LIKES:

It's small (make that tiny), handy, easy to use, and I don't have to worry about resizing the photos as the resolution (size) is perfect for my journal entries and photo album. And, it's so easy to download. It takes me 5 minutes to create a new page for my Photo Album, saving me TONS OF TIME from having to scan, resize, upload, etc.

It's size is really what makes me love it so much because I can (and do) carry it around with me everywhere I go. Plus, some of my purses are small, so I need something light and small for this purpose. Sometimes I run into people I don't expect to see, other times I look up through the trees and think, WOW! The sky is absolutely gorgeous! I'd love to capture that shot! In fact, I WILL!

The other great thing is that I can take 3,5, 10, or however many shots I want of the same object and then choose one or two best shots to add to my website, benefits of digital cameras right.

Last but not least, it's so damn cheap. US$60, so to me it's like a throwaway toy, psychologically. When I carry around expensive cameras, I can't help but be slightly paranoid that I'll lose it, or that it (or my purse) will get stolen, or that I might accidentally drop and break it. With this camera, I'm like, WHATEVER! It donnnn mattah! (Sorry, my soutern twang coming out here...)

I do think about getting the "real thing baby" as the quality of the photos aren't the best, and I may do that later, but for now, this camera meets my objective of wanting to throw up a few pictures every day.

DISLIKES:

I think the number one thing I don't like about this camera is that it doesn't come with a flash, so I have a hard time taking photos at night unless the place we are at is well-lit. This can be very frustrating, but that's the sacrifice if I want something light and cheap.

The other thing that some people may be concerned with is that it doesn't have a LCD display screen, so you won't be able to see the photos you've taken until you download them. This is not an issue for me as I download photos at least once a day so I know I will always have room to take bad photos, but others may be used to this feature in traditional digital cameras.

The fish-eye effect is really user preference. For my journals, I happen to like it because it implies "life" and "action" in each photo, as if things are in motion when I took the picture when actually it may be just a shot of people eating at an outdoor cafe.

The only other thing I can think of is that I have to be extra careful with the port on the camera that connects to the USB cable. If you try to force the cable in, you might accidentally push the socket INTO the camera. I was told that this was a problem in the first generation of releases and that it shouldn't be an issue any more, but still I take extra care when I plug it in.

The pen cam is an awesome buy. Super cheap, too. I've used it in many situations, but like the name implies "007", it was designed for a specific type of audience or rather a specific type of use. So don't expect to go site seeing and take good quality pictures. Its really a personal gadget for convenience sake. Actually, it has many many limitations, but with most of those limitations you shouldn't be using the pen cam in the first place.

Hey, you never know when you are going to need it. This is a quirky example, but one time I didn't have a piece of paper or pencil to write down a telephone number off an email so I just took a picture of it. It came out perfect!

Anyways, I carry it around in my bag for that very reason: convenience. For all other types of pictures, I recommend investing in a digital camera.

Where will technology bring us next?

I think that I will go for the Aiptek instead of the Dolphin (the Aiptek looks just like the Dolphin, but w/ a clip right below the lense). Over here in the U.S. they're both about $80, but the Aiptek is newer, w/ improved memory & resolution (26 pictures in high resolution (640x480) and 107 in low resolution (320x240)). While 320x240 is just right for the web, I'm thinking that 640x480 may come in handy for cropping some images, especially since there's no zoom feature.