Dubai
Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Zoom is a fusion of Galaxy S4 Mini and a digital still camera. The Zoom is more of a camera than a phone with 16MP CMOS image sensor, 10 x optical zoom function, xenon flash and 1.9MP front-facing camera.
The 4.3-inch super AMOLED device is powered by dual-core 1.5GHz Cortex A9 processor and Mali 400 graphics processing unit (GPU). It has 1.5GB RAM and runs on latest Android Jelly Bean operating system with new TouchWiz features. The device sports qHD resolution with 540 x 960 pixels and 256 pixels per inch. It weighs 208 grams.
It is bulkier than S4 Mini smartphone and it will be awkward to use a bulky device to make calls but it is very useful when you go on vacation. You carry two devices in one. It can be put in the pocket.
Users can take photos with one hand. There is a ridged control ring around the lens for zooming or a user can do that on the touch screen.
The battery and microSIM card slot is covered by a flap and sits on the bottom of the device. The microSIM can be easily removed without touching the battery.
Storage capacity
On the left side of the device are the microSD card slot and tripod mounting hole. The device has 8GB internal storage and out of this only 5.03GB is available to users. The storage capacity is disappointing but the microSD card can boost that by up to 64GB.
The camera features are absolutely superb by smartphone standards. Pictures are detailed; low light performance is solid despite being clad in plastic. Some of the features in Galaxy S4 are not included in the Zoom like Air View, Smart Pause, Smart Scroll but familiar features like Smart Display, Smart Stay and Smart Rotate, are enabled.
The Photo Suggest app gives access to most popular locations around you. This is good when you are on vacation because it lets you know which places to visit and take photos.
The app, Paper Artist where users can paint on the photo to highlight a specific desired area.
The In-call Photo Share feature lets users take a shot and send it to a friend while talking on the phone. At the same time, while taking a shot users will never miss an incoming call. The camera has alot of features for both casual and professional users. It is set to automatic mode by default and users can change to the desired mode.
Four modes
The Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) works in both video and still photo camera. There are four modes — Auto, Smart, Expert and My mode.
The 1/2.3-inch senor is bigger than most of the smartphones in the market. The photos taken have rich details and colours aided by an f/3.1-6.3, 24-240mm.
It has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, NFC and Android Beam.
The Zoom has a 2330mAh battery and it is bigger than the 1900mAh battery packed into the S4 Mini and less than S4’s 2600mAh.
During my test, the battery lasted almost a day of playing games, taking pictures and surfing the internet on Wi-Fi. It gives talk time of more than 15 hours and more than nine hours of video playback.
The advantage of zoom is the price. The S4 Mini is Dh1,599 and consumers pay an extra Dh300 to get the hybrid device for Dh1899.
