The clock might have only just ticked into 2014 but, that won’t stop Samsung – or any other big tech manufacturer – showing off products at CES 2014. In the case of Samsung, they’ve started a little early, announcing some speaker systems and now, the follow-up to the Galaxy Camera, the aptly named Galaxy Camera 2. What’s new this time around? Well, aside from the more traditional camera look (and yes, more faux leather a la Galaxy Note 3) quite a bit. At the heart of this new Galaxy Camera is a 16-megapixel sensor and a 21x Optical Zoom lens that runs from f/2.8 to f/5.9 throughout its range of focal lengths.
As this is following in the foot steps of 2012’s Galaxy Camera, you’d expect some smartphone internals and, you’d be right to. Powering the Galaxy Camera is a 1.6 Ghz Quad-Core CPU and 2GB of RAM, with a 4.8-inch 720p display and Android 4.3 with Samsung’s TouchWiz on top. The battery size of this year’s model is rated at 2,000 mAh and it should be enough to power the device (which features a pop-up flash) for a few hundred shots. Speaking of content creation, the device also records video at 920—1080 (30fps), 1280—720 (60fps), 1280—720 (30fps), 640—480 (60fps), 640—480 (30fps) as well as 320—240 (30fps).
Storage wise, this year’s Galaxy Camera features the same as last year’s 8GB but, it’s expandable with microSD cards up to 64GB in size and Samsung is once again giving 50GB of free Dropbox storage with purchases of the camera. The device will be on show next week, when CES 2014 gets under way in earnest and hopefully, we’ll have more details for you then. So far, there’s no word on a 3G/LTE version of the device but, if the original model is any indication, we’re pretty sure this will feature wireless connectivity in some variant or another. We reviewed the original Galaxy Camera – as well as the Galaxy S4 Zoom – and so far (on paper) the second coming doesn’t seem like all that much of an upgrade. Pricing will be important too, as the original Galaxy Camera – even with its reduced price tag on Amazon – is still pretty expensive for the picture quality and features it offers. We’re sure that Samsung has refined a lot though, what do you think? Let us know in the comments and of course, on Google+!