Saturday, June 15, 2013

TECH: Samsung Galaxy Camera with Verizon 4G connectivity shows off Motown Hot Spots in Style

You cannot beat the Samsung Galaxy Camera's 21x zoom for excellent photos!!!
Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Camera: It had me at "Hello"...

Thanks to Verizon Wireless for loaning product to facilitate this review.

I have been blogging now for six years and one thing has not changed in all that time - photos make people want to read my posts. I should qualify that and say "beautiful" photos make people want to stop and read my posts.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I know that is true.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera took on Motown Hot Spots like the Detroit Zoo with excellent photos
Beautiful photos draw people in and make they want to stay a while. They are the icing on stop of a great blog post.

But you don't have to be blogger is want great photos. As my son is getting older, I treasure photos of him from years past. We all want our photos to look like a pro took them, even though most of us keep our cameras on the "auto" setting.

So I was excited when Verizon Wireless offered me the chance to review the new Samsung Galaxy Camera with 21 times zoom and the ability to upload photos while on the go with Verizon's super fast 4G LTE network.

Samsung has become the darling of the tech world of late with the introduction of quality smartphones including the Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. I found the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to be the most superb smartphone I have ever reviewed so I could not wait to get my hands of the Samsung Galaxy Camera to try it for myself.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera at The Detroit Zoo...
It's a camera that thinks it's a smartphone...
For years I used my Panasonic digital camera to take photos for my blog and for personal use. The camera takes excellent photos, but I hate having to manually upload all the photos from the camera to my computer. Since smartphones now take excellent photos, I started using my smartphone for all my photos. But I really missed my digital camera's zoom feature since smartphones are best for close up shoots.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera combines all the great features of a smartphone with all the stunning photo quality of the best digital cameras.

The Verizon Samsung Galaxy Camera features -

- 4.8" HD display for use as a camera view finder and reading your email, social media interactions, or even an eBook
- Super fast quad-core processor
- Access to the Google Play store for downloading your favorite apps including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Flickr and more
- 16MP sensor with 21x optical zoom lens for close up shots no matter how far you are from the subject
- Photo Wizard or Video Editor for an impressive collection of powerful image-enhancing tools
- Auto and professional camera settings
- Verizon 4G LTE connectivity for sharing your photos via social media while on the go

With the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Camera, you can take great photos on the auto or professional lens settings, immediately upload the photos to all your social media networks, play games, read eBooks, and most everything else you can do with a regular android smartphone.  It's the digital camera that thinks its a smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Camera and my "Day in the D"
I put the Samsung Galaxy Camera's to use during my most recent blogging event. I was invited by the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau to be part of a blogger outing that featured visits to many of Detroit's treasured institutions. And I took the Samsung Galaxy Camera with me to document the entire day.

Can you find this small badge on the Detroit Zoo guide's uniform?
21x Zoom is Awesome at the Zoo!!!
The feature that I loved the most about the Samsung Galaxy Camera during my #DayintheD was the 21x zoom. I was able to get shots that I would never have been able to get just using my smartphone. 

Looking at the two photos above, the guide in the Detroit Zoo Kangaroo exhibit had an interesting badge on his uniform that I wanted a shot of. With the Samsung Galaxy's 21x zoom, the guide never even knew that I took the shot. Can you find the badge on his uniform in the first of the two photos? See how small it is?? See how clear my shot is?? Well done Samsung!

I loved being able to feed the Jabari the giraffe at the Detroit Zoo. And the giraffe's tongue is super long. I was able to get an up close shot of Jabari's tongue, thanks to the Samsung Galaxy Camera's 21 times zoom.

If you have been to the Detroit Zoo, then you know that while you can feed the giraffes, the Zoo keeps the public pretty far away from the Brown, Grizzly and Polar Bears - with good reason. There are tons of barriers and space between the public and these exhibits.  But I was able to take up close photos, thanks to that 21x Samsung Galaxy Camera zoom.

Our #DayintheD blogger event ended with a great meal in Detroit's Greektown at Brizola restaurant in the Greektown Hotel and Casino. The meal was wonderful - one of the best I have eaten - and I was able to capture the beauty of my yummy Goddess of the Hunt cocktail and Pork Chops with the photos above.

Uploading Photos cannot get any easier...
And at the end of the day, I was able to upload all the photos straight to my Flickr account using just the camera and Verizon's 4G LTE network connectivity - Easy Peezy.  And that is in addition to the 30+ photos that I uploaded to Instagram via the camera and Verizon's network all during the day. You can see all 250+ photos at this link.

Overall, I had a blast with the Samsung Galaxy Camera during my #DayintheD blogging event. I would sum up my review experience as follows -

Pros -
- Wonderful 21x zoom takes awesome up close photos
- Easy to operate
- Combines best features of a digital camera and a smartphone
- Huge 4.8" view finder in great for taking photos
- Verizon 4G network connectivity was wonderful and took all the pain out of sharing photos

Cons -
- Not the smallest digital camera on the market. At 5.07 x 2.79 x 0.75, the camera definitely won't easily fit in the average pocket.
- Pricey

I had a wonderful time with the Samsung Galaxy Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Camera with Verizon 4G connectivity retails for $549.99 with an additional monthly fee for Verizon LTE connectivity. Find out more about the Samsung Galaxy Camera on the Verizon Wireless website.


Enjoy!


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Disclosure: Verizon Wireless loaned me a Verizon 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Camera. Unfortunately, I had to give it back - and I really miss it. All opinions are my own.

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