Cameras are built into virtually every smartphone and tablet sold today, but even the best are a bit lacking in image quality. In order to keep things small, the cameras used fixed focal length lenses an very small image sensors, which has left them lagging behind when compared to dedicated digital cameras.
Polaroid's SC1630 digital camera aims to change that. The 16-megapixel shooter features a 3x (36-108mm f/3.1-5.6 equivalent) optical zoom lens, a feature that sets it apart from other Android devices.
The rear of the device is a 3.2-inch touch screen from which you'll be able to browse the Web, access the Android Market, and play games. The SC1630 has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and will also be made available with an optional cellular data plan for on-the-go connectivity.
The Android platform adds a number of features to the camera that you won't find on others, including a Smart Albums function that automatically organizes your photos by date, location, and people. A geo-tagging function is also available to add latitude and longitude coordinates to photos. Photo editing is available via a built-in app. You'll be able to crop, remove red-eye, resize, and perform color correction without offloading your photos to a PC. One-touch upload to social-networking sites is also supported. The camera uses microSD memory, supporting cards up to 32GB in size.
Despite no longer producing instant film for classic Polaroid cameras, the company has continued to focus on products that make sharing photos easy. It recently released the retro-styled Z340 digital camera with built-in printer, and still produces instant film cameras that use 300 series instant film.
The Android-powered SC1630 will be available this year, but pricing has not yet been set.