14 DAY TRIAL // Panasonic doesn't plan on launching smartphones in Europe and the United States anymore, but the Lumix CM1 is an exception to the company's new marketing policy.
For those out of the loop, Panasonic has decided to shrink its smartphone business to the point that it only launches handsets in a few Asian countries, such as India and China.
However, the Lumix CM1 has been up for grabs in Europe since last December. In case you wonder what's so special about Panasonic's device that the company made it an exception, then here it goes.
The Lumia CM1 is, in fact, a smartphone/camera hybrid, and the device has just been introduced in the United States, where it's available for pre-order for no less than $1,000.
Why is it so expensive? Well, it looks like Panasonic Lumix CM1 packs a 20-megapixel camera with a 1-inch sensor (it's huge), which features Leica optics, LED flash and 4K video recording. There's also a secondary 1.1-megapixel camera on the front.
Unimpressive smartphone specs
Apart from the powerful camera, the Lumix CM1 doesn't impresses with its smartphone specs, since they seem a bit obsolete in comparison to today's high-end devices.
For example, Panasonic's hybrid is equipped with a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, which is complemented by an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit and 2GB of RAM.
Even though it comes with 16GB of internal memory, Lumix CM1 also packs a microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 128GB).
Panasonic Lumia CM1 sports a 4.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution, and it's powered by a removable 2,600 mAh battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer.
Last but not least, the hybrid ships with Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system right out of the box, but Panasonic has already confirmed that the Lumix CM1 will be upgraded to Lollipop at some point.
