by Peter Cohen, MacCentral  

Concurrent with the start of the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2004 trade show, HP announced plans to revamp its digital camera lineup and outlined its strategy to become a leading vendor of digital camera products. The company offered a few details on the first of the new generation of digital cameras -- the HP Photosmart R707.

HP said that it's nearly doubling the funding for its digital camera research and design efforts, part of an overall program of more than $1 billion HP is investing R&D for its imaging and printing technology. The company also plans to boost retail efforts with new sales training programs.

As part of that effort, HP said that its Photosmart-branded digital cameras will get "a completely new look and feel" with brushed stainless steel construction and a novel ergonomic grip to ease one-handed shots. They'll also feature what HP is calling "Real Life technologies," like lighting that adapts to high-contrast imagery; instant analysis of photos to provide users with adjustment advice on future shots; "in-Camera Red-Eye Removal;" a panorama preview; and a new image engine co-developed with Texas Instruments.

The Photosmart R707 is a new 5.1-megapixel camera that incorporates some of these features; it also sports a 24x total zoom, 32MB of internal storage and PictBridge. The R denotes that the camera works with a dock that recharges the internal battery and provides instant data exchange with a computer. The dock also provides connectivity to a television (and a wireless remote) if you prefer.

The R707 will hit stores in May; the camera costs US$349 while the dock costs an added $79.