Samsung Digital Camera Debuts Front-Facing Screen and Wi-Fi

Like many post-holiday gift-getters, you may be taking more time out of your day to take more pictures with your new glitzy smartphone. Smartphone cameras came a long way in 2011, to the point where digital point and shoot camera sales began falling off. Now comes the Samsung DV300F, a $200 digital camera that takes its design cues from the smartphone world. It's called a DualView camera because it has a regular LCD screen in the rear, but it also has a 1.5-inch display on the front of the camera by the lens.

Furthermore, like most mobile devices, it even comes with built-in Wi-Fi so you can upload images right to Flickr, YouTube or Facebook. A few months ago, consumers were asking themselves if they really needed a new digital camera if their smartphone took such good photos. Samsung can hope to make people think twice with the DV300F. Like many smartphones and, of course, digital cameras, the DB300F takes incredible photos with its 16 megapixel photo sensor, five times optical zoom and image stabilization system.

That said, the DB300F is long on features but short on the basics that go into the best point and shoot cameras. It does take great photos, but less so in low light situations. That is a common problem with many cameras (especially smartphones), but the image stabilization system could also be better. It's not an optical image stabilization system, and those typically provide better images than their electronic counterparts. In the end, if you want a camera with a front facing screen for things like self-portraits, and the nifty ability to share images on your social networks, then the DV300F is perfect. For $200, it will take much better photos than your smartphone, and it does have some other fun features. The front facing display can produce animations intended to keep younger viewers' attention for the approximately five seconds you'll need to get their photo. Tell us in the comments if you've already abandoned your point and shoot or if you love photography too much to do so.