CES 2012: Polaroid SC1630 – Camera or Android phone or both?

To answer the headline question…well…we’re not totally sure to be honest. Polaroid are never ones to shy away from a crazy product launch (remember last year’s Lady Gaga Polarez G10 camera shades?), but they’ve got quite a mysterious hybrid here in the shape of the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera.

Is it an Android powered Wi-Fi camera, or a camera touting Android device? Perhaps that’s not an important distinction to make, but what is important is whether the device can be used as a phone as well as a camera, something which Polaroid are staying tight lipped about for the time being. Though the device has “optional cellular data connections”, Polaroid haven’t stated whether or not it can make calls too. If it can’t, you’re annoyingly going to have to keep your smartphone with you along with this device, as it’ll be no true Android-powered replacement.

On the other hand, it’s still an intriguing prospect. Packing a 16-megapixel CCD sensor with 3x optical zoom lens offering 36-108mm (in 35mm terms), it’s a fair sight more fully-featured than your average smartphone camera. If it can manage to squeeze in a sensor larger than your average cameraphone, it could be genuinely exciting, particularly when paired up with the bevy of Android photo editing apps available.

So a few questions left unanswered by the SC1630. But if you do need a camera that lets you play Angry Birds at the same time as snapping decent shots, you’re now in luck.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.