The Galaxy moniker isn’t just for smartphones and tablets anymore. Samsung’s Galaxy Camera shows the world that the Android giant wants photography to be smart, too. The 16 megapixel point-and-shoot style camera sports a 21x zoom and a 1/2.3 inch CMOS sensor. However, where the back of the camera would normally have a basic display and buttons, you’re instead greeted with a 4.8 inch touchscreen running Android 4.1 (Jellybean).
Armed with WiFi and 4G on the AT&T network, the camera offers the connectivity options of a smartphone and the image quality of a proper camera. A noble concept indeed, but not without the occasional hiccup. Turning the camera on for the first time requires waiting for Android to fully boot, which isn’t exactly an instant experience. Thankfully, after the device has finished booting up, it offers the same instant on-off function that your average Android smartphone does. Keep in mind that the device is actually just sleeping while “off,” which continues to draws power and will eventually run the battery down, much like any other smartphone or tablet. After that, you need to charge and, yes, boot up from scratch again. If you don’t use the camera often enough to keep it on and charged, the only recourse is to completely shut it down in between uses. This might prove rather frustrating for the casual photographer, especially when compared to the average camera’s ability to shut completely off and on in a matter of seconds.
On the Android side of things, a particular inconsistency is the zoom function of the lens. While it works perfectly in the official camera app, try to take a picture in any other app, such as Instagram or Facebook, and the zoom rocker adjusts the volume instead. This behavior is likely because a zoom lens isn’t common enough for Android devices to be part of the camera API to developers. This means only apps developed by Samsung are going to know how to access extra features like that.
It’s hard to judge a device like the Galaxy camera. Is it a camera that runs Android, or an Android device with a good camera? As a camera, picture quality is about average, but you can find better options for the same price in a non-smart device. As an Android device, the extra camera bits on the front makes a rather awkward phone/tablet to hold and use, not to mention they only fully function in specific applications. Combine this with the fact that the for a fraction of the price, you can get a thinner Galaxy device that actually makes phone calls (and includes a front-facing camera for video chat), and I can’t help but feel like this device is being pulled in too many directions to really excel at any of them. It is a wonderful proof of concept that I expect Samsung will improve upon in the future.
Comments are closed.