Portable digital imaging products include camcorders, digital cameras, and imaging-enabled PDAs. The development of highly portable 8 mm camcorder products in the early 1990s marked the beginning of consumer acceptance and demand for these types of products. Japanese consumer electronics companies such as Sony and Matsushita created new high-density packaging technologies that made these products possible.

Digital cameras are a relatively new and hugely successful class of portable electronics product. The Casio QV-10 (Fig. 11.1) was a very innovative product, being one of the first digital camera products targeted directly at the consumer. The Casio QV-10 was introduced into the marketplace in the second quarter of 1995, at a retail price of around $900. It is a landmark product in that it opened up the market for consumer digital cameras.

Figure 11.1: QV-10 front view.

This system contains a 250-K pixel color charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor and a 1.8-in color TFT (Fig. 11.2) LCD display that functions as a viewfinder. The system stores up to 96 images into 16 Mbits of flash memory. These images may be downloaded to a computer for storage and manipulation, displayed on the on-board LCD or an external TV monitor, or sent to a color printer for hardcopy.

Figure 11.2: QV-10 rear view.

The product housing is contoured to provide an ergonomic design, and a simple set of control buttons is arranged on the top of the housing, as shown in Fig. 11.3. The I/O ports are concealed under a thin plastic...