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Does the WB850 fix the WB650's mapview problems?

Started Jun 5, 2012 | Discussions
thielges
thielges Contributing Member • Posts: 661
Does the WB850 fix the WB650's mapview problems?

I'm interested to hear from a WB850 owner whether some annoying problems were fixed in the mapview mode. Here's what I've noticed in my WB650/HZ35W that were somewhat annoying but easy to fix issues:

1) There's no power-down timeout option. So if you accidentally switch the camera on in mapview mode it will drain the battery flat if you don't switch it off

2) location updates require hitting the OK button. It would be nice to have a mode where the location is periodically updated, say every 5 seconds or so.

3) No absolute latitude/longitude readout

4) No synthetic compass or speed readout when in motion.

5) map detail (roads, road names, towns, etc.) is fixed at each zoom level rather than being sensitive to the actual context. For example if you're out in the countryside you need to zoom all the way in to read the names of any roads. But mapview had plenty of graphical space to display those names at several zoom levels out and that would be easier to use.

items 1,2,3 are trivial to implement. Item 4 could be quickly coded by a junior programmer. Item 5 takes more work to evaluate the current context but still is not a very complex problem to solve.

Any or all of these would allow mapview to be used for navigation easier. None of them are directly relevant to photography.

Samsung HZ35W (WB650)
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