4. Hands On With The M437

Boot-uptime on the M437 is a little over three seconds. Once powered, the menu button opens an appropriate menu for the shooting mode - i.e. playback or still capture. Taking a still photo is truly a point and shoot experience. Frame your subject and depress the shutter release one-half way to focus. A green focus box shows that the camera has focused the image. You have to use the screen, as the camera lacks an optical viewfinder - a feature some will demand. The M437 supports a burst mode with a rated speed of two frames/second for three pictures and a self timer mode that delays the shutter release by 10 seconds so that you can get into your picture. Shot-to-shot time is rated at 1.5 seconds, which corresponded to our test measurements.

In video mode, the M437 is limited to 320X240 at 24 fps, but it does record with audio - a feature sometimes missing in this price point.

In playback mode, you have a number of options. You can mark your images for printing and sharing using the supplied Photosmart Express software, tag favorites and create an in-camera slide show.

HP Photosmart M437 Playback Menu

The M437 includes what HP calls "Real Life Technology" features, which include in-camera red eye reduction and the Design Gallery.

HP Photosmart M437 Design Gallery Menu

The Design Gallery lets you change your photos into black and white or sepia, or add color tint to black-and-white photos. You can also add borders, (as shown below), change border colors, rotate the image or crop the image in the camera.

The image with borders is saved as a new image in the camera. It doesn’t overwrite the original.