Kodak, the once mighty American photography company, is hoping for a revival with the launch of Kodak Ektra, a smartphone named after its iconic 1940s rangefinder Ektra camera. It launches in December in the UK and Europe for a substantial £450—far more than the company’s debut smartphone the Kodak IM5, which launched at a more wallet-friendly £230 last year.
You do get a wee bit more for your money, though. The Ektra—which is built by manufacturer-for-hire Bullitt—is clad in an artificial “leatherette” material with metal sides, and features a curved grip and dedicated shutter button for a classic camera-like look. There’s a large circular lens arrangement on the back to complete the look, but disappointingly the sensor itself is typical small smartphone fare: a 21-megapixel unit from Sony.
So while the Ektra might look the part, it doesn’t feature anything as exciting as the 41MP sensor in Nokia’s Lumia 1020, or the full-blown zoom lens of Samsung’s Galaxy Camera. Instead, there’s the usual phase detect autofocus, 6-axis optical image stabilisation, and an f/2.0 lens. HDR and 4K video capture are also supported. The front-facing camera features a 13MP sensor and f/2.2 lens.
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Source: Ars Technica – Kodak Ektra smartphone is aimed at photographers, but specs say otherwise