I was as a skeptical as anyone when General Electric announced last year that it was getting into the camera business -- did I miss the reports about a shortage of little, stylish point-and-shoots? But I became a little more of a believer after talking to some GE execs, and I'm a little more so after opening the box of the debut G1 camera.
The first impression is "compact." Everything from the cardboard box to the battery charger seems to have been designed to make efficient use of space and promote a n00b-friendly sense of, "Don't worry. I'm not going to take over your house or your life."
Control layout is at least as smart as anything I've seen recently.
Specs are average -- 7 megapixels, 3x zoom, 1/2.5 image sensor -- but if image quality is above-average, this may be the camera I wish I'd bought my mother-in-law to introduce her to digital photography.
Full review coming once the battery charges up and I can shoot some images.
G1 [GE]
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