Samsung has officially announced the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom – the first camera-focused Android smartphone. With Galaxy S4 Zoom Samsung offers an Android device with a 16-megapixel camera, 10x zoom lens and a Xenon flash. It’s basically a hybrid between the Galaxy S4 mini and the Galaxy Camera, combining solid smartphone functionality.
The Galaxy S4 Zoom Cameraphone, a device very similar to a Galaxy S4 Mini from front looking. It is built around a 4.3″ Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 960×540 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection, a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos processor, 1.5GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD cards). The Smartphone runs on latest Android OS 4.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. There’s a 2,330mAh removable battery, a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, LTE connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC.
On the back, it’s a full-fledged camera, with a 16-megapixel CMOS Sensor, 10x optical zoom, Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS), Xenon Flash, and Samsung’s Smart Mode, which automatically chooses the best settings for your photos. On the sensor front, the device has Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyroscope and RGB Light sensors.
It supports a nicely sounding 24mm wide lens. The phone is capable of 10x optical zoom, achieved by rotating a ring that surrounds the lens. That same ring also launched the camera app, and other camera specs include optical image stabilization and a Xenon flash.
The galaxy S4 Zoom is notably thicker at 125.5×63.5×15.4 mm and heavier at 208g, but that was to be expected given the much larger camera module and the proper grip.
Availability and Price
The Galaxy S4 Zoom is expected to hit UK shores by the end of Q3 this year or as early as summer. But customers in the rest of Europe or in the United States will have to wait until the fourth quarter, Samsung said. Pricing for the model has not yet been announced, while there’s no official word on price, a leaked review on a Russian site suggests it should retail at somewhere around the $600 mark.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Key Specifications
- 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD touchscreen display
- Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
- Dual-core 1.5GHz processor
- 8 GB internal storage, expandable up to 64GB via microSD card
- 1.5GB RAM
- Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/5GHz (ac), NFC and Bluetooth 4.0
- 16-megapixel rear camera with Xenon flash, 10X Optical Zoom and 1.9 megapixel front camera
- Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyroscope and RGB light sensors
- 2,330mAh battery
