Cameras with Android Operating Systems

Question

Can someone please help me. I need to find a camera or info about cameras with built in GPS, touchscreen, Wifi, and Android 6.0 or higher (preferably Oreo) OS operating system. I am a property inspector and have used the Samsung Galaxy 2 for the last 6 years. I can no longer use it because the app I have to use to take photos (InspectorAde) now requires at least an Android 6.0 or higher OS. I was recommended to use a new phone. I tried it and it is horrible. Need a designated camera similar to what I had, not a phone. I cannot find a list anywhere that includes cameras operating systems. Most cameras don't even list their operating systems in their specs. Please help me.

I need a dedicated camera that has a zoom lense of at least x10 preferably x20, gps (all photos have to be GEO tagged for location), a touchscreen (preferably at least 4-5 inches), wifi, and has to have an android operating system of 6.0 or higher to use the app that I am required to take my photos with.

To answer some of your questions: I cant use my current camera any longer because the app I have to use to take my photos with (InspectorAde) now requires an android 6.0 or higher operating system, my current camera is an older/lower version operating system. What was horrible- slow, uncomfortable, inefficient, etc. I have to take many photos quickly. 8-10 hours a day. Holding it alone is very uncomfortable and actually hurts after 2-3 hours of use. phones are not designed to fit in your hands in the position to take pics, There is great risk of dropping a 400 phone, no wrist straps available. It is not able to zoom clear enough to take a photo of address numbers on properties i cannot enter and must take from public right of way. To use the touchscreen zoom is very clumsy and time consuming instead of having a designated zoom button in the natural position of your hand/fingers as a camera would have. These are just a few reasons. The new phone I tried by recommendation was the moto z3 play, with the Hasselblad zoomx10 Moto Mod. The mod slows down the camera and there is about a 6 -9 second delay after each photo.

Answer 1

Cameras with Android have mostly vanished again. The mix between a camera and a phone (mostly combining the negatives of two worlds like high battery use and clunky cases) has not really worked.

There seems to be an "interesting" product by a chinese company. The Yongnuo YN450. M43 Sensor (whouch would be pretty neat), EF-Mount (which seems a bit odd, since EF lenses need a backfocus distance of around 40mm. Images show, that it seems to have an "extension" protruding from the body). The upside of "EF Mount" is clearly the huge array of lenses available. The downside is, that it won't fit in your pocket! They say, that it should sell for around 500$

It's probably really hard to find this camera. But getting a phone with a good camera is not that hard anymore.

And than there is the Zeiss ZX1. Another really special camera with a full frame sensor, fixed lens and a price tag that will be around 5000$.

Both of those cameras run android and should have been released but have not really materialized on the market until now.

Answer 2

The Android requirement is what makes this impossible. Camera makers have tried in attempt at novelty but it failed due to inefficiency. Android is much heavier than necessary which drains battery life that is already short on cameras, not to mention startup time. Also, a screen that large is hard to fit on a camera because there are a lot more buttons and controls that make it easier to operate. The few that were made with large screens did it at the expense of controls which is not desirable.

Technically Zeiss just released another attempt at an Android based camera and although it is expected to make extremely high-quality images, it will have the same issues discussed. Plus, it's a $6000 USD camera and has a fixed lens which is unsuitable for real-estate photography.

Once you remove the Android and excessively large screen requirement, you are left with a few options. If you do a search on my website for a current digital camera with a GPS and Ultra Zoom, you get 3 results:

• Nikon Coolpix P900
• Nikon Coolpix P950
• Sony Cybershot HX90V

The first two are larger models with a good grip and plenty of controls which improve ergonomics but they may get tiresome if you carry them for hours at a time. The Sony is much smaller and lighter but it still packs a long zoom and a builtin EVF. All these cameras will produce very similar image quality since they have their sensor size is the same and resolution is similar.

Another possibility is to consider a camera without a GPS but that can get GPS info tagged via an accessory or a Bluetooth link. This does significantly lower battery-life though and both your phone and camera need to last sufficiently long to have all images tagged as they are taken.

Answer 3

Sounds like you're in a bind given the requirements. Could you list out what you need exactly? The GPS feature is available on many SLRs (but drains your battery), and is available on many P&S cameras. I don't believe you'll find a single SLR running android, nor will you find a Point and Shoot. Instead you'll be stuck on android phones.

The GPS information can be added to a photo later (tagging).

Luminix makes cameras that are decent for battery life, but before recommending a single brand its important to know what contractual requirements you have for what you're asking. You might not need what you think you do.

Answer 4

I may be wrong, but I am fairly confident no dedicated camera uses Android.

Two major reasons:

1)All major camera manufacturers were in existence quite some time before Android OS came out.

Therefore they developed their own specialized OSes for the specific devices they make.

Android instead is a general-purpose operating system (although targeted mostly at mobile devices).

2) No dedicated camera manufacturer would go to the trouble of basing their device on a general purpose OS, since it would contain so much dead weight features. Which could also break. Plus, it would run much slower. And unless using some RTOS -- unpredictably slower at any particular moment.

So, your best bet would be to use a dedicated camera with a Bluetooth/NFC connection to your phone, for automatic upload of photos to phone, and have on the phone that software you need access existing gallery images rather than phone's camera.

If that is not possible, the only alternative is a better mobile phone. Some of them are reasonably better at taking pictures and might even have optical zoom.