Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Specs, Price and Release Date Guesstimate : Android Smartphone Digicam Hybrid, Arriving Soon!

Samsung has just announced that they will be unveiling their new Galaxy and ATIV devices on June 20 in London. And as usual, when there is an announcement made from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Sony and many others, there will be leaks of their upcoming products. Check out Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom!

samsung galaxy s4 zoom

Based on this leaked promo photo, it's clear that Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom looks like an S4 Mini up front with the characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy Camera at the back. The device sports a 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display paired with a 1.6GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.2 Jellybean with Samsung’s TouchWiz Nature UX interface. The big bulge on the back is its 16-Megapixel camera with optical zoom. For storage options, the Galaxy S4 Zoom has 8GB internal memory with micro SD support of up to 64Gb.

It seems that Samsung is banking on the Galaxy S4 namesake here. When you look at their current product line, they have the Galaxy S4, S4 Mini, S4 Active and now the S4 Zoom. But when you look at things from another perspective, what makes the Galaxy S4 Zoom different from Samsung’s current Galaxy Camera?

Both the S4 Zoom and Galaxy camera can send sms messages because the Galaxy Camera also has its SIM card slot but the similarities end there. The Galaxy S4 Zoom can also make phone calls unlike the Galaxy Camera which needs Google Voice services in order to do so (Google Voice is currently not available in the Philippines).

There you have it. The main difference between the Galaxy S4 Zoom and the Galaxy Camera – phone calls. Both have WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a host of other connectivity options (although it hasn’t been announced yet, for sure it will have because it is a phone after all). To differentiate the two, the Galaxy Camera is what it is – a digital camera which has tons of connectivity options, and is running on Android. The Galaxy S4 Zoom, on the other hand, is Samsung’s first cameraphone based on Android. Who knows, maybe this is their take on Nokia's PureView 808.

Mark of TP: Last year, the fact that Samsung - for all of its new found chutzpah - held back on making the Samsung Galaxy Camera a full-fledged smartphone baffled me. I'm just glad that they finally took that leap on Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. I think the device - despite its thickness and lack of a big battery pack - looks quite cool. I just might check it out when it lands here. As yet, though, the Korean giant hasn't disclosed any official detail about this hybrid but I believe it should become available across the globe by Q3 2013 with SRP of around Php 25,000.

#TPWriterFellows Batch 1 Member and DLSU student, Nico Aguila is the self-proclaimed 'official' tech support guy of his friends. He's always ready to give you tips and tricks with Android devices and even gives you advice on which phone or tablet you should get whether it be running on Android, iOS, or Windows Phone operating system. Nico sees TechPinas as the best tech website in the Philippines and also as his safe haven when he reads tech news that is happening in the country. When he graduates, Nico plans to find a stable job in tech, have a family when he can, and of course, expose his future kids to technology and TechPinas so that they'll enjoy great bonding times together.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST) -- Initial, To Be Confirmed
Name Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen), Smartphone-Digicam Hybrid
Price Category High End
DimensionsTBA
Weight TBA
Available Colors White
Operating System Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Display 4.3 inches (~256 ppi pixel density), 540 x 960 pixels, Super AMOLED, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Processor Dual-core 1.6 GHz, TBA
RAM 1 GB RAM
Internal Storage 8 GB, expandable via microSD card slot, supports up to 32 GB
Camera 16 MegaPixels, autofocus, LED flash, supports geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, 10x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, HDR, 1.9 MegaPixels front camera
Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frames per second for main camera, TBD for front camera
Audio and Video Playback MP4 / DivX / Xvid / FLV / MKV / H.264 / H.263 / MP3 / WAV / eAAC+ / Flac
Ports microUSB v2.0, TV-out (via MHL A/V link), 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, HSPA+, NFC
GPS Yes, with GLONASS and A-GPS
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Gyroscope
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
SIM Card Type microSIM
Battery Li-Ion 1900 mAh battery
Uptime TBD
Value-Added Features S Voice, Dropbox 50GB free, Latest Version of TouchWiz
Announcement Expected: June 20, 2013
Availability TP Guesstimate: Q3 2013
Price TP Guesstimate: Php 25,000