They sure took their sweet time, but Samsung has finally jumped on the tapeless camcorder bandwagon - and as is the case with just about every other product manufactured by the Korean giant, they're not skimping on features. Meet the Miniket VP-M110, a slinky camcorder with a list of features far more extensive than the confines of its stylish exterior.

Apparently taking up much of the interior of the VP-M110 is its 10x optical zoom lens, coupled with an 800K pixel CCD recording video in MPEG4 format at 720 x 576 pixels and 25 FPS. A quick poke at the camera was enough to find a mostly intuitive set of controls, and zoom control proved smooth and agile - although a slight apparent lag when jumping to digital zoom was a tad annoying. Still, if digital zoom is your thing, you'll have an utterly useless 100x of it at your disposal.

Despite its small size, the VP-M110 offers a spacious 2" LCD viewfinder with 211K colours -not among the brigthest I've seen in a Samsung product, but does its job well. What's more, it also offers an interface for the additional functionality of the VP-M110, which, contrary to what its appearances would suggest, isn't only a camcorder.

Also including the ability to take still pictures at a paltry resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, the VP-M110 records voice in either MP3 or WAV format; plays MP3s; and connects to a PC via USB 2.0 to either work as a web camera or as a removable mass storage unit. Speaking of storage, the 1 GB of built-in Flash memory should according to Samsung allow for between 22 and 130 minutes of recorded video, and can also be extended courtesy of a Memory Stick PRO expansion slot - a disappointing choice for a product where cheap storage really does count.

Last, but not least, it's also worth mentioning that the 147 g Miniket VP-110 also supports PictBridge, and includes a handy LED Flash with a range best described as so-so - but then again, it being present at all in a camcorder of this size is a pleasant surprise.

To ship in Europe this month, Samsung honours the tradition of tight-lippedness concerning the expected pricing of the Miniket VP-M110.

Article brought to you by InfoSyncWorld.com