Sony will soon announce their first smartphone with high quality and large sensor. And it will have to compete against the just announced Samsung S4 zoom. That hybrid camera and phone features a 1:2.3 inch sensor (same size as most compact cameras) and a 10x zoom. That marks the end of the compact camera business. The Samsung S4 zoom and the new Sony Cybershot Mobile will still be very expensive. But the price will go down in future with every new release. In 2-3 years form now almost nobody will buy a “pure” compact camera anymore.
More news at Engadget.
47 Responses
do anyone know what is the sensor size on that samsung s4 zoom? is it they using the same sensor with galaxy camera?
They use the same sensor as compact camera 1/2.3 inch. Please read the news carefully
Samsung beat them to the punch. However, I can’t imagine how short the battery life must be.
What are you talking about? No one will buy that fugly mediocre phone and mediocre p&s.
Maybe it’s better to wait for test results before talking?
It is better to wait for the “results”, although in this case we probably would never have them and it is also a pretty safe bet that this thing won’t sell at all.
I’d very much like to have a cam/phone like this. Why? Because I have a phone & cam with me at all times then! Can it have a bigger sensor than this cam? Yes! Do people appreciate versatility that this camera brings? Yes! Can it have a faster lens? Yes, but you lose versatility (as with a bigger sensor for the same size) … etc etc etc
I am sure some people like it. But “Do people appreciate versatility that this camera brings? Yes!”? Now, who isn’t waiting for the “results”? It is very simple – this camera is a bad compromise.
You know that it doesn’t have galaxy s4 hi-spec right?
You want to have a mediocre phone that is thicker and heavier for an exchange with
a p&s zoom camera?
Your current camera phone kinda crappy? Why not get galaxy s4 or hTC one?
Ah you want to be more serious in your photography,
and you want to zoom those foods that you are going to post on instagram.
I got you bro
S4 zoom = small sensor + slow lens. I’d rather wait for Nokia EOS.
+1
Or buy whatever phone you want and get an RXxxx
If Sony puts Windows on the cybershot phone I will buy it, thus leaving iOS as wrong as that feels…
I find myself carrying a cellphone less and less these days.
Sony should put a phone on RX100
I second that! I’d buy RX100 based 4-5″ phone on Android, with zoom too 🙂 Also, it’s a good idea to set up a vote/forum on this site where users can describe what they want/expect the most from Sony and at what price. Perhaps, Sony would be kind enough to take a look at the top 10 voted items, like NEX FF, and produce them. And, of course, one should buy current Sony’s stuff to support future development. Who cares about Nikons/Canons? 🙂
I’d never touch a Samsung product again, so far everything I’ve bought with Samsung on it has failed just outside of warranty. For the TV I bought from them, I was so mad because they don’t have ‘repair centers’, instead they had to charge nearly $300 for an engineer to come to my house to assess the fault.
Samsung products are exactly what they are – cheap and nasty, I just can’t believe how many people keep buying their useless crap.
Not to mention their cameras _all_ compare terribly in image quality, check DPReview, check DX0… One day I hope the rest of the world wakes up and dumps this junk where it belongs.
Not surprised, someone has to test the market to see if they would like something like this.
Samsung made a mistake by not using the full hardware in the regular GS4 for the camera version.
I hate cell phone photography with a passion BUT… I’m actually interested in the Sony mobile camera. I don’t see how much “very expensive” it could be considering high end smartphones are already about 500€ at release ??… Indeed it might spare me the neverending quest of a decent compact to put in my purse when even a NEX is too large. Always had iPhones so far and loving them, but growing more and more comfortable with Sony devices as time goes by, so I’ll be considering this, given it can actually challenge a Canon S series type of compact.
I don’t believe in these camera-phones. Smartphones are used to soooo much other things: social medias, mail, messages, calendar, surfing……..
The cameras in the phones are good enough and all the time better and better but not something like the Samsung/Sony.
Do you remember the car/boat 🙂
They know the compact camera business is going down the drain and they still make this. Just let go.
There are “tech people” that actually think camera/phones like this will kill off the DSLR/DSLT’s. Look at this bleeping idiot right here:
https://plus.google.com/112916475696290577960/posts/GQEQ5puoCwQ
The samsung phone with it’s bulkiness is neither fish nor fowl, just a bad compromise…the Sony phone is rumored to have a 1/1,7 inch sensor, a f2.0 single focal lens, yet still beeing a smartphone that is only 10mm thick while covering all features of the current flaghip model Xperia Z. If that turns out to be true I will buy it – one year after ist’s announcement because then it will be reasonably priced.
My comment below wasn’t meant as an answer to your posting.
As an answer to your comment I wantetd to write that this reviewer is not alone with the lunatic idea smartphones could replace system cameras in the future: http://hothardware.com/News/Nokia-Camera-Phones-To-Replace-DSLR-Cameras-In-Near-Future/
Aaaaargh…it should read: my comment above 🙂
I couldn’t resist. Just had to reply to him. 🙂
You totally pwn him!!!
You totally pwn him!!!
Regardless of the phone/dSLR debate, the best camera you have is the one you have with you ALL THE TIME.
Well, at some point mobile phone cameras will be as good as today’s ILCs. Of course, by then the ILCs will have advanced even further but I don’t see how an average amateur needs something better than what you can get today.
I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say that phones will replace cameras. Maybe by 2020 or so. But not now.
optics is still to big! get to work lazy ass scientists!
I would definately buy this phone, just if Sony can offer me something with a smaller lens its a great buy!
For concerts and such events (that dont allow dslr) this is a great option. RX100 sensor in a phone? That seems a great idea. I would pay for that. Alot.
Shall we wait for an e-mount mobile also??
It is feasible!
+1 ! I want too a cameraphone based on RX100! what should we do?
I still carry an old Nokia, dropped it a lot, battery lasts a week, pennies to replace it. It amuses me watching people in the office charge their iPhone every day.
I hope the next RX can be used as a phone. Or may be Sony can give away a RX camera with their latest phone or tablet and kick Samsung where it hurts them.
you do realize the rx100 right now costs 500 euro? how is sony supposed to give one “for free” when you buy a phone or tablet? o_O
Samsung do when you buy a NX! So, it is doable.
Most people especially from LDCs will not buy this phone.
This is very good product combination. I waited and waited for it since Android phones came. Cellphone cameras, however good they are, iPhone or Sony, just can’t cut the mustard due to incredibly small sensor and plastic optics. There are good compact travel megazoom cameras, easily pocketable, Sony HX-5 etc. Adding a sim card slot and radio to the camera should be easy enough. And you have an OS that supports both phone and camera. So the combination will be win-win. You get better pics, plus u can make and receive calls, do GPS navigation, play games, surf web, check email etc.
The other quesion is – normal or big zoom or fixed prime? I vote for 10x zoom since it is very versatile and will allow me the reach which is otherwise impossible on a cellphone. Other cellphones already have fixed lens, I’m tired of their limitations.
So this bridge camera-phone thing should be mildly popular among ppl who know at least a little about photography, and like to play with their cellphones. Pocketability is out of question – the thing highly pocketable.
You have to look at the other angle. This is shown what is the next thing for the Smartphone. I am sure, all engineers at all the mfg are pointing their noses at the drawing table and sweating over night trying to come up with better products. Hell, ugly or not, it’s good for me no matter how I look at it. Latge sensor, high MPX, Wi-Fi, and it’s phone to call, chat and more. Maybe it’s about time, I have long wanting to say “later” to the big Apple because I cant take anymore of the white backgrounded soft spoken videos by the freaking rich folks who are telling you how hard they just given it to ya!
“That marks the end of the compact camera business”
i dont think the compact camera will never end, let me tell you why…
im more sure the megapixel race will stop and the sensor chip in compact cameras will be 2/3.
in a few years 4k tvs will be like full hd today, eveywhere.
compact cameras, cell phones and the like can get away with their fake megapixeles because in the end 99% look their photos on screens, and most screens can show less than 2 megapixeles… so the oversampling in compact and cell phones by the hihg megapixeles count is reversed when the image is compressed to show in a 2 megapixel screen.
thats why many people say they smartphone take as good pictures as compact cameras, and that they can not see a big difference with dslr images, because all are downsized to full hd.
but, 4k tvs will had 8 megapixeles, people will start wondering why their photos look washed or blurred, because of physics that “ever improving new tech” cant pass, small sensors had a limit in the resolution they can show, and the limit, more or less, for today small sensors is 2 to 3 megapixeles, like full hd, going to 4k tvs will need sensors that can at least resolve 8 megapixeles, thats 2/3 sensors at least.
so… the arrive of 4k tvs can in fact bring new life to compact cameras, but hust if they go from 1/2.3 to 2/3 sensors, smartphones will never be able to put a 2/3 sensor unless big bump in the back, and if trend tell us one thing, is that just few people like bump in the back of their cellphones for the camera, so smartphones (at least slim smartphones) will never be able to give good image quality for a 8 megapixeles 4k tv, compact cameras will ceatainly do if they go 2/3, and the difference will be crystal clear to the common eye in every shot saw in a tv.
compact cameras go 2/3 or indeed will march to the graveyard tech.
Graphene sensors are already in development. They are 1000x more sensitive to light than the current generation sensors, at a fraction of a cost. A glass material with dynamic nano-structure exists already that delivers perfect picture quality literally without any distortions/aberations, no fixed/moving parts/optics required. Forget ISO, F1.4, shutter speed – you won’t need this “space science” at all. In the future there will be only 2 buttons: Snap Fast, Snap Best Quality, and possibly instant 3D Scan/Snap with all focus points/planes info embedded in the shot for later adjustment.
In 5 years all cameras will become mirrorless and current top Canons/Nikons will become horrible things of the past like Polaroid. Cameras used to have 2 mirrors 100 years ago, then they managed to get rid of one mirror and became DSLRs, which itself is an ages-old, dying technology. Same thing will happen again, happening already. Sony has officially killed DSLT a few days ago, as this site had reported.
In 10 years there will be no such thing as bulky DSLRs. They will all die out or evolve towards REDs to 8K 16K 64K res etc for those 1% of the Pro Photography/Cinema people that no one cares about. There will be no such thing as huge and heavy telephoto lens. Everything will be slim 10mm and deliver perfect huge-res images at the same time.
Samsung Mirrorless Galaxy Camera NX
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/13/samsung-galaxy-nx-mirrorless-cam/
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4427294/samsung-rumored-galaxy-nx-android-mirrorless-camera-leaked-photos
MOre of the same with more pictures
http://petapixel.com/2013/06/13/samsung-galaxy-nx-mirrorless-camera-photos-leaked-confirms-android-os/
The big question is not how many people will buy compact cameras, but how many people will buy these heavy camera phones. If not enough these will disappear faster than they appeared. that’s what I forsee.