The Future? Polaroid announces the SC1630 Smart Camera

Polaroid Announces the SC1630 Smart Camera Powered by Android

Is this the future of Photography? I think it just might be the future of the point and shoot. One day, point and shoots will fall by the wayside as products like this Polaroid come out along with the amazing iPhone apps we have been seeing lately (review of a kick ass app I have been using soon). Imagine if Leica did something like this with an iPhone. Remember the concept camera/phone? The i9? That would be sweet as a take anywhere always with you device. I’m telling you…a few short years from now THIS just may be what the masses are shooting with and us enthusiasts will be the niche market with the higher end cameras.

Full Press Release below:

Fusing the Feature Set of a High-End Digital Camera with the Power of Android*, the Polaroid SC1630 Makes Snapping and Sharing High Definition Digital Images an Instant Experience

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Polaroid today announced that capturing and sharing high-end digital images is now seamless with the Polaroid SC1630, an Android powered smart camera. The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera features a high definition 16 megapixel camera with built in 3X optical zoom, touch screen display and Wi-Fi, making uploads to social networks as easy as the touch of a button. Merging the optics of a digital still and video camera with the limitless power of the Android platform, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera evolves the process of clicking, editing, uploading and tagging to an instant experience on one device.

With the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera powered by Android you will no longer need to choose between your smart phone and your point and shoot camera because it offers the best of both worlds. Delivering everything expected from a digital camera but powered by Android, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera surprisingly packs all the features needed to conveniently capture, connect and instantly share beautiful HD digital images and video into one device, weighing a mere five ounces.

An ultra-portable, two-in-one instant sharing powerhouse, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera leaves even the most powerful camera phones in the dust by combining an advanced imaging feature set with an unmatchable Android powered mobile platform:

Capture Like the Pros: Life’s quickest moments are no longer at risk to becoming blurry images from a basic camera phone. Built on a 16 megapixel CCD senor, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera treats images to a 3X optical zoom – a feature not found in most mobile phones. Choose from 18 scene modes and then click and view crystal clear images – captured at 36mm or full 108mm magnification – on the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera’s 3.2” widescreen display.

Enhance Your Moments With Smart Features: The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera powered by Android takes the work out of being behind the lens with automatic face and smile detection. Also, gone are the days when digital images that never connected with a USB cord went unorganized and forgotten. The Smart Album feature of the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera automatically organizes photos by date, location and people. Plus, geo-tagging features can add longitude and latitude coordinates to photos.

Edit, Share and Save: Now there is no reason to leave the party – everything needed to edit, save and upload can be done anywhere right on the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera. On-board editing features include cropping, red-eye removal, resizing and color correction. Backed by the power of Android, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera uploads images to social networks with the touch of one button and can hold up to 32GB of memory via a microSD card.

Instantly Connect to the World: The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and optional cellular data connections empower digital images to be shared from anywhere in a snap.

Get Productive: Need to check-in on where friends are gathering, get directions or make the next move in your favorite game? Backed by the power of Android, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera supports Google’s Android Market, making it truly like no other camera available today. Now you can snap, share and link up with more than 400,000 apps.

“Polaroid has helped the world bring stories to life through photographs for the past 75 years,” said Scott W. Hardy, President, Polaroid. “The newest member of the Polaroid family, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera unites the beauty of high-end digital images with powerful Android connectivity features. The result is an instant experience of click, capture and share that enables social networks to see and experience the moment as if they were there.”

Designed to be just as fashionable as it is portable, the simple, clean lines and straight forward interface of the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera makes capturing and sharing effortless. Loaded with features that enable easy capture, connecting and sharing on the fly, the rechargeable battery can last all day on a full charge.

26 Comments

  1. It is the future of ALL digital cameras!

    Of course P&S will get it first because they’re directly threatened by the smartphone market. But a platform is bound to be implemented in the future on every cameras because:
    – the software part is, more and more, key to success (user interface, customization options, JPEG engine, stitching, noise removal, optical corrections, etc.)
    – with ever increasing software features, most camera companies won’t have the resources to develop the software all by themselves any more.
    The only solution to that is the adoption of the “App business model”, a.k.a. “we can’t do it all but we provide the platform”. It’s still a bit of a problem because of battery life, and in a lesser extent, processing power, but these issues’ll be solved; one day we’ll download a DxO App for optical corrections, a Noise Ninja App for noise removal, an AutoPanoPro App for panoramas, a CornerFix App for old manual lenses directly onto our cameras. Look at all the video possibilities released by the GH2’s video firmware hack, or in the old days, by the Canon Rebel Russian hack!

  2. I’ve always wished that Apple came out with the iCamera. Basically an iPhone without the phone but a kick ass camera instead and a dedicated shutter button. Then you can put whatever app you want on it. How fun! I’m not familiar with the apps available for Android but if they’re like the ones on the iPhone, then this should be sweet….

  3. Maybe if it had a decent processor (1ghz), a larger better screen, a better interface, and a decent price ($150-200) it would be worth it. Until then, I think ill wait

  4. “Built on a 16 megapixel CCD senor, the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera treats images to a 3X optical zoom – a feature not found in most mobile phone”

    Too bad the IQ is almost guaranteed to be laughable next to the iphone and high end Samsung, Sony and Nokia smartphones.

  5. Love that keyword: ‘Snart Camera’ – which if it would be Swedish would mean soon-to-be camera, which is just what it is – soon a product to really take notice of!

    Nice idea, though ;-)!

    • Va snackar du om? Det är en Smart kamera inte en snart kamera. Men jag kan hålla med om att det är nog klokt att vänta tills Sony tar upp idén och gör en riktig produkt av den.

  6. Better solution is a $30 EyeFi card into the camera of your choice, be it a LX5, S95, X10 etc.

    Take the images with options for better IQ, and (for me at least) better wide angle, as I find 36mm starting point a bit 2002 for my taste. Then use all the apps you want via your iPhone, iPad, or other tablet or phone.

    Whats more, unlike this wifi only camera, using an iPhone et al, will allow you to still upload via the cellular network, which is far more useful because theres not a lot of wifi around most places I shoot.

    Its not a bad concept overall, don’t get me wrong, but just has some major issues in regards to being a very boring and poor spec’d camera in comparison to other compact choices, and limited ability to share being wifi only.

    Eyefi card is cheap and easy way to turn camera of your choice into a so called “smart camera”, assuming you’ve got a phone or tablet with you as well, which realistically I think 99% of us would.

    I mean really, if I leave the house, I may or may not have a camera, but ALWAYS have my iPhone lol

    • Jeff said: “I mean really, if I leave the house, I may or may not have a camera, but ALWAYS have my iPhone”
      The point is Jeff, the iPhone is not a good enough camera !
      When I leave the house I will always have my Polaroid SC1630 camera(phone).

  7. That is a great idea. Make it a little slimmer and make the IQ as good as a Canon s95/s100 or a Panasonic LX3/LX5…wow.

  8. I agree, I definitely think the future of P&S is camera phones. The IQ is continually improving along with Apps that create effects and do things to images you would normally need Photoshop or another image editing app for. They combine phone and camera into one, decreasing the amount of bulk in your bag and increasing the $ in your pocket, and also allowing you to have a capable camera with you at all times, no one leaves their house without their phone anymore. Everywhere I go I see people taking pictures with their phones, very few times do I see people with P&Ss anymore, plus look at Facebook – almost every profile pic is taken with a phone.

    • I agree. That’s why I think all these new point and shoot cameras are a waste of time. This game is about excellent camera-phones like the Polaroid SC1630 and others, excellent compact enthusiast cameras for the street like the Sony NEX-7, and excellent mirror-less, full-frame pro cameras like …. soon to come.

  9. The release sadly says very little about the android part of it. If it’s to function as a phone too, that’s crucial, and I somehow doubt we’ll see ICS on this thing. Here’s to hoping though! (although my money will be saved for the X-pro/nex-7)

    • It doesn’t say anywhere that it can function as a phone, think of it as an iPod Touch with a P&S style camera on the back. Polaroid is basically releasing a P&S camera running on Android. I don’t know how successful this will be when taking into account that people will probably look at it and think, “Why not just get a phone?”, because at least when you look at a P&S camera you can say that it’s different enough to warrant a purchase. I think it would be a successful phone, if they release one, and probably they should have instead taken that route maybe.

    • Finally a phone worth having. I would expect Sony to jump in as well. I’m getting one.

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