Can this android camera please both;
gadget lovers and photographers?
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Camera, a
digital camera that uses the Android operating system. It isn't the world's
first Android camera. Polaroid and Nikon previewed similar cameras earlier this
year.
The Galaxy Camera is, on paper at least,
far more capable than any smartphone camera with a 21 x optical zoom, optical
image stabilisation and the ability to snap 16 megapixel images. The camera can
also record 1080p video and there's a slow-motion video mode for more creative
footage.
Samsung
has launched the Galaxy Camera, a digital camera that uses the Android
operating system.
The Galaxy Camera uses the latest Android
operating system, 4.1 Jelly Bean. Photos can be edited on the camera directly
before being shared with others over email and social media networks.
Basic camera controls, such as zoom, timer
and taking a photo, can be done by voice using a variant of the S Voice service
on the Galaxy S3, so an internet connection is needed to make this work.
We found, that shutter speed and auto focus
speed are slightly sluggish compared to a compact camera with interchangeable
lenses, but the touchscreen interface and shooting modes are miles ahead of any
other camera.
The
internet connection is provided by built-in 3G, 4G and Wifi. Photos can be
automatically backed up to photo sharing services.
Photos are previewed on a massive 4.8in
touchscreen which is also used for majority of the controls with very few hardware
buttons. There are plenty of shooting modes that replicate professional digital
SLR shooting tricks, such as Waterfall Trace and Action Freeze. There are also
full manual controls for advanced settings such as aperture and ISO speed - the
rotary dial interface is far easier to grasp than the equivalent settings on a
high-end compact camera or a camera with interchangeable lenses.
There
is a 23mm wide angle lens on the front and a 4.8in touchscreen at the back with
a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution.
The internet connection is provided by
built-in 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi. Photos can be automatically backed up to photo
sharing services. The Galaxy Camera weighs 305g and measures 128.7 x 70.8 x
19.1 mm, which is heavy compared to a smartphone, but about average compared to
other compact cameras. There is a 23mm wide angle lens on the front and a 4.8in
touchscreen at the back with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The internals
consist of a 1.4GHz quad core processor, MALI 400 GPU and 1GB Ram memory. The
device also has 8 GB of on board storage which can be expanded by using an
external SD card.
The
device also has 8 GB of on board storage which can be expanded by using an
external SD card.
Image quality in daylight and indoors is
crisp with ample details and saturated colour. The quality suffers a bit in low
light, images clicked above ISO 400 shows lots of grain.
All in all, Galaxy camera is best suited
for people who love to click and share instantly.
