Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom pictures and renders leak

by Mark Tyson on 10 June 2013, 12:15

Tags: Samsung (005935.KS), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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The previously rumoured upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom smartphone has been pictured in leaked photos and renders over the weekend. This smartphone’s forte will be its imaging capabilities and it will boast a 16MP rear facing camera featuring optical zoom. If you thought last week’s leaked photos of Nokia’s upcoming EOS 41MP smartphone revealed an ugly, lumpy device then you will probably find Samsung’s latest imaging-centric effort to be even more unpleasant.

SamMobile released its pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom first, in a weekend exclusive. The site said that this will be one of the devices shown at Samsung’s show in London on 20th June. Also some specs were published, as follows;

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom specifications

  • 1.6 GHz dual-core processor
  • 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) Super AMOLED display
  • 16 MP Rear camera with optical zoom, shutter button, zoom buttons
  • 8GB internal storage, add up to 64GB via microSD
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, A-GPS
  • Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean plus Touch-Wiz Nature UX interface

The specs on SamMobile fail to mention something I wondered immediately about this device; what optical zoom is on offer here? Also my second thoughts were – how much thicker is this than say the otherwise similar Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini? The mini measures 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.94mm so this Galaxy Zoom will be similar in two of those dimensions but looks like it could be around 30mm thick.

Looking at Samsung’s current range on “ultra slim cameras” I found an example of the Samsung ST95 16.2 Megapixel Ultra-Slim Digital Camera which is 17mm in thickness and sports a 16MP sensor and 5x optical zoom. If this were literally taped to a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini the combined thickness would be 26mm. So Samsung’s combined device with a similar optical zoom offering should be less than this - but doesn’t really look it from these pictures and renders.

As a reminder, Samsung released the Galaxy Camera last year which according to the published spec was 19.1mm thick but in actuality was 35mm thick with fully lens closed, as measured by Mobile Gazette.

Is anyone very interested in this Galaxy S4 Zoom, optical zoom equipped smartphone offering from Samsung?

HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by Roobubba - Mon 10 Jun 2013 12:20
Surely that can't be right, it's thicker than my old nokia 5800…
Posted by Noxvayl - Mon 10 Jun 2013 12:42
That is pretty sweet. Not quite as elegant a solution as Nokia but still a good device. Since getting my Nokia 808 I think any other phone I get will need to have a great camera with the ability to take calls.

I wonder what the battery life will be like, wouldn't be of much use if the battery didn't last long enough to take all your pictures during a day out.
Posted by fatguy666 - Mon 10 Jun 2013 12:47
Wow, that is fugly!
Posted by cptwhite_uk - Mon 10 Jun 2013 12:54
O my. I think Nokia will be getting my money.
Posted by Brewster0101 - Mon 10 Jun 2013 15:59
If you look at this as a Camera with the ability of a phone/data sending abilities then its a good idea.

If you look at this as a Phone with a big ass camera , then its stupid.

Biggest problem Samsung has is that they don't make very good camera's when compared to other proper camera makes like Canon, Fuji, Nikon etc - so unless this camera can compete with real cameras (unlikely) then it really is limited to a niche market or gadget lovers.

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