Kodak has taken the wraps off its new EasyShare V610, which is the company’s first camera to offer Bluetooth wireless technology for transferring images to computers and printers, but also claims to be the world’s smallest camera to sport a 10x optical zoom. And when they say small, they mean it: the EasyShare V610 is less than one inch thick, four and a half inches across, and two-and-a-quarter inches high.
The EasyShare V610’s built-in Bluetooth networking enables users to share photos using wireless technology, simplifying the process of transferring images to PCs, printers 9via Pictbridge and ImageLink systems), and even mobile phones. The EasyShare V610 features a 6.1 megapixel resolution, a 2.8-inch, 230,000-color LCD screen, and delivers its zoom capabilities via two Schneuder-Kreuznach C-Variogon all-glass, non-protruding lenses. The camera can also capture video in QuickTime format, offers a 1.1-second shot-to-shot latency, autofocus, and on-camera editing and photo management tools. Also on board: NTSC or PAL video output, USB 2.0 connector, and Kodak’s proprietary Dock/Printer interface. The camera has 32 MB of internal memory, expandable with SD/MMC cards.
The Kodak EasyShare V610 is scheduled to be available worldwide in May 2006 with an suggested price of $499 in the United States.
Kodak also rolled out new versions of its EasyShare-One camera, adding 6 megapixel resolution and optional WiFi capabilities, with the claim that users can send photos via email from an ever-growing number of wireless hotspots detected using WISPr (Wireless Internet Service Provider recommendation) technology. The New EasyShare-One will be available in the U.S. in mid-2006 at a suggested price of $299; the Wi-Fi option is an additional $99.