The Samsung GALAXY Camera has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, 21x zoom (F2.8, 23 mm, 21x Optical Zoom Lens), a 4.77" 308 dpi multitouch display, expandable microSD slot. Samsung Galaxy Camera acts like an Android smartphone, but features a 16.3-megapixel camera with telescopic lens and a lots of photo features.
Design
There`s a chance you think it's a smartphone, but if you look closely it's very much like a midrange digital camera, with a big lens to one side, and a prominent bulge on the other to hold the battery, slots for microSD and Sim Card and make handling easier
When you look at it from the back, it looks like a smartphone. Almost the entire rear occupied by the 4.8 inch screen, with an astounding resolution of 1,280x720.
With 300gr it's easy to carry in your pocket like a phone. On top is located the power button and a large shutter button with a knob you can twist to adjust the 21x optical zoom. On the sides you find the microUSB port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a lanyard loop, a speaker and flash button which you can press for the flash to jumps up out of the top. On the bottom, below the bulge, there's a cover that protects the battery, microSD card, Sim Card and a mini HDMI port.
Image: Samsung
Software
In the past there have been some cameras running Android OS, like the Polaroid SC1630 or the Nikon CoolPix S800c. But this is the first to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Samsung said an upgrade will be available soon. Android 4.2.2?... may be. Anyway you still can enjoy Google Now and the clean operating system tuned by Samsung. You also can download any app from Google Play.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera comes integrated with Dropbox and it automatically prompts you to set up your account for storing or sharing your photos. A great 'plus' is that this camera will bag you 50GB free for two years, but after that you'll have to pay.
The use is the same as any Jelly Bean smartphone except you can not make calls. Samsung has implemented a camera widget to scroll through the settings before you fire it up, so you can choose any of the shooting modes: Beauty face, Best photo, Continuous shot, Best face, Landscape, Macro, Action Freeze, Rich Tone, Panorama, Waterfall, Silhouette, Sunset, Night, Fireworks and Light trace.
Camera Features And Performance
The Galaxy Camera image quality is outstanding, you get realistic colours, and sharp details even with the highest zoom settings. Low light performance is also impressive and very noiseless.
The Xenon flash softness produces more natural colours in your pics.
The zoom is totally physical, not the digital zoom found on phones which magnifies pixel size and makes your pics look awful. You can focus on distant objects as well as it can in close-up to deliver crisp, vivid and clear images.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera has a back-illuminated CMOS sensor capable of delivering 4,608x3,456-pixel images. The aperture varies from f/2.8 at its maximum to f/5.9 when the zoom's at full. The shutter speed stretches from 16-1/2,000 of a second.
The basic set-up shows camera, video icons, and a mode button, which takes you to Auto, Smart and Expert icons. This last item pulls up a terrific-looking virtual zoom lens and allows you to get deep and nerdy with your focus and light settings.
The Galaxy Camera performance is very good thanks to the quad-core 1.4GHz processor. In our benchmarks it scored 5000 points with Quadrant Advanced benchmark tool, its a good score beating smartphones like the HTC One X. The camera's loading process takes some time, and there's a delay after you take a pic, it's not so good for quick snaps.
To help with this you have the Best Photo feature, which takes pics both before and after you press the shutter.
With the voice control you can take pictures by saying one of four commands: "smile", "cheese", "capture" or "shoot" as well as record a video or zoom in or out.
You also can automatically stamp photos with date/time and GPS coordinates and share the images easily using your preferred application: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, G+, email, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, etc.
The big 4.8 inch screen makes easy to edit video on board, either with the Video Editor bundled or another downloaded from Google Play.
The battery life is not as good as we expect. It has a very fast 4 cores processor, a big screen, a motorized lenses and a small battery. Fortunately battery is removable so you can buy extra batteries to take with you Galaxy Camera.
Conclusions
The Samsung Galaxy Camera is centered on its purpose: Take high quality pictures and videos, have all the sharing options at your hands, and editing capabilities on the fly.
This is a serious digital camera with smartphone capabilities (not calls), instead of a smartphone with digital camera built-in. The optics, picture and video quality are excellent for daily use.
The Galaxy Camera also performs very well with low light environments.
You can buy it in the U.S. and Latin America for $459USD approximately.
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CONS |
High Quality both Pics and Videos
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Battery Duration is Short |
Fast Quad Core CPU
| Very Expensive |
| Android advantages |
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| 4.8" 720p screen |
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| Full 3G support for mobile data |
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| Manual settings for the experts |
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| Real Optical Zoom |
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| microSD Slot, HDMI |
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12:20 AM
Pete Vicentini Jr.
"I'm told that Android 5.1.1 for both Android phones/tablets/etc and Wear will be released "in the coming days" (perhaps later this week or next week). Android Wear update may be released together or separately sometime after the main 5.1.1.
