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Samsung NV3Along with taking surprisingly good photos, the Samsung NV3 offers decent playback of MP3 files and video clips Price:
$349
by Dan Havlik 
With the NV3, Samsung has combined a seven-megapixel digital camera and a personal media player into one device. Although we had some trepidation before testing this latest experiment in convergence—remember the Kodak MC3?—the stylish NV3 performed a variety of tasks with surprisingly good results.
Samsung claims the design of the NV3 came from two years of market research and, based on its exterior alone, this camera looks like a winner. Slim and attractive with a stainless steel body in brushed black, the NV3 is sleek enough to slide into your pocket but also fun to hold. A 2.5-inch LCD screen with ample resolution takes up most of the rear of the camera while the top features two button-shaped fixtures on either side that are actually the NV3’s speakers. (Just be sure not to confuse them with the shutter button.) Though the NV3 looks pretty slick, it’s sluggish to shoot with, mostly because the shutter button lacks good touch-sensitivity. Prefocusing with this camera can be a frustrating experience. Once you lock in a shot, however, the NV3 can snap some great pictures with rich color, good dynamic range, and a subtlety of detail. We especially liked the camera’s Advanced Shake Reduction setting, which was mighty slow to use, but produced sharp images in low light with warm, film-like tones. As a music player, the NV3 is definitely no iPod when it comes to ease of use. Loading songs onto the camera is tricky, and the NV3’s manual is hard to read, with much info lost in a bad translation. Once you get your audio files onto the camera, however, just flip the mode dial to the MP3 setting and they’ll start playing back on the camera’s tiny but surprisingly powerful speakers. For more discreet listening and even better sound, plug in the supplied earbuds and you’re good to go. To get your video files to play, you first must run them through the supplied Windows-only Digimax Converter software and then drag the reformatted files onto the camera via a USB connection. Playback on the NV3’s 2.5-inch screen was excellent with the speakers providing good audio. Though Samsung could take some lessons from Apple on making the NV3 easier to use, the camera took sharp digital images with rich color, the MP3 player had great sound, and video playback was better than expected, proving this hybrid is definitely worth a look. Compare Prices | Samsung NV3 Specifications
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