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Samsung is looking to join the “compact camera marries cell phone” train, it appears. We saw hints of the company wanting to go that direction when it used Android for its smart camera, the Samsung Galaxy Camera, but couldn’t tell whether or not Samsung would eventually want to introduce an actual phone with the same idea. According to SamMobile, they do.
It’ll be called the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, and it will house the same 16 megapixel zoom lens that is featured on the aforementioned Galaxy Camera. It won’t quite be a Galaxy S4 in some of the rest of the specs, though, with the biggest downgrade being a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display.
The rest of the known specs include 8GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and Jelly Bean. That means we’re not sure what to expect from the processor and RAM just yet, but don’t be surprised or too bummed out if they don’t turn out to be quite as powerful as what’s inside the Galaxy S4.
Samsung’s biggest hurdle, if true, would be trying to figure out the engineering for this thing. Samsung phones are known to be slim and light, so it will take some ingenious work to keep that tradition going. Of course, we can’t blame Samsung if they can’t squeeze this thing into a package thinner than 10mm, but even that would be an amazing feat. The device is said to be coming at some point in June or July, with black and white as the color options. Would you find interest in something like this?
sounds like it could appeal to parents who want to be able to take quality photos and video on the fly. my concern would be with how rugged it would be and would there be any sort of cases that would work without interfering with using it as a camera. I’d be happy if they made a phone with a very limited zoom function, but with an integrated lens cover.
This would be interesting. My ideal phone would have an awesome camera. I’ve never been happy with the camera on any of my phones yet (currently on a GS2 Skyrocket). I would be bummed that it comes with sub-par specs though.
Read the title. Samsung has had many camera phone. :-P
I mean, I don’t think it’s right to describe phones with typical cameras as “camera phones” anymore. That term was used when a camera on a mobile phone wasn’t common, back when even color screens were something to behold. Almost every phone, even dumbphones, have cameras now. I was using it to describe a phone with a bigger, zoom-enabled sensor like the one on the Galaxy Camera.
This device would be designed to be a camera first and a phone second, yes? In that case wouldn’t “phone camera” be a more apt description of the unit?
yeah. I know, im just messing with you
Don’t bother making a camera phone unless it has better specs than that. A camera phone with only 8gb of int memory. Photos and videos take up allot of memory, build it right or don’t build it at all. Cheaping out on the most important parts, these parts you can not change down the road. It costs pennies to ad internal memory while you are building the phone, why cut these corners when they are so important. Great idea but lousy specks, I would really enjoy a top of the line camera phone with killer specks. A device I would want to hold onto for a couple of years, not a throw away toy.
100% agree. HDR photography depends on high speed write and an external SD card is not ideal. 2GB of ram would work, but it seems ridiculous to put 2GB of ram in a device with 8gb of storage.
What? Cameras don’t have built in memory anyways. Most people rely on Class 10 SDHC cards for that. Build it right? They built it the way a normal person uses a camera… except with a phone in it. Expect to buy a class 10 MicroSDHC card to go with it, just like any other camera purchase.
What year is this? 1997?
Read my response to Alankrut.
We have phablets, might as well have phameras too.
I wouldnt mind a smaller, good quality point and shoot to replace my (very) old Fujifilm Finepix 9MP E900. It was awesome nearly 8 years ago! Id love to have some new tech for vacations, family events, etc.
Problem is my Fujifilm cost me around $115 bucks with a 512MB memory card (which was big for 2005). Samsung wont be selling many at there high price points ($350+)
If you go to any wireless store and say “camera phone”, they will laugh and/or ask where grandma is.
With 4.3″ screen the phone dimensions will be better.
I hope there is a much larger camera sensor & xenon flash otherwise it cannot be called a proper camera phone.
The phone part should stick to the s4 specs and just add the camera extras otherwise who cares. It sounds like a piece of crap