Eastman Kodak has just begun shipping the EasyShare-One; a digital camera that, within range of hotels, airport lounges, homes and other wireless spots, can deliver digital pictures directly onto the Internet.
The EasyShare-One, first unveiled in January, was supposed to hit the market in June but ran
into engineering and marketing glitches. The digital camera supports the Wi-Fi wireless
technology and allows users to e-mail photos directly to friends and family without a
computer. The camera is also able to wirelessly send photos to a KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock
Plus, for direct printing. Note for all those wireless opeartions, an optional KODAK Wi-Fi
card is required, priced at $100.
Users can send photos directly through a Wi-Fi transmitter at home or work, or pay $4.99 per
month to connect the camera with any of T-Mobile USA's 6,000 hot spots at stores, airports,
hotels and other establishments.
However, subscribers to other Wi-Fi services will not be able to connect an EasyShare-One to
those wireless accounts.
The EasyShare-One's liquid-crystal screen contains an instruction menu: Shutterbugs can
either e-mail pictures and video clips or post them on Kodak's online photography site.
Though the photos are actually routed through the Kodak site, users can set up their accounts
so that the messages appear to arrive from a personal e-mail address.
The new Kodak camera boasts 4 megapixels of resolution, 3x optical zoom (SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH
C-VARIOGON lens), storage room for up to 1,500 photos in its 256 MB internal memory and a
3-inch touch screen.
EasyShare-One is curently priced at $599.
In the meantime, Nikon is shipping its own Wi-Fi camera to stores. The Nikon P1 features an
8.0 Effective Megapixel resolution and can also wirelessly transfer pictures to a computer.
Its MSPR is $550.