Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom officially announced
Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphone has become the first to launch with a 10x optical zoom lens
Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S4 Zoom, the latest addition to its Galaxy range of smartphones and the first to include an optical zoom lens for its rear camera.
The handset takes its design cues from the Galaxy S4, with rounded corners, aluminium edging and illuminated touch-sensitive face buttons at the front. It’s a different story from the back and sides, as the device is over twice as thick as the S4. This is primarily to accommodate the bulbous grip and the 10x optical zoom lens.
The Galaxy S4 Zoom uses the same 16.3-megapixel camera sensor as the Galaxy Camera and retains optical image stabilization, but the lens drops from 21x to 10x zoom. It’s capable of recording 1080p video and includes a Xenon flash for low-light images. Smartphone photographers will control the zoom lens using the surrounding dial, which also extends and contracts it when not in use.
Despite sharing a name with its current flagship smartphone, Samsung has used the Galaxy Camera as a base for the Galaxy S4 Zoom’s specifications rather than the Galaxy S4. The 4.3in display has a qHD 960×540 resolution, which is a significant drop compared to the S4, although it still uses AMOLED panel technology.
The dual-core A9 Exynos 4212 powering the S4 Zoom runs at 1.5GHz and is paired with 1.5GB of RAM, but it’s a step down from the quad-core A9 Exynos 4412 found in the Galaxy Camera. Connectivity remains the same, with 802.11n Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and GLONASS (the Russian GPS alternative) support, as well as 3G and 4G LTE mobile networks – although now voice calls are officially supported.
Running the latest 4.2 version of Android, underneath Samsung’s own TouchWiz interface, the Galaxy S4 Zoom will include 8GB of internal memory (with 5GB available to the user) and MicroSD card support for up to 64GB of external storage. The 2330mAh battery should mean that using the zoom lens won’t leave you stranded without a phone.
Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S4 Zoom will be coming to the UK later in the summer, but has yet to announce a specific date, or estimate a price. We expect to learn more at the company’s upcoming London event sheduled for the 20th of June.