One of the main reasons somebody would buy a pico projector is to easily share their memories with family and friends so it makes a lot of sense to integrate such a device in a camcorder, your job becoming a lot easier since you no longer have to transfer content back and forth in order to play it back for your loved ones, so BenQ did just that with the DV S11.

Anyway, added functionality aside, during a local BenQ event we managed to get up close and personal with the company's latest Full HD pocket sized camcorder and the first thing you note about the DV S11 is just how little does this thing share design wise with other compact camcorders.

This impression is due mainly to the 3,5 inch touchscreen display that covers almost all of the camera's backside, making it look much more like a smartphone or some sort of MID device.

Although the display real estate available is quite impressive, when you get into recording mode, only a small part of the screen will be used to display what you are recording, most of the space available being used to render the control buttons.

The interface itself was pretty responsive to the touch, but I haven't been that impressed by the 230.000 pixel display, since this resolution is a bit too low for a 3,5 inch screen making every pixel easily distinguishable.

On a plus side, however, the build quality was actually pretty good, the orange and black color combo also making the S11 a lot more playful, looking like the kind of gadget that nobody will be afraid of using.

Feature wise, Full HD recording is available at 30fps (the video quality looking OK on the camcorder's low res display), 720p being also available as well as a 5MP image sensor.



During our short time with this device we also took a look at the projection part and everything seems to work OK, although don't expect to get similar brightness or resolution of that of a stand alone projector since the DV S11 is built to provide a quick way to share a video with a few of your mates or family members not to replace a full blown projector.

This is most likely why a HDMI input doesn't make its way on the specifications list, although a HDMI out port is available as well as A/V out and a USB slot that can also be used for charging the 800mAh battery packed inside BenQ's S11.



All in all, BenQ's new pocket camcorder seems like a nice addition to its product line, the DV S11 coming as an interesting option to the Full HD compact camcorders available on the market right now, the built-in projector coming in as a nice feature that would most likely spark your interest.