Polaroid develops Android camera combo

CES 2012 Week Polaroid clicked into gear at CES this week, launching an Android-powered smart-camera with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities and access to the Android Market. The Polaroid SC1630 is far from your standard snapper. Making use of its Android platform, users can download apps and remain entertained through games when …

[Mondo the Magnificent]

Bravo!

That's been long overdue! Kudos to Polaroid for being first out of the gate with an Android based camera (as in first function: a camera) The fact you can perform editing on-camera makes it a winner, so removing red eye before uploading to your PC. I'd like to see what video editors it offers too. I do like the concept and will be watching out for these to hit the shelves I wonder how long it will take others to catch up and I bet Sony who have a camera division coupled with a solid Android relationship will bring something very similar out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not quite the first

Panasonic Lumix Phone, currently Japan only: http://panasonic.jp/mobile/smartphone/special/

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not make it a phone too?

Just wondering.

[Peter Gordon]

This!

I was thinking, why not go the whole hog and make it a slightly chunky phone.

[Mondo the Magnificent]

Batteries

I reckon battery life would be the underlying issue if it were to be a phone come camera.

[Cliff]

Pogo

Being Android, it should be a simple simple task to interface this with the awesome Pogo printers too :-)

[Jim 59]

Add a phone !

Add a phone and you have a work of genius. In response to smartphones killing the camera market, Polaroid could respond with a camera with a built in phone - biting back into the phone market with a different emphasis and a better camera. When they announce a new iPhone, Apple spend most of their time talking about its photo abilities. Photography is the killer app for spartphones, after calls. Polarid could use their photographic reputation to really stick the boot into the market.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Kodak digital camera "?

What has that got to do with a Polaroid camera?

"Phone went back the same day"

Why would you send your phone back if your Kodak digital camera isn't very good?

All very confusing?

[Lance 3]

He realized that after he sent it, he was going to call them but didn't have a phone.

[Paul Shirley]

"What has that got to do with a Polaroid camera?"

Hands up, not having a good day. That'll teach me to stay up all night playing games ;)

[Pinky]

Didn't Samsung do that

My brother in law used to have a Samsung phone that was built around a compact camera, which I always thought was a great idea. Unfortunately, I don't think there was any marketing around it, so the "camera with a simple phone in it" disappeared, leaving us with the "phone with a simple camera in it"!

[archengel46]

Death

I predict the death of DSLRs in 2012!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "I predict the death of DSLRs in 2012"

You're supposed to use the Joke icon for jokes

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, they will. You mean just as they've been predicting for years and will for years to come? Believe it when I see it.

[Lance 3]

Try mounting a real lens to it. You now like a 600 mm lens with stabilization on it. How about much more megapixels and being able to store in RAW format. Yep, this is just going to kill the DSLR market and you will see all those photographers with those huge lenses carry about a Android Polaroid camera. No need for Photoshop either, they can do it all on the phone. Sorry Nikon, sorry Canon, your $4,000+ DSLR's just won't sell anymore.

[Anonymous Coward]

G-Talk. Skype.

who needs a phone?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

People who venture outside their parents basement or the local starbucks?

[David 132]

Second picture in the article

What's with the dodgy Photoshoppery in the second article image? Looks like a strip of the faux-leather texture has been duplicated & pasted several times towards the top of the camera (well, that's how it appears on my webbrowser, at least). If I were of a suspicious turn of mind, I'd suggest that there was some other ODM logo in that part of the original picture, and Polaroid "re-badged" it... Sorry. I'm pedantic.

[Azzy]

Definitely some photoshopping there

I'd say there's likely a more mundane reason than that - nobody else is making cameras covered in faux leather, so they could have just put the faux leather over the logo. No, there's probably something there - signs of a feature, or whatever, that they don't want to hype until closer to release. Or hell, maybe they haven't actually put any faux leather on their camera yet, and did a crap job of shopping some on to show you how it'll look when they go into production. In any case, this was a brilliant move for polaroid, and if they get it out before someone else does, this will sell well.

[Sandy Ritchie]

whaaat?

With no integrated POGO?

They already had a "poor-ish" camera with Pogo integrated and they sell well on ebay... so a decent Android powered smart camera that could also print its own pictures (albeit small ones) would surely sell well!

[Richard Plinston]

CHDK features

On Canon point and shoots one can load CHDK and get enhanced features and scripting in BASIC or Lua. It would seem that this could also be done with this camera. As long as the camera has a decent API it could allow movement detection, timelapse, focus stepping and many other.

[illiad]

death?? 50 Mpix DSLRs are 3 years old now...

www.likecool.com/The_Hasselblad_H3DII-50_DSLR_Camera--Camera--Gear.html

OK, thats professional.. here are some more general ones that do upto 25 Mpix..

www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/photography/hands-reviews/mid-level-dslr-roundup

d'ya think mobiles will get a 50 Mpix sensor?? or a professional lens mount??

[Anonymous Coward]

Not a bad idea!

It's a decent point-and-shoot that can also use the many photo manipulation apps that are on the market.

It is one curious idea. Hope it sells well, and that would depend on its price..