The next time you venture into an AT&T Store to buy a digital camera will be the first time. Oh, sure, any of the smartphones you might purchase at AT&T has a camera built in, perhaps even a decent one. But you're thinking phone first, with the camera providing a subsidiary benefit.
Taking pictures is the primary function for the handsome new Samsung Galaxy Camera that AT&T just started selling. It has a beautiful 4.8-inch high-definition touch display on the rear that can be viewed even in direct sun, the same size screen as on Samsung's popular Galaxy S III smartphone and one that serves as a sweet viewfinder.
The front — you'll never mistake this point-and-shoot for a phone — is white and attractive. Galaxy Camera is thin enough to fit in a baggy pocket too, though you'll certainly feel the bulk.
So why is it sold at AT&T? The pitch is simple: As with a smartphone, you can conveniently upload pictures and share pictures when you're out and about, zipping them off wirelessly to an online storage locker, social network or via e-mail. And the camera has a superior image sensor and other photographic tools that take it up a notch from the camera on your phone.
Though Galaxy Camera is not a smartphone, it has features in common with its Galaxy kin. Start with the fact that when Wi-Fi is unavailable, the camera can be connected to AT&T's wireless 4G cellular data network (specifically the HSPA + network, not the faster LTE network).
Alas, 4G costs a pricey $10 a month on top of the $499.99 you pay for the camera itself. That gives you between 1 gigabyte and 20 GB of data, but only if you're already part of an AT&T Mobile Share wireless plan. Otherwise, you can pay $15 a month for an individual plan that gives you a mere 250 megabytes of data, or go up to $50 a month for a 5 GB option.
AT&T is giving Galaxy Camera owners 5 GB of free cloud storage, capacity for roughly 5,000 average size photos, in its new AT&T Locker.
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