Samsung ST600

The ST600 landed in September 2010 as the flagship of Samsung's DualView lineup — a camera built around a premise that was quietly revolutionary: what if the person being photographed could also see themselves? The 1.8-inch front LCD activated with a tap, showed a live view, ran a visual countdown, played animations for kids, and even triggered the shutter automatically when two faces tilted toward each other. Two years before front-facing smartphone cameras became a cultural fact, Samsung had already thought through the implications.

NO FILTER: SHOT ON ST600

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THE LOOKS

In gold, the ST600 doesn't exactly whisper. The metallic finish gives it a jewelry-adjacent presence — warm, glossy, and confident in a way that black and silver compacts of the era simply weren't. The body is 104 × 60 × 20mm with a large rear touchscreen dominating the back and the small front LCD sitting beside the lens, making the camera's whole purpose legible at a glance. Also available in black, hot pink, and purple.

THE SPECS

14.2-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD, ISO 80–3200. Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan 5× optical zoom, 27–135mm equivalent, f/3.5–5.9. Optical IS. 3.5-inch rear touchscreen LCD (1,152k dots) + 1.8-inch front LCD. Smart Auto scene recognition. Smart Gesture UI (tilt and gesture controls). Couples' Mode auto-shutter, Children's setting with animations, Jump Shot mode. Face Detection, Beauty Shot, Smart Face Recognition. 720p HD video. microSD/SDHC. 104 × 60 × 20mm, 150g.

DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS

• 1.8-inch front LCD that turns the camera around: The front screen activates on a tap, shows a live view, counts down visually, and can trip the shutter automatically — a complete self-portrait system built into the front face of a 20mm-thin compact in 2010.
• Schneider-Kreuznach Varioplan glass at 27mm wide: The German optics brand known from medium-format and cinema lenses, here on a fashion compact with a useful 27mm wide end — not a spec you'd expect at this price point.
• 1,152k-dot rear touchscreen with gesture and tilt controls: The resolution on the rear display was class-leading for 2010, and the Smart Gesture UI let you navigate menus by tilting or waving at the camera rather than tapping — the kind of interface experiment that felt genuinely futuristic at the time.

THE VERDICT

The ST600 is the camera that understood selfie culture before the word existed and built dedicated hardware around it. The gold finish makes it look the part — this wasn't a utilitarian choice, it was a statement — and the Schneider-Kreuznach glass and high-resolution rear LCD meant the spec sheet matched the price tag. A clever, stylish, and historically interesting compact from the exact moment when the way people photographed themselves was about to change permanently.