Product Listing

Samsung Galaxy Camera - Android Powered

By Hafeez Sim - 3 Feb 2013
Launch SRP: S$699

Camera and Image Performance

Camera and Image Performance

The Galaxy Camera sports a quad-core processor, so the camera is quite responsive. Of course the biggest draw of the Galaxy Camera is the fact that it’s running Android. This gives users the flexibility to download any image-editing and social media app available on the Google Play store, giving the Galaxy Camera an advantage over other cameras which only come with built-in Wi-Fi and any other fixed functions that are implemented. With the Galaxy Camera, its usability is extensible via the kind of apps you choose to equip it.

Similar to a smartphone, pressing the power button will not power down the camera; it will instead enter sleep mode. This means that even with the camera in sleep mode, it will still receive emails, notifications and app updates. What you get is a huge blow to battery life. Even though there’s a blocking mode located in the settings menu which disables notifications, for those not familiar with Android or aren’t very tech-savvy, the constant notifications and updates will be a major annoyance to them, especially when it has a huge impact on battery life. Hence users should remember to power down the camera when there's no need for it to be on standby.

It's nice to have the full suite of Android apps available and to always be connected via 3G or Wi-Fi, but this also deals a heavy blow to the Galaxy Camera's battery life.

While the Galaxy Camera does power up from standby reasonably quickly compared to the lower-end point-and-shoots, it is unfortunately still slower than most smartphones and higher-end compacts. The good news is there’s very little, if any, shutter lag so the Galaxy Camera is definitely quicker at taking a series of successive shots when compared to a smartphone's camera.

Autofocus speed is quick too and we felt Samsung made the right move in following a smartphone camera’s method of selecting an AF point, which is just tapping the desired area on the screen. Unfortunately, the Auto and Smart mode of the Galaxy Camera has revealed a weakness that even other point-and-shoots do not have; the ability to adjust white balance. The Galaxy Camera only allows users to change white balance settings in expert mode, which is quite a handicap, to say the least, as the ability to change white balance is a basic setting and frequently makes the difference between a good photo and a mediocre one.

Users can only change white balance settings in expert mode.

The Galxy Camera scored 1,800 LPH (vertically and horizontally), which is reasonable. However, the Galaxy Camera doesn't fare so well when it comes to noise control. The noise reduction software performs rather well at ISO 800 and below, but details start to meld together when you push the ISO settings higher. But if images are only going online, then of course they will be acceptable even at the higher ISO settings. 

Shot at ISO800, the image looks acceptable at smaller resolutions.

100% crop shows that details start to get smudged.

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7.5
  • Performance 7.5
  • Design 7.5
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8.5
  • Value 6.5
The Good
Versatile camera
Unlimited photo-editing and camera apps option from Google Play
Auto and Smart modes are both very intuitive
Easy to share photos/videos online
The Bad
Average camera performance, but has an above-average asking price
Size and handling make it unwieldy for some
Accidentally setting a new AF point or snapping a shot due to large display
Expert mode is cumbersome
White balance adjustable in expert mode only
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