Dubai Android is not just about phones. Given the flexibility and extensibility of the platform, many vendors are already working on Android-powered digital cameras. A few leaked press images have already surfaced online.

According to an industry source, Samsung is expected be the first to come out with Android-powered digital cameras.

Samsung, Raj Varma, general manager for IT sales at Samsung, said the company was expected to come out with a new line-up of smart cameras in the fourth quarter of this year.

He said a new photography trend was on the market that had the ability to connect directly to the internet and upload pictures or video right from the camera.

As built-in cameras on mobile devices popularise wireless instant photo sharing, consumer expectations for similar capabilities on their dedicated digital cameras continue to increase.

The camera industry have been pushing wireless cameras this year, basically trying to catch up with smartphones for convenient photo sharing.

“Consumers are increasingly looking for greater connectivity, and customers just don’t want to take only photos but they also want to share its instantaneously,” Varma said after unveiling three new models in the NX range.

The demand has been robust regionally and globally and the compact system cameras (CSC) are going to exceed “more than the DSLR sales by 2015”, he said.

CSCs are cameras that are compact and have features and qualities of a DSLR.

According to an IDC report, CSCs are set to grow 20.6 per cent while DSLRs by 17.3 per cent in 2015.

The share of CSCs right now stands at 4.1 per cent on a global basis.

Users can share photos via WiFi and share it on Facebook or Picasa, or email them to friends or family. It can also be seamlessly connected to TVs, smartphones or tablets.

“As built-in cameras on mobile devices popularise wireless instant photo sharing, consumer expectations for similar capabilities on their dedicated digital cameras continue to increase,” Verma said.

Users can access the camera functions using “Remote View Finder” on a Samsung smartphone

According to research firm GfK, Samsung has a market share of 14 per cent market share in the UAE and the Korean company expects to attain a market share of 18 per cent this year.

All the three models — NX20, NX210 and NX1000 — feature a 20.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor and shoot pictures at 1/8000 of a second to click fast-moving images. Prices range from Dh2,299 to Dh3,799.