You know how it goes, first comes the announcement, then comes the pr0n, and now comes the critiquing. Canon's first endeavor into the hybrid still camera / HD camcorder realm looked great at first glance, but after you peered beyond the admirable size, manageable price, and HD capabilities, how does this thing really stack up? DCRP got real with the TX1, and while the design was smiled upon, it was still oddly deemed "a bit too small," as reviewers claimed that the "controls were tiny, cluttered, and poorly placed," leading to a good bit of frustration when it came to actually operating the device. Still, the crew did praise the flip-out LCD, impressive optical image stabilization system, and SDHC support, but mirrored just about everyone's gripes when they complained about the Motion JPEG format choice. Put simply, "Canon created a camera that's big on style and features, but lacking in terms of ergonomics, flash strength, movie recording times, and battery life." All in all, we fully expect the next iteration of the TX1 to be a serious contender, but the current rendition just seems to fall a bit short in the areas that matter most.

[Via DigitalMediaThoughts]

We got a chance to check out Canon's bizarre TX1 hybrid still camera / camcorder -- something we were both looking forward to and disappointed by. Why disappointed? Well, as excited as the steady-handed form factor and 10x optical zoom makes us, the 720p recording in Motion JPEG kind of kills our ideas for using this thing as a video workhorse. Still, definitely worth checking out the gallery.

Watch out, Sanyo, because your diminutive HD2 camcorder is about to face some very daunting competition from Canon. Like the recently announced Sanyo, the PowerShot TX1 packs a 7.1 megapixel CCD into a tiny little package capable of capturing 720p HD video as well -- but unlike the $700 HD2, Canon is hanging just a $500 pricetag on this model. Besides its one-two punch of high resolution stills and videos, this device offers a 10x optical zoom (with an optically-stabilized lens), a 115,000 pixel LCD, and ISO settings ranging from 80 to 1600. You're also getting the latest Digic image processor, advanced face detection and red eye reduction, Vista-compatibility, 14 shooting modes, and a so-called "Intelligent Orientation Sensor" to keep the display looking right no matter how you're holding the cam. No word so far on a release date, but with all this functionality at a very attractive price, you can probably expect the TX1 to fly off shelves when it finally makes its debut.