SAMSUNG SNAPPER

A WHOLE 'NOTHER GALAXY AWAITS

Samsung’s Galaxy Camera 2 is a snapper that thinks it’s a smartphone, using a touchscreen running Android Jelly bean apps and its connections, including N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC – no more SIM slot for 3G – to get your pics online in a flash.

Bucking the trend for ever higher numbers of pixels, Samsung has kept the same optics from the original Galaxy Camera: a 16-megapixel sensor and optically stabilised 21x zoom. The results are up to normal pointand-shoot standards and 1080p video looks good with focus adjusting automatically if you zoom – although not always as quickly as we’d like. Shots are taken in 16:9 by default, delivering a 12-megapixel still, as you’re effectively cropping the image. Switch back to 4:3 ratio if you want to make use of every last pixel. An upgrade to a larger APS-C sized sensor would have been a nice touch, but wasn’t to be.

Under the bonnet there has been a power boost, with a 1.6GHz quadcore processor ensuring apps on the 4.8-inch HD touchscreen run without a hold-up. You can download a large selection from the Google Play store, including social networks, Dropbox – where you get 50GB free storage for two years – and the Smart Camera App (see left).

Yet to catch up with the picture quality of DSLRs and with smartphone cameras improving rapidly, the Galaxy Camera feels like an oddity. Still, it’s a very attractive oddity. $549, Samsung.com/au Love Intuitive Android operation. Good connectivity. Decent point-and-shoot quality snaps Hat e Pricey. No 3G option this time T3 Says Easy upgrade for smartphone photo addicts, but picture quality doesn’t match price