Featured Samsung 4G Camera to Offer Android Apps, Games, E-Mail

Samsung previewed an Android-based Galaxy digital camera with app capability at AT&T’s Fall Preview event in New York Thursday night. The 16-megapixel camera, packing a 4.8-inch LCD TFT display, lets users play games such as Angry Birds or download apps to the camera over 4G or Wi-Fi, said Shoneel Kolhatkar, director of product planning and strategy for Samsung Telecommunications.

Despite integrated 4G, the camera doesn’t include a phone or a rear-facing camera for Skype use, Kolhatkar told us. The camera enables on-screen menu-based editing via the touchscreen and was designed for pro-grade users who want to bring the Android experience to a camera that can do email, share photos on Facebook and work with programs like Instagram, Kolhatkar said. Pricing and availability haven’t been set, he said. The camera will sell through AT&T Wireless stores, where consumers will likely be able to assign buckets of data minutes to camera use, he said.

While Bluetooth and AirPlay speaker systems have received most of the attention among wireless playback systems this year, near-field communications (NFC) speakers are slowly rolling out as more Android and Windows Phone 8 incorporate the wireless connectivity feature. At the AT&T event, JBL and iFrogz showed NFC-based speaker systems that replace the need for a charging dock. With the iFrogz Boost Plus speaker ($50), users place an NFC phone on top of the speaker, and the music plays through the speaker without the need to configure the wireless setting, the company said. The JBL PowerUp, a bright blue horizontal speaker that matches the blue of a Nokia Lumia 920 phone, connects via NFC to enable Qi-based charging, but plays music via Bluetooth from up to 30 feet away, Nokia executive Kevin Picone told us. Prices for the speaker and the phone will be announced when the Lumia 920 and the speaker ship in November, Picone said.

IHome showed a tiny mini speaker at the event that “works with all music players” via a mini USB connection, the company said. The $25 GlowTunes speaker has color-changing LEDs built in, and users select red, blue, green or yellow as the color band for the “waist” of the circular speaker.

AT&T also used the showcase to give exposure to its Digital Life home control system that’s currently in trials in Atlanta and Dallas but gave little additional insight on progress of the trials, additional beta sites or product rollout details. The company demoed preprogrammed features of the system including an electronic door lock, video camera, light switch and appliance module. Trial participants have said they like accessing video camera feeds from a smartphone or camera and have adapted to electronic locks while “accepting a keyless world,” Kevin Petersen, senior vice president of AT&T Digital Life, told us.

On the difference between Digital Life and Verizon’s Verizon Home Monitoring and Control system, Petersen said Verizon has taken a self-monitor/self-install approach, while AT&T is installed by professionals, a process that takes longer to implement. “We decided we could go short to market or long and we chose the latter to have control over the experience and roadmap,” Petersen said. AT&T will sell Digital Life as part of a bundled package with its other U-Verse offerings, Petersen said, although the system is “broadband agnostic,” and can be sold separately, he said.

So far, AT&T has said the system will manage electronic locks, lights, thermostats, security system sensors, video cameras, appliances and water sensors that have to be connected to a water shut-off valve. When the service launches, AT&T plans to use two types of third-party licensed providers who meet the specific contractor licensing requirements of each state, Petersen said. The first set is security dealers, and the second is what AT&T calls “digital handymen” who will be able to handle the specialized installation of electrical, HVAC and plumbing products. When consumers schedule an installation, AT&T will ensure that all the various licensed contractors arrive at the designated time for a synchronized installation, Petersen said. When asked how AT&T will be able to coordinate timing of various contractors for a timely installation, Petersen said the company will have “thousands of installers at our control.” Digital Life will roll out market by market “over the next couple of years,” Petersen said. The next major announcement will come at CES, he said.