General Electric J1470S

General Electric J1470S

Electronics manuacturers have started a welcome trend of better products at lower prices, and nowhere is that more true than with digital cameras. Take, for instance, the 14.1-megapixel General Electric J1470S: It packs 7x zoom, impressive image quality and performance, 720p HD video recording, and a number of cool extras, and costs just $119.99 (direct). There are some sacrifices that come with such an inexpensive camera, and in this case, they're mostly aesthetic ones. It's not quite as good as our Editors' Choice for budget digital cameras, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 ($129.99, 4 stars), but overall, the J1470S is an impressive camera for snapshooters on a shoestring budget. DesignThe J1470S is, well, boring looking. It's a simple rectangle with curved edges, available in black, silver or red (my test unit was silver). It measures 2.2 by 3.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD), and weighs 5.3 ounces—small and light, but not as slight as the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 ($99.99, 2.5 stars), which weighs just 3.5 ounces. On the front, other than the collection of logos and stickers, are the camera's lens and flash.