Panasonic today announced LUMIX CLUB, a cloud-based service that is accessible via a smartphone and a computer browser that allows consumers to upload photos to the following social networks: Facebook, Flickr, Picasa or YouTube. Photos can even be shared with these sites simultaneously, making it easy and quick.
Additionally, once a LUMIX CLUB account is acquired, Panasonic will also provide a free, dedicated application called LUMIX LINK, which will be compatible with iPhone and Android OS smartphones, thus consumers can instantly share photos by wirelessly connecting a Wi-Fi enabled Panasonic digital camera (e.g. LUMIX DMC-FX90) just once to their compatible smartphone and then use the carrier's network to share photos online. After the initial set-up, sharing photos will be as simple as using the LUMIX LINK application on the smartphone.
Using the LUMIX LINK application, users can enter and store all their social network account information and will not have to log-in to individual sites after the initial set-up. At home, users can directly upload the images to the social networks via the access point of a home router or a wireless connection. To make accessing Wi-Fi even easier, the LUMIX DMC-FX90 has a convenient dedicated Wi-Fi button that when pressed, directly opens a Wi-Fi Connection mode outside home and gets WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) connection at home. The Wi-Fi module is located on the opposite side of the grip so as not to interfere with the connection signal.
Update
Panasonic just confirmed the DMC-FX90 Wi-Fi Digital Camera is currently the only Panasonic digital camera compatible with LUMIX LINK. In addition, Wi-Fi is required to connect with LUMIX LINK and even another manufacturer's Wi-Fi camera would not be compatible.
The LUMIX CLUB may appeal more to Android smartphone users, because the upcoming launch of Apple's iCloud is expected to offer very similar features when it launches next month.
In the future, LUMIX CLUB plans to add the following features:
- A storage service so photos can be uploaded to an album that resides in the cloud-based networks and then viewed from smartphones, and Internet-enabled Panasonic VIERA HDTVS and Blu-ray Disc players
- An intuitive user interface with a Timeline function that has a drag-and-drop feature
- A photo sharing album function that will allow users who attended the same event, such as a wedding or party, to exchange and comment on photos and videos
Availability
Access to the LUMIX CLUB is expected to be available on September 5, 2011 at http://lumixclub.panasonic.net in six languages: English, Italian, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.
