CES 2012: The Biggest Camera Innovation Came From Polaroid's Android Camera

The biggest advance in cameras came not from the mainstream camera makers, but from a defunct company whose storied brand is being revitalized: Polaroid. It took an ODM phone out of Taiwan which had married Android and a touch screen to a larger telephoto lens normally seen on point & shoots, slapped its brand on it, and voila! the phone of the future is emerging.

You can read about it in the New York Times (which provided the photo above) and in my favorite camera site, Digital Photography Review. More photos here, and below, where I share a few I took.  

The camera is small and thin enough for pocketable use. I really like the Android inside, an interface I find familiar. It is WiFi only, not 3G, which somewhat limits its usefulness, but makes it much less expensive to travel with overseas and own as an occassional passion. Unfortunately it is a bit slow, and cheaper Android devices like this one are notorious for less precise touch screens than the iPhone. So: a good first shot, more to do to make it commercially successful.  

The implications, however, are huge: camera innovation will now pass from the mainstream makers to a new breed.

Every year the mainstream TV and camera companies hawk their wares, to general disappointment. Two years ago I wrote about 3DTV and why it would be a bust.  It has been. Even the glasses-free 3DTV is too nascent to win, yet. Last year I wrote about Android tablets as e-readers and concluded that Kindle was safe. It sure was, and now has become the second most popular tablet via its own Android version, the Kindle Fire. 

This year all lot of action was around cameras. Nikon had their new mirrorless entrants, annoyingly not in a common format like APS-C or 4/3, but a new 1" sensor. (Canon later launched their entrant, in yet another sensor size, 1.5". Such is their view of "innovation.") Sony is finally shipping its mirrorless NEX7, part of their NEX line, which I have reviewed.

The iPhone has crushed the point & shoot market, and the camera makers are making a retreat to larger sensors and higher prices. They still do not get it.

I talked to camera insiders of why Canon and Nikon don't seem to get it, and they replied that they still believe their proprietary processing and coloration are their special sauce. What makes the iPhone 4S exceptional is not its 8 megapixel camera with decent color processing, but all the apps to enhance the photos and connectivity to share them. 

It is a general theme that "software is cannibalizing everything", and photo processing is no exception. Free apps like Instagram have popularized filters, and apps like Camera+ (for a mere $1) add a whole Photoshop of filters to modify photos. Now crappy photos can be made to look incredible on a few clicks, and then shared. The color schemes of the high-end cameras matter little in the mass market. The iPod showed how crappier, compressed digital music crushes high-fidelity when it adds mobility and ease of play. Simply put:

Filters are the new Photoshop

There is a way for them to fight back, but involves software not hardware. It may be too late. That software is now more likely to emerge in the smartphone ecosystem, not the camera world.  

Comments

[easyshare digital camera]

The real question, however, is who is this for? I keep going in circles on it. Is it the camera equivalent of the iPod Touch, which is pretty much the iPhone without the phone?

[Hotcandy]

Android camera is popular for life, when we are travel can't without camera. small size, easy take is the best features.

[Enma]

I love it already cant wait to see more dont stop ttankig photos and please take a photo of your LOMO Diana F camera they are the cutest things ever nice and colourful

[Solange]

i agree with emre it only simulates the broreds of a polaroid, and even those have a unique pattern that's really hard to copy with a computer i study media design and have a lot of well I like to call them mac junkies. don't get me wrong, I love my mac, but they think they can emulate anything with their computers which doesn't work and so look their final pieces flat, artificial unfortunately they treat us few in the course who like to experiment with materials and get their fingers dirty with utter arrogance well, we'll see who gets a job first.I would just get a pack of Polaroids the unexpected effects you get are very pretty and really unique. sure it's not cheap but so isn't printer ink and high-gloss photo paper. I just hope polaroid is not gonna be the next victim of the digital age. For my part I'll stick to the real deal.

[3G Tablets]

This is pretty interesting. A lot of cameras nowadays are innovating for a certain span of time.

[Petter Joe]

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[Tips for Safe Travel]

Such a beautiful gadget this is. Thank you for introducing. I am very happy to read this post.

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[casquette new era]

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[ralph lauren pas cher]

Ich stimme zu: Ich denke, es ist ein riesiger Schritt in die richtige Richtung für Mobiltelefone. die ehrfürchtige Teil davon ist die Kamera 16MP, das ist eine riesige Entwicklung.

[RV Windshields]

I agree: I think it's a huge step in the right direction for mobile phones. Definitely looking forward to the complete package phone/camera's that will follow.

[philippines skyscraper blogger]

Pretty good combination of a camera powered by an android OS. And the awesome part of it is the camera is 16mp, that's a huge development.