By We weren’t sure whether or not a carrier would ever be interested in offering a camera, but it appears at least one will. AT&T, who has been awfully open to quirky devices as of late, has officially announced plans to sell the Samsung Galaxy Camera.
The Android Jelly Bean-powered camera, which features a 4.8 inch display and a 16MP BSI CMOS sensor with 21x optical zoom, will be outfitted with HSPA+ radios for those who want to share their great images no matter where they are.
You can share to social networks and between the latest Galaxy smartphones like the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 using Share Shot. Buddy Share will send a photo to a group of friends instantly and simultaneously, and AllShare Play will let you beam your content wireless to the big screen over a WiFi network.
AT&T says to expect it “in the coming weeks,” and pricing information has also yet to be revealed. We imagine the data plan for this will be considerably cheaper than what users currently have to pay for smartphones, but without any official information it’s not a good idea to speculate. We’ll let you know when AT&T releases more info. Read on for full press details.
AT&T First to Launch Galaxy Camera; Samsung Defines New Category with 4G Connected Camera
Samsung Galaxy CameraTM combines high performance photography and AT&T 4G wireless connectivity to enable seamless sharing across devices and with social media
Dallas, Texas, October 04, 2012
AT&T* and Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (Samsung Mobile)1 today announced the Samsung Galaxy Camera™ coming to AT&T. The Galaxy Camera combines high performance photography with Android™ 4.1 Jelly Bean and AT&T 4G mobile internet connectivity, resulting in a powerful point and shoot camera with a familiar, intuitive user interface and access to all of your favorite Android applications from the Google Play™ market.
The Galaxy Camera is a perfect fit for those who wish to shoot, edit and share brilliant photographs and video easily and quickly without connecting to a laptop or PC. The Galaxy Camera features a 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD screen, boasts a 21x optical zoom lens and a super-bright 16MP BSI CMOS sensor for shooting high-quality images close up and in low light conditions. This device is powered by a quad-core 1 GHz processor for quick and responsive performance ensuring you can capture the shots you want. It also includes powerful features like Smart Pro Mode technology, which allows you to toggle through a series of pre-set options that simplify the processes for taking professional-level images.
“Wirelessly enabling Samsung’s Galaxy Camera will create a significant shift in how consumers share and communicate with photos and videos,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, AT&T Emerging Devices. “By posting instantly to social networking sites or sending directly to another device, the person behind the lens is essentially offering family and friends the opportunity to share in the moments as they are actually experiencing them. We’re excited that the AT&T wireless network will help enable these opportunities.”
“Once again, Samsung has defined a new category of mobile devices and AT&T is leading the way to bring this device to consumers. The Galaxy Camera brings together Samsung’s latest innovations in mobile and optical imaging technologies to provide the first connected camera running on the latest Android platform,” said Dale Sohn, President of Samsung Telecommunications America.
In addition to being able to share to social networks and cloud services on the go, consumers can harness the speed and connectivity of AT&T’s wireless network to share images and videos between Galaxy Camera and a range of Galaxy™ devices including the Galaxy S® III and Galaxy Note® II.
The Galaxy Camera is designed with several of the key content sharing features first introduced with the Galaxy S III including:
AllShare® Play
Locate Samsung HDTVs, laptops and other devices on the same Wi-Fi® network that are ready to receive photo and video files. Users can remotely access files from Galaxy Camera with other devices on their home network like a PC or Samsung Smart TV™.
Share Shot
Automatically send still images taken with the Galaxy Camera to other Galaxy S III, and Galaxy Note devices up to 200 feet away
Buddy Photo Share
Instantly and automatically tags faces of existing device contacts in photos making it easy to share with them.
Pricing for the Galaxy Camera will be announced when it goes on sale in the coming weeks. For more information on AT&T, please visit www.att.com.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
1Samsung Mobile is the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics, North America Handset Vendor Marketshare, Q2 2012.
4G when used in relation to Samsung devices refers to the fact that the devices can operate on AT&T’s 4G network.
Seems kind of pointless to me. Just get a nice digital camera, you’re still going to need your phone anyways.
Unless you don’t use a phone to talk like most people today. All they need is text/email via data plan/wifi and BOOM. Camera for all their Instagram crap.
This is an instagram addict’s wet dream come true
I kinda doubt this will be the device for those types of people. It isn’t shaped to let people fire off texts. That lense housing is in the way, then there’s the price, it probably won’t be cheap.
I have a feeling this camera is going to be a flop. Galaxy camera or Canon Rebel EOS……ahhhhh EOS!
lol, the EOS. When I had mine that I used for work and people come up telling me they had one two, I imminently asked them to explain some of the settings(just to see if they know). I would say about 95% would tell me the auto shot setting and nothing else. LOL, good times.
Bob, I agree. I hardly ever talk on my phone. This would be great if it did allow voice calling and text, I could see taking some great pics while fishing.
Is this open android? Can it run Google voice?
I definitely agree with Bigcix. I played with this camera a little while at Photokina in Cologne, and I have to say the camera is absolute crap. This one is extremely slow, inaccurate autofocus, way too big for a point and shoot, and the shutter release cannot be used in third party apps. But it will sell as it carries the Galaxy moniker… Even though a Canon Powershot sx260 or a Sony HX30 could easily beat this camera in terms of image quality.
I am obviously wrong but … I thought AT&T was GSM/UMTS/LTE.
I NEED THIS WIFI ONLY ill use my t mob hitspot to upload pics instantly
want it nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
also THIS WILL BE HUGEEEEE . THINK AB IT 90% OF KIDS DONT MAKE CALLS ! TEXT INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK ALL DAY !!!
I wouldn’t go within a million yards of purchasing this from at&t so I’ll just wait and buy it off contract or at Tmobile if they get it too
Not sure why you assume data for this device will be cheaper than data for any other device.
No subsidy, $10 data on shared data plan. Otherwise similar data pricing as an iPad…etc.
It’s funny how the iphone 5 parody video turned into a real android device.