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Samsung’s flagship interchangeable-lens camera, the NX300, is by far the company’s most impressive shooter to date. It offers stellar hybrid-autofocus capabilities, excellent image quality and integrated WiFi, and it retails for a hair over $550. For all intents and purposes, it’s a very competitive option, if not one of the best deals on the market today. It’s frustrating, then, that Samsung opted to price the Galaxy NX — an Android-powered camera based on the NX300 — at an obscene $1,700, lens included. If you’re not a deep-pocketed early adopter, it’s absolutely a dealbreaker. But I still enjoyed my two-week test with the Galaxy NX, and if you manage to overlook the MSRP, you might just fall in love.%Gallery-slideshow121859%

Filed under: Cameras, Samsung

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Source: Full-resolution sample images

We expected the Samsung Galaxy NX camera to cost a bundle when it was first announced, and if pricing from UK retailer Jessops proves accurate, we aren’t going to be “disappointed.” The Android-powered mirrorless model will run £1,299 ($2,000 or so) with an 18-55mm kit lens, more than Canon’s fearsome EOS 70D and pushing Panasonic’s flagship GH-3. As you may recall, the Galaxy NX is the first-ever interchangeable-lens camera to run Android, and packs 3G / 4G LTE radios along with a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor, 8.6fps shooting speed, WiFi, 16GB built-in storage, and 1/6000 shutter speed. We noted such strange bedfellows might make it a hard sell, especially considering some shortcomings for demanding photographers, like a slow start-up time and lack of manual dials. Jessops is showing the model in stock, while another retailer called Wex merely has it up for pre-order, so we’re not sure which has it straight. In any event, if you’re one of the few who thought high-end cameras really needed an Android OS, hit the sources.

Filed under: Cameras, Samsung

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Via: Pocket Lint

Source: Jessops, Wex Photographic

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Filed under: Misc

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In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

It’s not too often that we call a tech news story stunning, but that seems like an apt description for our reaction when Microsoft decided to pull an abrupt about-face and nix its controversial rights management for the Xbox One. We learned at the Seattle launch event that the system would have to call home once every 24 hours or every game installed from a disc would be disabled — even if you had the disc in the drive — and quickly the rumblings from the gamers started. They grew louder at E3 when Microsoft detailed the system’s DRM, a stream of complaints that quickly reached deafening levels on online forums and the like.

Yet, through all that, Microsoft stayed true to the party line, that the advantages of this system (being able to digitally share games, being able to change games without having to swap discs, etc.) outweighed the overwhelmingly negative reaction brewing among online gamers. That corporate message seemed to get bitter at times, weary at others, but never showed a sign of changing. Until, suddenly, a complete about-face this week.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Samsung, Microsoft

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True to JK Shin’s promise, Samsung is indeed introducing a new Android-powered mirrorless camera: the Galaxy NX. Although it runs Google’s mobile OS (version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean) and bears LTE radios, the NX is not quite a direct sequel to the Galaxy Camera, the company’s glorified point-and-shoot for all comers. Rather, the Galaxy NX is what Samsung calls an interchangeable-lens CSC (or Compact System Camera), featuring a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor, as well as 3G / 4G LTE, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity — making it worthy of that Galaxy moniker.

As you can tell from the above image, the Galaxy NX also packs a large 4.8-inch HD LCD display on its rear and is powered by a 1.6GHz Pega-Q quad-core setup and separate DRIMe IV Signal processor for imaging. The UI should look pretty familiar to anyone who’s used an Android device before, with the common apps and widgets submenus, as well as the device wheel for its 30 Smart Modes — employed when selecting imaging settings. And if you happen to own any of the company’s other NX cameras, you’ll be able to swap out lenses (13 in all) as the Galaxy NX is fully compatible with that range. It also incorporates a hybrid AF, culled from the best of DSLRs and compacts, with a shutter speed of 1/6,000th of a second and 8.6fps shooting.

Samsung’s been pretty forthcoming about all the tech and software it’s put into the Galaxy NX, but there are two key bits it’s still withholding: pricing and availability. For now, it appears UK residents will have first crack at the Galaxy NX, as PR pegs its release for that territory as sometime this summer. The same, however, can’t be said for a US launch. Regardless, as the Galaxy NX is more a proper camera for experienced photogs and less Android phone like the Galaxy Camera and S4 Zoom, you can bet on its price tag being relatively high. In the meantime, check out our Galaxy NX hands-on for more detailed impressions.

Filed under: Cameras, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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