14 DAY TRIAL // Although point-and-shoot digital cameras might be next in the list of devices rendered useless by smartphones, it seems that some companies are not really willing to give up without a fight, with Sony apparently working on a Cyber-shot model that will pack a 3G module.
According to gdgt, who's quoting some unnamed sources, it seems that the Japanese company is working on a future Cyber-shot camera that will actually come pre-loaded with a 3G modem, enabling users to connect to the Internet to upload photos directly to their favorite web services.
Of course, this would mean that users might have to pay a subscription for this service, somewhat similar to current data plans found in other Internet-capable devices, such as the Amazon Kindle or the various tablets out there (only at a lower price point).
As some of you might know, the idea of being able to wirelesly upload one's photos from the digital camera's memory to the Internet is not exactly a very new one, with EyeFi already offering quite a few memory cards with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities.
However, the EyeFi cards require the presence of a hotspot, which makes them a lot less ubiquitous than a 3G connection, that can work just about in every location where 3G networks are available (a lot more coverage than wireless networks, that's for sure).
We believe that developing such a product would be, in fact, quite an interesting idea for Sony, although it won't really change the fact that, although still relatively safe, compact point-and-shoot digital cameras are pretty seriously threatened by smartphones, some of which provide imaging capabilities far superior to the ones provided by entry-level digicams.
Of course, we're only talking about casual photography here, but nevertheless, that's not changing the fact that compact digicams might soon take the road GPS navigators and MP3 players have been on for quite some time now.