Samsung Galaxy Camera GC100 Review

The Samsung Galaxy Camera may not be the first Android-powered camera on the market but it aims to stir the point and shoot market exactly the way the iPhone has done with the phone market. We all know that Samsung is not only a manufacturer of digital compact cameras but it has also become one of the most important as well as successful player in the Android smartphone market. This is part of the reason as why this Galaxy Camera from Samsung is the best and very interesting Android powered camera we have ever seen before.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera essentially offers the features and performance of the Samsung Galaxy SIII when you use it as a mobile device. The device does not offer the ability to place voice calls in addition it lacks the front facing camera as well. On the other hand, it is possible to voice chat via Skype or similar apps. Samsung-specific sharing and backup options are already pre-installed in the Samsung Galaxy Camera and third party solutions are also available for example Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Photos. With these solutions, users are allowed to share their photos and upload them to the cloud right after they have been captured.

Samsung has made lots of remarkable and eminent handheld devices in its time, and some of them have reached iconic position. The company constructs its success on great flexibility, an eye for trends and a flair for improving on others' efficacious formulas. And yet, from time to time it pulls off a truthfully inspirational device - like the Galaxy Note last year.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera essentially is a hybrid from both design point of view and also under the hood. The device looks similar to a long zoom compact camera from the front size even though it is slightly on the bulky side, and the reason of this becomes quickly obvious as you turn the device around. The back of the device completely is a touch screen of 4.8” which is identical to the one you will find on Samsung’s current flagship smartphones like the Galaxy S3. The screen on this device is a bit larger than the standard 3” screen that you can find on most current digital cameras and this is where the device explains its larger dimensions compared to other long zoom compact because such a huge screen brings a pleasure to frame your shots and view your photos on.

The Galaxy Camera offers excellent grip on the right allowing its users to get a stable hold on the device even if they are shooting with one hand. Furthermore, a 21x zoom lens provides true optical zoom, this is something that those thin phone camera modules can never offer. The firm grip is also legitimately generously dimensioned and also helps to navigate the Android OS on the touch screen.

Turning the device on its back brings a state of the art Android smartphone offering you the familiar Android user interface with Samsung TouchWiz launcher and navigating Google Maps and several other apps that are similar to any flagship smartphone for example, Yelp, Evernote and also your favorite Angry Birds. The only difference is the lack of a front-facing camera for video chats and the ability to make phone calls.

As soon as you power the device on, the camera app will launch automatically. The company has placed the device in the camera section and not under mobile devices because the prime function of the device is to work as a camera. You can also return to the camera app by simply pressing the shutter button no matter what you are doing on the device.

Furthermore, there are a few more crucial differences making it a more photo centric device than any other average smartphone. There is no on-screen zoom slider or pinch zoom support as the device has a physical zoom rocker. In addition, you can use the on-screen shutter button to capture images but for better controls the physical shutter button with half press option is recommended.

The camera app operates in auto mode by default. You can also select the flash mode and set the self-timer and specify sharing options. However, there is no manual control over exposure at all. The downside here is that the animation is a little delay it may take a second or two before you can actually change any of the settings. This can be quite annoying if you frequently change ISO or apply exposure compensation.

Voice control is the one feature in the Galaxy Camera that you will not find on many conventional compact cameras. Voice control works surprisingly well the camera usually reacts swiftly to commands. With this feature, you can enable the following commands: take pictures, record videos, timer, auto mode, beauty face mode, zoom in and zoom out, flash as well as Go to gallery.

Samsung refers HDR mode of the Samsung Galaxy Camera as ‘Rich Tone’ however it does exactly the same as what most other HDR modes of digital cameras do. To be precise, it takes three images with different exposures in quick succession and combines them to one High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. The HDR exposure has a slightly 'flatter' appearance but shows more detail in the highlight areas of the scene. HDR mode works best with relatively static scenes.

The night mode in the Galaxy Camera takes three frames in rapid succession and combines them into one. This averages out the noise and thus creates a cleaner image. Using night mode helps in taking hand held shots. Like all the 'Smart modes,' the downside of Night mode is that you don't have any manual control over the exposure at all, not even exposure compensation can be applied.

The Panorama Smart Mode in the Samsung Galaxy Camera works in a very similar way to the panorama modes of other compact cameras. With this device, you can create an approximately 180-degree panorama but the images are stitched at a reduced size.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera offers a point-and-shoot camera with Android smarts that can shoot 16 megapixels still photographs with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), up to 21x zoom and a powerful xenon flash. The 21x zoom lens is arguably the most obvious reason for you to consider the Galaxy Camera. Most importantly its wider lens is extremely useful in many shooting situations and its real advantage over many smartphones is the long reach of the Galaxy Camera’s zoom lens.

You can take pictures of distant scenes with the Galaxy Camera that are obviously not possible to capture with any smartphone camera, and with this the device opens up totally new possibilities for your mobile photography.

The device has a comfortable grip as well as hardware shutter and zoom keys so that you can easily operate it. The rest of the things are present on its larger 4.8" screen which is the biggest as well as the highest resolution viewfinder that you have ever found on a digital camera.

The device comes with the three pre-installed editing apps namely Photo Wizard and Paper Artist for stills images and Video Editor for movie editing. This will help users to edit their photos the way they want. The first two apps can be selected by tapping editing option in the Gallery app while the latter one can be selected by tapping the app icon.

With Photo Wizard app, you can remove red-eye, can pull up the shadows, smooth the skin as well as can also isolate the subject by blurring the background. Although, these function work well but the results may appear somewhat artificial. Paper Artist app can be used to apply a range of 'paper-based' filter effects to your images. You can then use different sized brushes to 'paint' a second effect on top of the original one. Video Editor is a video editing app that allows you to add video clips, stills images and music to a timeline, change the order, cut the clips and add effects and titles.

You can also download and installed third part apps from the Google Play Store to the Samsung Galaxy Camera as it is an Android device, and thus can enjoy third party camera apps as well as editing apps.

The device delivers pixel level of image quality that looks perfectly alright at screen size and offers punchy colors and good exposure. This is typical for a low end to a mid-level compact camera. But, unfortunately when you zoom photos in to a 100 percent view, things become a little ugly. When it comes to image quality, the device leaves a lot to be desired. The amount of noise is the biggest problem that drowns out most of the fine detail. On the whole, the end result is quite disappointing for a 16 megapixels camera.

With the Samsung Galaxy Camera, you can record videos of 1080p full HD at 30 frames per seconds. However, you can also opt to capture 720p footage, 120 frames per second slow motion video (at a resolution of 768x512 pixels) or 320x240 video which is optimized for sharing, if you want.

The image effects same as in still mode can also be applied in any shooting mode. However, you should keep this thing in mind that some of those effects like Comic, Pastel or Sketch are recorded at a lower frame rate, and therefore playback will not be as smooth as it is in standard video.

Voice control can also be enjoyed in video mode as well. You can use voice commands for operating the zoom and starting recording videos. It works quite well though it is a bit of a gimmick but at the end it can be useful as well in some shooting situations.

One of the biggest flaws of the Galaxy Camera is its aggressive noise reduction that leads to lack of low contrast details at all ISO settings. Moreover, there is no control over noise reduction. Another thing that needs to be kept in mind is its lens that contributes to generally soft image output and especially at wide angle and toward the edge of frame. The Samsung Galaxy Camera has no ability to place phone calls and there is no front facing camera as well. Other disadvantages include not so good battery life, slightly clunky camera app, switching to and / or from camera app as well as waking up from stand-by mode is slow, and camera parameters reset to defaults every time you restart the device.

We can bigheadedly say that the Samsung Galaxy Camera is a rare breed of digital camera, and that is it is an Android powered connected camera that usually is shown off at technology exhibitions just only to wow the crowd, but the Galaxy Camera is a real deal that is available for you right now.

Although, it is not the first Android powered camera in the market yet it is a first generation product that works surprisingly well. With this, you will get the components of Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 and the WB850F compact camera. This ensures that you get the best processing power, a large screen and also absolute endless choice of state-of-the-art apps. Furthermore, you will also be entertained with the flexibility of a 21x zoom lens and benefit of a decent built-in flash, all in one package.

The ability to install dozens of apps surely is one of the key advantages of an Android powered camera that lets you install any app that runs on a smartphone. The manufacturer has designed this camera to edit and share images on the go and if you use the Galaxy Camera as it is intended then the issue of pixel detail will not be much of a concern.

To cut a long story short, the ability to install and run hundreds of thousands of apps, the processing power of a modern smartphone, a very flexible 21x zoom range and a decent built-in flash make it a lot of fun to use and a great device for photo-centric smartphone users.