IFA 2012: Samsung Galaxy Camera Hands-On

During its press conference in Berlin, Germany, Samsung deliberately left the Galaxy Camera for the later part of its presentation, to go with the “best comes last” saying.

We’ll skip saying why we’d have preferred it if the product got launched faster, since the following info, and the image gallery below it, will explain our enthusiasm well enough on their own.

The Galaxy Camera can be described, in layman’s terms, as a Galaxy S smartphone with a camera glued to the back.

The outer shell doesn’t make it seem as though that sort of merger literally happened, but it’s still an easy enough assumption to make.

For one, there are no physical buttons on the back. Instead, a nice 4.8-inch HD Super-Clear touch display acts as the viewfinder and I/O plus control panel all-in-one.

Secondly, the Wi-Fi-enabled Android camera is just as wide and long as a Galaxy S smartphone, to the point where it could be mistaken for one if someone looked straight at its screen from behind.

Thirdly, the device runs the latest version of the Android operating system: Android 4.1, otherwise known as Jelly Bean.


And thus we have reached the part where the real perks come to light, and we don’t just mean access to Google+, Google Store and Samsung’s Own App Store.

Samsung actually provided the Galaxy Camera with Wi-Fi and Broadband connections, and by Broadband we mean both 3G and 4G. Considering what a big deal Samsung made of the latter, we think 4G might be the real thing, rather than LTE or some other “fake” 4G implementation.

Wi-Fi direct is another special ability, allowing the wireless band to transmit a photo to other Wi-Fi cameras located nearby, so that people won’t each have to struggle to get that perfect shot.

Finally, the Remote Viewfinder will transmit the image about to be captured to a smartphone, for when the one taking a group photo doesn’t want to be left out of it.

Samsung will sell the Galaxy Camera for an unspecified amount of cash. Whatever the sum, it may or may not come across as convenient, since the “cameraphone” has its disadvantages (no voice call functionality), not assets (21x optical zoom capability / Super Long Zoom and a 16 megapixel image sensor).