By the way, SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. This uses a mirror and prism system so that you can look through the lens and see exactly what you're shooting, while older viewfinder cameras will show you can image that could be significantly different from what will actually be captured.
Before we get too in depth, let's just clarify that this is not a Smartphone with a really cool camera built in. It's actually a Camera with an Android Operating System. So while you won't be able to make calls and texts, you can use Skype, browse the web and email your photos to friends and family or downloaded into your own Drop Box account.
So suffice to say, that if you're not someone who's quick to grasp all this new technology, it wouldn't hurt to give it to the guys at Geek Squad Tech Support to set it up for you so you can start taking photos and enjoying all the features without having to think about it. That's definitely what I'm going to be doing anyway, because it will save a lot of time and faffing about.
Smart Camera Specs
But anyway, the Samsung Galaxy Camera we're looking at has an impressive 16 Megapixel camera and a 21x optical zoom, which lets you take a great range of shots from high definition close ups to wide panoramic shots. Meanwhile the CMOS sensor which maintains balance is typical of a high end camera and not a Smartphone of this size. So it can record a good degree of detail without losing too much image sharpness to electronic noise.
This is all powered by a 1.4GHz quad core processor, which makes even the most complex tasks quick and easy, so you can edit your photos right then and there before saving or emailing them.
The 8GB memory gives you more than enough internal storage for your pictures and videos. But if you're shooting in stupidly high definition or filming at long length, you can add a microSD card for further space. But let's not forget that your Samsung Galaxy Camera is 3G/4G/Wi-Fi enabled, so you can instantly upload all of your photos via a service such as Dropbox and keep your memory relatively free so you camera can focus all of its run time on being as fast and efficient as possible.
The 4.7' HD Super Clear Touch Display makes up the entire back of the camera, making it all easy to manage while the camera itself is really smooth with only fingertip controls for zoom and shutter release. Meanwhile, the pop up flash is barely noticeable, unless you've already got it raised and ready to use.
Point and Click
If all you want to do is point and click with a camera that takes awesome pictures, you can put this bad boy in Auto Mode and let it take care of things for you from getting the right level of exposure to face recognition focusing while Smart Pro Mode allows you to pick the right type of shot you want before you point and click.
Serious Photography
However, if you're paying for a Smart Camera because you're serious about photography, then you'll love the advanced photography software, which is incredibly involved, yet easy to use.
Organising Your Pictures
Finally, to make managing all those photos quick and easy, there's a Smart Content Manager that lets you organise all your shots into files and folders so you can find and display all your photos with ease. Voice control is integrated too, so you can tell your camera to zoom, set the timer and take pictures too, so you'll never have to worry about the camera shaking because you pressed the button to take a photo.
Summary
It's interesting to see a Camera with all these digital capabilities taken from a Smartphone. But considering how much technology they packed into it, you wonder if they shouldn't have just gone the whole hog and made it take and receive calls as well as send texts too? Although I'm sure you'll be able to find apps for these extra features soon enough. But keen photographers will definitely want one.
Meanwhile, for info on more new gadgets before they hit the market, have a look at the daily blog over on Geek Squad. Because they're part of Car Phone Warehouse they get to play around with a lot of new stuff before anyone else does.