Great camera, HD screen, high-performance processor, expandable memory
Bulky and heavy, 4K video shooting not perfect, expensive
When is a phone not a phone? When it's a camera of course!
Panasonic's Lumix camera range has a new addition in the shape of the CM1 Android smartphone, which has all the tools of a quality camera grafted onto a high-end phone.
Panasonic prefers to refer to the Lumix CM1 as a 'communication camera' rather than a smartphone, despite its impressive Android specifications. That's a fair distinction, since in most aspects it is very much a camera first and foremost -- it's just that it can do so much more.
It's on the chunky side for a typical high-end smartphone in 2015 -- 21mm thick, though that includes the large protruding lens.
This extrudes even further when you activate the camera, which you can do in about a second by sliding the camera switch on the side.
On the back is a 4.7-inch Full HD LCD display offering 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution (469ppi). It doesn't suffer from AMOLED's tendency to over-saturate colours, so your pics look sharp
'n' natural.
Software & processor
The CM1 is powered by a quad-core 2.3GHz processor backed by 2GB RAM, so there's plenty of grunt to keep things running smoothly.
Our standard AnTuTu benchmark test gave it a score of 40,052, which gets it to within zoom distance of the high-enders.
It's running Android 4.4 KitKat so not the very latest version of Google's software, but it's close enough for a phone that's primarily a camera. With 16GB of memory on board, you'll soon feel the need to add more via microSD card, especially if you're a fan of recording 4K video -- fortunately you can add up to 128GB.
The 1-inch High Sensitivity MOS Sensor is at the centre of the CM1's camera offering. It's three times as big as the sensor you'll find on the iPhone 6 for instance, and that means it will let in considerably more light than other camera phone lenses, giving a better performance in low-light conditions. It can shoot in raw mode, allowing you to add processing afterwards so you get more flexibility with your final pics. But many apps and social messaging services won't accept raw files, so it's good that you can shoot in standard JPEG format too.
Photography
The CM1 boasts an F2.8 Leica lens, and with 20 megapixels and Panasonic's Venus image engine, on paper it has a lot going for it.
Fortunately, performance matches the promise of the lineup. It's capable of capturing tonnes of detail, even in relatively low light, with minimum noise. Outside, in good light, it does a great job of handling exposure issues too, resulting in realistic colours and more chance of getting a good-looking shot first time in auto mode. This means that you won't have to waste time playing around with the settings -- although should you want to, plenty of settings are available. As a nice touch, you can select different values and adjust them manually using the dial around the lens. The flash can be a little intense however -- best not to use it too close.
The phone can shoot video too of course. It's capable of capturing footage in Full HD as well as 4K -- in theory at least.
It only shoots 4K at 15 frames per second, which leaves it looking sharp but stuttery.
Auto backup will save your pics direct to your Google Drive account. It does this nice and quickly too, either via Wi-Fi connection or high-speed 4G.
The 2,600mAh battery is a good size, but camera effects can drink a lot of juice. If you're using it as a phone, you'll easily get a day and more out of it. But on a particularly snap-happy day, you probably won't make it to nightfall.
Conclusion
The Panasonic Lumix CM1 is a perfectly decent mid-range camera with high-end smartphone functionality included. It's on the bulky side, it's certainly not cheap, and it's very much aimed at a niche audience. If you really only want to carry one device, however, it offers great quality pics with all the networking and entertainment capability of a quality phone.
Software: Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Processor: Quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 4.7in LCD, 1920x1080 pixels, 469ppi
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 20 megapixel with autofocus, Leica optics, autofocus, LED flash; 1.1 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: MP4, H.264
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, eAAC+
Radio: Yes
Battery: 2600mAh
Size: 135x68x21mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
