuriatingly-addictive casual games on your mobile phone.
"So these new tablet PCs might well have a big impact on gaming," thinks Nvidia's spokeswoman. "Obviously then though, there is still all of that backroom stuff that is still to be done, in terms of developers being able to easily produce content for a wide variety of different platforms."
iPhone games on iPad
This is where Apple has a big advantage because it can provide a guaranteed market and a wide user-base for developers making games and applications for the iPad and its other devices. "Plus, the fact that users are going to be able to port iPhone and iPod touch applications to the iPad is going to be a big deal," says Longworth.
"I think you will see a big rush of developers taking the new opportunities they now have with the larger screen size and the new types of touch capabilities to make some interesting new types of game content. Which is one thing that the iPhone has really done, encouraging developers to come up with new ways of gaming that exploit the touch capabilities."
Nvidia also reminds us that the game developers over at Unity were demonstrating the Unreal engine running on a tablet device at CES, with the company's Nicholas Francis writing on the Unity blog recently:
"Looking at the [iPad launch] event, Apple unveiled pretty much what most of us expected – but it wasn't until a bit later that it hit me what is so great about this. I've never before seen a computer that is so designed for consumers.
"It goes straight into the stream of iPod, iPod Touch, etc. Sure, it's using general-purpose chips behind it, so it's not like it can't do "real" apps, but the focus is here 100% on consumers. That means games."
JOBS DELIVERS: And the iPad did cometh... [Image courtesy of Unity Games]
The Unity man sees the Apple iPad launch as nothing less than "the launch of a new console" and celebrates the fact that Apple gets the whole "make life sweet for developers" thing because "the hoops you have to go through to develop, publish and get paid are crazy low.
"If you're one of those people who think the submission process is slow/bad/bloated, just try becoming a registered developer with Sony or Microsoft," adds Francis.
Essentially, with Nvidia's Tegra 2 the technology is already there for game creators to make interesting new experiences that could be played on the likes of Asus' soon-to-be-revealed Eee Pad or Notion Ink's intriguing-looking 'Adam' tablet PC.
"Hopefully games developers will start to make use of the capabilities that Tegra 2 opens up in some interesting ways this year," says Nvidia's Bea Longworth.
All that tablet PCs really need to convince gamers, as is always the case with a new platform, are a few killer apps. Those games that are way better on this platform than on any other and are also (ideally) exclusive to the platform.
"Tablets which support Flash are going to give you exactly the same type of experience that you have come to experience from a desktop computer, but in this newly portable form factor," says Longworth. "Gaming and mobile internet are going to be the key uses that drive the development of these things forward."
One leading game developer who really sees a lot of potential with Apple's iPad is Team 17's Martyn Brown, the man behind the phenomenon that is Worms.
"Unlike a lot of people I've spoken to, I totally get where Apple are positioning the iPad," Brown told TechRadar. "Whether it's the first iteration, the 3G, the 2nd Generation or whatever, I think there's certainly room for a device that's used for information & entertainment both in the home and outside of it, particularly as the need for constant tethering to a power source and storage facility become less necessary.
"For me, Apple's device, with its immediate content in the form of the App Store with many top apps destined to arrive very quickly at low prices, with the high user confidence in their quality/value ratio, looks to really take off – despite many people not claiming to "need" the device. I'd swap one for my laptop on business and I know my wife and even parents would be better served with that kind of device in the home.
As for games, the Team 17 man thinks that the iPad's "increase in screen resolution will mean a far better user experience in games, richer looker visuals and more opportunity for better gesture control. For me, it's a winner."
Bringing games to the iPad
Firemint Games' Flight Control has been one of the most critically-acclaimed games to date on the Apple iPhone. So what is the games' developer doing to bring its games to the iPad?
Firemint's Community Manager, Alexandra Peters thinks that multiplayer games and, "in particular board games and similar family-friendly genres," could be huge on iPad.
The studio is also very interested in those games "that require some information to be kept secret, like card games," so players might want to use their iPhone for their personal secret information, and the iPad for shared information and game progress updates.
"We downloaded the iPad SDK as soon as it became available," adds Peters, "and we've been working on a re-imagined version of Flight Control. We wanted to do more than just upsize the graphics, so we're really looking at the best way to play it on a larger multi-touch screen."
Firemint promises us that Flight Control iPad will be familiar to players of the iPhone and iPod touch version, "but it will also bring new aspects into play…it's still a bit early to go into the details, but we hope to have it ready at iPad launch and we're hoping that people buying an iPad will check it out."
Tarver Games' Chris Cross, the developer of iPhone game Ghosts Attack, is equally excited about the possibilities opening up for gaming on the iPad, telling TechRadar:
"I think all the iPad does it to make certain games more viable, particularly anything with touch as a primary interface. A good example of this is air hockey. It's just physically too restrictive to play multiplayer on a phone and share the same screen.
IPHONE CLASSIC: Tarver Games' Ghosts Attack
"RTS and tower defense games will expand as well," adds Cross. "The screen size will also make driving games more enjoyable and the accelerometer or tilt steering feel more analogous to an actual steering wheel."
As for his own specific iPad plans, Cross confirms for us that Ghosts Attack "will for sure be on the Pad as soon as we can do it with an adjusted feature set…I think it'll actually be better on the iPad."
The Marmite Pad
So why has the iPad divided gamers and early adopters to the degree that it has? How did it instantly become a "love-it or loathe-it" bit of kit, before anybody has actually properly played around with one?
"Gadget lovers everywhere had massive expectations for the iPad because Apple has a track record of making awesome devices," says Firemint's Peters.
"Since there were no official details before the iPad's announcement, it was easy for everyone to get carried away and mentally design their own personal version of the super tablet.
For some people that vision coincided with what Apple revealed and they are delighted, and for others there were differences so of course those people were disappointed.
"The iPad seems to be designed specifically for mainstream consumer content delivery, so we don't think that its commercial success will depend so much on what early adopters think, but more on the crowds of people who would prefer technology to become transparent."
It is interesting to consider that many of the early reactions to iPod and iPhone were quite similar to what we're now seeing with the iPad.
"People's base reactions come from imagining how they would use the device," says game developer Chris Cross. "In this particular case the love and hate reaction is a divide between those that instantly understand the need for a machine that lies squarely between a smart phone and a computer and those that don't.
"I immediately see a use for it, particularly when travelling light if I'm on vacation or a short jaunt. I would also use it at the office as a satellite machine that I can take to other people's desks. Slightly more serious than a phone but not lugging around a laptop."
Daniel Boutros, Creative Director of iPhone developer Adept Games doesn't think that the iPad will not open up a major new market for games just yet, telling TechRadar: "I think for now, it will merely extend the iPhone's game market to greater sophistication in design, but only in the sense of presentation and UI (user interface, controls and depth of detail between those elements)."
The only immediate game design benefit that Boutros can see with iPad is more screen real estate "leading to multi-touch being more comfortable, more detail in visuals and therefore potential for more streamlined UIs across genres.
"Flight Control would be able have more planes and landing strips onscreen, we could do a 10x10 tile difficulty in Trixel, and FPSes like Nova could gain a newly introduced multi-finger control system with the hands resting on the device like a keyboard, rather than dual thumbs, to give FPS battles enough control to become a serious genre on iPad."
Boutros is far from keen on the idea of holding the device like a steering wheel, "as the weight is counter-intuitive to gravity making things comfortable, but as a lap-rested screen with touch / tap ideas, I think it could work very well for things like online pub-quiz style apps."
So there we go. Someday soon we may well see Apple Stores start to sell beer-shields for the iPad screen. You read it here first…
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Review: Panasonic Lumix FS30
The megapixel wars are over, or so they say.
In the ferocious market for sub-آ£200 compact cameras, precious few have a pixel count higher than 12 million.
The Canon 980IS has 14.7 megapixels but the Panasonic Lumix FS30 is joining otherwise rare company with its 14.1MP sensor.
It's easy to be sceptical, but all that resolution is - in theory - useful. The FS30's best-quality images are 4,320 x 3,240, which gives plenty of room for cropping in.
But the challenge is to balance the need for resolution with image quality - more megapixels equals more noise.
Features
Panasonic claims that the FS30's lens is "wide angle", which we'd dispute.
Without conversion to 35mm focal lengths the lens is 5mm at its widest - after the conversion it's a more conservative 28mm.
It's on a par with entry-level DSLR lenses. It's got an 8x zoom lens, though, and nearly reaches telephoto lengths when zoomed in, at 224mm. However, the extra length can be difficult to use in low light.
On an overcast February day we struggled to get a usable handheld shutter speed, suggesting would-be wildlife snappers would be well off investing in a lightweight tripod.
A final distinct drawback to the FS30 in our tests was the performance of the flash, which seemed a little underpowered with the lens zoomed in, despite Panasonic's claims of good coverage at nearly 10 feet.
The FS30 otherwise delivers problem-free performance. We were particularly pleased by the total absence of shutter lag – once the 9-point focus system has locked on, grabbing an image is a thought-free process.
Continuous shooting is reasonable as well – over five seconds we recorded a frame-rate of 1.3fps at the FS30's full 14.1MP resolution.
Start-up time is also good, at a shade under one and a half seconds. The only fly in the ointment was the FS30's time between frames in single-shot mode, which stood at around two seconds each time.
Long-lens issues aside, the FS30's optical image stabilisation acquitted itself well during our tests. It doesn't seem to have the power to compensate for movement when the lens is zoomed in, but for wider work – and particularly for video – it provides a useful amount of stabilisation. It's especially handy for a camera which weighs just 160g.
The video mode is a valuable extra feature. Its best quality mode is 30fps at 1,280 x 720. Video quality is excellent – sharp with good colour rendition and smooth motion, aside from the image stabiliser occasionally taking charge and wrenching sideways during a pan.
There's obviously little control over depth of field thanks to the small sensor, although we got reasonable (if unpredictable) results using the FS30's macro mode.
There are few surprises in terms of features. Disappointingly for a camera whose price suggests a good upgrade for those who have outgrown their current compact, there's only a scattering of manual features.
You can choose your own ISO and set white balance manually, but more advanced features such as aperture or shutter priority modes are missing. You can set exposure compensation to plus or minus two stops.
Point-and-shoot photographers will find plenty to keep them occupied, however. There's a variety of scene modes, including one which will tag your pets with their name and age, assuming you can be bothered to enter their details.
The controls on the back of the camera are well laid out and fall to hand easily. Those of a more sci-fi bent might consider Panasonic's FS33, which is the same camera internally but replaces the FS30's 2.7-inch screen with a 3-inch touchscreen TFT.
A word of hesitation is reserved for the screen. It's by no means bad, but there are better examples around. It can be a little dull, and motion is jerky when the sensitivity is ramped up.
Test footage shot with the Panasonic Lumix FS30:
See 720p HD version of this video
If a manufacturer is going to run the megapixel race, it needs to win the fight for low noise – something which gets harder with more pixels on a tiny sensor.
Like plenty of high-end compact cameras, the FS30 makes plenty of unlikely sounding claims, not least of which is the one implied by the fact you can set its ISO to a maximum expanded setting of 6400.
That's a full two stops more than many compact cameras are comfortable with, and significantly expands the amount of light you can use to shoot with.
But it's all for nowt if noise isn't controlled, but the FS30 does a fine job.
Between ISOs 80 and 400 there's no cause for concern – our test images produced good, accurate colour and reproduced plenty of detail.
It's only at ISO 1600 that things become problematic. The FS30 applied plenty of noise reduction, evidenced by a lack of noise but a marked uptick in the amount of JPEG-style mottling of supposedly-fine detail.
The images are better than web-only shots, though, as long as you don't try to run off A3 prints. Impressively, its ISO 1600 performance is on a par with the Canon 980IS's.
We've taken sample shots using the Lumix FS30 at every ISO setting. Here are the results:
ISO 80:
ISO 100:
ISO 200:
ISO 400:
ISO 800:
ISO 1600:
A camera has to be good to convince anyone to part with nearly two hundred notes these days, particularly when you consider that increasing your budget by around آ£150 will get you a basic DSLR.
There's strong competition – the Canon 120IS is a beautifully designed compact, with arguably better looks and build quality for only around آ£20 more. But the FS30 has an impressively long lens and, of course, looks aren't everything.
We liked:
The FS30 takes good pictures at almost all its main ISO settings, and is fast to boot.
With zero shutter lag to speak of, getting the shot you want is simple and reliable.
There's also plenty to like about the video mode, which provides crisp details and smooth motion. The FS30 may not have a single knock-out feature, but it doesn't do much wrong.
We disliked:
A better TFT would be ideal – either larger or brighter. The 160g weight can also make the FS30 feel a little welterweight for our liking, although happily this doesn't have much of an impact on the sharpness of your shots thanks to the capable image stabiliser.
Verdict:
The FS30 did well under challenging test conditions – below ISO 800 its images are excellent, and even a stop beyond it's possible to get usable shots as long as you exercise care.
It also ticks all the important feature boxes – optical stabilisation, a decent video mode and good build quality all conspire to make the FS30 a camera few would feel disappointed by.
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Notion Ink prepping two versions of 'Adam' tablet
One of the most interesting Android-based tablet PC products to be demonstrated at CES last month was the 'Adam' tablet/e-reader device that has been three years in the making at Indian company Notion Ink.
The device combines the ease-on-the-eye of electronic ink technology alongside the option to view HD video powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 graphics tech. It promises to offer the best of both worlds, but will it make a dent in Apple's market dominance with the iPad in 2010?
HD Tablet PC and ebook
Notion Ink's device makes use of Pixel Qi display tech, which is what allows you to use it as an ebook with no backlit screen in sunlight.
The company has now unveiled plans for an App Competition offering a cool $1,000,000 prize money for the best Adam-compatible app.
Slashgear also reports that "Notion Ink are apparently considering two versions of Adam for release, one of which could measure 12.9mm thick and the other 11.6mm; in contrast" compared with the iPad which is 13.4mm.
Expect to hear more from Notion Ink at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month.
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Review: van den Hul MC10 Special
We're so used to seeing cables from this marque that it's easy to forget the company's origins, back in 1980, in phono cartridges. In fact, Mr van den Hul – who still runs the company personally and is a familiar figure at hi-fi shows the world over – made his name as the originator of a successful stylus profile, the VDH Type 1.
Not surprisingly, that profile is a feature of this and other van den Hul cartridges, and it has been adopted by other makes, accounting for its use in well over one million cartridges sold to date.
Like other special stylus shapes, it aims to minimise the longitudinal contact area between stylus and record groove, so that the stylus doesn't 'average out' the tiny wiggles which would reduce high-frequency tracing accuracy. vdH estimates that this shape is capable of tracing modulations up to 80kHz on a regular 33rpm disc.
Few discs ever made will have the slightest sniff of musical information at such a frequency, but a little spare bandwidth never hurt anyone!
The MC10's cantilever is boron, and quite long though it looks shorter as part of it is hidden inside the body. The generator assembly uses silver wire and is wound in such a way as to give it slightly higher output than most (from a slightly higher impedance, which isn't really a drawback). It still needs a proper moving-coil input, but makes the noise requirements slightly less arduous.
Physically, the MC10 is of typical dimensions and weight and it mounts to the headshell via threaded holes. Its compliance is quite high and, as a result, the tracking force is relatively low, vdH suggesting something in the range of 1.35 to 1.5 grams.
Kudos is due to Mr van den Hul for the superb 'Frequently Asked Questions' page on his website – truly everything you ever wanted to know about cartridges and related subjects.
By the way, the 'Special' in the name means cartridges are built to order, apparently in a couple of weeks.
Sound quality
We found this the most 'civilised' cartridge – others might say 'mellow' or even 'dull' depending on tastes and previous experiences. But the simple fact is that its treble is audibly less bold than that of any others here. On the other hand, it is beautifully detailed and never less than clear, with a really nice sense of natural acoustic space around the performers.
The midrange is similarly detailed and has, perhaps, the best stereo imaging here too, precise and admirably stable. There's little 'beyond the speakers' imaging, but realistically it's hard to find discs that give much of that on any system and we'll happily settle for a really good image between the speakers.
Depth is good too. Bass is slightly less assured. At low and moderate levels, it is very well extended, but it lacks a little conviction when the music gets loud, slightly lessening its impact. Indeed, impact in general is not what this cartridge does best: it has good but not remarkable timing and prefers a rather more tuneful kind of music.
As such, it's certainly very adept with classical music and stuff like ballads, but we also had some very good results with a lot of jazz, where the MC10's ability to separate out instruments and sections goes a long way towards creating a believable ensemble of musicians just beyond the wall.
This seems to be an unusually unfussy cartridge when it comes to arms, turntables and phono amps, and its sound was highly consistent in our various setups. It does like a slightly higher arm base than some, and is quite critical of tracking force, or values outside the recommended range tending rapidly towards coarseness (too light) or dullness and lack of sparkle (too heavy).
Properly set up, though, it is capable of some very informative music-making, especially with 'unplugged' musicians.
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Samsung Monte S5620 unveiled for UK
Samsung has announced the launch of the new Monte S5620 mobile phone for the UK.
A 3-inch touchscreen device with a widescreen QVGA capacitive display, this phone is once again about making social networking on the go a simple task.
To that end, Samsung has squished Facebook and MySpace applications onto the Monte, as well as offering Bebo and Twitter widgets for the home screen.
There's also support for a variety of IM applications on board, so while this may be aimed at the mid range of the market, there will be a need for some unlimited data too.
Soon to be smart
The Monte is running Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UI, which will soon be replaced by Bada (the company's new smart platform) but for now that means movable home screen widgets ad the like.
You'll be pleased to know there's 3G on board for quicker web browsing, although with only a 1000mAh battery we'd imagine this phone might run out of juice fairly sharpish if it's constantly pulling down content.
Anyway, we're still waiting on a UK release date, and we'll update this story when we find out any more.
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Review: Sumiko Blackbird
An American company, despite the Oriental-sounding name, Sumiko has been known for many years as a purveyor of high-end cartridges at typically slightly less than high-end prices. The Blackbird is very much in that tradition with a specification that wouldn't look out of place in a dearer cartridge.
The most obvious feature that marks it out as high end, however, is the construction, which with its complete lack of body and protection fairly screams 'enthusiast product'. It's all been done for a reason, of course.
The ills of a resonant outer body on a cartridge have been a topic of audiophile conversation since at least the mid-1980s, when enthusiasts used to fill cartridge bodies with resin. Amazingly, some of them still worked afterwards.
Sumiko is not the only maker to have dispensed with such fripperies as body and stylus guard, but this is one of the more extreme examples we've seen, with the ultra-fine winding wires brought out to terminations which it is hard not to touch when handling the cartridge. It's cleverly done, though, keeping the fragile wires on the inside of the assembly.
We managed to install and remove this cartridge several times over the course of the review without doing any harm.
An elliptical stylus is mounted on a boron cantilever which drives a moving-coil generator, but in this case it's a high-output type which can be connected to a moving magnet input directly, dispensing with extra electrical gain or a transformer. There's no magic in this. It simply requires the use of more turns, using thinner wire, compared with a normal low-output type and, as a result, the impedance of the cartridge is higher than normal at 135 ohms.
Sumiko points out that this will, with typical electronics, give the best possible signal-to-noise performance, ensuring that any noise you hear is the irreducible minimum made by the disc itself.
That apart, specifications are nothing out of the ordinary, with middling compliance and medium-high mass.
Sound quality
Our abiding impression of this cartridge is of an unusually clean and pure treble and upper midrange. One might even think, with some LPs, that the balance is well on the laidback side, but any disc with plenty of lively treble will soon blow that idea away.
In fact, we'd say that tonal balance is particularly well judged, but there's something about the way it's presented that makes it less intrusive than it can sometimes be. If you think (as some do) that moving-coil cartridges tend to sound a little bright, even aggressive, this cartridge could be the one that both proves you right and yet in itself provides the exception to the rule.
Probably because of that, we found ourselves leaning towards well-recorded classical discs when looking for the next track in our more casual listening sessions with this cartridge. It can sometimes seem a little too polite with rock discs, although it does present all the information efficiently, even enthusiastically.
It also has pretty good bass, well extended and controlled, though we wouldn't mind just a little more tunefulness to it. Attack and timing are again good, but not outstanding.
We should mention that we had an unusually awkward time finding the ideal setup for the cartridge, as it has a tendency for the front to hit the LP surface if tracking force is high (unless the arm base is unrealistically raised).
That's a pity, because there were signs that the bass and attack were going in a useful direction just before this happened. Even so, it is an impressive performer and offers characteristics.
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Government to boost Britain's space industry
A new report being put in front of the government this week proposes that Britain launch a constellation of new satellites to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from countries and world cities across the globe.
The new satellites will be a major new initiative as part of Britain's wider space mission if given the green-light by ministers.
Space innovation and growth
The proposal is being put forward by the Space Innovation and Growth Team and is part of a long-term 20-year strategy to make Britain's space industry into a آ£40 billion-a-year business by 2030.
In addition to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions the new satellites could be used to monitor war zones, deforestation and more.
Public funding required
The team wants the British government to increase its annual spending on space projects to آ£550m a year by 2020, in order to lift the UK into the top ten space-funding nations. Currently the UK ranks 21st globally in government support for space missions.
"The ball is just starting to roll on Earth observation and other space-based technologies and we need to be at the front of this to capture the market," said Terry Coxall, from European space company Astrium.
"We need government and companies to think about what they will want from space not now, but in five to 10 years' time."
Professor Mark Sims at Leicester University's Space Research Centre added: "If the UK doesn't exploit the space market someone else will and we will be left behind. We are in a good position because of our historical investment in space, but we are at a tipping point. We cannot live on our past glories."
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Review: Ortofon Cadenza Red
Goldring may be able to trace its roots back (slightly) further, but Ortofon is definitely one of the old guard of audio. The company invented the moving-coil cartridge in 1948 and its legendary (for once not an overstatement) SPU model from 1959 is still in production, in various guises.
The current range runs to 38 distinct models of cartridge, from the آ£40-odd OM5E to the Windfeld at over آ£2,000 – and that's not including the DJ range, which has even more market dominance than the hi-fi products.
Many classic LPs were mastered with an Ortofon cutterhead – the 'inverse' of cartridge that cuts grooves in response to an electric signal.
Ortofon's 'Cadenza' range replaces the 'Kontrapunkt' products that had served well for many years and the Red is the base model of four.
It uses a 'fine line' stylus on an aluminium cantilever, while the generator assembly uses ultra-pure copper wire and a powerful magnet, producing a relatively high output for a design of its type. It still requires the services of a proper 'moving coil' preamp input or a transformer, though.
The body is made mostly of aluminium, with some stainless steel helping push the total mass up to 10.5 grams, making this a fairly heavy cartridge. Its low compliance will, however, keep low-frequency resonance to a typical 10Hz or so in most arms.
Like many current cartridges it has threaded holes for easy mounting, but there's an interesting subtlety in the mounting face. It has three small protuberances (left and right, rear and centre front) which in most arms will give extra-positive three-point contact, aiding stability.
The electrical connection pins are slightly recessed into the housing, which may make connecting up slightly awkward, but keeps overall length short.
Sound quality
This is another distinctly lively cartridge, and a slightly bright-sounding one too. So much so, in fact, that in a system that is already erring on the bright side, one might find this a bit too much of a good thing.
In more neutral company, however, the perception of brightness soon fades with familiarity – it's well short of discomfort levels. And it seems a small price to pay for the wide range of virtues the Cadenza Red demonstrates in other areas, including bass, midrange and detail.
In fact, over the long term, what most impressed us with this cartridge turned out to be the midrange, which is effortlessly informative in the sort of way that makes one want to listen more, and more carefully, than usual.
It has a very neutral character and impeccable manners, never drawing attention to itself overtly, but the detail it presents is always clear, consistent and beautifully ordered. As a result, the Cadenza Red can make the most of the widest variety of music, from small-scale classical and folk to huge rock or opera spectaculars, with thunderous – but always well controlled – bass and some very gratifying treble clarity too, brightness notwithstanding.
Setup doesn't seem to be terribly critical, though it still pays some dividends with a slightly sharper focus both tonally and spatially when the arm height has been adjusted. In fact, we ended up with a slightly higher-than average arm base.
We also found the cartridge a little fussy about arms and while it was happy enough in the SME309, it never quite sang to its best in the Townshend Excalibur, with or without the damping trough in place.
To us, it sounded clearer when used with a high-gain phono amp than with any of our transformers, but there's not much in it.
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AP stories back on Google News
Associated Press stories have returned to Google, with discussions between the media agency and the search giant continuing.
News giant AP's stories have been missing from Google News of late, with the two believed to have been butting heads over the propagation of content.
The ever-controversial News service from Google is at the centre of the debate over paid versus free content, with some news providers accusing the search giant of profiting from their work.
AP's feeds, however, are back on Google News with Google telling the Wall Street Journal's Digits blog that discussions were ongoing.
Licensing agreement
"We have a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that permits us to host its content on Google properties such as Google News," said the statement.
"The licensing agreement is the subject of ongoing discussion so we won't be commenting further at this time."
It's certain that this will not be the end of the debate, with the question of news aggregation on the internet likely to be an increasingly pressing issue through 2010.
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Review: Grado Reference Master 1
Apart from its highly-regarded headphones, Grado makes quite a wide range of cartridges such as this one, the Grado Reference Master 1. This is unusual in one particular respect: all of them come under the broad heading of 'moving magnet'.
The majority of high-end cartridges, now and back to the 1950s, have used the moving-coil principle, but Grado explains on its website why this is not necessarily the answer to all the world's ills and resolutely produces high-end moving-magnet designs.
Some of these are low-output types that will connect to the 'moving coil' input on a phono amp, but the Reference Master 1 is one is a 'traditional' high-output cartridge. Apart from the business of output voltage, however, this cartridge behaves more like a moving-coil type.
For a start, the stylus is not user-replaceable. That was always attractive, but inevitably it compromised system rigidity to some extent. The generator is built into an attractive wooden housing and the stylus guard is cleverly made of the same material – it fits in place with two pins and is one of the most reassuring guards we've seen.
Threaded holes in the top of the cartridge body make mounting easy and the middling mass of 6.5 grams makes it compatible with most arms.
Grado fits a nude elliptical diamond stylus to this model, at the end of a relatively long cantilever which has been designed to keep tip mass to a minimum. That's one way in which treble extension has been improved over the 20-odd kHz typical of old-school moving magnet cartridges, while the unusually low inductance of the generator also helps extend response and reduces sensitivity to cabling and loading capacitance. Tracking is fairly gentle at a recommended 1.5 grams.
Sound quality
We were surprised to find ourselves a little disappointed at this cartridge's performance as past experience with Grado models has been most encouraging.
Although there is a lot to like including good rhythm and some very impressive bass, we never managed to get the sort of detail out of it that some of its peers can manage. We fiddled extensively with tracking force, arm height and all the other setup parameters including loading, and while we did establish that arm height (vertical tracking angle) is rather critical for this model, we still didn't quite banish a mild degree of veiling.
Do lower the arm base a millimetre or three, though, it's well worth the trouble. As a result, the sound is unusually dependent on musical style. Bassy stuff like rock – especially if it's of the non-arty variety – is very well served and has the kind of kick and energy that one very seldom hears from digital recordings and, frankly, all too seldom from analogue.
We were also very taken with the sound of piano, which has excellent body and an unusually good balance between initial impact and subsequent decay. Solo voice isn't bad either, though we felt the Grado is kinder to male voice than female, which can at times seem just a touch harsh.
What doesn't work so well is music with a wide frequency range and lots of instruments or voices. The more musicians are involved, the harder it is to work out what each one is doing. More to the point, it feels as if a film has descended which lessens the actual impact of the music on the listener.
One might not always want to listen analytically, but having to listen hard just to follow the thread is more like hard work than one wants to experience after buying and installing a high-end system.
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Flickr co-founder launches new MMO
Steward Butterfield, one of the original co-founders of photosharing website Flickr, is currently developing a new MMO game called Glitch.
Glitch has been put together by Butterfield in association with the developers over at Tiny Speck and is intriguingly described as a collaborative and rather psychedelic-looking 2D platformer.
How has Butterfield moved from photo-sharing into games? Remember that Flickr itself started off as a massively multiplayer number called Game Neverending, so in many ways Butterfield and his team have come full circle.
2D or not 2D?
Glitch is a (barking mad looking) Flash game which requires the player to work with others to solve problems and puzzles.
For Butterfield and his team to make an MMO game in 2D which features no shooting or killing or combat is a brave move in itself!
Glitch should be entering the alpha testing stage soon with a public beta test scheduled for later in 2010. We will be keeping a close eye on this one.
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iPhone version of Opera Mini to be shown at MWC
Opera Mini will be shown running on an iPhone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month, although the company has yet to get the application through Apple's rigorous vetting process.
Apple has been anything but accommodating when it comes to allowing rival browsers onto the iPhone, but Opera's open statement of intent over the platform does, at the very least, sound confident of success.
Opera Mini is a popular mobile browser, and could prove a competitor to the pre-installed Sarafi browser that is already on the iPhone.
John von Thrilled
"We are thrilled to offer journalists and partners an exclusive preview of Opera Mini for iPhone during the year's biggest mobile event," said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software.
"This is a unique opportunity to introduce the fast, feature-rich Opera Mini experience for the iPhone, and to showcase our latest beta releases of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini on other platforms and devices.
"Opera's mission is to bring the Web to the world, and by making Opera Mini available on yet another platform, we are one step closer."
The browser running on a iPhone will be just one of Opera's showcases with the company also trailing Opera Mobile 10 beta 3 on Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile handsets, Opera Mobile 10 beta running on Android handsets, Mini 5 beta, running 'on a variety of handsets and platforms' and the company's cross-platform Widgets Manager beta, running on Windows Mobile and S60 handsets.
But it will be the iPhone browser that garners the most attention, and raise the question as to whether Opera Mini will soon be making a public appearance on an Apple handset near you.
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Apple launches face recognising Aperture 3
Apple has released Aperture 3, the latest version of its popular photo editing software which includes face recognition, a range of new slide shows and some interesting library abilities
Apple's online store went offline yesterday while the new addition was made, sparking rampant speculation about what new product the company was now releasing.
Wired referred to this little game played by the tech community every time Apple updates its website as "one of the high-tech universe's favorite parlor games."
When it was revealed that the update was the latest version of Aperture, you could almost hear the internet sigh…
Beyond impressed
However, if you are an Apple using amateur snapper then the news will be of interest, with Aperture 3 including over 200 new features, with better organisation of your photo libraries being one of the key new selling points for the photo editing package.
Aperture's 'Faces and Places' feature has been expanded to 'Faces, Places and Brushes' to let users paint over their pics to touch them up a little, the slide show features have been massively improved and there is now face recognition built-in.
"I am beyond impressed with the massive changes made in Aperture 3," National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson said in the release.
For more head over to store.apple.com
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Next Android version is 'Gingerbread'
The next version of Android will be codenamed 'Gingerbread', although details of the actual feature set of the next version of the mobile OS remain a mystery.
Google's sweet food themed codenames have caused widespread amusement, and the theme has now continued with Gingerbread.
This follows version codenamed Cupcake, Donut, Eclair and Froyo (that's frozen yoghurt by the way).
The news was revealed by Google's Brian Swetland when discussing his latest work on Android's Linux-based kernel.
Important OS
Android has become one of the most important mobile operating systems, with the Open Handset Alliance and main player Google making a huge impact on the market.
The likes of the Nexus One - Google's handset - and important phones from the likes of Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC et al have put Android firmly in the consumer consciousness as the battle with Apple's iPhone for smartphone supremacy rages.
So even though we don't know what Gingerbread is made of - apart from Google's secret sugar of course - at least we have something to refer to it as.
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Yahoo and Microsoft dismiss Google Buzz
Google's newly launched Buzz social network service has received criticism from Yahoo and Microsoft, with both companies claiming to have offered a similar service for years.
Microsoft claimed that Hotmail has offered similar services to customers since 2008, while Yahoo made the point that it launched its own #Buzz service two years ago.
Busy busy busy
"Busy people don't want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation," Microsoft said in a statement.
"We've done that. Hotmail customers have benefited from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008."
Yahoo added to the Google Buzz bashing, tweeting: "Two years after #Yahoo! launched #Buzz, Google follows suit. Check out the original: http://buzz.yahoo.com/"
Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft have had much success in the social networking arena, so it will be interesting to see if Google Buzz can succeed where these companies have so far failed.
Google has had no real luck launching a social network that has gained any sort of meaningful audience or traction, with the less said about its failed Orkut social network the better…
Google Buzz will be fully integrated with Gmail, Google, Google Maps and a number of other social networks.
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Google Buzz takes on Facebook and Twitter
Todd Jackson, Product Manager for Google Buzz has just been showing off Google's latest sharing tool that is set to take the real time web to the masses.
Google Buzz is part of Gmail and key features include:
• Automatic friends lists (friends are added automatically who you have emailed on Gmail)
• "Rich fast sharing" combines image sources and real-time feeds like Picasa and Twitter into a single feed, with full-sized photo browsing
• Public and private sharing (switch easily between family and friends)
• Inbox integration (instead of emailing you with every update, like Facebook, Buzz features emails that update dynamically with Buzz thread content, ensuring you don't get emails you don't need or want)
• "Recommended Buzz" puts friend-of-friend content into your stream, learning which recommendations you want the more you use it and the more feedback you give it.
Voice-posting, location-awareness
Buzz really comes into its own on Google Android and Apple iPhone, where you can post entirely using your voice.
There are three components to Google Buzz on mobile: A new mobile Google homepage with automatic geo-location and Buzz integration; a web app for Google Android phones and iPhone which you can get here with some rather special speech-to-text powers; and a new version of the hugely popular Google Maps that ties your location with Buzz.
The location features are where Google Buzz will potentially pull users away from their Twitter and Facebook habits.
You can add it in as a layer in Google Maps to see what people are Buzzing about nearby, and, should you wish, chip in your ten-penneth to the Buzz conversation.
Google's Places database has also been updated to integrate Buzz.
Go to http://www.google.com/buzz to get involved.
See more on the mobile version of Buzz below:
Stay tuned for updates...
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Hands on: Canon EOS 550D review
Canon unveiled its latest DSLR to shoot Full HD video, the Canon EOS 550D, at a swanky event in London this week and TechRadar were on hand for a touchy feely session with the camera.
Acting like an upgraded 500D, the camera totes a bigger, better sensor in the guise of the APS-C CMOS. Essentially this means brighter images due to the amount of light which hits the sensor.
The chassis is, like the 500D, nice and lightweight – great for those who are fed up with the cumbersome size of some DSLRs on the market.
Those familiar with the 500D will feel right at home with the 550D – the enlarged buttons on the back of the camera make another appearance, including a few other option designed to bring the movie elements of the camera to the fore.
One of these is the Movie Crop function which is good for those who can't quite get close enough to the action.
We would never recommend cropping too much into a movie frame but the results we got were more than passable.
Back to the camera elements of the 550D, there's a 9-point AF system on-board which locked us on to subjects nice and fast and the ability to expand, with a bit of trickery, the ISO to 12800.
It's the movie aspect of the camera which is standout in the 550D, however; something which Canon is heavily promoting.
This was originally seen in the invitation to the launch which was titled 'Canon At The Movies' and the press conference took place at BAFTA's prestigious headquarters in Piccadilly, London.
The filmmaking market is one which Canon eagerly wants to snap up and one which it already semi-controls with its mix of prosumers and professional film cameras. Such a pedigree then means that if you were to treat the EOS 550D as nothing but a movie making machine, you wouldn't be disappointed.
Canon has certainly upped the ante when it comes to filming modes. Now there's a choice between 30, 25 and 24fps (on the Full HD option) and 60 and 50fps (on 720p). This patches up a major bug-bear users had with the 500D's limited filming options which were poor for fast-moving images.
There's one caveat that the Canon and the rest of the DSLR crowd has to overcome, though. Due to tax restrictions in the UK, filmmaking on the DSLR is confined to around 12 minutes for a take – any more and the device would be subject to import restrictions.
This isn't a major problem, unless your movies resemble Hitchcock's Rope but something to bear in mind.
This does bring home the fact that what you are using is a camera first and a camcorder second. Saying that, the lines are certainly blurring with the 550D which is sure to pique the interest of photographers and videographers alike.
The Canon EOS 550D has a UK release date of 24 February. Price-wise, the camera will be available body-only for a penny under آ£799.99.
To show off the camera, Canon has released a promo video for the EOD 550D which we have posted below.
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