Hasta La Gadget!

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is arriving on the 8th of November at AT&T, joining the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Camera from 2012 with 4G LTE. This device takes many of the newest Samsung Galaxy S 4 features and shrinks them down to a handheld size with a massive camera at its back, ready […]

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is a smartphone with a rather sizable camera on its back. While you’ll find this machine appearing to want o take the place of the Samsung Galaxy Camera, we’ve found it to be attempting to carve out a different category entirely. Here Samsung aims to cross-breed a smartphone with a high-powered pocketable camera. Can it stand the test of the average, everyday user, or better yet, the common hobby-level photographer?

Hardware

This machine comes in at 125.3 x 63.3 x 15.25mm (4.93 x 2.45 x 0.6 inches), quite a bit thicker than any smartphone or tablet from this generation of Samsung devices. It’s not especially wide, nor tall, coming much closer to the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini than it does to the full-sized Samsung Galaxy S 4 if you’re not considering its thickness. It’s certainly not heavy at 208g (7.34 oz), either.

This device is made of the same materials as the Galaxy S 4, made mostly of the same light, hard, and rather crackable plastic across the bulk of its body. As a result, this device does not feel like it’s ready to hit the field the way the Samsung Galaxy Camera did at CES 2013. This device is ready for basic hobby photographers instead, as a sort of stepping stone between smartphone and what most would consider your average mid-to-high-level pocketable camera.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom works with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display at 960 x 540, that is: 256 PPI. Inside you’ve got 8GB of storage and a microSD card slot allows for MicroSDXC cards up to 64GB for storage expansion.

This device’s processor is a 1.5GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos 4 (4212) (the same as appears in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0) paired with 1.5 GB of RAM that’s certainly not meant to bust the charts out with benchmark greatness, tuned instead, it would seem, to the camera UI alone. It’ll still be able to be your general smartphone engine as well, but don’t expect to be playing the highest-powered games any time soon – not without lag.

This device can connect to the rest of the device universe with DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, infra-red with its IR blaster, and a variety of Wi-fi and Wi-fi direct-based Samsung-specific apps. Also included is an NFC reader and Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, GLONASS, an accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, gyroscope, and light sensor – essentially everything on the market.

Wi-fi on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom kicks in at 802.11a/b/g/n. Depending on your region you’ll be able to pick this device up with 3G HSPA+ or LTE connectivity – the same goes for the processor, apparently, but we’ve yet to see another processor version in the wild – we’ll see what it comes with when it hits the states, if it does!

Software

This device brings Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz on top in an amalgamation that’s essentially the same as you’ll find on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, limited only slightly in its abilities below the build you’ll find on the Galaxy S 4. This is one of a series of devices based on the hero of this generation of Samsung devices in the Galaxy S 4, each of them with their own little odd additions or exclusions therein.

Inside you’ve got WatchON for connecting to your television with your IR-Blaster, Group Play for connecting to other Samsung smartphones and tables live inside a local area network, and a full collection of Samsung-specific apps like ChatON to remind you that you’re part of the Galaxy S 4 team. As expected, Galaxy S 4 specific apps like Air View and Smart Scroll/Pause/ etc are absent, these being reserved for the hero – until the Galaxy Note III arrives, of course.

This device is not meant to be a competitor for the likes of full-fledged connected cameras, even those edging in on the smart space with Wi-fi connectivity. This device is half smartphone / half camera, and it’s not really dominating in either category by any means. Have a peek at a collection of benchmark results below and see how this device does in a mathematically measured way.

Can the Galaxy S4 Zoom go to war with the closest thing on the market today – or soon, depending on when you’re reading – in the Nokia Lumia 1020? Have a peek at the Galaxy S4 Zoom vs Nokia Lumia 1020 camera war we’ve got set up and check back when we’ve got the full 1020 review, too.

Camera / Battery

This device’s camera interface takes the abilities delivered – rather inspiringly, at the time – in the original Samsung Galaxy Camera – and brings them to a new level. While if this interface were brought to the Samsung Galaxy Camera itself, we’d give it a full thumbs up. Instead there’s just one thing holding this device back from being a next-level Galaxy Camera: its smartphone side.

As described a bit in the hardware section above, this device feels exceedingly fragile. Its hard plastic body on all sides save the display side feel as though they’d crack at the lowest drop, while the reinforced glass is just as hard as it’s ever been from Corning. The Galaxy Camera did not attempt to be the baby clone of the Samsung Galaxy S III – so too should the Galaxy S4 Zoom have skipped such a set of similarities. Once you’re past your fear of dropping this device, its camera features are actually pretty neat.

The Zoom Ring up front doesn’t just access this camera’s 10x optical zoom, it brings up a feature selection screen unique to this device. This “ring” shows a collection of shooting modes for the camera which are highlighted with the ring itself, selected then with a tap of the device’s shutter button. If only because we’ve literally never seen this combination of selection modes with a physical contraption such as this before, it stands out as one of the most interesting bits on the Galaxy S4 Zoom.

As you’ll see above in brief, this device works with the full collection of Samsung Galaxy S 4 camera modes, coming clean with – if it worked a bit smoother – the best of the bunch with “Smart mode suggest.” This mode detects what the scene might be in your camera’s viewfinder, giving you a choice of three possible best modes for your selection.

In the end though, it was the simplest Auto Mode that we ended up using most given the intended audience of this machine. Have a peek at a collection of shots and video below to see what you’ll be rolling with internationally. We’ll see if the quality of this machine’s shooter changes if it ever hits the USA in a carrier iteration when it happens!

Up front you’ve got a 1.9 megapixel camera that works surprisingly well – or is at least tuned to look superior even when shooting something so terrifying as the users’ face (as shown above).

The back-facing camera amalgamation brings on a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor paired with a 24-240mm 10x optical zoom and ISO 100-3200. This all works through a F3.1-F6.3 Samsung lens. You’ll have the ability to kick out ISO 100-3200 and up to 4fps burst photography – and the results are, on the whole, generally excellent enough for top-notch non-professional hobby photography.

NOTE: You can see additional original-quality full-sized images in our first Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom hands-on with photo examples.

Battery life is just about the worst we’ve seen in this generation of Galaxy devices, if you’d like to consider everything in the Galaxy Tab 3 and Galaxy S 4 lineup. If you’re planning on this being your daily driver as a smartphone, you’ll certainly need to charge it up halfway through the day if you intend on getting to the end. If you’re using it as a camera, you’ll want to bring another battery to help you make your way through a full workday if you’re at an event.

Above you’re seeing the device working it’s relatively decent stand-by abilities for the most part. And just supposing you are using this device and need more up-time than it’ll delivery on the regular, there’s always a replaceable battery or two you could be picking up. One size only: 2,330 mAh in the side alongside the microSIM card slot.

Wrap-up

While we’ve found this device to be taking one of several awards home for most unique device in Samsung’s most recent collection of smart devices, it’s not necessarily the best device for any one use-case. While we expected the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom to take the place of the Samsung Galaxy Camera, instead we’ve found it to be another entry point for new users to get in on the smart device universe through Samsung’s flavor of Android.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom connects well with the rest of the most recent collection of Samsung Galaxy S 4 devices, it’ll be interesting to see how it fares in the market with little to no direct competition. Stay tuned as we see what US mobile carriers think of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom in coming weeks, and if they’ll give it as much faith as they did the Galaxy Camera.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week SlashGear has had the opportunity to have an up-close-and-personal look at the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, taking photos and a bit of video as we did so. What you’ll see here is the machine’s ability to capture high-quality media in several different situations both light and dark, indoors and out. We’ll also be getting to a full-on comparison run-down of this machine with the abilities of the Samsung Galaxy Camera as well – but for now, the smaller and newer of the two.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom takes the body of what’s essentially the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and applies one big fat camera to its back. That’s not to say that this machine is fat – not by a long shot. It’s a bit thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Camera and feels like a whole different ball game in practice.

This device boasts a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display on its back with a lovely piece of Gorilla Glass 3 to keep it all safe. While the touchscreen interface can control the majority of the bits and pieces you’ll be working with on this machine, you’ve also got a physical home button, back and menu buttons below the display (or to the right, depending on the orientation of the device when you’re holding it.)

Up front of this machine you’ve also got a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor with optical image stabilization working with 24-240mm 10x optical zoom, this paired with a F3.1-F6.3 lens with a Samsung Zoom Ring. We’ll get into the abilities of this ring as we move along into the full review – for now you’ll be glad to know that this ring’s abilities are not just limited to zooming in and out.

As it was with the Samsung Galaxy Camera, so too do you get a physical camera shutter button here. This device is made on one hand to be a phone – and it certainly looks the part from one side – and on the other a camera.

While you’ll get another healthy set of hands-on photos of this machine via Chris Davies from earlier this year in London, we’re kicking out the photo examples here and now. We’ll begin with a lovely macro photo of some wood.

The above image is 1 of 3 images linked to their original file. Click and see!

As with the majority of the photos taken in this article, the above is snapped with the Galaxy S4 Zoom’s back-facing camera. As the above was taken with Macro mode, below you’ll see a shot taken from afar using the device’s Landscape mode.

While we’re in the graveyard, it makes sense to get outdoorsy with several shots both close and far away with a near “magic hour” timing. These photos were taken mostly with the camera’s smart auto mode, selecting the modes based on the suggestions of the software.

Next you’ll see two shots, one from afar, one up close. Closer, that is. These shots are taken from the same location in a department store, one of them with the lens working with no zoom whatsoever, the other at 100% zoom – 10x zoom, that is.

The above image is 2 of 3 images linked to their original file. Click and see!

You’ll see a photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom’s flash on full blast next, taken of a wheel of a cart with a bit of dirt on it.

Finally you’ll see a collection of odd shots – both up close and afar, with the photos showing the Galaxy S4 Zoom taken in mirrors. The photo of my face (me, Chris Burns, that is), was taken with this machine’s front-facing camera. It’s surprisingly good, don’t be alarmed.

Let us know what other subject matter and situations you’d like us to dive in on and we’ll deliver! This is only the first step in a full review process for this machine that’ll take the previous king Samsung Galaxy Camera to the cleaners!

The above image is 3 of 3 images linked to their original file. Click and see!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom hands-on with photo examples is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It would appear that someone in China has gotten their hands on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, a smartphone/camera hybrid unveiled earlier this month and set to be shown to the press in full on the 20th of this month. What they’ve done – like any good tech reporter with every single phone in the

Read The Full Story

Poor Nokia. Samsung doesn’t stop. It’s just announced a new iteration of its flagship Galaxy S4 handset which has a digital camera embedded in its rump. The Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 10X optical zoom lens on the back, giving it two clear aspects: from the front it looks exactly like Samsung’s flagship S4 smartphone. But from the back it looks like a point and shoot digital camera.

The result is a hybrid handset that squeezes the ability of Nokia’s carefully crafted PureView cameraphone brand to stand out. Sure, Nokia’s high end phone lenses might still have better — or at least decent — low light performance, but to the untrained consumer eye which device is going to look more capable in the camera department?

This one:

Or this one?

And that’s before Nokia has even got around to launching the long rumoured ‘true PureView’ Lumia. Which will possibly look a little like the original (Symbian-based) 808 PureView — so something along the lines of this:

If you’re going to ask consumers to lug around a bulky, heavy phone, might as well make it look as much like the camera they used to own as possible. Familiarity will aid the trade off, helping them justify carrying a much larger device because it clearly melds two functions. Meanwhile Nokia’s PureView brand has to shout even louder to get noticed. And no matter how great their camera algorithms are, a lens that relies on digital zoom alone simply doesn’t look as capable as an optical zoom lens.

As well as a 10X optical zoom, the Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 16 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor, Optical Image Stabiliser (so it’s raining on the Lumia 920′s parade too) and Xenon Flash. So basically Samsung is pushing into all the areas where Nokia is trying its utmost to differentiate its flagship Lumias vs the Android-powered competition (i.e. low light photography and extra steady video). Nokia could still push the boat out on megapixel count — if it launches a 41MP Lumia — but that’s a nerdy specs game to play that’s unlikely to have an impact on the mainstream consumer.

Beyond looks and specs, Samsung has also embedded new camera functions into the S4 Zoom designed to tie hardware and software together. For example, a feature called Zoom Ring allows the user to activate an in-call photo sharing feature by twisting the zoom ring on the device and then capturing and sending an image to the caller via MMS — all without having to suspend the call. The Zoom Ring can also be used to activate the Quick Launch and Shortcut features to navigate to the camera and through its modes quickly, again by twisting the ring.

Of course, the S4 Zoom will stand and fall on camera performance — so there’s a lot riding on the quality of the optics and the smoothness of its functions. But from the outside, at least, Samsung has created a device that bellows a heck of a lot louder than Nokia’s Lumias do, for all the marketing cash Nokia has poured into PureView. Even if Nokia can produce some camera comparisons that rank its kit over Samsung’s, being technically better isn’t always enough in the fiercely competitive smartphone space. Having the marketing brashness and brass neck (and massive budget) to get noticed is what counts.

Samsung has not released full details of all the markets where it intends to sell the S4 Zoom but has confirmed the handset will be coming to the U.K. this summer, and the U.S. and other parts of Europe from Q4. Like Nokia with the original 808 Pureview, Samsung dabbled in this area before with last year’s Galaxy Camera but that device was a Wi-Fi/3G/4G connected camera only, so did not include a phone dialler function. The Galaxy S4 Zoom is a full hybrid of phone plus camera, and yet another iteration of a flagship brand. This is Samsung continuing its strategy of iterating its portfolio to saturate the market by pushing its hardware into all the niches, large and small.

Nokia, meanwhile — which used to follow a similar strategy to Samsung, i.e. by producing a vast portfolio of devices across multiple price-points and form factors — now has a larger mountain to climb to get its camera-focused flagship phones noticed by the general consumer. Since switching to the Windows Phone platform, Nokia has had to rein in its portfolio to fit the shrinking size of its business, no longer having the resources to spread its hardware so far. But even while it’s focusing its remaining energy on specific niches, like high end cameraphones, Samsung is harrying those efforts by pushing its fingers in all the smartphone pies.

Click to view slideshow.