Samsung Galaxy Camera - Android Powered

Introduction

Ten years ago, if someone had told you that mobile phones would get smaller while sporting more powerful processors, FM radio and the ability to snap photographs, you would have probably labelled them crazy. Yet here we are now with our current crop of smartphones being able to do all the aforementioned and even more.

So you may be wondering; if mobile phones can include built-in cameras, why can’t digital compact cameras include functions found in smartphones? Of course the digital compact camera user interface has gotten more simplified and recent models have begun to include Wi-Fi capability, but in terms of evolution of functions and features the humble camera lags behind the mobile phone.

And with the rise in popularity of amateur photography, users are demanding the ability to do minor edits on their pictures as well as uploading them on the spot, which of course is due, in large part, to smartphones being able to do the same. So what happens if you cross a smartphone and a camera? An interesting concept, which Samsung has made it a reality with the Galaxy Camera.

Sporting the Android OS, which is found on Android smartphones and tablets, the Galaxy Camera offers the image quality of a dedicated compact camera while sporting the sharing capabilities and extended functionality of a smartphone. So how does this combination camera fare? Join us as we find out.

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[caption=Samsung Galaxy Camera Specs]

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Design and Handling

The Galaxy Camera has taken a lot of its design cues from Samsung’s Smart camera line, the WB series. It has a clean, aesthetically-appealing look, but it is wider and thicker than your average point-and-shoot compact, due to the large 4.8-inch touchscreen rear display and quad-core processor inside. Unfortunately, having a large surface area dedicated to just the display doesn’t leave much space for your fingers to hold on to the camera. That and its overall size makes the Samsung Galaxy Camera unwieldy to handle unless you've large hands. Furthermore, unlike a number of compact cameras, the Galaxy Camera isn't pocket friendly. Sure, the surface area is not much bigger than the Galaxy S III smartphone, but not once you factor in near 20mm thick profile with its lens barrel and hand grip elements. On upside, the camera's overall build quality feels robust, despite being constructed mainly out of plastic.

The curved hand grip on the front which features a textured surface which isn’t as effective as it should be. While most users will grip the concave portion of the handgrip where it meets the camera body, the textured surface actually ends before that, so you end up gripping the smooth surface of the camera body. The top of the camera is clean and uncluttered; there’s only the combined zoom lever/ shutter release button, the power button and the pop-up flash up top. Most of the ports are located beneath a flap at the camera’s base. There’s a microSD slot, micro-SIM slot and micro-HDMI port.

Powering up the camera for the first time will launch users into the familiar setup process for Android devices, where the camera will prompt users to connect to a Wi-Fi network and log into your Google account. The experience of navigating the Galaxy Camera’s Android interface is no different from an Android smartphone or tablet. Running Android 4.1, the Galaxy Camera is quick and responsive. Similar to a tablet, the Galaxy Camera allows for a 3G data connection via its micro-SIM slot. Running Android 4.1 also means the Galaxy Camera has full access to the Google Play store; this will appeal to casual shooters looking to edit their images instantly with many of the photo-editing apps found in Google’s app store. Of course with access to the full Google Play store, you're free to equip the camera with other kinds of apps as well, though the likelihood of yourself using them (effectively) are going to be rather slim.

Since users can tap the screen to set the focus area as well as take a shot with the virtual shutter release button onscreen, it meant there were many instances of us taking shots by accident or setting a different focus area from just holding the camera. This is a pretty big design weakness in our opinion, since this affects the handling of the camera. Partly, this goes back to the problem of having a very large touchscreen with hardly any room for your fingers to balance the camera from the rear. Our photos below illustrate this.

Due to the lack of physical controls on the camera, much of the camera’s menu navigation and settings adjustment are conducted via the touch interface. Similar to a smartphone, when left unattended during normal usage, the camera will enter sleep mode. Waking it up from sleep mode will result in the camera launching the camera app. The ability to change modes as well as select preset modes via the Smart mode with just taps onscreen is a welcome exchange compared to the slow and text-heavy menus of conventional digital cameras, making the switch between modes easy and quick.

While the Auto and Smart modes lend themselves well to touch interaction, the Expert mode doesn’t do so well. A lens barrel appears onscreen when you enter Expert mode, and there’s a list of adjustable settings such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO that run along the length of the barrel. The lack of physical buttons and controls means that you will have to tap and swipe to change the various settings. While this interface appeared nifty and cool during the first few times we used it, the repeated swiping to adjust a few settings made the entire process feel cumbersome, especially when users have to change settings frequently. Granted the camera wasn't designed with expert usage mode in mind, you could forgive our misgiving. Of course, this is also feedback for Samsung to improve upon their next iteration of the advanced controls user interface.

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.

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.

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. 

Sample Photographs

These are sample photographs shot with the Samsung Galaxy Camera. The photos have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. Click for the full-resolution images.

Conclusion

The Galaxy Camera brings about an interesting concept made possible by Samsung, which ultimately, falls short of what it could have truly achieved due to certain issues.

While the Galaxy Camera performs well with sufficient ambient light, its low-light performance is unsatisfactory. And with the amount of real estate taken by the rear display, you might find yourself setting a new autofocus point or snapping a shot by accident as your fingers make contact with the display. We felt that it would have been better if Samsung had shrunk the screen a little bit to include more handling space along the edges of the camera body. Adding to this issue is the overall size of the camera which makes handling the camera unwieldly for some users.

If you’re shooting in Auto or Smart mode most of the time, then the Galaxy Camera is in fact easy to shoot with, but the trouble starts when you enter expert mode. The lack of physical controls make the task of adjusting shutter speed, aperture and ISO a chore when it shouldn’t be, as it required constant swiping and tapping in order to change settings. It doesn’t help that you can’t change white balance unless you’re in expert mode, which is something other compacts definitely do not limit you to.

Even with all the flaws we mentioned, we found ourselves liking the Galaxy Camera’s easy editing and sharing of image and video files. While the Galaxy Camera does provide users with the flexibility to download and use any photo-editing app they want, it also presents those less tech-savvy too many options. We felt it would have been better if Samsung had provided a customized version of Android that limited the apps available to camera-focused ones.

With all that being said, the dials and controls on a DSLR will never be replaced by touch controls, but for the casual shooter, the Galaxy Camera’s method of interacting with and using the camera is definitely user-friendly. Entry-level mirrorless system cameras and all point-and-shoots will benefit from taking a page out of the Galaxy Camera’s book when it comes to UI and file sharing.

So do we think the Galaxy Camera is worth its S$699 price tag? Consider the fact that $699 will get you the prosumer class Samsung EX2F while $799 gets you the Panasonic LX7. Both feature far superior image quality though you won’t get the Android experience as well as the suite of photo-editing apps and social services. The Galaxy Camera is a smart camera; however, it’s also an average-performing point-and-shoot that costs a premium.

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