Review posted 03/10/2011

Quick Take

Pros

Produces nice 14-megapixel photos throughout the zoom range Great 5x optical zoom with wide viewing angle Acceptable noise levels up to ISO 800 Well built and stylish body Cool Motion Recognition options in record and playback modes Sweet 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD Larger Front LCD screen for Dual View Additional "feet" on the bottom to allow you to take angled shots while the camera is sitting on a flat surface Touchscreen system was very easy to operate Offers a great value at $329 US or less

Cons

Touchscreen only responds to the flesh of your finger tips; if you have long fingernails you might have a more difficult time operating the camera The Playback zoom option is a bit sluggish when trying to scroll around inside the frame Uses microSD/SDHC cards, which are VERY easy to lose ISO 1600 and 3200 show a great deal of noise Red-eye in many of our people photos No A/V cables included Shooting performance could have been better

Bottom Line

Samsung has created yet another appealing ultra-compact digital camera that sports their popular Dual View functionality. This unit receives several upgrades over past models, many of which is shares with the ST100. However, the ST600 seems to produce sharper images, and offers a great value for a 14-megapixel digicam. Read more in our Full Conclusion.

Based of the success of previous Dual View cameras (like the TL220 & TL225), Samsung is adding some new models to this lineup, including the ST600 and ST100. New improvements include a larger front LCD (1.8-inch from 1.5) as well as increased resolution to 14-megapixels.

The ST600 also sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD on the rear of the camera, smart face recognition, 720p high definition video capture and a 5x optical zoom lens.

Samsung ST600 key features include:

• 14.2 Megapixels
• Schneider KREUZNACH 5x Optical Zoom Lens
• 3.5-inch TFT Touchscreen LCD with over 1 million pixels and 100% frame coverage
  
• 1.8-inch Front LCD screen
• High Sensitivity up to ISO 3200
• 720p HD video capture (30 fps, .MP4 H.264 format)
• Smart Auto 2.0 exposure controls, along with Auto, Program AE and 13 scene modes
  
• Smart Gesture User Interface (UI)
• Smart Face Recognition (Up to 6 people manually and 14 people automatically)
• Dual Image Stabilization system (OIS + DIS)
• Various Front LCD modes, including Self-Shot,
  Couple-Shot, etc.
  
• HDMI output
• microSD/SDHC memory card slot
• Li-ion battery pack
  

The Samsung ST600 is available in black, purple, gold or pink with a suggested retail price of $329.99 US.

What's in the box?:

• Samsung ST600 camera body
• USB cable
• AC adapter
• Li-ion battery pack
• Wrist strap
• Cleaning cloth
• User Manual CD-ROM
• Quick Start Manual