The G-Shot DV1110 seems almost too good to be true. For £120 you get a digital video camera, TV recording and playback, audio recorder, still camera and MP3 player – in short, a media centre in your hand.
For this price you don’t get the quality that you would from a single-use device, nevertheless it is good. The DV1110 uses MPEG4 technology so you can store over three hours of video on a tiny 1Gb SD memory card (not supplied with the camera). What's more it comes with an AV-in function that lets you record movies or video content directly from a TV or DVD player.
The 8x digital zoom works with stills too, but has the limitation of all digital zooms. Images can be shot at resolutions of 2976x2232, 2048x1536 and 1024x768 pixels. Video is captured at 640x480 and 320x240 pixels, both at 30 frames per second. You have control over white balance, exposure, effects, sharpness and metering.
The rechargeable Lithium Ion battery works for up to three hours with the LCD on. The dimensions – it fits in the hand or pocket - are 100x30x70mm and the weight is 136g. It’s very easy to use and the manual will certainly go back in the box very quickly.
The two main issues are robustness and image quality. Robustness seems OK, but that can only really be tested with prolonged use. Image quality is not first rate, in either the still or the moving images, and it doesn't work well in low light. However, it's perfectly acceptable, and certainly better than those from any camera phone I've seen. The pictures are perfectly adequate for sharing by email or using on a website.
Does this gadget have a place in school? Certainly. As a way of capturing moments without having to make elaborate preparations, it's fine. For contributing to portfolios it is excellent. Video profiles would be good too. You could use it with a whiteboard to display the material that has been collected. Think of it as a media notebook where you can collect your digital scribbles and jottings
The brother to this camera is the DV610 which has a smaller display (2.0” to 2.5”) and the quality is rated at 3 megapixels rather than 5. The DV610 camera will not record and play back from TV.
Prices: G-Shot DV1110 £120 (ex vat) The DV 610 £100 (ex vat)
