Drool-Worthy Camera?

A press release crossed my inbox today with the announcement of a new camera by DXG USA. Now I have a great digital camera, but this release promised multimedia nirvana in one little device, all for just $199.

Before I get to the catch, here are some of the features of the DXG-589V. It’s a combination 5 megapixel camera, VGA camcorder, video game player, digital music player and video recorder that takes input from TVs and DVD players. Video is MPEG-4 with 30 frames per second at a 640×480 resolution. For gaming, the device has a flip screen and 20 built-in, full-color games. Not particularly exciting for a real gamer, but for someone like me who just likes to have something handy to do while waiting in line, it sounds great.

So why the second thoughts?

I didn’t find any reviews of this particular camera online, but I did find a CNET review of something that looks like an earlier version of the product. The official review complained about the DXG-301V’s lack of an optical zoom (no word if the DXG-589V has one), and pointed out that you also need to shell out money for a 1GB SD media card if you want to store any decent amount of video. Other problems seem to have been resolved, like MPEG-4 encoding with video capture at 30 fps rather than 15. Still, given the scathing user reviews that accompanied the CNET write-up, I’m a bit suspicious of how well this camera will perform.

Bottom line – if the DXG-589V sounds interesting to you, try it out in a store before you buy. The camera should be on sale now at retailers including Best Buy and Circuit City.