Polaroid SC1630

Cancelled (replaced by Polaroid iM1836)
11th January 2012

It's not a smartphone, and not really a tablet either.. the Polaroid SC1630 is something different: a "Smart Camera" running the Android operating system.

It looks like a standard sized touchscreen device with a big camera lens on the back.. because that is essentially exactly what it is. The sensor on the back is a 16 megapixel unit coupled with a 3X optical zoom, just like a proper compact digital camera. The camera is also capable of HD video capture, and the Polaroid SC1630 also appears to have a relatively powerful flash. We assume that the camera retracts fully into the fairly thick casing.

From the front, the Polaroid SC1630 looks like a typical Android device, with a 3.2" display and what appears to be Android 2.3 running on it. It will run pretty much everything that any other Android phone will run, and crucially that includes a large number of photo and video applications. You can easily upload captured stills and movie clips to your favourite online social networking sites, another server on your local network, or simply email them to somebody.. this is the real advantage of running Android on a camera.

The Polaroid SC1630 ships with WiFi support, Bluetooth and GPS (which is handy for geo-tagging). Polaroid indicate that cellular support (e.g. 3G) is optional, which would be extremely handy it you want to take a photo of anything anywhere and share it there and then.

It isn't the first time that we have seen a device like this. The Korea-only Samsung SCH-W800 launched in 2009 and is a very similar concept, although the Samsung was based around a feature phone rather than a smartphone.

We don't have all the technical specifications yet, nor do we know when the SC1630 will be available or how much it will cost. Most importantly, we really don't know if there is a market niche for a "Smart Camera" like this, but we applaud Polaroid for giving the idea a go.