Our gadgets are getting smarter and smarter every day, and Samsung’s new Galaxy Camera has taken the term ‘smart camera’ to a whole new level. Sammy’s new point and shoot compact is effectively the Galaxy SIII of the camera world, packing Android and much more.
Looking at the front of the new Galaxy Camera you wouldn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary – it looks like your average compact camera, albeit with a rather stylish design and neat white finish. Turn it around though and you’ll find a stunning 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD touchscreen – much bigger and touchier than you’d find on a regular compact camera.
The Galaxy Camera has a large touchscreen because it runs on Google’s Android operating system, which bundles in a ton of smart features and extra functionality. Running the latest version of Android, 4.1 aka Jelly Bean, the Galaxy Camera includes the ability to download apps as well as Samsung’s suite of creativity and productivity apps. It’s also got a Wi-Fi and either a 3G or 4G connection which means you’ll always be able to share your photos socially or via email, as well as uploading them to a cloud storage system, which Samsung says will happen automatically.
Photo editing software is on board, allowing you to apply filters and effects to your images post-shooting before saving them and uploading them to the web. Samsung’s voice control system is also present, so you can control your camera with simple voice activations such as “shutter” – no more holding that smile for ages while you wait for a self timer to go off.
At first we were pretty sceptical – how does a little point and shoot camera manage to do all of this? It turns out Samsung has really gone the whole hog and stuck a 1.4GHz quad-core processor inside the Galaxy Camera to give it enough power for web browsing, photo editing and more.
Smart features aside, the Galaxy Camera has a very tidy set of specifications in the camera department. At its core there is a 16-megapixel backside illuminated CMOS image sensor, with ISO ratings up to 3200 and a 21x 23-481mm superzoom lens for long distance shots.
Two models will be available; one with 3G and one with 4G, with both also offering Wi-Fi connectivity. At the moment UK and European availability hasn’t been stated, although the 4G version will be sold through the AT&T network in the States.
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