Two new looks at the Samsung TL-series with the analog gauges

Samsung has been trying a number of different ideas in camera design and camera features. Some of them have been hits, some misses, some are somewhere in-between. One of the retro-cool ideas Samsung brought are the analog gauges on top of a couple of their cameras. They show the amount of battery and storage left.

The first model to come out was the TL320 in 2009 and a couple of days ago, technology website Trusted Reviews published their review of it. The camera also goes by the name WB1000 (or is it WB100, we lost track). This is a camera that was flying under the radar for a while, and as far as we can tell, its first review came in September 2009 at Radiant Lite. The camera has dropped in price now, the lowest at Amazon is around $200.

Fast forward to 2010, Samsung announced their second "analog gauge" camera, the TL350/WB2000. But this camera was not just a sequential update. A number of additions were made, including RAW and 1080p. Production cameras are not available yet, but Photography Bay has just published a hands-on with a pre-production model, including a video walkthrough.

Samsung finds itself at the crossroads - can they win the hearts and minds of the enthusiast and advanced photographers?

PS: Speaking of Samsung, we owe you a Samsung NX10 round-up, which should come during the weekend, along with Panasonic G2/G10 and Leica M9 round-ups (other things equal).