Samsung is updating its Galaxy Camera lineup with a new model sporting a more powerful processor and a bigger battery.
Like last year’s Gallery Camera, the new Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 is basically a point-and-shoot camera with a zoom lens and Android software. But the new model has a new design, a bit more power, and a few other tricks.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 basically has the guts of an Android smartphone combined with a decent point-and-shoot camera. It sports a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. There’s also a microSD card slot that supports up to 64GB of removable storage.
It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s TouchWiz software, and features a 4.8 inch HD touchscreen display. Wireless options including 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. It also supports GPS and GLONASS and has a 2000mAh battery.
Last year’s model has a dual-core CPU, a 1650mAh battery and lacked NFC capabilities.
Camera features haven’t changed much. The camera still has a 16MP image sensor and a 21X optical zoom. One thing that has changed a bit is the design — instead of smooth plastic, the sides of the camera are wrapped in a textured fake leather material that looks similar to what Samsung uses for the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 Edition.
Samsung hasn’t yet announced the price or release date — but since this camera will replace last year’s model, it’ll probably sell for about the same price, which should be around $450 and up (or even less if you find one on sale).
I do not understand the market for this thing and am surprised they would bring out another model. I get that Samsung wants to try everything and see what sticks but is there really a market for this awkward melding of a point and shoot camera and a smartphone? With a 16 MP sensor and a decent lens you really don’t need the zoom part and it takes up a huge amount of space. Just crop the photo down. Give the customer a better quality sensor, quality lens and software and leave the serious photos to the DSLRs.
I imagine there is amarket.
I could see a reporter using something like this perhaps, or an inspector.
This could be huge if they put out apps for Computational Photography. Right now it is just a camera. Look up Frankencamera or Computational Photography to see the possibilities but yeah right now it is practically useless.