Panasonic announces Lumix CM10, a CM1 without the smartphone capabilities
posted Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 12:45 PM EDT
Panasonic announced the Lumix CM1 in 2014 before releasing it in the US market in 2015. The smartphone camera combination proved in William Brawley's Field Test to be too big to recommend as a smartphone and too expensive at $1000 to recommend as a casual camera.
Well, Panasonic has solved one of those issues with the newly-announced Lumix CM10 by removing the phone capabilities. The phone camera successor is now a connected camera rather than a phone camera, but it still is powered by Android and uses the same aesthetics as the original CM1. To maintain its connectivity, the CM10 still has LTE data capabilities, just no ability to make or take phone calls. Provided that you have an active SIM card in the CM10, you can still use the internet, send text messages, and more.
Besides removing the phone capabilities, much remains unchanged with the CM10. It still uses the same 20.1-megapixel 1" sensor, a 28mm equivalent f/2.8 Leica lens, a max expanded ISO of 25,600, built-in LED flash, RAW image capture, and 15fps 4K video recording. The body of the CM10 is the same as it was for the CM1, thin for a camera, thick for a phone (or connected camera, as it is now), with a large 4.7" 1080p display.
As was the case with the CM1 at launch, the CM10 will be available only in Japan at launch next month for an estimated price of $850. Interestingly, Panasonic will be offering the device with a 3GB monthly data plan with 150Mbps speeds for $12.50 (1,480 yen) per month.
(Seen via PetaPixel)