Choosing your first digital camera in today's market is a bewildering business, as the manufacturers bombard you with impressive sounding statistics and/or provide a seductive exterior to grab your attention. In the case of HP's Photosmart R837, the initial appeal is linked to both style and content.
You're struck at first by the smooth, silver metallic finish at the front and the exceptionally large (3-inch) LCD display at the back. The shiny plate at the front trumpets the fact that the images will have a resolution of 7.2 megapixels and the graceful curve of the front case is designed to be sexily chic.
The camera is switched on via the sliding lens cover at the front - it feels clunky and not altogether smooth. Also, when you start lining up your photos through the LCD, there's very restricted gripping space beside the lens (the front curvature doesn't help here either) and you have to be careful not to put your thumb in the frame.
Once on, a slide control on the top lets you choose between stills, video and playback and again this is not the most user-friendly when changing between modes. The other controls, by contrast, are simple and easy to operate and include main menu, zoom, return, delete, mode and flash.
In terms of functions, there's a curious mix of feast and famine. Light sensitivity is restricted to ISO100, 200 and 400 and the flash options are simply Auto, On and Off (no anti red-eye). However there are 13 picture modes (including Beach, Snow, Theatre, Panorama left and right and Sunset) and you can use SD cards up to 4GB of memory in addition to the built-in 32MB.
The video capture is the weakest link as the maximum you can achieve is 24fps MPEG-1 at 640x480 resolution. Zoom capacity is more than adequate, though, with 3x optical and 8x digital available. The quality of the still images is no better than average, mostly because of the low light sensitivity and occasional fringing effect in high contrast photos.
Where this machine really scores is with its in-camera editing and manipulation. HP's so-called Design Gallery is a veritable treasure trove of creative effects, particularly if you don't like what you see in front of your camera and want to 'improve' it. Notable firsts are the Photo Touch-Up, which can remove facial blemishes like spots and moles (superb), and Pet-Eye Fix, which makes animals' glowing eyes a more acceptable black.
Fun stuff includes Slimming (for a more flattering figure) and 12 excellent artistic effects such as Cartoon, Ink Dots, Retro, Vintage, Kaleidoscope and Drawing. Photos can be tagged, too, to make them easy to categorise before you transfer them to a PC.
