- Is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom worth the extra weight? (Photo: idigitaltimes.com)
The Samsung Galaxy S4 had already become one of the most prominent Android smartphones on the market before Samsung bravely decided to release three new variations of its flagship smartphone.?In early June, at a special media event?in London, Samsung unveiled a water-resistant, budget-friendly?and an experimental point-and-shoot camera-smartphone hybrid dubbed the Galaxy S4 Zoom.
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Of all the new variants announced, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is by far and away the most ambitious. The Galaxy S4 Zoom is created in the likeness of the Samsung Galaxy Camera, a point-and-shoot camera that was released by Samsung in August 2012, and one of the first mass-market point-and-shoot cameras to run on Android. Although the original Galaxy Camera was capable of running nearly any Android app, it didn't have any cellular capabilities, which limited its ability to share photos from anywhere without a Wi-Fi connection. The Galaxy S4 Zoom aims to pick up where the Samsung Galaxy Camera left off by providing a long-range zoom, Xenon flash and cellular capabilities.
Although the Galaxy S4 Zoom has an impressive 10x optical zoom, which is a key feature on the device, the optical zoom adds a surprising amount of heft to the smartphone. Aside from the zooming lens, there are only a few points of differentiation between the standard Galaxy S4 and its camera-focused counterpart, the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Here's our assessment on whether the Galaxy S4 Zoom is really worth the extra heft:
Size
The Galaxy S4 Zoom is substantially wider than the standard Galaxy S4, and that bulk is largely due to the telescoping lens that pops out of the back of the smartphone. The Galaxy S4 Zoom is about .44 inches wider, .25 inches taller and .30 inches thicker than the standard variant. All that extra volume adds about 2.75 ounces of weight to the smartphone. It's one of the heaviest smartphones that Samsung makes, and it's even heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, which makes the Galaxy S4 Zoom's size one of the biggest tradoffs of the device.
The standard Galaxy S4 is in every significantly thinner than it's camera-oriented counterpart. It takes up a fraction of the space that the Galaxy S4 Zoom does, and because of it, the Galaxy S4 weighs significantly less than the Galaxy S4 Zoom.?
Winner: Galaxy S4 (slimmer and smaller by every proportion)
Display
The Galaxy S4 Zoom sacrifices screen clarity and screen size in order to pack in high-end point-and-shoot lens at a reasonable price. The Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 4.3-inch screen that displays a measly 540 x 960 resolution. In addition to being equipped with a low-resolution screen, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is packed with 256 pixels-per-inch (PPI), which is a relatively low pixel density.
The standard Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 5-inch screen that's noticeably larger than the camera-focused variant. The Galaxy S4 displays images at a 1080 x 1920 resolution, and the display is incredibly sharp thanks to the 441 PPI pixel density. When it comes to viewing high-resolution images, the Galaxy S4 is a no-brainer.
Winner: Galaxy S4 (1080 x 1920 resolution; 441 pixels-per-inch, 5-inch screen)
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom comes equipped with a powerful Samsung Exynos 4212 processor. It's a dual-core 1.5GHz ARM processor that's paired with 1GB of RAM for a relatively snappy experience. The Samsung Exynos 4 processor?used in the Galaxy S4 Zoom is similar to the processor that was used in the Samsung Galaxy S3. The processor is paired with 1GB of RAM for a reasonably fast experience, although it simply can't keep up with the latest processors.
The standard Galaxy S4 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor?that has been proven to be one of the most reliable mobile processors. It's a quad-core 1.9 GHz Krait processor that's paired with 2GB of RAM for one of the smoothest experiences of any Android smartphone on the market. The Galaxy S4 also comes with 16GB of internal memory and microSD card slot that can store up to 64 GB of data.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S4 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor; 1.9GHz quad-core)
Camera
The Galaxy S4 Zoom's hardware fails to impress in just about every category aside from the camera. The Galaxy S4 Zoom features a 16-megapixel camera with a Xenon flash (similar to most point-and-shoot cameras rather than the LED flashes featured on most smartphones). The ultra-sharp camera is a 10X optical zoom that far surpasses any typical phone camera. The smartphone is capable of shooting full 1080p HD video and taking excellent photographs. The camera comes with a variety of pre-sets and features to make snapping photos in almost any setting a breeze.
The standard Galaxy S4 has a 13-megapixel camera, but it's nowhere near the same size or quality as the camera included on the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The LED flash included on the Galaxy S4 is typical of most smartphones, but it leaves most nighttime photos looking washed out and poorly lit. The Galaxy S4 also shoots at 1080p HD and comes with many of the same pre-set modes that the Galaxy S4 Zoom does.
Winner: Galaxy S4 Zoom (16-megapixels; 10X optical zoom; 1080p HD video)
Conclusion
Unless you're planning to frequently take photographs of things that are far away, we can't imagine why you'd ever want the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Sure, there's an element of experimentalism and novelty, but most smartphone users would prefer the larger, sharper screen of the Galaxy S4 in addition to its slimmer casing. We could never imagine answer e-mails, texts and phone calls on a device as bulky as the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Unless the primary purpose of your phone is to photograph items from a far distance, we wouldn't recommend the Galaxy S4 Zoom to anyone.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S4 (better processor, sharper screen, marginally worse camera)
For tips, complaints and observations on all things digital, email us at tips [at] idigitaltimes.com
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Source: http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/18736/20130709/galaxy-s4-zoom-vs-samsung-s-new.htm
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