theQ camera is 3G-equipped, waterproof and (possibly) better than Instagram

Meet theQ. It’s a digital camera designed to entice the Instagram generation away from their phones.

Tiny, lightweight and nigh-on indestructible, theQ offers a selection of filters (naturally) and wide-angle 24mm lens with manual focus – but it keeps social media front and centre thanks to a built-in 3G antenna. That means you can upload shots straight to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more.

Mood ring

“But I already have a mobile phone with a decent camera, and I can share my shots on all those sites,” we hear you cry. “Why would I carry around yet another device?” Well, good point: theQ isn’t going to offer DSLR or compact system camera-quality shots, and it doesn’t even have an optical zoom – it’s just a 5MP fixed focal length point-and-shoot. But it does possess some key advantages over a phone, chiefly in the ring flash and the waterproofing.

While we’d have to test it for ourselves to give a definitive verdict, theQ’s flash – a ring of eight LEDs that encircles the lens – should offer far better lighting than any phone flash. Ring flashes light images in a more even way. So there’s that.

And it’s also IP67 rated, which means it’s waterproof to a depth of a metre for up to 30 minutes. It’s dustproof too. Most (but not all) smartphones aren’t either of those things.

Simple pleasures

The makers of theQ have adopted a mantra of "keep it simple, stupid." The company’s Sheryl Seitz told us, "Multifunction devices have complex interfaces and people aren’t always of all of the features, much less use them. Simplistic responses to now overcomplicated functions, like you see on many of today’s devices, are at our core. The majority of digital device operation is boring and lacks personality: poking a flat touchscreen is impersonal. theQ has physical interaction at its core." That’s why the designers have added two shutter buttons (one with flash, one without) and a lens that is focussed manually by twisting the barrel.

Coming attraction

The camera requires a micro SIM, which suggests you’ll be paying a network a monthly fee. It also features 2GB of built-in storage (room for about 1,000 shots), a 2.7in LCD screen and an eight-second self-timer that cleverly uses the ring flash’s LEDs as a countdown indicator.

The makers are also launching ‘theQ Lab’, a computer app that grabs all your shots out of the cloud and lets you organise, edit and share them.

The simplicity and lo-fi nature of theQ reminds us of a Lomography camera, except digital and socially connected. We’ll be getting our mitts on one as soon as possible for a full review. A US$200 (£120) price (plus a further US$20 in shipping) will secure you your own theQ come early 2014, when they should be back in stock. Nine colour finishes are available – you can see them all here.

About

Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.