Kodak, a legacy camera brand is trying to stay relevant by introducing an Android smart phone of its own. If you’re expecting a photography centric device, you’ll be in for disappointment. This won’t be going heads on with the likes of the Lumia 1020, Galaxy K Zoom or Panasonic CM1, but instead it is a basic smart phone that’s aimed at senior citizens and probably young kids.
The specs are quite an entry to mid-tier affair as Kodak aims to make it affordable for the masses. It has a 5″ Full HD display at the front and it runs on a 1.7GHz Octa-Core processor (presumably MediaTek) with 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage (expandable via microSD). For taking pictures, it gets a standard 13MP main and 5MP front facing cameras. It currently runs on Android KitKat (upgradeable to Lollipop) but out of the box it runs on a simplified UI with large icons, that’s easy to use even by non-smart phone users.
According to Kodak, sharing and managing photos on a smart phone can be quite troublesome for novice users. To make things easier, they have customised its native software to make photo taking, sharing and printing easier from the IM5. Whenever you need help, there’s even an advance remote management feature where you can get your grandchildren or friends to help out. With the right permissions in place, the geek in the family can access the IM5 remotely from a web browser.
It will be released in the Europe first and eventually it will be sold in the US towards the end of 2015 with a US$249 (about RM892) price tag. Will Kodak succeed as a smart phone maker? For this offering, they will face an uphill challenge against other cheap and cheerful offerings from China. Furthermore, most of them already have Easy or Basic UI modes that’s designed for ease of use for the senior folks.
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