Samsung prices Galaxy Camera Wi-Fi, offering direct competitor to Nikon S800c
posted Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 5:07 PM EDT
Last February, Samsung announced that is was preparing a new variant of the Galaxy Camera, its first Android-powered digital camera. The Samsung Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) is essentially identical to its sibling, with the sole exception of its connectivity. Where the original Galaxy Camera (US$500) includes both Wi-Fi and 3G/4G mobile data capability, the Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) drops the latter, opting solely for Wi-Fi. That's the same formula offered by the competing Nikon S800c, but with a more powerful processor and more modern variant of the Android operating system.
Of course, just like most smartphones, the original Samsung Galaxy Camera could already be used without a SIM card if you only wanted Wi-Fi connectivity, so the sole goal of this change was to reduce the cost of the camera. Today, we learn just how much is saved by shaving off 3G/4G: precisely US$50. On top of this, you'll also save on the cost of your data plan -- unless you were intending to forgo the SIM card, of course -- but you'll also sacrifice the convenience of immediate photo sharing, web browsing, and so on.
Available later this month, the Galaxy Camera (Wi-Fi) will ship in the US market at a list price of US$450, a full US$100 more than the competing Nikon model. Like the 3G/4G variant of the Galaxy Camera, it's based around a 16.3-megapixel, BSI CMOS image sensor, 21x optical zoom lens, and a 1.4GHz quad-core processor running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can find much more information, along with a selection of test shots from our lab, in our Samsung Galaxy Camera preview.