Digital Trends

HP Photosmart R927

March 28th, 2006 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

Along with its LCD screen, the most noticeable external feature is a very smooth-edged silver-finished metallic body. This camera looks very slick and is extremely compact, measuring 3.8 x 2.4 x 1 (WHD, in inches). Since it does have a metal case not the usual plastic the R927 weighs 7.8 ounces with battery, media card and wrist strap. Still it won't break your back and easily fits in your pocket. I carried it around for a week in my front pocket hitting some tourist spots and found it very unobtrusive—just what a compact digicam should be.

The front of the R927 is simple yet very distinguished (if a camera can be such a thing). The 3x optical zoom recesses into the body when powered down and there's a built-in lens cover. The lens is equivalent to 35-105mm, the traditional point-and-shoot range. You'll find the flash, a flash assist/self timer lamp, tiny microphone, some subtle logos and numerical nomenclature. There's also a subtle indent so the fingers of your right hand fit nicely in place.

The top of the camera has six keys along with the shutter button. These keys control most of your normal needs including adjusting the flash, focus (normal, macro), the Photosmart Express menu for sharing and printing images, record/playback and power on/off. A cool blue RAZR-like light comes on when you power up. There's also a separate button for recording VGA videos but the frame rate is only 24 fps compared to the more common 30. The speaker is here as well.

The rear is dominated by the 3-inch LCD screen rated 230K pixels, about the best you can get. It has a 170-degree angle of view so even friends off to the side can see your snapshots. To the right of the screen are the wide/tele switch and the typical four-way controller with center menu/OK key.

On the bottom of the camera is the slot for the battery and memory card. Although it has 32MB of internal memory, this is useless for shooting 8MP images so budget around $50 for a one gig card. There's also a tripod mount and a dock connector. One of the reasons the R927 is so compact is the fact there are no outputs on the camera itself; they're on the supplied camera dock. You place the camera in the dock which then recharges the battery in-camera and there's a USB port. Missing is a video output, just like the Sony DSC-S600. What is going on with these companies? Do they think everyone has flat-panel or microdisplay TVs with built-in SD card slots that handle video files or would rather check their videos on a 3-inch screen rather than a 42-incher? Hoo, boy, what an oversight. If you really want to see your photos and videos on your TV HP plans to sell an optional Photosmart 6221 Premium Camera Dock (around $80, due April). The dock also lets you recharge the in-camera battery, plus a spare. 

That said, the camera comes with everything else you need (other than an SD card) to start taking pictures. The kit includes a wrist strap, rechargeable lithium ion battery, dock, USB and AC cable, a slim 26-page Quick Start Guide and a CD ROM that's loaded with excellent software including HP Photosmart Premier, one of the best bundled packages around. Although the User Guide is on the CD ROM, I prefer a printed version since I usually don't walk around with a laptop to check instructions.

After charging the R927 for about three hours and snapping in a 2GB Kingston Ultimate card it was time to start taking photos.

Image Courtesy of HP