Samsung Galaxy Camera Review: Android Meets Point-and-Shoot Camera

The other major sacrifice is battery life. With LTE, Wi-Fi, a quad-core processor, and that 4.8-inch screen, the battery inside the Galaxy Camera drains fairly quickly. I shot half a day of Thanksgiving photos and was only left with half a charge. You get much better battery life from a regular point-and-shoot or micro-four-thirds camera -- and SLRs will let you take hundreds of shots on a single charge.

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And that brings us to the last sacrifice -- the one your wallet will make. The camera alone costs $500 up front (about the same as the more capable Nikon D3100 SLR) -- and if you want LTE service, you'll also have to pay at least $15 a month to AT&T or Verizon.

Bottom Line
The Galaxy Camera is a neat gadget and it's a lot of fun to play with, especially if you try Samsung's "smart" features. And the ability to share better-than-smartphone shots on the fly is great. However, chasing down an outlet and paying a monthly bill on a camera is not.

Ultimately, for $500 you can get a higher-end camera with longer battery life or a smartphone with a really decent camera. What's more, you can get an Eye-Fi SDHC memory card, which sends pictures via Wi-Fi, for all of $30. The Galaxy Camera is a very fun gadget, but, unfortunately, the best of both worlds doesn't yet exist.