Samsung Galaxy Camera - White (16MP, 21x Optical Zoom, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS) 4.8 inch HD Touch LCD

I have just bought this camera so that I could send photos directly to friends from the camera's internet facilty and it hasn't disappointed me in that. It comes with an micro broadband sim from three.co.uk but comes with a pay as you go tariff of £2.99 per day or £10 per month for 1 GByte of data. The phone and broadband was easy to set up and the HD screen is just brilliant. I have taken some great still photos and impressive videos so far as I've tought myself to use it. Everything seems intuitive and using the broadband app (internet) connection I was able to watch YouTube clips, play with google maps and try out the Satnav' so very pleased with my purchase. One thing I did find confusing was the Messaging Application. The Messaging only works to mobile phones and if you attach a photo to the message text it takes forever to send. Far better to attach photos to an email and send using your the broadband application on the camera. Three.co.uk offered me a £12 pm contract for 200 texts and unlimited broadband but will stick with the pay as you go until I get used to the camera. All in all a great bit of kit and am sure I'll get lots of pleasure out of using it. Finally the accessories like a spare battery + battery charger, camera case, HDMI adapter for TV, 32GB microSD card and Screen Protector Films are all inexpensive but adds another £65 or so to your purchase

I bought this as a Christmas present for my wife. Delivery was well packed and fast. I had seen and tried this camera at a Samsung demo in Milton Keynes and so I knew what to expect of the camera. I purchased this camera primarily because of the great screen, connectivity and smart features, and zoom function. Wifey set it up, loaded it with her favourite games, facebook app(!) and tried a few practice shots. Unfortunately at this stage we discovered the lens cover will not close correctly when the camera is powered down and it is possible the lens to be damaged. An exchange has been arranged with Amazon and I await the new item. We are both huge Samsung fans over a range of products and at this stage I am happy to put this down to an unfortunate fault rather than a poor product. The quality of the pictures, ease of processing and uploading to facebook and other websites are all outstanding. The camera is also incredibly easy to use, especially if you are already familiar with the android operating system. So a little disappointed with the product fault, but delighted with the overall quality of all other aspects of the product.

First impression is a quite fantastic device having 3G, WiFi and GPS. I go to loads of gigs and have 3 million hits on YouTube so there is much potential here, particularly with the 21x optical zoom lens. Live tweeting close up quality photos is very satisfying for both me and my followers. If ever EE have the decency to deliver my 4G mobile wifi unit ordered 22 days ago then I may even upload videos immediately after recording. The still picture quality is exceptional in broad daylight, in darkened environments where a flash is not appropriate no better than my Canon G12. The video quality so far has been promising. It's a little soft for a 1080p device but the two gigs I have made videos at were in a dark church in Hackney. Somewhere with a full-on lightshow may prove sharper. Like every other camera I have had it runs into problems standing down the front right by the speakers, things get a bit muffled and distorted. The auto-focus is rather slow to respond when zooming in and out leaving 3-4 seconds out of focus at times, again this should improve outdoors in daylight. The Android functionality is only hampered by the Samsung customisation. I expect it for the camera hardware and the menus are very easy to use other than an apparent lack of recording volume options leading to sound distortion as above. It's just a shame they can't leave well alone in other areas. Anything I can do on my other devices I can do on this. I ignore DropBox and use Google+ Instant Upload instead. It's just a shame I can't remove DropBox completely. Facebook still bombs out when trying to share directly from the gallery as it does on my Nexus 4.1 phone. However... Battery life is very short. 3 hours at a gig taking 2-3 videos and 20-30 photos sees the battery down by 50% despite being on power saving. This may be down to Instant Upload struggling to get a 3G signal but I shouldn't have to switch off that functionality to see if there's a difference. 5 days at Glastonbury next year might require 5 batteries unless I switch off 3G completely. The fatal flaw leading to this particular item's return and replacement with another is the video zoom. When initially zooming forward there is no problem. But zooming backwards and subsequent zooming in either direction leads to an extremely loud crackle in the video recording. Hopefully this is just a one off with my unit and wouldn't stop me from recommending it. ##UPDATE## Having had the replacement which came in blue rather than the advertised black a couple of points. Our office Christmas Party was in a very dark night club in London. In these settings taking shots with the flash is pretty random as you don't get the green squares around faces very often leading to lack of focus and red-eye reduction simply doesn't work. I went to the XFM Winter Wonderland and had my first occasion to test out the video on the new one with high volumes blasting out of the speakers. Unfortunately the previous issue with crackling/distortion when using zoom is still very much present. It also takes quite a while to regain the auto-focus when zooming quickly. I may just have to live with the crackling or simply use the zoom a lot less. In so many other ways it is a brilliant camera with no apparent rival on the market, very reluctant to return again. ##UPDATE## Very impressed with Samsung via their Contact CEO facility. I had a very helpful reply from their head of customer services when I said it seemed a bit pointless to return the camera a second time only to discover the very same issue a 3rd time. He contacted their technical guys and came back with a request to try the latest software update, Android 4.1.2. I had already applied this but hadn't had a chance to test it out. I did note, however, this also contained a firmware update. Not having any gigs for a few weeks I put my Led Zeppelin DVD on and progressively turned up the volume to the point my receiver safety cut-out kicked in, zooming in and out all the while. Result, zero crackle. A minor amount of motor noise when no volume but this will not affect me. There wasn't even any high volume distortion and the levels were similar to front row Brixton Academy. Hoping this holds true at a real gig but looking great so far.

I have spent only 4 days of intense shooting with the camera but i can tell that i am delighted with the camera. It has a great functionality as camera and as a smart device ( full functioning smart phone w/o the phone part ). Camera focus is relatively fast for the class of the camera, "smart" presets are really nice ( HDR function on such a small camera is a killer ), video shooting is great. I can keep the list of nice features going but no need. On the down side - battery is getting drained faster than i would like ( there are charging kits - charger + battery sold in Amazon for a good price of about 25-30 pounds thought... so if you plan a full day walk w/o power plug, buy one ). The other thing that bugged me is that from stand by mode it takes a long press of the power button to wake it up ( about 2secs ) instead of shutter press...And a warning - if you have Galaxy Nexus phone - Wifi Direct connection wont work ( from what i got searching the net its about the different type of NFS that GN is using compared to Samsung S3/4 phones ) In general - if you are "casual" photographer/traveler and you are not crazy all about the "professional quality" and you are tired of carrying heavy bags with big cameras and lenses, or you are crazy about sharing pics "on the moment" - this is a good choice of a camera.

It's fair to say that if you take the trouble to trawl the internet for reviews on this camera, you'll find a pretty mixed bag of opinions. Most of the negative ones seem to dwell on image quality compared to some of the competition. I think that this is purely down to the fact that this an expensive piece of kit, and you possibly could pick up a 'normal' compact/mirrorless for a bit less with better image quality. But have no fears - the photo's that this baby takes are clear, vibrant and pop out at you, even on a full size computer screen. If you're used to having a mid/high range compact camera you will be more than happy with the results. My personal opinion is that there's a lot of nit picking going on from dedicated photography sites that dont neccesarily approve of the Samsung's jack of all trades approach. All you need to know is that it takes fabulous pictures which can be edited on the fly with loads of fun editing apps from Google Play, shared immediately and the zoom is amazing. And you can play Angry Birds - nuff said. UPDATE : Just to press the point home, a friend of mine bought a Panasonic GH3 mirrorless compact over the weekend. That camera is generally recognised to have very DSLR qualities and is a fine piece of kit in its own right. So, we took some comparison shots while out sledging with the kids in the snow and you really would be hard pressed to tell the difference (to the naked eye). If anything, the colours with the Samsung are more more vibrant in my eyes, and the detail is just as good.

To be fair to Samsung I was unable to review the product because I was unable to get it working! I ordered the camera on the Friday on Next day delivery since it was my birthday on the Sat. and I wanted to test it at a rugby match that day. The camera arrived next am and I opened the package. What emerged was the camera, charging lead, battery and.... a travel plug adapter! "That's odd". Closer inspection revealed that the 2 Quick Start guides were written in Italian. "Odder still". Put in the battery and up pops the intro screen in, yep, Italian. 'phoned Amazon and was given a Tel No for Samsung. V. helpful chap said I could return it or he could talk me through changing the language on the camera, however, if I went for option 2 the Warranty would be rendered invalid because the camera was intended for use in the Italian market and UK repairer might not be able to obtain some spares. (?) So, back it goes. Thanks Amazon. 1/2 my birthday spent on the 'phone, missed the Rugby match and no camera + the hassle of printing labels and returning goods and all because Amazon's supplier (More Buying Choices - that's appropriate)is unable to comprehend that a camera sold to a UK customer should, by default, be a camera that's intended for the UK market. I still want the camera and will probably buy through Amazon because I've had good service from them in the past but trust can be very fragile thing.....Amazon. Perhaps the moral of this tale of woe is; if you receive a gizmo with the wrong lingo, don't mess about with it. You could end up warranty-less.

Ok, ok...I nicked the title from a long forgotton Seiko TV advert from the 1970's when they introduced their Quartz watches onto the UK market back then. But I think this Galaxy Camera is every bit as revolutionary. It's the worlds first device which successfully integrates the world's most advanced cellular phone OS (Android 4.1) with a top quality digital compact camera. Some things of note is the fact it has very similar functions to the Galaxy S3 and as a result is easy to use. A whole host of apps are included, Social networking is particularly well catered for here. Basic photo manipulation can also be done. But the really revolutionary part is the connectivity. Imagine you're travelling and want to do a photo essay on your holiday destination. The potential is all there with the Galaxy Camera. Not only does it incorporate WiFi and the latest edition of Bluetooth (v4.0) but also houses a Micro SIM slot for a 3G SIM Card. This gives the freedom to take pictures and send them anywhere on earth provided there is your chosen network coverage present of course. Even some types of photojournalism can be performed in this manner.For those of you wondering Three UK offer the best deal for data-Unlimited for £15.90 per month on their Ultimate 500 deal (as things stand at the moment) The Galaxy Camera allows emails,reports etc to be written on the spot and sent via your normal email account.AFAIK a first for a camera. Sporting a massive 21x zoom, good low light capabilities, Optical Image stabilisation and a decent built-in flash there are few situations this camera can't handle. At the time of writing I've owned it for only a few days but am utterly blown away with the package. Yes for all those saying "I can do it all on my iPhone", well yes you can but not with 16mp res, removeable 64GB storage and a 21 x zoom. It also sports a mega 4.8 inc Super LCD screen which has proved crisp and easy to see properly with excellent colour rendition and contrast. Handling is also very good, reassuringly solid and the major controls falling easily to hand. I've been delighted with the results so far,the majority of which are crisp and contrasty . An irritating foible ie colour fringing or Chromatic Abberation rears its ugly head in some very high contrast situations. This can be corrected by using a decent photo manipulation package such as Photoshop. Drawbacks? Well I'm surprised Samsung didn't include their top Schneider lens, this would have almost certainly have eradicated the colour fringing or Chromatic Aberration I mentioned earlier.And although I'm very pleased with the results, even better can be obtained with similarly priced offereings such as Samsungs own NX1000, Nikon V1 etc. Battery life is average, this can be made up for by a bargain purchase from Amazon in the form a a battery kit for less than £13. And some functions such as an MP3 player are superfluous on a camera. But even so the Galaxy Camera is a truly outstanding effort from Samsung. It isn't the absolute last word in picture quality-those expecting Hassleblad performance (should be prepared to pay a Hassleblad price!) will be disappointed. But it offers a superbly integrated package with connectivity and versatility unmatched elsewhere. Samsung have a real winner on their hands and one I can heartily recommend. UPDATE-The Chromatic Abberation had become just a little too irritating on a few too many occasions. It could have been corrected via Photoshop-costing more than the camera! Cost was uneconomic so off it went to a good home. Replaced with the EX2F which has a much reduced zoom but an AMAZING lens....maybe Samsung should have fitted a Schneider lens to this camera as well!

I had a Fujifilm finepix before I bought the samsung. It was ok but the Galaxy camera lets you share your pics and videos with any social media site with the wi-fi or sim card with internet data. I love the different settings that allow you to take great photos even if you are just beginning or you are pro. The 21 times zoom is good if you are at concerts and are far from the stage. I have taken some good photos of wildlife and plants which when I view them on the large screen looks great with such clear and vibrant colours. If you are planning on getting a camera for just family gatherings or to use on holiday this is the one to buy. Thats why I have gave it five stars. The price was great as I got for under £300 brand new but even at full price it is well worth the money spent. It does more than take great pics. With all the aps that you would find on any samsung phone you can brouse the net, play games and much more.