I've often thought that, with the way smartphones are going in terms of photography capability these days, one day we'll be carrying around cameras that can make phone calls.
It seems that day has come.
Enter the Samsung Galaxy Camera. While it can't make phone calls (yet), it can do just about everything else a regular smartphone can do, such as send e-mails and messages, upload photos to Facebook, Instagram or Dropbox, and play music and videos. It also supports chat, gaming, navigation and a number of apps.
Look and feel
The Samsung Galaxy camera is big. And chunky. While this makes it somewhat awkward to cart around, there's something to be said for holding a good, solid camera in your hands. Taking photos is comfortable, possibly owing to what Samsung claims is good old ergonomics - placing all the buttons and knobs within easy reach.
The review unit was white (the camera also comes in black), a refreshing change from the run-of-the-mill black and silver cameras on the market. It fits nicely in-hand and I didn't get the feeling that my fingers were getting in the way of either the lens or the flash.
The 16.3MP camera has a large 4.77-inch HD Super Clear Touch Display with 308 pixels per inch and the full spectrum of colours. This makes for stunning quality photographs and taking snaps while viewing your subject matter on such a large screen is definitely fun.
Getting started
Setting up the camera is easy and self-explanatory. When you first turn it on, you will be asked to capture your preferred language, as well as the date and time. The camera then takes you on a step-by-step set-up process to either link your existing Facebook, Instagram and Dropbox accounts, or to create new accounts, if you wish.
Connecting to a WiFi network was simple, although there is also the option to connect via 3G, as the device can take a micro SIM.
Usability
As the Samsung Galaxy Camera runs on Android 4.1 (Jellybean), it's as easy to use as any other Samsung smartphone. In fact, the interface is so much like that of a smartphone, I sometimes forgot I was surfing the Net and browsing Facebook and Instagram on a camera.
Users can also customise the interface by moving icons around, downloading additional apps and widgets, and deleting obsolete ones.
The touch-screen, with swipe functionality, is satisfyingly responsive, and typing on the Qwerty keypad is simple. However, I found I sometimes had to click on links more than once before they would open.
The camera itself is a simple point-and-shoot device. I quite like that users are able to select a filter (eg vintage, sketch, sepia, black and white, negative, etc) before taking photos. This allows users to see how their photos will turn out before actually taking them, rather than applying the filter after the fact.
I found using the camera in auto mode was the easiest and most convenient, thanks to its auto focus and facial recognition capabilities. However, users also have the option to switch to 'Expert' mode, which allows them to adjust brightness, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, etc. Users can also choose between a number of existing 'Smart' modes, such as 'Action Freeze', 'Macro', 'Rich Tone', 'Panorama', 'Waterfall', 'Silhouette', 'Sunset', 'Night', 'Fireworks', 'Landscape' and 'Continuous Shot'.
My favourite Smart modes are 'Best Photo', 'Best Face' and 'Light Trace'. The first two allow users to take a number of photos (five for Best Face, unspecified for Best Photo) and choose the best image of each subject. The camera then stitches all these together to produce one image with everyone smiling beautifully - no more closed eyes or distorted mouths. Amusingly, the camera makes a suggestion of which image it thinks is the best out of the batch - I didn't always agree.
You know those awesome photos of highways at night? The ones where the cars seem to be speeding by in a blur of colourful orange and red lights? The Light Trace Smart mode lets you take such photos, transforming you from novice to pro photographer in an instant.
There was one frustration with Auto mode, however. The flash does not automatically pop out when needed. Rather, the user has to physically activate the flash by pushing a button on the side of the camera so that it pops open. Only then will it automatically flash. I took quite a few blurred photographs before figuring this out, believing 'auto' actually meant fully automatic.
Blurred images aside, the general picture quality produced by the Samsung Galaxy Camera is superb. Colours are bright and crisp and images are sharp.
Furthermore, the camera supports 21x optical zoom and images do not distort or become blurry when using the full zoom capacity thanks to the optical image stabilisation.
Video quality is also excellent. Samsung claims the Galaxy Camera records at 120 frames a second at 720x480 pixel resolution. Playback of videos is smooth and clear.
Under the surface
Running Android 4.1(Jellybean), the interface of the Samsung Galaxy Camera is customisable in much the same way as one would customise an Android smartphone running the same OS. Users can shuffle, add and delete apps and widgets, customise the home page according to their own needs and uses, and opt to have notifications from Facebook, e-mail and other accounts pushed directly to the camera.
I must admit, it's rather odd being alerted to a new e-mail when taking photographs of cats.
The camera comes with 3.78GB storage space, which is not bad, considering photos can be automatically uploaded to a cloud service. This means users can confidently delete photos if they need more space, knowing they're safely backed up in the cloud. Memory is expandable, however, as the camera supports micro SD cards.
Touch and voice control
When first testing the voice control on the Samsung Galaxy Camera, I must admit I was dubious based on my experience with Siri, who only registers what I'm saying if I drop my voice an octave or five. I was suitably impressed - the voice control works surprisingly well.
While in camera mode, users can instruct the device to zoom in, zoom out, take a photograph (by saying 'capture', 'cheese', 'smile' or 'shoot'), turn the flash on or off, record a video, access the gallery, switch between auto and Beauty Face modes, and activate the timer, which takes a photograph after 10 seconds.
While viewing photographs in the gallery, users can also instruct the camera to rotate or delete images or share them with connected accounts.
The camera also has some nifty hand movement controls, such as taking a screen shot by swiping your palm from left to right across the screen, or silencing the camera (when playing music, for instance), by covering the screen with the palm of your hand. Both of these functions work quite well.
While I occasionally had to repeat myself, especially when telling the camera to 'record video', I'd say the voice control worked 90% of the time - and I didn't have to distort my voice. Voice control can be turned on or off easily while taking photographs.
Easy sharing
Once users have linked their Facebook and Instagram accounts, they can upload photographs directly from the camera. I found this to be incredibly convenient. In fact, I have stopped using my regular camera these days to avoid the hassle of first loading them onto a PC before I am able to share them on social networks (and because my iPhone takes better pictures than my 12MP digital camera).
That said, I was disappointed that, when uploading an image to Instagram, users are required to crop quite a bit of the image in order for it to fit Instagram specifications. What this means is that, when using the full screen realty for an image of, for example, your dog, you'll need to cut so much off the photograph that you might just end up with a snout if the dog's face filled the entire screen. Pity. However, this can be overcome by adjusting the picture size settings.
Once users have linked a storage account, such as Dropbox, to the camera, photos are automatically uploaded to the cloud for convenient storage. These photos can then be accessed from any other Internet-capable device.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera also comes with Samsung's All Share functionality, which allows it to connect wirelessly with all other devices running All Share. Syncing to my Samsung TV was relatively simple, and it was pretty neat viewing my photos on a large screen.
The Buddy Share feature is quite nifty. Users take a photo of, for example, a group of friends and tag all their friends in the photo. They can then opt to send that photo to the tagged friends via e-mail or SMS. Once a person is tagged, the camera 'remembers' his or her face and automatically tags any additional photos taken.
Similarly, the Share Shot feature allows users to share group photographs wirelessly with up to five other WiFi-connected devices within reach. This takes the hassle out of having to make the group force a smile for five different cameras.
Features
The camera comes with a number of apps preloaded, with the option to purchase or download more from the Samsung Apps store. What I found rather puzzling was the amount of similar apps preinstalled; for example, there are two e-mail apps, two messenger apps, two navigation apps and a number of Internet browsers.
My favourite is the Paper Artist app, which turns photographs into images that look as if they have been sketched. Users can also apply filters that add novel colour combinations to the images.
The Photo Wizard app allows users to edit photographs by adjusting the colours, applying different filters Instagram-style (the Cartoonify filter is fun) and decorating their pictures by adding frames and stickers. Users can also draw on their photos with the drawing feature, or stitch a number of photographs together using the multi-grid feature. Samsung claims the Photo Wizard app allows users to professionally edit images. In this app, users can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure and more, while also adding different effects and decorations, such as frames and stickers. Users can also rotate, crop and resize images with the Photo Wizard.
Moving away from photography features, the Samsung Galaxy Camera also masquerades as a music player, video player and communication hub. The sound quality delivered by the camera was surprisingly crisp and clear with no distortions, no matter the genre. I tested out The Cure and Stone Temple Pilots and got lost playing with all the other apps while the music played in the background. I found the fact that I could still take photographs while the music was playing quite novel.
Smart content manager
The Samsung Galaxy Camera's smart content manager scored it major bonus points with me. Users can effortlessly create albums and drag and drop images into these albums. The camera also automatically tags photos, and makes suggestions about which photos to delete (based on quality).
The camera also intelligently keeps camera, Instagram, Photo Wizard and Paper Artist images in separate folders, which I found quite handy.
Users can also choose from a number of layouts when it comes to viewing their photographs in the gallery. These include a magazine-style flip option and a continuous spiral of images.
Battery
Samsung claims up to 280 hours standby time with the 1650mAh battery. I was quite impressed with the battery life - it lasted two weeks on one charge, used intermittently and with me turning it on and off constantly (due to the auto power off function).
Users can manage power settings, switching to power-saving mode if the battery starts to run low. The camera also provides ample warning when the battery starts depleting, with a pop-up message reminding the user to find a power source.
Users can also opt to have the camera automatically power down after a certain period of time, which also saves battery.
In a nutshell
The Samsung Galaxy Camera is undoubtedly fun to play with and the automatic sharing and smart content manager make the entire photography process a breeze.
What I don't understand, however, is why a user, especially someone who already owns a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, would want a camera that can do exactly what a smartphone can do, besides make calls. As one person said while passing the camera around between a group of friends: "It's almost like taking a step backwards."
Granted, the average smartphone does not have a 16.3MP camera or 21x optical zoom, but I'm quite happy with the quality my iPhone produces. I might point out that my iPhone also automatically backs up my photos to the cloud and also lets me share my images seamlessly through social media.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with the Android 4.1 OS and, for that reason, I might just use a camera like this purely because I don't have a device already running that operating system.
But it just doesn't make sense to me that existing Jellybean users would buy a camera with the same operating system that can handle pretty much the same tasks that their smartphones are already performing - especially when it comes with a near-R6 000 price tag.
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