Polaroid Android Camera... Poladriod?
When we first saw the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera we started making our 'you know a company is scrambling (again) when...' notes. We then wondered if there were agreed upon rules and minimum requirements for using the word Smart in front of any consumer product, and if struggling parent of BlackBerry RIM would soon try making phones shaped like cameras... without cameras. But then we realized we may have been a bit too quick - there's a lot about the SC1630 that isn't a terrible idea (although calling it an Android iPod Touch wouldn't be that far from the truth).
The SC1630 has a 16 megapixel, HD Video, super zoom camera with 18 scene modes and an obvious wide screen display. As mentioned, it's powered by Android so it connects to the Android Market which offers more than 400,000 apps, so that's certainly a first for a camera. Sidenote: Can you see a Polandroid in the near future? Surely that's too good a name for Google to avoid buying Polaroid.
The concept of having all the connectivity options on a camera is new(ish) and cool(ish), and it's within Polaroid's MO as they have traditionally been about instant sharing, and social networking is the new coffee table/hang out etc. But the truth is, cameras in phones are improving at a rapid pace, and we're probably about two years away from someone looking at your SC1630 and asking you why you can't use it to make a phone call. As we're still awaiting the price of this non-phone camera, we can only hope it's wonderfully affordable.