Nikon Coolpix S800c First Look Review

 

The Nikon Coolpix S800c is an Android camera running Android 2.3.3 - with WiFi, GPS, and access to all the same apps as the android phone, such as Angry Birds, Skype, Web browser, Facebook and Twitter.

You can also access the Android store where you can download camera apps to your heart's content. This includes apps like instagram, retro camera, pudding camera and HDR camera, just to name a few. We had a go with a few of these and they worked well, although HDR camera expected you to hold the camera in a portrait position (like most camera phone pictures).

Nikon say a main benefit of Android is that photographers can choose from the many apps on offer to create the effects they want, rather than necessarily being limited to the Nikon ones. However, one issue from using multiple camera apps on the camera is that they all have a habit of using a different folder location to save photos, rather than the more standard DCIM photo location.





There are a few camera effects in the Nikon "Shooting" camera app and a larger number of scene modes. The Nikon shooting app has an easy-to-use touch screen with clearly laid out options and large icons showing what each option does.



The camera switches on impressively quickly even after having just put a battery in, with the camera coming live first and then the Android operating system coming up after roughly a minute. When left, the Android operating system goes into standby mode so hopefully battery life shouldn't be too short. However,  Android on mobile phones has been known to be quite battery hungry, although this is also due to the use of mobile phone networks. As the camera has just been released the effects of Android on the battery life are not yet known, but with a CIPA rating of 150 shots, we would expect a second battery to be necessary as the provided battery is rated at just 1050mah.



The camera is not as slim as Nikon's other compact zoom cameras such as the S6400, but it is still pocketable. For anyone used to a modern touch screen mobile, particularly the Android operating system, the camera will be extremely intuitive to use. Although one reservation we had was that the shutter release button doesn't automatically take you to the camera, we were told the current app that you are in has to be shutter button aware for this to work. It's possible this may be updated with a final version of the firmware, as this model was pre-production.





Nikon say that their focus is on apps that allow the camera to connect to 3G devices such as the iPhone etc. so that you can send images to it, when you may not have a Wi-Fi connection, and that development of other apps is down to 3rd parties. They expect people may develop apps specifically for the camera, and that the camera is the closest you're going to get to an open system.

The camera has 2gb of storage built in, as well as an SD card slot. It features a 10x optical zoom, back-illuminated 16-MP CMOS sensor and a high-resolution 8.7 cm (3.5-in) OLED touch screen.

The Nikon Coolpix S800c compact camera will be available from 27 September 2012 with an RRP of £379.99 and comes in two colours: white and black.

Nikon COOLPIX S800c Hands-On Photos of Equipment

Nikon COOLPIX S800c Specifications

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