Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Review

How you dare to use smartphone instead of phone-camera, says Samsung. After the initial role of Galaxy S4 Zoom it's time for Galaxy K Zoom. It's another big smart camera mixed with classic smartphone. Like its predecessor it's aimed to those who prefer good photos and who don't really care about some other aspects. The biggest asset of K Zoom is 10x optical zoom, which isn't something easy to find of some smartphone. Also, the 20.7MP camera is something worth waiting for. It's one of the best non DSLR smart cameras available at this moment. A few days ago we're writing about Samsung Galaxy K Zoom vs Nokia Lumia 1020, but now it's time to take a deep look on Galaxy K Zoom.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Design

This is typical Samsung's device. You could be easy mix up with some other Sammy, but when you turn on the camera's side you will instantly find out it's K Zoom. The front side is almost the same like any other. Just a large screen and that's pretty much it. The shiny flat plastic surface undoubtedly reminds about the Samsung's design philosophy. The back side is marked with large silver shined camera's circle. It's a home of K Zoom's optics and it's clear this is a main part of the device. Comparing with the predecessor, the form is simple now and with no rough part below which was large battery. Now battery is flat and it didn't affect any design problems. This solution has brought much easer handling, and the K Zoom now look more like typical smartphone. With this design K Zoom isn't complicate for calling and testing anymore. With 137.5 x 70.8 x 16.6 mm K Zoom is looking for extra parking space. The highest peak is at 20.2mm, so only large pocket are into the game. Also, the weight of about 200g is more than any smartphone. Maybe designers made a progress, but the huge optical sensor is still something muscles have to carry.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Display

The 4.8-inch display is adequate to admiring the photos you took. While the size is good, something other bothering us. Why Samsung implemented only 720p resolution here. The display has 305ppi, which is below the leading Samsung's smartphones. This is a king of device where you have to have HD resolution in order to see all details of your photos. There's no need for that on smartphones, but this phone-camera shouldn’t missing it. Also, the 8GB of internal memory isn't quite enough for high-res photos, so you'll be soon find out you are missing some extra space. Luckily, there's a microSD slot.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera

This is heavily armed CMOS 20.7MP sensor. It's bigger that any from smartphone collection, which ensure more lighting capturing. It gives more detailed photos, which is combined with great optical zoom. Beside the getting objects closer it doesn't allow any quality looses, nothing like digital zoom. Also, the K Zoom pack optical stabilization, so there's no image stretches when the objects are in move or you hand is shaking. The most of the time you'll be using Auto mode, but if you prefer your digital signature on photos, you are getting HDR, panorama, burst and more options. The HDR is good worker, but it has different style. The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom shoots several photos and then combines them into one. It takes more time but the results are very good. The autofocus is present, but not the speedy. LG G3 is the sprint winner, but the K Zoom is far behind. The focusing is taking more than expected time, so you'll need some 2-4 seconds to focus and shoot. The photos are rich in details, even the parts in shades. The light-dark balance is adequate, but photos might be colder and darker that they are in nature. Just to compare, the Galaxy S5 makes the same quality photos, but with warmer and more pleasant colors. If you want to achieve this with K Zoom, I recommend using HDR. It's slow, but it's good. Maybe the Galaxy S5 is big rival in the term of taking photos, but Galaxy K Zoom has great optical zoom, so non of object will be too far for 10x zoom.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Specs and Performances

This isn't just a camera. It has "phone" side too. Samsung Galaxy K Zoom works on Android KitKat covered by TouchWizz UI, the identical one from Galaxy S5. The Zoom comes with standard Samsung's apps, but not like S Health, because there's no sensor for it. Below the plastic runs the interesting combination of processors. The two driving forces are working together in order to offer quite good user's experience. The first one is 1.3GHz quad-core, and the second one is dual-core processor at 1.7GHz. So, Samsung Galaxy K Zoom is working on potentional six cores on 3GHz. But, just in theory. In the real life only one processor is active, depending on how much heavy the app is you're running. It contributes to limited battery draining, and also it brings smoothly working experience. The battery life is like at any other smartphone. With a moderate use, this 2.430mAh battery is active for up to the bad time, unless you use all the potentials K Zoom has. If you plan to take not more that 150-200 photos and instantly upload them to the internet, then you'll be looking for a charger before the sleeping time. Otherwise, the weekends and holidays will be forcing you to take charger with you.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Verdict

For most of manufacturers the phone-camera is not unknown term. For Samsung it's part of market strategy. Combining the great camera and smartphone performances in one device is a wish of many users who dream of releasing the extra tech weight. Of course, the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom isn't perfect. It has good and bad sides. It's chubby and heavy and in some way Galaxy S5 is making better photos. Also, the speed of camera isn't something to be happy about. So, is this expensive toy has an alternative? Well, for this price, you can think of purchasing Galaxy S5, or even a standard camera and some cheaper Adnroid smartphone, unless you desperately want optical zoom. Photos: samsung.com