Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Camera less than a week after Nikon unveiled their first smart camera powered by an Android operating system. This point-and-shoot digital camera includes a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage and an SD card slot - all running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The idea here is that an Android-based camera will allow users to share photos using Wi-Fi / 3G to social networks and the like as quickly as they can from a smartphone without the poor image quality. Mobile phone camera technology has come a long way in the past few years but they're still no match for a decent digital camera, especially in low-light environments.
The Galaxy Camera measures 2.7-inches by 0.75-inchs and weighs around 10.7 ounces. Inside is a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor capable of ISO settings between 100 and 3,200 that gathers data from a 21x optical touch zoom lens. Of course, if you can't be bothered with touch controls, the camera supports voice commands to snap photos and zoom in and out. There's a 4.8-inch HD LCD screen on the rear used to preview and frame photos as the camera lacks an optical viewfinder.
As is standard with most consumer point-and-shoot digital cameras, the Galaxy Camera includes a number of in-camera editing features as well as the ability to shoot video in full HD resolution. Another nifty feature is the ability to automatically back up photos to the cloud.
Pricing and availability haven't been released yet but for comparison purposes, Nikon's Android-powered Coolpix S800c is shipping next month for $350.
Photo courtesy Digital Photograph Review.