The Camera Bag: TheQ Camera aims to make photography simple, foolproof and social

 

 

TheQ Camera may not have much in terms of technical specs. It packs just a 5-megapixel sensor, and a 24mm equivalent, f/2.4 lens. But instead, what it does have, is a built-in 3G connection and a goofproof design, that means you can take it anywhere and share the images extremely easily.

TheQ Camera is available in an array of tasty sounding colors for $199, and has an almost childishly simple design. There's an optical viewfinder (a hole through the plastic), a shutter button for shooting with the flash, a shutter button for shooting without the flash, a function button, and a save and share button. The lens is manual focus, and rather than the usual rectangular flash, it has a huge, ring-flash that encircles the entire lens. It's also waterproof down to a meter, and slightly dustproof.

This camera is designed for sharing, and can take a 3G SIM card, where images are automatically uploaded to its own TheQ Labs social network, where you can filter, and share the images over Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr (but strangely, no Instagram).

The real question is what TheQ offers over, say, that smartphone you already have in your pocket. While the ring-flash and waterproof casing are a bit of an advantage, are you really going to drop $200 on a plastic camera when you can already upload all your photos and share them from a gadget you already have? Obviously the folks at TheQ think so, and its quirky design may win some admirers. But considering it isn't even able to share to Instagram, it's going to have a hard job proving itself better than just a smartphone camera.

(via PetaPixel)