Smartphone with pop-up cameras isn’t new. We have seen this seemingly audacious concept on Vivo Nex and more recently, on the Vivo V15Pro. Last year, Oppo took the concept even further by having the entire back slide up to reveal both the front and the rear cameras with its flagship Find X smartphone. And Xiaomi also did something similar with the Mi Mix 3 and so did Honor with its Magic 2. Today, we hear that Samsung has just join the small but certainly growing rank of pop-up/sliding camera smartphone with the new Samsung Galaxy A80. Yes, seriously.
However, with the A80, Samsung took a step further by having just a set of cameras for the front and back. The trick here is, to have the rear-facing triple camera to flip over (or rotate, as Samsung described it) to the front when the slider is activated like so:
So, yeah, you’d be getting the best of both worlds. Usually, the selfie camera is of the lesser spec, but not with the A80. Selfie imaging is now same as the rear, i.e. a 48 MP shooter with f2.0 lens, an 8 MP sensor paired to an ultra wide (123-degree) f2.2 lens and a 3D Depth camera, AKA Time of Flight (ToF) camera, we have seen its other flagship devices.
“With the 48MP main camera, users can now shoot vivid images day and night. The Galaxy A80’s 3D Depth camera offers Live Focus videos by scanning objects for measurement and depth. Built with an Ultra Wide angle lens with the same viewing angle as the human eye, so your favorite views can be shared with less panning.
The Super Steady video mode helps you effortlessly capture content by reducing video shake to ensure smooth, pro-level action videos. And with other intelligent camera features such as Scene Optimizer that can recognize and enhance up to 30 scenes, and Flaw Detection that automatically identifies glitches before you click, you’ll never miss the perfect shot.”
Though, it is worthy to note that Samsung isn’t the first handset maker to employ a rotating camera. Oppo N1 and subsequently, the N3, were the first in the market to do so and that was as far back as 2013 and 2014. With the notch-less design, Samsung has transit from Infinity O display to a true Infinity display which it dubbed “New Infinity”.
So, folks, rejoice cos’ it looks like the days of notched display is coming to end now that Samsung is onboard in promoting a notch-less display device. Speaking of display, the A80 sports a glorious 6.7-inch FHD+ (1,080 x 2,400 pixels) Super AMOLED “New Infinity” display.
Other hard specs expected include an unspecified chip with octacore (2.2 GHz dual + 1.8 GHz Hexa), 8 GB RAM, 128 GB onboard storage with no expandable storage, a 3,700 mAh battery with 25W Super Fast Charging, on-screen fingerprint authentication, Bixby enabled (obviously), and Samsung Knox (Samsung’s defense-grade security platform) – all packed into a sleek, 3D glass and metal frame design. And oh, it also claim to have this:
“Intelligent Performance Enhancer that provides AI-powered performance optimization software, which adjusts the battery, CPU and RAM of your device based on your unique usage, helping your phone work harder and launch apps faster when you need them.”
Out-of-the-box, the Samsung Galaxy A80 Smartphone runs off Android 9.0 Pie, overlaid with Samsung UI. It will come in three colors: Phantom Black, Angel Gold, and Ghost White. Samsung Galaxy A80 will launch on May 29 with an yet to be announced sticker. In mean time, you can learn more about the Samsung Galaxy A80 over at its official product page.
All images courtesy of Samsung.
