Nikon CoolPix S800c: bad camera and great gadget

I never considered myself an expert in the field of photography - I can maximize aim the lens at something interesting and press the shutter button. Therefore, in the last couple of years, I had enough of the capabilities of smartphones cameras - give me a fancy SLR in my hands, and I’m sure that it will not work out any higher quality pictures.

However, the cameras of smartphones have one serious drawback. Hinting: the times of the Nokia N93 are long gone ... Yes, the optical zoom is not implemented in any modern smartphone, and it was him that I recently lacked. At the very beginning, I turned a little to my heart: I still have a digital camera - Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport. It was bought with a single purpose: for underwater shooting at a shallow depth, that is, for tomfoolery in the company of similar 25-year-old comrades. She photographs lousy, but the main thing is not even this - there is no optical zoom in it either. Sin, of course, complaining: in 2011, I gave about 70 dollars for it, that is, this is a very inexpensive solution. But the problem still remains: the seabed, infested with fish, without a deep dive into this “Kodak” you do not take a picture. Outside the water, the camera is also useless - the quality is inferior to smartphones, there is no zoom.

From top to bottom: Kodak EasyShare C123 Sport and Nikon CoolPix S800c

In general, before the next holiday, I decided to buy myself - hurray, hurray, hurray! - a normal tsifromylnitsu. Looking ahead, I note that it was not possible to buy a normal one - the innate craving for techno-experiments took its toll and I ordered the Nikon CoolPix S800c. This is the first Android-based camera in the world, repeatedly cursed by domestic and foreign observers.

I remember that at the end of 2012, the Nikon CoolPix S800c appeared in some Ukrainian online stores for about $ 500 - and this is indecent a lot for a device of this level, even with the Android operating system. Nikon cameras with similar capabilities without a “robot” cost about 200 dollars. Now, in May 2013, the Nikon CoolPix S800c can be purchased in Ukraine for about $ 300. At the same time, the camera is quite a rarity: it is in a half-dozen online stores, and at least in two it is actually absent (he called and asked). For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Camera in the version without the 3G module is offered here for about 600. Of course, this is a much higher-class product, but I was not ready to part with such a sum. That took Nikon.

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There was an unpleasant story with "taking". I ordered a camera from an online store, for example, on Thursday, and on Friday it should have been brought to our provincial city from the capital. Meanwhile, on Saturday it was necessary to go on vacation already. So on Friday they brought the camera, and upon examination it turned out that her screen was so well scratched. That is, it was clear that the Nikon CoolPix S800c is new, the body is in perfect condition, but on the display surface I found some very noticeable “grooves”. Unfortunately, time did not allow us to arrange disassembly with the store: I had to stick a film (about another 10 dollars) and leave everything as is.

But just in case, I consider it necessary to warn potential buyers: apparently, Nikon CoolPix S800c is not officially supplied to Ukraine (the importer is “Nikon Russia” on the box), and copies sold in online stores may have a rather dubious origin. That is, it can be used devices or, nevertheless, new devices, which the employees of shops selling various electronic exotic have managed to play well. (I came across a similar one, but about this some other time.) I also recommend readers from Russia and other CIS countries to be vigilant - you never know.

The Nikon CoolPix S800c is about the same as the Nikon CoolPix S6300, which is devoid of Android and costs around 150-160 dollars. At the same time, the “robokamera” is noticeably larger: 111 x 60 x 27 mm with a weight of 180 g versus 94 x 58 x 26 mm with a weight of 160 g. Indeed, the CoolPix S800c looks more massive than most of the soap boxes that have store shelves . I will say this: in terms of dimensions, the model resembles inexpensive cameras of two years ago.

Not once read in reviews that, say, the body of the S800c is metallic. Well, I do not know-ayu ... The material of the front panel is more like plastic, and the side surfaces are plastic as well, and quite brandy. In general - well, fotik and fotik, nothing unusual. Is that the "door" of the battery compartment and the memory card noticeably backlash that spoils the impression of build quality.

The same backlash "door"

The oddity begins after switching on. There are two interfaces here: the first is like a regular camera, and the second is with the Android operating system. The first is available literally a second after installing the battery and pressing the power button, the second can be started after 10 seconds. Considering that only the first is necessary for photographing, this delay in life never interferes. To enable the Android interface, you need to press the key with the house, which is located to the right of the screen. After that, the lens is folded and the familiar unlock screen is displayed on the display.

Android 2.3 unlock screen

Although it is not quite painful: I personally managed to get used to Android version 4.0 and higher, and the Nikon CoolPix S800c uses Android 2.3.3, that is, ancient, like ... Well, you understand. V1.0 firmware was installed on my device, and Nikon already has version 1.3. In it, as indicated in the changer, some problem with connecting to wireless networks is fixed. Before this version, there were still 1.1 and 1.2, and what was fixed in them - I do not know. I can only say that after the firmware update, nothing has changed at all - the speed of work has remained the same, the Android version is the same, and no applications have appeared.


The Android interface can be displayed both vertically and horizontally.

Updates by air? No, you have not heard: you need to download a special file of about 120 MB from the manufacturer’s website, write it to a memory card, enter the settings from the camera interface and start the update process there. Well at least that this very process does not erase the installed programs and does not return the camera to the factory settings.

I didn’t really like the organization of work with Android, and the hardware keys are primarily to blame. The fact is that they do not have the backlight and are located a little crooked (see photo), so for a month I have not learned to fall for them in the dark and just blind. Moreover, the buttons are quite tough, which also does not add to the comfort of operation.

The keys are shifted slightly to the left.

The operating system interface is familiar to Android 2.3 devices - nothing new has been added to Nikon. Well, except that the application "Start", "Shooting" and "Unload". The first brings us to the section, made in the style of the camera interface, where in theory you can view the footage. In theory, since I have a lot of pictures in the internal memory (it is 1.7 GB here) and on the flash card, but for some reason the camera claims that it is empty.

Application menu

The “Shooting” icon launches the photographic interface and advances the lens, that is, everything is clear here, but I would like to dwell on the “Unload”. Again, in theory, this application allows you to transfer pictures via Wi-Fi to various mobile devices - smartphones, tablets, and so on. To do this, they need to put a special application called Connect to S800c. It is offered for Android and iOS devices.

So, I’m looking for this Connect to S800c on Google Play, and the smartphone produces only one result called WirelessMobileUtility. I look at the description - yes, this is a Nikon program, but it doesn’t work with the S800c - that’s what it says right there:


WirelessMobileUtility app on Google Play

Okay, let's google it. As it turned out, Connect to S800c is a completely different application, which for some reason cannot be installed to users from Ukraine:


And again, well: after a ten-minute search, I found an APK file on the Internet and put Connect to S800c on Motorola RAZR, Highscreen Omega Q and Nexus 7. The result is approximately zero: in all cases the devices are hard at work searching for the camera, the camera after clicking on “Unload” hard looking for a device, but no sense from all this. The function does not work. In fairness, I note that somewhere on the web I met the official list of devices with which Connect to S800c is guaranteed to work, and my gadgets were not in it. And yet ... Is it really so difficult in our standardized world - to ensure normal operation with such a popular device as the Nexus 7 ?! And the Motorola RAZR is also not the latest device ...


The search in Connect to S800c can last forever ...

We go further. The Nikon CoolPix S800c has a Bluetooth module version 2.1 + EDR, but I wasn’t able to get it to work correctly. That is, the “blue tooth” is turned on, the devices (tested with the laptop ASUS N76 and still the same Motorola RAZR) are found, but it’s impossible to send something to the camera. To send from it is the same: in the gallery from Android, there is simply no “Send via Bluetooth” item. That is, through Gmail it is possible, on the wall “VKontakte” after installing the corresponding client too, but via Bluetooth - alas.

The manual on transferring files via Bluetooth does not say anything, but it is mentioned that wireless headphones can be connected to the Nikon CoolPix S800c so that “it would be more comfortable for the user to watch videos on the screen of the camera”. Yes, I “mated” a camera with a Motorola Finiti monaural headset, and the sound went into it. Apparently, Bluetooth support in CoolPix S800c is implemented only for headphones ... Hmm. Who would have thought.

Here the question is also about how long the camera will be able to play videos, so even with the Bluetooth module turned on and the sound transmission using this protocol. The battery capacity is 1,050 mAh, which is enough for about 100 frames. If with a flash, then they will be even smaller. I am not at all prone to perversions, and the video on the CoolPix S800c was not watched. But, I sense, an hour and a half of a full battery charge is enough ... And if you also connect a Bluetooth headset ...

The battery is small and literally and figuratively


Charging the camera from USB or from the outlet. The developers did not put in it a microUSB, but something of their own, brand. As a result, I had to carry an extra cable with me on vacation ...

In general, it's not for nothing that the developers installed an OLED screen on the Nikon CoolPix S800c - probably in this way they tried to reduce the overall power consumption. 3.5-inch display with multi-touch; If you believe the synthetic tests and programs that provide information about the system, then its resolution is 480 x 854 points. However, I don’t call anyone to believe them in this particular case: for example, CPU Identifier says that Samsung is a single-core Samsung Exynos, and AnTuTu 3.3 doesn’t specify the processor model at all, reporting only its frequency - 1.6 GHz. Both applications converge in one thing: the PowerVR SGX540 accelerator is responsible for the graphics in the CoolPix S800c. In general, the Android interface is turned very quickly, the birds from Angry Birds fly both literally and figuratively, and in the same AnTuTu scored something about 4,100 points.

Nikon CoolPix S800c and Motorola RAZR

There is also a GPS receiver here, it allows you to add geotags to images and even use navigation - using Google Maps or something else. By the way, with additional software the situation is as follows. Every pop like Angry Birds, Instagram and social network clients works without problems. Skype works fine, you can talk to your relatives while you are in some Hurghada. But my favorite application for viewing photos and pictures - QuickPic - works terribly: it happens that there are 10-15 shots, you go into it, and there are only old pictures. New ones appear only after the forced closing and restarting of the program. The standard gallery from the Android does not have this problem.


In general, what can I say here. If you take the Nikon CoolPix S800c as a digital camera, then this is an unambiguous file - it does not work for long, takes pictures at the level of “soap cases” with a price of $ 200 (examples at the very bottom), is not the smallest in class. But if you look at it as an unusual gadget, then yes, the device is curious. With its cockroaches and plenty of opportunities for customization and use for other than its intended purpose. In general, I am a fan of such things - at one time, for the same reasons, I bought a Highscreen Alex reader, in which two screens - LCD and E-Ink. Here is the Nikon CoolPix S800c from the same series: you can use it, but it's difficult. Enjoy the fact of ownership - as much as you want.

Nikon CoolPix S800c and Highscreen Alex

Examples of images: