Samsung is hoping to further differentiate in the highly competitive smartphone market by blurring the line between camera and smartphone. The company today officially announced the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, essentially a 16 megapixel point-and-shoot camera with a Galaxy S4 Mini on the back.
The Zoom builds on Samsung’s existing line of Android-based cameras. Aside from the 16 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor, the Zoom includes a 10x optical zoom and an OIS and Xenon Flash.
According to Samsung, the Zoom includes a new interface called Zoom Ring, which allows users to access the device’s features. When users are in the middle of a phone call and see something they would like to share, they cane twist the Zoom Ring to activate the In-Call Photo Share feature, which allows the user to capture and send an image directly via MMS to the person on the other end of the line.
The LTE-capable Zoom comes running Android Jelly Bean and features a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. Samsung did not release pricing or availability at this time.
The Zoom arrives ahead of the U.S. launch of Nokia’s latest flagship phone, the Lumia 925, which includes the Finnish OEM’s PureView photography technology.
