I've said before on another thread I dont have a camera for the old 'point and shoot' snapshots e.g. on a night out. I cant exactly carry the DLSR around everywhere.

I had an idea to get the Sony Ericsson C905 (upgrade due this month) as a substitute. Yes its never going to be as good as a 'proper' camera but a decent comprimise seeing as Orange would give me it free.

Then the Samsing i8910HD came along with its fancy AMOLED screen, 8mp camera and 720p (H.264 I think). So thats thrown a bit of video into the mix. Again it wont be as good as a 'proper' device but looks ok from what I've seen. It would certainly be good enough anyway for what I wanted it for.

Orange though have decided to charge a shocking amount for the Samsung which means paying out £100 on a £35 contract or on my current tariff the best part of £200 or more. The C905 is also out of stock.

All this has made me wonder if I shouldn't bother with the hassle and just buy a compact! I could even fund 75% of the cost by selling whatever phone I get for the upgrade and keeping the K800i.

Here's the question then. What compacts are worth considering for around £200 with HD video function? I found the Samsung WB500 for £200 and with an 8-16GB SD card is an option but I dont think it has the overall quality of some of its 'superzoom' rivals. Any other options? (£220 max)

Never mind. the missus met me after work and we saw the WB500 in Jacobs window for £199. She bought me it!

It's still charging so havent had a chance to use it yet.

I am slightly dissappointed about video output though. From what I can make out its only the WB550 that has HDMI output on the camera to play directly into a TV. The WB500 looks like standard def via the AV cable of 720p content has to be transferred to the PC via USB. Unless anyone knows any different?