Samsung Galaxy K Zoom review

Samsung is no stranger to the smartphone-camera hybrid. Admittedly, its previous efforts, the Galaxy Camera and Galaxy S4 Zoom, were arguably more compact camera than phone, but Samsung’s latest hybrid, the Galaxy K Zoom, has very much redressed the balance.

Although the Galaxy K Zoom still has the 1/2.3in sensor and 10x optical zoom lens of the Galaxy S4 Zoom, Samsung’s removed the lower hand grip and given it a smoother, more uniform chassis. This puts it squarely in smartphone territory and it’s not only more comfortable to hold as a handset, but also to use as a camera, as its chunky dimensions and lightly textured rear provide plenty of purchase when using it horizontally.

At first, the Galaxy K Zoom’s hefty 200g weight and 16.6mm thickness may not seem like much of an improvement over its predecessors, but it is when you consider its larger 4.8in Super AMOLED display.

The 1,280×720 resolution screen itself is superb. Since AMOLED panels have individual backlights for each pixel, they typically produce much deeper blacks and more accurate colours, and the K Zoom’s screen was no exception. Our colour calibrator showed it was displaying a full 100 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, meaning colours were much richer than your average LCD screen. Its near-perfect black level of 0.01cd/m2 is also one of the lowest measurements we’ve seen from an AMOLED device.

Our measured contrast ratio of 23,525:1 was also absurdly high, and there was plenty of detail in our high contrast test images as well as ultra-wide viewing angles. The screen’s peak brightness of 272.97cd/m2 is perhaps a little low compared to other Samsung Galaxy devices we’ve seen, but it’s still bright enough to use outside.