Samsung Introduces the Galaxy K zoom, a New Camera Specialized-Smartphone

April 29, 2014

The Galaxy K zoom incorporates industry-leading camera features with the Samsung Galaxy mobile experience

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera

SINGAPORE – April 29, 2014 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, today announced the new camera specialized smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy K zoom. The Galaxy K zoom is a new smartphone that blends advanced digital camera technology with Samsung’s industry-leading Galaxy experience. It features effortless capturing ability, real optics, and a premium design, offering users the mobile solutions they need with the ability to create professional-quality visual content in a fun, easy–to-use device.

“With the introduction of the Galaxy K zoom, Samsung continues to demonstrate our commitment to creating products that meet the diverse demands of our consumers,” said Sun Hong Lim, Senior Vice President of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “The new Galaxy K zoom empowers users to effortlessly capture and share their most important everyday moments in stunning clarity, with the convenience and connectedness of a Galaxy smartphone, for a unique, all-in-one mobile experience.”

As a camera-specialized smartphone, the Galaxy K zoom offers an advanced technical camera system designed to offer the control and functionality of a professional camera, ensuring that the important moments are never missed and always captured with complete clarity. The Galaxy K zoom is equipped with new retracting lens technology that provides 10x optical zoom in a remarkably slim and chic body. Other notable features include the 20.7 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor for ultra-clear, ultra-detailed images. It excels in low light conditions, and provides Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) to reduce blur caused by movement. These specifications ensure the device delivers pictures and video (Full HD) that are crisp and sharp, even when zoomed and in low light. In addition, the device’s Xenon Flash provides a brighter light than LEDs to improve the quality of the image with natural brilliance.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera

The new device also integrates the most advanced camera usability features and functions, including AF/AE Separation(Auto Focus/ Auto Exposure Separation) for the precise balance of light and clarity, next-generation Pro Suggest mode which offers 5 optimized filter settings, Selfie Alarm that allows users to take timed selfies with ease, and object tracing for a clear, focused shot of a moving subject. Each feature comes with a simple User Interface, allowing users to easily capture photos and videos with groundbreaking quality, in any situation.

The compact and highly portable Galaxy K zoom features an ergonomic grip and sleek, stylish lines that feel soft and comfortable in the hand. Additionally, the Galaxy K zoom offers all the features that consumers want in a flagship Galaxy smartphone, such as Ultra Power Saving Mode for minimizing the battery consumption, S Health Lite for personalized fitness and lifestyle coaching, and a Studio app to allow users to easily edit their pictures and videos.

Samsung Galaxy K zoom Product Specifications

Network

LTE

Cat4, HSPA+ 42Mbps
LTE 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600
HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100
EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900

3G

5-band HSPA+ 42Mbps
HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100
EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900

Display

4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED Display (1280×720)

AP

Hexa core: 1.3GHz Quad-Core + 1.7GHz Dual-Core Processor

OS

Android 4.4 (Kitkat)

Camera

Main(Rear): 20.7 Mega pixel 1/2.3 BSI CMOS Sensor, 10x Optical Zoom, OIS,
24-240mm, F3.1-6.3
AF Assist LED
Sub(Front): 2.0 Mega pixel

ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Continuous Shot: 3fps MAX with AF
Format: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP, AGIF
Xenon Flash,
SMART Mode, Expert Mode(P/M), My Mode

Video

Recording   Playback: Full HD (1920×1080 /60p)
Codec : H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, MP43, WMV7, WMV8, VP8
Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Audio

Codec : MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC +/eAAC+, WMA, OGG (Vorbis), FLAC
Format : MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA

Value-Added Features

SMART Mode(28): Auto, Pro Suggest, Program, Beauty face, Shot   more, Panorama, Virtual tour, Rich tone, Night, Continuous shot, Selfie alarm, Manual, Kids shot, Landscape, Dawn, Snow, Macro, Food, Party/Indoor, Action freeze, Waterfall, Animated photo, Sound   shot, Surround shot, Silhouette, Sunset, Fireworks, Light race

AF/AE Separation, Object tracking, Studio, Smile/ Blink detection

Ultra Power Saving Mode

Kids mode

S Health Lite

Google Mobile Services

Chrome, Drive, Photos, Gmail, Google, Google+, Google Settings, Hangouts, Maps, Play Books, Play Games, Play Newsstand, Play Movie&TV, Play Music, Play Store, Voice Search, YouTube

Connectivity

Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4+5GHz, HT40,
Bluetooth®: 4.0 BLE
USB: USB 2.0
NFC
A-GPS + GLONASS

Sensor

Accelerometer, Gyro Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor

Memory

RAM: 2GB
Internal Memory: 8GB
microSD slot: micro SDSC (up to 2GB guaranteed), micro SDHC (up to 32GB guaranteed), micro SDXC (up to 64GB guaranteed)

*User memory space may be less than the total memory space due to system files. User memory may differ by region, carrier, and supporting language, and may change after software upgrade.

Dimension

137.5X70.8X16.6(20.2)mm, 200g

Battery

2,430mAh

*All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 286,000 people across 80 countries with annual sales of US$216.7 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

New Google Camera App available for Android Kitcat 4.4+

Google has just released the new standalone Google Camera App for Android 4.4+ (Kitcat) devices (Nexus 7, 10 Tablets and Nexus 5 Phone)

From their description:
Google Camera snaps quick and easy photos and videos, and has creative picture modes like Photo Sphere, Lens Blur and Panorama.Features
• Photo Spheres for immersive 360º views
• Lens Blur mode for SLR-like photos with shallow depth of field
• Panorama mode with high resolution
• 100% viewfinder for getting the maximum resolution from the sensor (no dropped pixels)
• Updated UI that gets out of your way and is centered on an extra large capture button
• Works on phones and tablets running Android 4.4+ KitKat. If you have any of the compatible devices it is well worth checking out.

Here’s a link to a post by: Carlos Hernández at the Google research blog, explaining the lens blur feature. Really cool stuff. Check it out!.

Samsung reveals Galaxy Camera 2 ahead of CES 2014

By Lexy Savvides   |   January 3, 2014 (http://www.cnet.com.au/)

The first model is the successor to the Galaxy Camera, an Android-powered hybrid that merges the photo-taking prowess of a traditional camera with the connectivity of a smartphone. Called the Galaxy Camera 2, the new model has the same 21x zoom lens and 16-megapixel sensor as its predeecessor, though it comes with a faster 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM.

On top of this, the camera runs Android Jellybean 4.3 and comes with NFC for easier pairing with other connected devices. Like the earlier model, the new version has a 4.8-inch touchscreen at the back for composing, reviewing, sharing and editing photos. A microphone and headphone jack make it convenient for use as a media player or Skype-ready handset, though you can’t make actual phone calls from the camera.

Also announced was the NX30, an update to its NX range of interchangeable lens cameras. It comes with an electronic viewfinder, 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, dual image stabilisation for video recording and a very useful feature of being able to output a clean HDMI feed.

Full article and picture at the source>

Click! Google rebuilds Android camera base for better photos

Rebuilt software plumbing in Android should give new power to camera apps — once Google makes the interface available to other programmers besides its own.

by Stephen Shankland. November 25th, 2013 (http://news.cnet.com)

Want a better camera on your Android device? Google does, too.

For that reason, the company has overhauled the mobile OS’s plumbing. Google has built deep into Android support for two higher-end photography features — raw image formats and burst mode — and could expose those features so that programmers could tap into them, the company said.

Evidence of raw and burst-mode photos in the Android source code surfaced earlier in November, but Google has now commented on the technology. Specifically, spokeswoman Gina Scigliano said the support is now present in Android’s hardware abstraction layer (HAL), the part of the operating system that handles communications with a mobile device’s actual hardware.

“Android’s latest camera HAL (hardware abstraction layer) and framework supports raw and burst-mode photography,” Scigliano said. “We will expose a developer API [application programming interface] in a future release to expose more of the HAL functionality.”

Full article at source>

$10 Smartphone to digital microscope conversion!

by Yoshinok (http://www.instructables.com)

The world is an interesting place, but it’s fascinating up close.  Through the lens of a microscope you can find details that you would otherwise never notice.  But now you can.

This instructable will show you how to build a stand for about $10 that will transform your smartphone into a powerful digital microscope. This DIY conversion stand is more than capable of functioning in an actual laboratory setting. With magnification levels as high as 175x, plant cells and their nuclei are easily observed!  In addition to allowing the observation of cells, this setup also produces stunning macro photography.

The photos in this instructable were taken with an iPhone 4S.

Watch the video below for a quick overview of the project!

Full article at the source>