Samsung Galaxy NX review: an overpriced Android-powered mirrorless camera

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.

Hardware

There are two systems to consider when evaluating the Galaxy NX's hardware: the 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and DRIMe IV image processor, and the 1.6GHz quad-core Pega-Q chipset that keeps the Jelly Bean (4.2.2) operating system purring at an entirely usable pace. The NX is first and foremost a camera, and it's a powerful one at that, and smartphone chips, like WiFi, LTE and HSPA+ radios, and a virtually unlimited array of apps, transform this otherwise ordinary mirrorless model into a robust connected beast.

Shape and size aside, the NX is aesthetically more akin to a smartphone or tablet. There are far fewer buttons and dials than you'd expect to find on a camera -- instead, all settings are adjusted from within the Android camera app, which you'll access through the 4.8-inch, 720p, touch-enabled LCD. There's also a 0.46-inch SVGA electronic viewfinder, which outputs a more traditional preview screen, with information like aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

From the front, the Galaxy NX looks like any other EVF-equipped mirrorless camera. It's taller, wider and heavier than most similarly specced models on the market today, but not uncomfortably so. There's a lens release and focus-assist light flanking the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit optic around front, then a pop-up flash (with release), hot shoe, microphone, power button, control dial, video record button and shutter release up top. On the left side, you'll find a standard headphone jack, a micro-USB port (which you'll use to charge the camera) and an HDMI port. The bottom contains a tripod mount and a large door covering the micro-SIM, microSD and battery compartments. All three components, including the relatively massive 4,360mAh cell, slide in behind the large extended grip.

Source : Engadget