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 Hewlett-Packard’s Photosmart 935 steps up to the plate with image quality that leads the field in its price range ($450 street), plus speed on the base-paths—as in fast e-mailing and computerless printing.
And for those who recall HP’s, ahem, ergonomically challenged camera bodies of the past, the 935 ranks as almost svelte. OK, it’s a little boxy, and, at 13¼4-inch deep, a bit bricklike, but the groovy grip and placement of controls make for nice handling as well as nice looks.
The 935 boasts a rockin’ 5MP (effective) CCD and f/2.6 Pentax (37–111mm equivalent) 3X optical zoom. Casual shooting confirmed what Pop’s lab had already discovered: The 935 produces remarkably sharp, color-accurate pictures. (Resolution was on a par with that of several cameras costing hundreds more.)
Get your index finger a gym membership, because it’s not going to get much of a workout with this camera. It operates with a minimum of digital action: Instead of drilling down through menus within menus, most of the important controls are accessed via single button presses. To attach an audio memo to a picture, for example, just keep the shutter button down and yak away.
 With the camera linked to a computer by cable or nestled in its optional Photosmart 8886 camera dock ($80 street), a single button press (or two) will e-mail pictures to preassigned in-boxes. Called Instant Share, the feature will also automatically print appropriately tagged image files to the size and quantity you specify in-camera.
Any pitfalls? Its two AAs lose power before you can say “zippity doo dead.” The flap covering the SD slot pops open far too easily. There are only two resolution settings, 1- or 5MP (where’s 3MP?), and two options in aperture-priority mode: f/2.8 and f/5.0.
Don’t let this boo-hooing keep you from shortlisting the 935, though. It’s almost cute, breezy in use, and you’re gonna rave about its 8x10s!
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