For some time now, we’ve been hearing a lot about Samsung and this mysterious Galaxy S4 Zoom. Well, the camera phone is no longer a complete mystery, after a couple of leaks, Samsung have now officially announced the device. Russian site Hi-Tech.Mail.ru has somehow managed to get their hands on the device. There’s a whole host of images, including those taken with the device’s 16MP camera and most, if not all, of the device’s specs have been confirmed. The Russian site put the device through its paces in order to find out a little more info and they’ve certainly hit gold. Let’s take a look at the specs of this strange device:
- 4.3-inch qHD Display
- 1.5 Ghz Dual-Core CPU
- 1.5GB of RAM
- 8GB of Internal Storage; with microSD support
- 1.9MP front-facing camera
- 16MP rear-facing camera with 10x Optical Zoom
- Optical Image Stabilization, Manual Zoom, Xenon Flash
- 2,330 mAh Battery
- Android 4.2.2
Where the Galaxy S4 Zoom is concerned, the camera is the real star of the show. The default shooting mode is apparently 16:9 at 12.1MP which is a little strange but, there are of course, a myriad of settings that you can change, including 26 camera modes all-in. When it comes to the optical zoom on the camera, this is done through a manual zoom ring that’s situated at the base of the lens. There are a couple of reasons why Samsung has gone this route but, the main one is probably due to battery. Having a motor to automatically zoom the lens would also take up more space as well wear the battery out faster.
There’s also a Xenon flash here, as well as what looks like an AF lamp. All that means that this is going to be a camera that you can quite safely take photos of at night, without having that horrid white circle from a weak LED flash. Optical Image Stabilization is here too, which should help you get sharper photos, with much less blur. The lens itself appears to be a 24mm with an aperture of f/3.1 to f/6.3. Which isn’t amazing but, considering you’re getting proper optics here, it’s still going to outperform most smartphones.
The Russian site compared the device to the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S4 Zoom is certainly not going to win Biggest Loser, it’s a sizable device that has some real chunkiness to it. Having said that, the thickness of the device is more than likely going to work in its favor, taking photos on a very thin device is never that easy, and the larger frame here will give you a little something extra to hold on to.
Overall though, they found the device to be a quality shooter, that outperformed smartphones quite handsomely. In the gallery below are some more shots of the device comparing it to the Galaxy Camera and the Galaxy S4, as well as benchmark screenshots.
[Source: Hi-Tech.mail.ru]