Samsung ST550 review

There's more. The ST550's motion-detection system lets you activate menus by tilting the camera rather than pressing a button. The camera's got to be more or less upright for it to work, and it takes a few attempts to get the movement right, but it's going to be handy in winter when you've got gloves on.

Ordinary pictures
Samsung's really pulled the stops out with the ST550, cramming in so many smart design and control innovations that there's scarcely room to list them all.

The test chart shows an odd mixture of super-sharpened detail and filled-in textures (look at the 9 block on the right). This gives the ST550's images a distinctly over-processed look (click image to enlarge)

Underneath, though, is a somewhat ordinary imaging system. The 4.6x wideangle zoom is handy, but Samsung's image processing smoothes over too much fine detail, even at low ISOs. The lens quality is only so-so too -- it's okay in the centre of the frame at normal zoom settings, but rather woolly at the edges and at full zoom.

Conclusion
The Samsung ST550's twin displays are what most people will pick up on, but it's the haptic touchscreen interface that's the real star. The camera's motion-detection capability is also very impressive. Its pictures are pretty ordinary, but the camera itself is a stunningly successful technical exercise.

Edited by Charles Kloet