Dumb idea?

Just read an article last night(Petapixel and Nikon Rumours) on a rumoured Nikon cooplix Android powered camera about to surface soon.
Now Petapixel have a story on a Sony NEX6 that looks to be smart OS powered too(probably Android too) .. with apps availability ... diallers, wifi, etc.

I like Android. Not really being the type to embrace technology just because its there, I like my technology to give me something I've wanted for a while .. not something I'll use just because it's available.
Being a techno geek type myself, most people that know me were surprised that it took me so long before I got a smart phone myself .. and that was because for my phone requirements all I wanted was a phone that made phone calls!(phunny about that huh? )

So I got a Samsung Galaxy phone once my phone started to play up, and kind felt apprehensive about it.
Having a fully featured OS rather than a proper firmware type operating system that works fast and reliably, now you have to wait for your phone to 'boot up' and load device drivers and software that runs certain features and stuff!!!

But I was surprised at how well Android works and it's 'quick' enough for the most part, and once I finally gave in to my old PDA and retired that, I now use the Galaxy as my PDA replacement.

So now that I understand the Android OS system a bit better, I can see that having it run the camera could be an advantage too.
Being Android, some smart folks will eventually write some cool apps to allow some cool features for them too which you load onto the camera and away you go.

So far I haven't had any crashes from my Galaxy phone, but there have been some annoyances. Such as the update to the latest OS version(ICS) had the gallery app go a bit AWOL on my phone now.
It stopped auto rotating, and I have to manually rotate images now(which is more annoying than diabolically crippling!)

But it kind'a begs the question, if manufacturers start a migration to Android on compact cameras, the sure bet is that DSLR's will eventually migrate to the same system.
If this happens, will the advantages outweigh the potential disadvantages(or say slower speed, or possible OS glitches and crashes)?

Just wondering what others think of having complex operating systems on a device that really only needs basic and reliable software? .... I suppose just like phones used too!


I suppose I'm about to test the waters soon anyhow with these 'smart cameras' .. my daughters birthday is coming up and I'm thinking I'm 99.9992% certain I'll get her one.
Whether it's a Nikon or Samsung or whatever is unimportant to her, it's the cool features she'll like .. like playing music or adding bunny ears to photos of her bunny!! .. and so on.
She's not as into photography as much as my son and I are, and just likes taking pics and doing other stuff.
So it'll be a case of having something like Instagram on your camera.
While I hate apps that do crappy processing to crappy images to fool users into thinking that they now have a cool photo!! ... just my personal view on the subject which seems to be at odds with the general consensus on the topic .... but having, Instagram on your camera makes a lot more sense that having Instagram on your phone does!!
And secondly, having Instagram on your camera is something many people will enjoy having access too.

Would you?

If you're an iPhone photography supporter, would or could you see the value added enjoyment component of having these features and apps on your camera?

I see the technical value added component only at the moment, things like easy wireless remote connections or web server capability(like the D4 has) and so forth, but then I'm thinking in camera HDR .. probably a cool idea to have .. or focus stacking automation or whatever.
These are the kinds of apps that could become available directly from within the camera.

Good, bad ..... ugly?
if good, why, if bad, why ... if ugly then obviously you're not interested.

stuff it I'll do a poll too while I'm at it