[junyo]

Samsung hybrid camera/phone:
Samsung SCH-W880: The Digital Camera that Can Call - Samsung SCH-W880 - Gizmodo
- 3x optical zoom
- Mode dial
- Dedicated shutter button
- 30 fps HD movie recording
- All the modern phone goodies; GPS WiFi, microSD

This is a good deal for Samsung. More and more people have been touting cellphone cameras for serious photography (see Chase Jarvis' unabashed iPhone camera love), and this taps into that. And I think ultimately this stuff - all in one, Swiss Army knife type devices - are the future for the low end.

Question is, with <strike this>Pentax's other strength being</strike this, why is there no strike through?> Pentax as a current manufacturer of point & shoots, would a Pentax phone be a good idea? Would you buy one?

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Last edited by junyo; 09-28-2009 at 09:59 AM. Reason: Happy now? lol

[pxpaulx]

I don't think most people would consider the P&S lineup to be Pentax's other strength. some interesting options sure, but their IQ is routinely blasted (and usually with good reason); there are sadly several other manufacturers well ahead of Pentax in the P&S market.

On the other hand I am all for it - why burden the general snapshooting public with 2 pocketable items (camera and cell phone) when they can be merged into 1? The more people that get interested at the ground level, the more the industry grows, which can't be totally bad, can it?

[er1kksen]

Maybe if it was waterproof/shockproof like the Optio W series... .

[RawheaD]

Nope. Cuz I have the iPhone :-D Seriously, I won't trade it for anything.

Besides, if I were to ever shoot P&S again, I can only think of shooting Lumix. With the exception of the X1

[junyo]

I don't think most people would consider the P&S lineup to be Pentax's other strength. some interesting options sure, but their IQ is routinely blasted (and usually with good reason); there are sadly several other manufacturers well ahead of Pentax in the P&S market.

True, purely in camera equipment terms. But by strength I kinda meant, has some level of name recognition in the mass market. I think these days, the average consumer is aware that Pentax is a camera company, but is more likely to be familiar with their P&S than their SLRs. Therefore a point and shoot/phone would a) make sense to them, b) maybe seem like an upgrade since it's made by a "real" camera company. And as you say, the more people that get into photography, and get that entry via a Pentax product, the better.

[AM2]

with Pentax's other strength being point & shoots

Beg your pardon?

G11 is strength, LX3 is strength, GR Digital III is strength, S90 is also strength; Pentax compact is anything but!

They had a good thing going with the waterproof cameras right up until the W60, the 80 seems to be a step backwards.

[pxpaulx]

True, purely in camera equipment terms. But by strength I kinda meant, has some level of name recognition in the mass market. I think these days, the average consumer is aware that Pentax is a camera company, but is more likely to be familiar with their P&S than their SLRs. Therefore a point and shoot/phone would a) make sense to them, b) maybe seem like an upgrade since it's made by a "real" camera company. And as you say, the more people that get into photography, and get that entry via a Pentax product, the better.

I am usually surprised at how many people don't recognize the Pentax name to be honest - unless they know alittle about photography (you'd think Pentax would be just as well known as Canon and Nikon, but I think this industry moves at a fast pace - and much faster since digital - and I think you'd be kidding yourself if you didn't think Pentax was late to the digital party in general).

I honestly don't think they have much more name recognition than sigma or tamron, or even vivitar and ricoh do. Even the P&S market is dominated by the likes of canon, nikon, sony and panasonic (hardly much legacy in the last two - I don't think you can count Minolta as Sony certainly doesn't tout the name around).

I still do think you have a great point, and I certainly think it would do well for Pentax to get their name in there - but when it is Samsung using their own brand, when they are at least a presumed partner (though less and less it seems), it becomes obvious they don't take much stock in name recognition (At least over their own!).

I think on this topic in more general terms, that the idea of a pocket P&S could go away if camera phones become good enough for the average person (which is to say, they won't need to be stellar and probably already are close to approaching this level).

Perhaps we will see 3 real market segments. the pocket cam/phone combo market replacing the pocket P&S only market. The actual P&S market will turn towards more niche cameras, in 3 sections (which I think are already pretty well formed) - the superzoom category (offered by pretty much every major player), the rugged/waterproof category (at the moment dominated by olympus, then panasonic, followed by pentax and canon), and the enthusiast/high performance category (panasonic Lx3, canon G series and upcoming S90).

Then you have the interchangeable lens cameras even falling into new categories (aside from pro, amateur and beginner), you also have the micro 4/3 cameras out, and I am sure there will be new competition in that compact interchangeable lens segment in the near future.

I think you have a great idea, but don't really see pentax attempting to carve out much of the P&S market in general (their best bet is the rugged segment mentioned above - I think they would do well in the niche enthusiast as well, if they ever try). They are definitely trying to corner the beginner/amateur enthusiast with their dSLRs, and if the 645D comes to market that will be a big splash in the high end pro market. I think the K-7 and K-x are both a great direction for pentax, hopefully their market share is growing with both!

[solar1]

A: I wouldn't buy one if it had an SDM lens if I were you

[Ahab]

I too am perfectly content with my I Phone.

[Blue]

Unless the lenses were from Hoya glass and Pentax SMC coating, I don't really see the point.

[monochrome]

Would you buy an Apple Camera?

Besides, phones are free. Every two years.

[esman7]

it wouldn't work with just the Pentax name on a phone. the only way it would work is if you have the pentax name on the LENS of the camera.

...even then, you would of course want to include smc for example as that is a competitive advantage.

[AM2]

it wouldn't work with just the Pentax name on a phone. the only way it would work is if you have the pentax name on the LENS of the camera.

...even then, you would of course want to include smc for example as that is a competitive advantage.

I don't quite agree. Nokia has the words "Carl Zeiss" on their cellphone optics and they are getting clobbered by the iPhone and the Blackberry horde, Pentax won't even get noticed save for by existing users of Pentax products and that is *not* a very big number, especially not in the cellphone world.

My wife says she would buy a Pentax vibrator.

[bogiesbad]

My wife says she would buy a Pentax vibrator.

Make sure she knows to turn SR off.