Samsung makes the Galaxy S 4 Zoom official

Samsung today made the Galaxy S 4 Zoom official after several leaks of the press shots including live clear photos. This is the third iteration of the Galaxy S 4 after the Galaxy S 4 mini and Galaxy S 4 Active. The mini caters for small hands, the Active is the hardy device that you can go swimming or playing in dust with and the Galaxy S 4 Zoom is the one with all that camera power. It features a 10x Optical zoom on the 16MP BSI CMOS Sensor camera. The phone specifications suggest what the Galaxy S 4 Active is carrying with focus on camera extras, so no octa-core power here. Samsung calls it the single device that can fulfil the role of both an industry leading smartphone and a high impact camera.

“The Samsung GALAXY S4 zoom represents yet another step forward in the way Samsung is working to enhance the lives of our customers around the world,” said JK Shin, President and CEO, Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. “As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose. The GALAXY S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the GALAXY S4 with the high quality photographic experience you’d expect from a compact camera. The result is truly the best of both worlds, without compromise.”

The Galaxy S 4 Active has both smart camera presets for the beginner and manual mode for the professional photographer who will want to tinker with the lighting, shutter speed and exposure. It has Zoom Ring that does some nice things like in-call photo share which allows you to take a photo while in call with someone and share the photo via MMS to the person. Zoom ring also does quick launch of camera and at the same time making the camera modes easier to switch. We will look at these in another post.

First let’s see the Galaxy S 4 Zoom specifications:

• 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED screen with a 960 x 540 pixels screen
• 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• 16MP rear camera, 10x Optical Zoom, Smart modes, OIS 24-240mm, F3.1-F6.3 ( ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
• Continuous Shot: 4fps MAX with AF Format: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP, AGIF, Xenon Flash,  SMART Mode, Expert Mode(P/S/M/C), My Mode)
• Video: Full HD 1080p recording and playback (1920 x 1080)
• Camera modes: SMART Mode(25): Smart mode suggest, Beauty face, Best photo, Continuous shot,  Best face, Kids shot, Landscape, Dawn, Snow, Macro, Food, Party/Indoor, Action freeze, Rich tone (HDR), Panorama, Waterfall, Animated photo, Drama, Eraser, Sound & Shot, Silhouette, Sunset, Night, Fireworks, Light trace
• Group Play: Share Music(MP3), Share Picture(JPEG, GIF), Share Document(PDF, PPT), Play Games, Story Album, Trip Advisor, Paper Artist
• Wi-Fi 5Ghz
• NFC, Bluetooth 4.0
• A-GPS + GLONASS
• Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyro, RGB Light
• 8/16GB internal storage, microSD upto 64GB
• 1.5GB RAM
• 125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm, 208g
• 2330 mAh battery

Samsung has not indicated the pricing or availability details of the Galaxy S 4 Zoom but we assume this will be within this second quarter. Also the press images available are in white as the only colour so far. What do you think of the Galaxy S 4 Zoom?