Samsung TL34 HD ups the ante with 14.7 megapixels

Forget about 10 megapixel cameras, Samsung just announced the upcoming TL34 HD pocket camera which boasts an impressive 14.7 megapixel resolution. You'll probably never use all those extra megapixels, unless you plan to make posters out of your snapshots, but it's good to know the option is available to someone out there.

And if you think the high-resolution is the only highlight, well, you're wrong. The camera features an HD video recording capability that makes videos at a 720p resolution. It also has a movie stabilizer, optical zoom, and a successive recording mode that allows you pause and resume filming without making individual clips. I can't tell you how handy that's going to be for editors. To watch movies straight from the camera, you'll need the Samsung HDMI CED (Consumer Electronics Control), which you have to buy separately.

I love cameras with a huge displays, and this one packs a large 3-inch touchscreen that will go well with the camera's blink and smile detection systems. Not a fan of retractable zoom lenses, but perhaps some will like that fact that it has a Schneider Kreuznach lens with 3.6x optical zoom. Other features include a 1/1.72inch CCD, an ISO setting that goes up to 3200, 13 scene modes, and a Smart Touch interface that makes navigating the camera settings easy.

This beauty will ship out in September in silver or black with red accents and retail for $329.95 so look for it in stores then.