Samsung's Galaxy camera runs on Android, features WiFi and 3G connections and takes the hassle out of photography. Matt Warman is impressed.
Samsung's new Galaxy Camera is a unique proposition -- is it a phone, thanks to its 3G sim card, or a camera? The answer is clearly the latter, and in fact the 3G emphasis in the marketing is probably something of a red herring. Making phone calls is possible, but only after some serious fiddling. This is a fully connected camera, running Android, that makes uploading, sending and sharing photographs far easier than other models that demand you plug memory cards or cables into your computer.
Indeed, the 3G connectivity (a one-month 3 sim card is bundled) is probably nowhere near enough for sending the16MP images that the Galaxy Camera can take. With its 21x, 23mm zoom lens this is a serious camera, building on Samsung's expertise in cameras and using Android. No doubt a 4G model will be along soon enough.
There are, of course, other Android cameras out there, including from Nikon, but it's Samsung's heritage with the OS that means it is able to offer a simple interface that has plenty of options easily available to more expert users. Sony, too, offers camera apps, but does not have the momentum of Google Android.
In terms of hardware, the superzoom is equivalent to a lens that runs from 23-483mm on a 35mm camera. There's roughly 4GB of storage for images built-in, which you can expand with an SD card. The touchscreen is 4.8" and it offers up to ISO 3,200. All of these are decent features, augmented by great, modern software from Android 4.1. The pictures are decent, colours are bright and for the money, this is a camera that just about holds its own. But its the software that makes all the difference.
Indeed, within the camera itself only the capture, zoom, power and flash have hardware buttons because everything else comes via the touchscreen. Aside from the usual array of clichéd filters, each setting is adjusted with a 'wheel' on the screen for speed, aperture, exposure compensation and sensitivity. Thanks to Android, there are voice commands too, although when I used them these were as hit and miss as voice commands are in every phone. Generally, menus are straightforward and better than other cameras that don't benefit from the touchscreen.
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