This is not the way Samsung had planned on announcing any of its upcoming Galaxy S4 variants. The company had planned to give them an official unveiling at a June 20 event it is holding in London, but due to all of its planned smartphones being leaked before that date, the company has had to announce each and every device. And, today, Samsung had to officially announce the Galaxy S4 Zoom.
We've been reporting over the last couple of weeks about the Galaxy smartphones Samsung was planning to unveil at its event. Unfortunately for the company, every smartphone it had planned on announcing was leaked though official specs and press images, leaving no Galaxy smartphone surprises for June 20. The company has been forced to officially announce each and every smartphone following the leaks. However, it still plans to show the devices off at its London event alongside new Windows ATIV devices. The final smartphone to be officially announced beforehand is the camera-centric Galaxy S4 Zoom.
The Galaxy S4 Zoom is a mid-range smartphone that features a high-quality 16-megapixel camera. Samsung describes S4 Zoom as:
"The Samsung GALAXY S4 zoom represents yet another step forward in the way Samsung is working to enhance the lives of our customers around the world," said JK Shin, President and CEO, Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. "As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose. The GALAXY S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the GALAXY S4 with the high quality photographic experience you'd expect from a compact camera. The result is truly the best of both worlds, without compromise."
The Galaxy S4 Zoom is basically a Galaxy S4 Mini with a 16-megapixel camera. It features the same 4.3-inch qHD display, runs Android 4.2, is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, with 8GB of internal storage, a microSD slot that with support for up to 64GB microSD cards, a 16-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom that includes image stabilization and a Xenon flash, 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, and a 2330 mAh battery.
Samsung is also including special enhanced camera software for the S4 Zoom. Zoom Ring is a feature that will allow users to capture pictures fast, the ring surrounds the camera and when twisted automatically launches the camera application. Other features include Photo Suggest, which will use GPS to show the user pictures taken by others in the area and Smart Mode Suggest, which will provide a short list of the best options to be considered based on light levels, focal length, and face detection.
Samsung will be showing off the Galaxy S4 Zoom at its event on June 20 and will release the smartphone in the UK in July, followed by a U.S. release in Q3 of this year.
