Kodak Bows Photo-Oriented Smartphone in Europe; U.S. Plans Uncertain

Kodak unveiled the Ektra smartphone ($488) targeted to photographers that’s due to launch in Europe before year-end. The “photography-led” smartphone is designed for camera enthusiasts and experts, said a Kodak announcement. It includes a 21-megapixel fast-focus sensor with f 2.0 aperture, 13-megapixel front camera with phase-detection auto focus and f 2.2 aperture, it said. Adjustments can be made in real time using a haptic-touch single-lens-reflex-style selection dial for several settings: high dynamic range, landscape, portrait, macro, sport, night, panorama and bokeh, Kodak said. Also built in: a Super 8 video recorder, Android 6.0 operating system, printing app and social media sharing functionality. A Kodak spokesman told us the success of the Ektra in Europe will dictate "if and when" the company brings the phone to the U.S. The phone will be available across Western Europe with a focus on the U.K. and Germany, he said. Kodak's brand licensee and manufacturer of the phone, Bullitt Group, is U.K.-based, "hence the decision to begin there," he said.