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Samsung has announced a new phone with an insane camera slapped onto the back of it. It’s the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom, a phone we’ve been talking about for the past few weeks leading up to today’s unveiling. We already know quite a good deal about it, but let’s take a recap now that everything has been made official.
The most important component — that huge camera on the back — is a 20.7 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, which also features optical image stabilization, auto focus / auto exposure separation, and a 10x optical zoom (24-240mm) with aperture F/3.1-6.3. It’s flanked by an auto focus-assist LED lamp on the back, as well as a Xenon flash.
The result of all that wizardry should be a phone that takes some gorgeous photos… for a phone’s standard, anyway. It’s not going to knock off your favorite DSLR or anything, but you won’t find a much better camera sensor than this on a device that also makes phone calls and can surf the web.
The rest of the Galaxy K Zoom offers a pretty decent experience for those in need of a phone that can stand up to any task. Its specs lay out like the following:
- 4.8-inch 720p HD display
- Hexa-Core 1.3GHz quad-core chipset with a 1.7GHz dual-core chipset
- 2GB of RAM
- 8GB of internal storage w/ microSDXC card slot
- 2 megapixel front camera
- 1080p HD recording and playback at 60 frames per second
- 2,430 mAh battery
- Dual-band WiFi N, LTE, a-GPS w/ GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, USB 2.0 and NFC
- Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s TouchWiz UX
Unfortunately there aren’t any camera samples ready for us to gawk over at this time, but we imagine the photos produced by this thing won’t be anything short of impressive for how much you’ll probably be able to buy one. Unfortunately Samsung hasn’t given any word on availability just yet, though we imagine its Singaporean debut somewhat confirms Asia will get the first swing.
[via Samsung Tomorrow]
Horrendous battery and internal storage.
I hate to agree but I do. I really wanted to pick this phone up for recording the kids when the SLR is home, but the battery life doesn’t seem up to the job of all day picture taking with phone calls and texts coming in as well. Internal storage seems way off as well, 16gb is almost too small for most people. I don’t get this move, maybe the US model will get a boost in specs.
It’s a camera. It’s not meant to be left on all the time or even used THAT much. I bet this battery could last a weekend being used for whatever casual outing or event you need it for.
Plus internal storage isn’t an issue. 95% of cameras rely on external storage.
If they were gonna do this they should have just taken the S5 and worked the camera in with more battery life. I would have purchased my first galaxy hone ever if they would have done that. Too bad… :-
You’re kidding right? The battery is honestly not that bad. It’s not like it’s pushing a 1080p display. It’ll cope absolutely fine.
No. Please pray tell how great a battery life that is for a regular full function mobile device. Add in a full camera with optical zoom, which cameras have horrendous battery life, and you have some abysmal battery numbers.
Most Point and Shoot cameras don’t have a battery that large. The battery in my NEX is only 1080mAh. The battery in the K Zoom is larger than the battery in the M7.
Battery technology isn’t as bad as it used to be 5-10 years ago. It’s not just about mah now. It’s about optimisation too. I know that word gets thrown around a lot but it’s definitely true.
I don’t get these specs. If this is a device meant for the true shutter bug (mobile phone) why start with such a small internal storage amount? Kudos for slimming it down but would larger internal storage really fatten it up?
It doesn’t even need to be slimmed down. This phone is meant for the person that carries a camera and a phone anyways. They must have skipped their market research before going to production. Galaxy S5 plus big storage and big battery would have killed it in the market that would buy it. I don’t think this will even earn a mention. :-
I’m confused by your last bit there, you’re implying the S5 isn’t doing well in its sales? Which market are you talking about, sorry if I’m missing something.
I do have to take a contrary position on your first remark about who this device is being marketed for. I wouldn’t think this would be meant for the consumer that wants to carry both a smartphone AND a dedicated camera like an advanced P&S. This K Zoom and its predecessor seems to be marketed at the enthusiast who likes to snap away with his or her phone and not have to carry a second device, hence the advanced camera features on the phone. Make sense?
My comment has nothing to do with S5 sales. I’m talking about the person that this phone/camera would highly appeal to. I carry a camera and a phone most places. I could have replaced both if this was not a dinosaur with a great camera attached. It needed to be current tech which is why they should have just made an S5 variant. S5 ZOOM maybe. As it is spec wise though it’s not appealing at all.