The iPhone 4 was equipped with a 5-megapixel camera, which at the time of the announcement was presented as a highlight of other smartphones: thanks to a larger light sensor, more photons pass through the lenses, determining higher quality images. And the truth: there are no special questions about the iPhone 4 camera - but in comparison with that in the iPhone 4S, the picture is different.

The iPhone 4S camera would be useful to move closer to the center of the phone to avoid accidentally getting your fingers caught in the lens.

And although Apple has never shared details regarding the optical design of the cameras of its smartphones, it can be safely argued that the existing developments of OmniVision Technologies or Sony in the form of CMOS sensors were taken into service with the iPhone 4S, which were then integrated with the optical module of the camera.

The OmniVision OV8830 and Sony IMX105 CMOS sensors satisfy the iPhone 4S camera specifications. Based on this, the sensor of the new Apple smartphone, remaining in the same optical dimensions as in the iPhone 4 - 1 / 3.2 inches (4.54 × 3.42 mm), increased the pixel matrix - from 2592 × 1936 to 3264 × 2448 pixels (from 5 to 8 megapixels), respectively, the size of the photosensitive elements themselves has decreased - from 1.75 to 1.4 microns. Thanks to the updated backlight technology, the quantum efficiency (the ability to convert photons to electrons) is improved, the sensitivity is increased in low light conditions, and the potential well capacity is increased (determines the expansion of the dynamic range).

The camera on the iPhone 4S might seem so small, but in reality it's so powerful.

The optics itself received improvements, which determines the further increase in the quality of photographs: a fifth element was added to the set of lenses, the aperture was expanded from F / 2.8 to F / 2.4, and a hybrid infrared filter was inserted. For many, what has been said does not mean anything, but if you snap off a couple of pictures, you can't take your eyes off.

The iPhone 4S has a back-lit CMOS sensor: such a strange name only says that all the electronics and connections are behind the sensor, without interfering with the matrix of the latter to catch light. A 73% increase in light sensitivity is claimed.

Backlight technology improves sensitivity in low light conditions and reduces overall noise. We are talking about a construct, when the position of the layers of the photosensitive matrix changes in such a way as not to block the light falling on its elements - the need for additional amplification of the signal by means of electronics, which usually causes noise, disappears.

When it comes to pixels, quality is important, not quantity. Yes, the more pixels, the larger the picture can be printed, and along the way this means the increase in file sizes and the increased noise of the images, because the electrons go beyond the edges of the tiny, already densely packed light-sensitive elements. Here Apple mentions an increase in the capacity of the potential well: each pixel, before it is filled, is able to capture a certain amount of light, and with an excess of light, the charge flows from the overexposed areas of the matrix to adjacent cells - the emerging blooming effect is eliminated by using special circuits that remove excess electrons.

The lenses in the optical set of the iPhone 4S camera are made of plastic. Despite a number of disadvantages and limitations of plastic (high coefficient of thermal expansion, high rate of change with temperature, worse heat resistance and durability), almost all smartphone vendors use it in cameras. The reason is simple - plastic is cheap and, more importantly, allows complex optical surfaces to be formed. The latter have to be made aspherical, which would be difficult when using glass. Aspherics provide finer control over aberration, while requiring fewer optical system elements as if it were fully spherical, which is imperative due to physical limitations on the depth of the camera module.

The fifth element in the plastic lens set seems to make light travel heavier along its path, however, as a rule, additional optical surfaces lead to increased sharpness and reduce the number of distortions. Again, widening the aperture requires an intense fight against growing aberration. Apple claims a 30 percent sharpening boost.

The quality of the images is usually proportional to the complexity of the optics: the fifth lens has been added to the iPhone 4S (bottom).

The maximum aperture of F / 2.4 not only lets in more light, but is also responsible for deeper separation between objects and the background. However, the depth of field of focus in this case is incomparable with SLR cameras, since it also depends on the physical size of the light sensor, which is relatively small in the iPhone 4S. In any case, the aperture shifts are a big step forward among mobile cameras.

The difference between the color ranges of the photos taken by the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is due to the hybrid infrared filter installed directly in front of the CMOS sensor of the latter: it reduces chromatic aberration and corrects colors for more realistic. Hybridity is here understood as a combination of an ultraviolet and infrared filter with an anti-aliasing filter.

The LED flash has also changed. In the previous generation of Apple phones, the flash was characterized by a distinct yellow-green tint, while in the iPhone 4S it seems to have increased in brightness and subjectively its temperature approached daylight.

In addition to the sensor and the optical system, there is another factor, according to which both the final quality of the resulting images and the convenience of practical use of the iPhone 4S camera are determined. It is about the image signal processing chain.

The Apple A5 System-on-Chip, which includes the CPU, GPU, and RAM, contains an image signal processing module. This module is improved over the one installed in A4. The changes brought acceleration of processing, coping with 8-megapixel images, improved white balance, finally, face detection algorithms that work in conjunction with autofocus and autoexposure.

The redesigned image processing engine in the Apple A5 SoC, which powers the iPhone 4S, has provided a higher frame rate in the live video stream captured by the phone's camera. Autofocus and autoexposure are also accelerated.

iPhone 4S takes some of the cleanest, cleanest photos ever taken with a mobile phone, and it does it very quickly, including the very first photo ready. If you've been thinking about using your phone as a complete replacement for your camera, it's time to start. True, of course, we are talking about getting rid of the "digital camera", but not from a professional camera.

The photos taken by the iPhone 4S, which Apple has posted on its website, appear to be taken with a tripod.

Crisp, balanced, colorful photos with surprisingly low noise and color saturation - these are the results of the iPhone 4S. Apple's previous smartphone model sometimes seems to compensate for its camera limitations by exaggerating colors, but the iPhone 4S camera seems to behave like a real camera capturing true images.

No more than two seconds will pass from the moment you clicked on the camera app icon on the iPhone 4S screen and the first photo is ready, and in less than a second you will already take the second photo. Of course, the performance of a smartphone camera is not at all comparable to good digital cameras, which are capable of shooting several frames per second and offer optical zoom. IPhone 4S lenses are equivalent to 32mm for photography and 50mm for movies; there is no optical zoom, there is only digital.

Comparison of camera performance for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S: camera app launch speed, HDR photo capture speed, minimum working distance.

In general, the photos taken by the iPhone 4S are better than those taken by the iPhone 4, however, not without specific features. So, in an open space, both phones shoot in comparable quality, because their lenses and sensors can collect a lot of light: and only if you look at the photos at magnification, you can notice the greater graininess of the iPhone 4 images.

The fewer pixels on the iPhone 4's camera are only noticeable when zoomed in.

Photos from the pen of the iPhone 4S look like they have a shift towards yellow, and this is true for shots both outdoors and indoors. As a result, the images come out a little unnaturally warm - the pictures taken by the iPhone 4 are still more bluish. On the other hand, the iPhone 4S camera shows improvements in contrast so that outdoor scenes show additional detail in light and dark areas.

Color Gamut Difference: iPhone 4S photos tend to have a yellowish tint.

There is no question that the iPhone 4S does better at indoor photography, especially in moderate to low light conditions: people spend a lot of time in meetings, parties, get-togethers, nightclubs and discos, concerts and birthdays. Without using the flash, similar images on the iPhone 4 come out noticeably grainy, so the yellowish tint of the iPhone 4S photographs can be ignored. Shaded and darker elements in images become quite noisy on iPhone 4 - iPhone 4S has a wider dynamic range. Interestingly, the flash shots taken with the iPhone 4S in a dark room look better balanced in terms of color, with the yellowish bias almost lost. And while Apple has installed a CMOS sensor with backlight technology that is significantly better than a 4- or 5-year-old pocket camera in low-light conditions, neither the iPhone 4 nor the iPhone 4S can capture acceptable images in dark rooms without the aid of the flash. ...

Cameras of two generations of the iPhone: as you like.

iPhone 4S has learned to recognize faces - up to ten people at a time: the pictures are more expressive due to the appropriate automatic selection of focus and exposure. As soon as the imaging module finds a person's face, a green rectangle is drawn around it on the phone screen and the automatic focus and exposure subroutine starts - as if you manually told the camera to focus on this particular face. However, like all face recognition algorithms, it is not without its drawbacks: sometimes the aiming is performed incorrectly or not faces are captured at all.

Macro photography is also not forgotten - it is amazing: you can always photograph some insect at a close distance - somewhere up to 6.5 cm.However, sometimes problems with focusing are noted, but this is more likely due to the focal limitations of a small lens.

On the video capture side, Apple similarly did an excellent job. iPhone 4S captures 1080p Full HD video at 30fps for crisp, smooth footage and detail. For comparison, the iPhone 4S records video at 1920 x 1080 pixels versus 1280 by 720 pixels in the iPhone 4 - a 2.25x increase in the number of visible elements. High-definition footage is good, because with each editing, its quality drops slightly.

Meanwhile, there are some shortcomings. 1080p30 video capture is performed with one anchor frame at a bitrate of 24 Mbps. Yes, we are talking about the highest bitrate among smartphones (Samsung Galaxy S II has 17 Mbit / s, Motorola Droid 3 has 15 Mbit / s), but the video compression codec used remains the same as in Apple A4. - it relies on the baseline profile. Competitors achieve the same quality at lower bitrates by using codecs with better profiles, such as high profile. Apple had to compensate for the low efficiency of the codec by encoding high-bitrate 1080p video. As a result, the size of video files is about 40% larger than that of rivals: the iPhone 4S claims 180 MB for one minute of video footage, while the Galaxy S II - 128 MB, and the Droid 3 - 113 MB / s. And one more thing: there are no settings offered that allow you to change the video format of shooting, for example, lowering the maximum 1080p-resolution to 720p, 480p or 360p - however, there is no special need for this.

In addition, the audio in the video is saved as single-channel with 64-kbps bitrate in AAC format, while dual-channel in smartphones is gradually becoming the norm.

Special techniques have been introduced that make the procedure for filming video with a phone much more organic. Thus, image stabilization allows you to forget about shaking hands, and autofocus, which works even with fast movement of the camera, eliminates the problem of blurry frames. True, you still have to pay: any stabilization slightly worsens the sharpness of the picture.

And while the field of view of the iPhone 4S camera remains unchanged, the photographic latitude (determines the ability to correctly convey the brightness of the objects being shot) has improved significantly, and image stabilization will serve as a decent replacement for a tripod.

Filming an iPhone 4S from a moving car demonstrates image stabilization capabilities.

The iPhone 4S night video proves that the new product's camera sensor picks up more light.

An interesting highlight is the "temporal noise reduction": motionless areas of the video sequence seem to be "frozen", then filtered and cleaned of digital noise.

Digital noise is the videographer's worst enemy.

In short, the iPhone 4S is quite capable of replacing a pocket camcorder. There remains, however, a nuance that Apple has not eliminated - the location of the camera itself: its hole is localized too close to the edge of the phone, and fingers are often accidentally captured by the lens. I would like the camera to move closer to the center of the device.

Comparison of video recording of the iPhone 4S with that of the iPhone 4, Nokia N8, Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Amaze 4G.

Video battle between iPhone 4S (1080p video at 30 fps), iPhone 4 (720p30), Samsung Galaxy S II (1080p30) and the "real" Canon Vixia HF11 camcorder (1080p60).

If you think that putting iPhone 4S in your pocket will be able to give up your old photo or video camera, there are some nuances to keep in mind. The Yabloko communicator still does not offer real optical zoom (digital zoom only worsens the final quality), the overall quality of color rendition remains at the level of phone cameras, and you still cannot adjust the zoom during video recording. On the other hand, a smartphone is always with us, and having a convenient, fast and fairly good built-in camera at hand is not a reason to shoot everything and everyone? After all, it's not even the optics, but the composition of the frame and the understanding of the principles of chiaroscuro.

The front-facing camera on iPhone 4S inherits from the iPhone 4: 640-by-480-pixel images with a reddish tint instead of the yellowish one. And while the front-facing camera is quite enough for FaceTime video communication at 30 frames / s, it is clearly not enough for other tasks.

Thanks to the improved image processing module in the Apple A5 single-chip system, which is also responsible for setting the automatic white balance, the images with the front camera of the iPhone 4S (left) come out slightly better than those taken by the iPhone 4.

Illustrative material from Flickr, iLounge, AnandTech, Chipworks

Until the Apple company introduced the iPhone 4S to the world, the video equipment of a simple 4-ki was considered one of the best. And this was true, because the device of this version was equipped with a 5 MP camera. The excellent quality of the pictures taken by the camera of the four was also due to the large sensor with increased sensitivity to light, but despite all the advantages of the camera on the iPhone 4, the video equipment of the iPhone 4S is even more advanced. A detailed description of the 4S smartphone model is presented in the review below.

Apple has never really shared with the general public details about the optical design of the cameras of its gadgets. The pixel, or rather, its indicator, the main and front cameras and their resolution are almost the only meager data that characterized the cameras of new smartphone models.

However, it can be assumed that the iPhone four S used the achievements of OmniVision Technologies or Sony in the form of CMOS sensors. Then these third-party developments (possibly modified and improved) were incorporated into the optical module of the iPhone 4S camera.

Among the main technical characteristics of the Quad S camera are the following:

• the optical dimensions of the sensor are 1 / 3.2 inches (the same as that of a regular four);
• pixel matrix - 8 MP (one of the main indicators of concern to users who are often interested in which camera is how many megapixels the iPhone 4S has).
• the size of the photosensitive elements is 1.4 microns.

In addition, the indisputable advantages of the four S camera, in comparison with other, earlier models of gadgets from Apple, can be considered:

• new rear lighting technology;
• improving quantum efficiency;
• increased light sensitivity when shooting in the dark;
• increasing the capacity of the potential pit.

The optics itself was improved, which also had a great impact on improving the quality of images. Namely, the manufacturer added a fifth element to the set of lenses. The aperture has been expanded from f / 2.8 to f / 2.4. The video equipment is equipped with a hybrid infrared filter.

Of course, most of the above characteristics do not mean anything to the average user. But the photos taken by the iPhone 4S model speak for themselves. The pictures are just excellent, which is noted by the majority of smartphone users from Apple of this version.

IPhone 4 cameraS: revealing details

As it was said a little above, the video equipment of the Quad S is equipped with a CMOS sensor with back lighting. What does this mean? All the details are located in the back of the sensor, the front element is not involved. Thanks to this, the matrix catches light well. The manufacturer, when releasing this model of the iPhone, stated that the light sensitivity, in comparison with the camera of the previous model, was increased by more than 70%.

As for the swinging pixels, it is important to make a reservation that the quality of the images is important not their quantity, but the quality. Of course, the more there are, the larger the photo you can print. But this also means negative aspects, such as an increase in file sizes, increased frame noise, since electrons exceed the size of microscopic, tightly packed light elements. But here the manufacturer notes that the capacity of the potential well has been increased, and each pixel will catch a certain amount of light before filling. And then a complex physical process follows, the essence of which boils down to the fact that excess electrons are removed, and the image is obtained with the highest quality.

The flash has a small size, but its capabilities are enough for 2 meters. The minimum distance to the object is set at 6 cm.

In the optics of the iPhone 4S camera, the lenses are made of plastic. This material has many disadvantages - fragility, poor heat resistance, etc. But, nevertheless, most manufacturers of mobile equipment with cameras use plastic. The reasons for this are the cheapness of the material and the possibility of creating complex spherical surfaces on its basis. Manufacturers have to make such surfaces spherical, which is simply impossible on the basis of glass.

The presence of the fifth element in a set of plastic lenses probably makes the process of light transmission more difficult, but the presence of additional optical surfaces leads to increased sharpness and reduced distortion. Apple, when launching a product called the iPhone 4S, promised to enhance the sharpness of images by 30%.

A detailed analysis of the technical characteristics of the camera of the iPhone four S model allows us to highlight additional advantages, namely:

• the presence of a central computing crystal;
• video graphics processor;
• improved white balance;
• embedded mechanism that recognizes faces;
• autofocus and autoexposure.

Considering all the above advantages of the smartphone camera from the Apple version 4S, the photos taken by it come out clean and beautiful. Moreover, the pictures are taken very quickly. Active users of the gadget of this model note that the camera of this device can be used as the main one without purchasing a camera. Of course, she is far from professional. But as a good digital camera it is quite good.

The quality of photos taken with the iPhone 4 cameraS

To a simple user, the review of the technical parameters of the camera of the iPhone four S probably seemed boring. It is more important to note that the pictures taken by her come out of excellent quality - practically without noise and excessive color saturation. If the photos taken by the usual four were oversaturated with color, and this was even presented as an advantage of the gadget's camera - almost the main feature, now the images began to resemble real views that were filmed.

It is important to note that pictures are taken by the camera of this smartphone model very quickly. After the first frame, the second can be done in less than a second. However, if you compare this parameter with professional technology, of course, the cameras of all iPhones will be far behind. Professional digital cameras are known to have optical zoom and take multiple frames in one second. The smartphone camera has only digital zoom.

In general, the photos taken by the S quad are superior in quality to those taken by its predecessor. Photos come out with more contrast, not blurry, but natural.

It should also be noted that in the four S the latest version of the operating system was installed, which made it possible to implement the function for editing photographs. To change / improve a photo or adjust it to the desired parameters, the user must go to the "Photos" section, select the pictures and click on the edit button.

What editing functions are available to the user? These are 4 main parameters:

• picture rotation;
• automatic improvement;
• pruning;
• elimination of the effect of "red eyes".

Nothing special - just like in the primitive camera of any mobile phone. However, even this modest set of functions can be extremely useful if the user wishes to improve the captured footage.

"Four" - the device, which was written to become a leader - not for nothing that the best engineers and marketers of Samsung have done everything possible and impossible for this. The new "Galaxy" has accumulated the latest ideas of smartphone construction and is ready to break all competitors :)

Operating system - Android 4.2.2
Display - 4.99 inches, 1080x1920, SuperAMOLED, Gorilla Glass 3
Processor - 8-core (4 + 4) Samsung Exynos 5410, 1600 MHz, + PowerVR SGX544MP3 video core
RAM - 2 GB
Built-in memory - 16/32/64 GB + microSD up to 64 GB
Camera - 13 MP, LED flash, autofocus, video 1920x1080, 30 fps
+ 2 MP front camera
Others - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS / GLONASS, IRDA, DLNA, HDMI / MHL
Battery - 2600 mAh
Dimensions - 69.8x136.6x7.9 mm, 130 g

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Design and features

From a design point of view, the main charm of the Galaxy S4 is that it remains a smartphone without being reborn into a huge mug :) The current trend (by the way, especially pronounced in the work of Samsung designers) is a continuous increase in screen diagonals and a passionate desire of manufacturers to get married. a smartphone with a tablet ... Personally, I already talked with some friends and colleagues who decided to kill two birds with one stone, and, obeying the fashion, acquired a huge "shovel phone" - having no technical claims to their new devices, after a while they were forced to admit that the constant wearing of such a gadget creates a lot of inconvenience and forces you to end up with an additional unpretentious phone or return to a combination of a tablet and a medium-sized smartphone ... Galaxy S4 has optimal (taking into account current trends) dimensions that fit comfortably in the palm of a homo sapiens of any gender, for which smoothed corners and low thickness contribute strongly.

It is difficult to find any special design features in the new flagship, but the device cannot be called faceless either. A polished aluminum edging runs along the edge, slightly going into the frame around the screen and giving its contour a completeness and a "metallic effect". The keys on the edges and the central physical button "Home" are made in the same style. The back cover is also plastic, already without metallization effects - under it there is a removable battery, slots for a microSIM card and a microSD flash drive.

On the front panel, almost completely occupied by the display, there are two illuminated touch buttons and a physical center. The "one step back" button is right, the menu button is left. It seems like there is nothing else, but at the top is a whole bunch of functional elements: an event light, a front camera, a light sensor, a distance / gesture sensor, a humidity sensor used in health apps.

The right side bears the on / unlock button, the left side - the volume buttons.

On the bottom there is a microUSB connector, on the top there is a headphone jack and an infrared port.

On the back cover there is a large camera eye, slightly (by a millimeter) towering over the thickness of the body, a powerful flash LED, and a speakerphone with a "pimple" that does not allow the sound to fade out when the smartphone lies on a flat surface.

On sale the gadget is available in two colors: black "Black Mist" and white "White Frost".

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Display

The 4.99-inch display of the Galaxy S4 hasn't changed much relative to the S3 in terms of dimensions, and this is incredibly pleasing - the phone, as I said, remains a phone, fits in the palms of your hands and can live in pockets. At the same time, the screen based on the SuperAMOLED matrix is ​​still the main pride of Samsung, having significantly improved its already outstanding parameters.

The highest number of pixels per inch (441) at fullHD resolution prevents a single pixel from being detected by the naked eye, making the image phenomenally smooth and detailed. Super AMOLED also demonstrates its widest viewing angles and the ability to display truly black, and not replace it with shades of gray. At the same time, the current screen, as stated, has become a quarter more energy-efficient than the previous SuperAMOLED-matrices, and is protected by a new generation of Gorilla Glass 3, which is also twice as thin!

Also, the screen became sensitive to the touch of gloved fingers (up to moderately thick winter gloves) ...

…. and the color gamut can be adjusted with one click for different tasks, which will obviously please a small number of those strange people who for some reason are unhappy with the main feature of "amoled" - super-expressive juiciness!

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: System / user interface

The device runs Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean", enhanced by the user interface from Samsung Touch Wiz- "Nature UX". It will not be difficult for anyone who has already dealt with Android to understand it.

Five desktops and five shortcut buttons at the bottom of the screen:

Notifications and quick settings panel, displayed as a slide from top to bottom:

Combining icons into folders:

Running applications panel:

So that the settings do not go like a continuous vertical "sausage", for ease of navigation they were divided into 4 sections - "Connections", "My device", "Accounts" and "Options":

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Interesting features

In this section, we'll share some interesting hardware and software features that set the Galaxy S4 apart from other smartphones.

Multi-window mode. In this mode, you can display two independently running applications on a halved screen. To do this, you need to hook your finger on the "tongue" sticking out from the left groan of the screen, and pull out into the light of day the strip-list with programs hidden there. Then choose from it in turn two applications that you would like to see at the same time. For example, a movie is played on one screen, a website is open on the other in a browser:

Instant preview. The function allows you to activate elements on the screen in preview mode without touching the screen with your finger, but only bringing it closer to the display glass. The mode is activated in the menu in the section "Input and management" and is called there "Guidance". This speeds up moving through the contents of the phone - you can, without opening completely, see thumbnails of pictures in the album, read SMS text that does not fit on the screen in the list of messages, etc. Also, when you bring your finger, the links in the browser increase, full names appear in the speed dial contacts, an indication of the progress of a process pops up. The desired settings for the touch-up response can be adjusted in the menu.

Why is this necessary if you can touch and just open ?! The fact is that this way you can speed up your actions due to the fact that you do not have to open this or that file or message, and then spend an extra click on the screen in order to return to the general list. After you lift your finger, the pop-up preview menu automatically disappears, which is very convenient if you are looking for something you need among the many similar ones and in a hurry.

Smart pause. The face recognition function, which appeared many years ago in cameras, has later expanded its application by being used in smartphones as an intelligent lock - when the phone recognizes the face of its owner. Another application for this feature is found in multimedia - a face recognition element in the Galaxy S4 called "Smart Pause". This mode is also activated in the menu in the section "Input and management" and is called there "Smart screen". When it is in video player mode (in both landscape and landscape orientations), the phone automatically pauses playback when you turn away from the screen. It works in a funny way, but not always correctly, and even the short guide describes a number of conditions under which Smart Pause can react inappropriately. Therefore, this function, of course, should be recognized as progressive and interesting, but still somewhat damp.

Smart scrolling. A function that works on the same principle as "smart pause" - the front camera recognizes a face and tracks its movements. With the help of “smart scrolling”, you can “flip through” web pages or text of letters.

Infrared port. Finally, this feature is making a comeback in portable gadgets! Forgotten as a hopeless and slow data transfer interface, today it is reborn as a means of controlling household appliances, significantly expanding the capabilities of a smartphone! Unlike Sony Xperia ZL, in which the infrared diode is located on the side end, and the phone had to be held in landscape position with both hands, in the Galaxy S4 it is located at the top end, and the device fits comfortably in the palm of your hand - just like a regular remote control. In the WatchON application menu, you select the type of equipment you want to control, as well as the manufacturer's brand, after which the phone turns into a convenient universal lazy person.

Group Play. This app is one of many ways to share files, where devices connect via proximity and NFC enabled, and then transfer content over Wi-Fi. With the help of Group Play, you can exchange music, photos, documents and play games, and such a service would hardly have been worth mentioning, if not for its unusual function. Thanks to it, the music file on several Galaxy S4s can be played synchronously - simultaneously, amplifying the sound as many times as the Galaxy S4 are connected to the group. A kind of "musical flash mob" or local voice acting for a disco at a picnic. Funny, no more - but very original!

Gesture control

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Main functions

There are no special revolutions in terms of basic system functions in the Galaxy S4: everyone familiar with Android will quickly figure out what's what - and, in general, this section can be safely skipped. Its purpose is only to be able to make sure of the presence (or, which happens much more often - the absence) of any significant differences in the software functionality and its appearance from other "androids". I, in turn (as I always try to do it), will go through the main functions "diagonally" so as not to tire you "over 9000" of boring and unnecessary screenshots.

File manager

Alarm

Voice recorder / calculator

Video player

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Camera

As I recently wrote in one of the reviews, if we talk about smartphone cameras, then there is really no difference in the quality of shooting between 12-megapixel cameras 3-4 years old and modern flagships in most cases. The experiments of Nokia and HTC with ultra-large sensors and optical stabilization are somewhat aloof, but in their pure form, all top smartphones today shoot the same way - for example, between the pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z (both cameras with a resolution of 13 megapixels), I do not notice any noticeable differences found ... Therefore, speaking of cameras in smartphones-leaders, it is worth evaluating first of all the speed and various special effects interesting, which Galaktika has a lot! Let's start with the menu though!

The S4's camera interface is a delight to the eyes. No dull tables and inexpressive pictograms on a black background, the menus of which nine out of ten users never even opened. Instead, there is a visual carousel of pictures with short but intelligible explanations for all the most necessary chips and cartoons, of which there are a dozen:

Auto, Night, Sports, Panorama, Series, HDR, Live Photo, Sound & Photo, Best Face, Best Photo, Retouch, Eraser".

By the way, I immediately remembered the old clay era of the first mass digital cameras, and my first digital cameras, when I changed the two-megapixel Canon PowerShot A60 to the same fashionable two-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-S20U microcompact. After the dreary Canon alphanumeric menu, I was in awe of the bright and vibrant pictures that illustrated the functions in the Casio interface! In the case of the Galaxy S4, the same pleasant feeling!

The performance of the cameras of most smartphones is categorically insufficient, especially taking into account the very concept of mobile photography, when it is precisely the presence of a phone in your pocket or even in your hand that allows you to take pictures as soon as an interesting situation or object arises. As long as the camera focuses and clicks, the train has, as a rule, whistled and left ... Samsung Galaxy S4 in this sense offers fundamentally different possibilities - its camera is extremely fast! Holding down the shutter button triggers a continuous series of shots (until you remove your finger from the shutter, the maximum is 20) - this allows you to take photos that are inaccessible to other smartphones. Effectively shoot a person running on "jolly jumpers", or a rushing car, so that you can then read its number and see the details - even such, not too, in general, extreme tasks that are beyond the reach of the overwhelming number of phones. But not the Galaxy S4!

The "Dual Camera" mode, for which there is a separate button on the display, allows you to take two pictures (with the main camera and the front camera aimed at the photographer himself), and superimpose one on top of the other. A tourist's dream! In general, there is nothing tricky about this - you can take two pictures and then reduce and combine them in any editor on your computer - even in Paint. However, in reality, to obtain such a photo collage, you will need a lot of small and tedious actions - take pictures, merge them to a computer, combine them with a dozen or two mouse clicks ... In the case of Galaxy S4, you get a cool photo effect with one touch of the screen - an excellent example of ingenious simplicity using an idea lying on the surface - bravo!

Galaxy S4 is generally perfectly tailored for tourism - many who are tired of dragging along behind a guide with a weighty DSLR, or systematically charging a soap dish battery, will appreciate it! Perfectly implemented in a smartphone, for example, the effect called "Eraser", which allows you to remove interfering noise from the photo - people passing in front of landmarks or passing cars, obscuring the subject of shooting. To do this, the camera takes a series of shots, determines where the background is stationary and where the moving object is, and replaces the moving object with a background “patch” taken from another frame, where the interference is already in a different place.

Another gorgeous feature is “motion capture”. The effect is based on the same principle as removing noise from the frame - the camera takes a series of shots, determines where the background is stationary and where the moving object is, after which it creates a kind of collage, when the moving object is superimposed on the background several times, forming a trajectory.

Also, tourists will no doubt like the “sound photo” mode. This is something from the category of "Dual Camera" - it is simple, lies on the surface, but spectacular! When using this mode, the smartphone takes a photo by recording a short piece of audio to it. Multimedia is very primitive, but it looks really better than a video clip of the same length, because it has a certain completeness and integrity, and is perceived very naturally.

Other highlights include a Live Photo mode that lets you create cool gif animations, Smart Best Face and Best Photo modes, HDR shooting, and more.

To summarize the "camera" theme, you can do this - with a physical shutter button and optical stabilization, photography in the S4 could be considered flawlessly referenced by placing the smartphone in the Chamber of Weights and Measures, next to the standards of the kilogram, meter, spherical horse in vacuum and other ideal gizmos ... But even without this, I confidently give him the first place among smartphone cameras for outstanding performance and a lot of interesting and really useful chips under the control of a simple and intuitive menu!

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Performance and nutrition

The predecessor, Samsung Galaxy S3, had two versions - 4-core without LTE support and dual-core with LTE. The latter went to the American market, the first to the rest, including Russia. The current flagship, which is typical, is also presented in two guises and both options will be presented in the Russian sale:

The Sotovik test was tested by the first version, the main and most sonorous slogan of which was the “eight-core processor”, which had never been seen before in portable devices. Speaking about this eight-core, it is worth noting a certain "hybridity" - the crystal is made up of two quad-core chips: 4 powerful Cortex-A15 1.6 GHz cores and 4 less powerful Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz cores. The purpose of this octet (or a tandem of quartets? :)) is to flexibly reallocate power between tasks for maximum performance on the one hand, and maximum energy efficiency on the other.

At the same time, again going back in my mind a year ago, it is worth noting that the performance of its predecessor - Galaxy S3 - caused real admiration! In we simulated real conditions of actual multitasking - by installing it on the windshield of a car, we simultaneously launched GPS navigation on it, a video recorder program that records video in HD, as well as an audio player from which the signal was removed to the car radio using a jack-jack cord. And the device easily pulled them all at the same time, demonstrating excellent performance.

It is simply pointless to carry out such a test with the Galaxy S4 - the power has grown, despite the fact that there have been no radical changes in terms of the demands on smartphone resources in the range of Android software for a year. I can't even imagine how to load the smartphone even harder to make sure of its performance ... Therefore, the Galaxy S4 deservedly and by a large margin topped the ratings of all existing benchmark programs, and the owner can be sure of the absolute power flawlessness of his device.

Also, returning to the characteristics of its predecessor, it is worth noting that the third Galaxy was regularly mentioned by us in tests of other devices, as a kind of comparative standard of energy efficiency, which it demonstrated on the playback of a sample film, while retaining 87% of its battery with a capacity of 2100 mA / h. Almost no one could surpass him.

Let's check the Galaxy S4 on the same test - we charge the battery to 100%, reboot the device to clear the memory of clogging programs, turn off all wireless interfaces, except for cellular communication, set the screen brightness and volume to maximum. We launch a movie in AVI format, which lasts 1 hour 23 minutes and weighs 1.45 GB. After completing the film, we look at the remaining battery charge using the visual and free utility "Battery" from Google Play:

The “four” has increased the diagonal of the screen (slightly), the density of pixels per inch (significantly), the processor power, but the battery capacity has also increased in comparison with the “three” by 23%. Therefore, 89% of the balance is an excellent result. It is possible with a clear conscience to announce a new record, which, as I predict, will be very difficult for competitors to beat (low-performance devices with obscenely large thickness, of course, do not count).

Samsung Galaxy S4 :: Review :: Impressions and conclusions

Samsung has long dreamed of “becoming the same as Apple,” and I must say that it succeeded in the era of the famous Galaxy S3. And now the position is radically entrenched with the advent of the Galaxy S4. You no longer need to prove anything to anyone and argue - everything has already been proven and all that remains is to enjoy the record-breaking sales and the continuous clinking of coins, as in the popular toy "Subway Surfers" ... :)

No, of course, there are and will be competitors. The large army of Apple fans is not prone to apostasy and may double in the future due to budget iPhones, Sony quickly proved to everyone that a high-tech and glamorous flagship can be waterproof, forcing many to think about it at the stage of choosing a smartphone, and Nokia's photo experiments clearly bother competitors, although they try to make a dismissive complexion ... Therefore, of course, it is impossible to calm down on what has been achieved ... However, I am sure Samsung does not need to be reminded of the obvious.

The obvious advantages of the Galaxy S4 are solid uncompromising perfection: a powerful processor filling, a super display, a megacamera, a balance of dimensions and longevity on a single battery charge, a lot of interesting software functions. The disadvantages include only two choices (4 cores, but with LTE or 8, but without), which from a marketing point of view looks like a kind of “blurring of the product's position” and somewhat strains the consumer: “can there be some kind of compromise, if goes super-duper-flagship ?! ". But this minus, of course, is outweighed by the pluses with a devastating score - all current and future owners of the new Korean flagship can be safely congratulated on a good choice!

Traditionally, let's look at the camera capabilities of the flagship of the line from Samsung in a separate article, and at the same time talk about the possibilities when using it, since there are plenty of them in the device. To begin with, this is the second time Samsung has used not its own camera module, but from Sony - an EXMOR R matrix is ​​installed here, which in theory is similar to that used in Xperia Z. But this device uses completely different image processing algorithms, so the final result is very different in some conditions. A detailed comparison of the pictures of these phones will not be given below (for Sony in Russia, the situation is such that phone samples do not reach us, only prototypes are available for official announcements). Here we will talk specifically about the Galaxy S4 camera and compare it with the Apple iPhone 5, HTC One, Galaxy S3.

Control, camera interface

The phone does not have a dedicated key to control the camera, you have to shoot using the screen the old fashioned way. But for those who are worried about this, they provided the opportunity to reassign the volume key - it can serve for digital zoom (by default), taking photos (that is, replacing the usual key) or shooting video. In the settings, you specify the type of control that you need. Of course, this does not replace a separate key, but it serves as a compromise that will help you come to terms with its absence.

The technical characteristics of the camera are typical for the flagship of 2013 - a 13-megapixel matrix with BSI backlit, 2.4 aperture, ISO 100 to 800 in manual settings (from 50 to 1000 in automatic).

The second change is the absence of the “Visibility on the street” mode, which increases the brightness and contrast of the screen to make the picture better visible when shooting. The Galaxy S4's display is better visible at all settings than previous models and matches the Outdoor View mode. It turns out that the device wins on the whole, and no additional options for setting up the screen are offered in the shooting mode. Good or bad, I won't say, everyone here will decide on their own - this did not cause me any inconvenience.

The display is a huge plus for the Galaxy S4, as its HD resolution and high brightness, contrast allow you to display images favorably, they look very high quality on the screen. On any computer, they no longer look so advantageous, and this exactly repeats the situation with the Galaxy Camera (everything was exactly the same there). However, exactly the same can be said for SGS3 - the display greatly embellishes the pictures and their real brightness and vitality. Looking at the pictures on the Galaxy S4 screen, you understand that they are not just winning, but the device has no competitors - in reality, of course, this is not so, and the gain in quality is not so noticeable, especially when compared on a PC - but it is still is present.

Autofocus is quite fast, but different from that on the Galaxy S3 (smaller autofocus window, focusing takes a little longer). When you start the camera, you can start shooting almost immediately, while the increased processor power makes it possible to shoot dozens of frames per second. When the device is locked, the “Camera” application remains in the memory for several minutes, then it closes (the time of the repeated call is less than a second). It will take very little time to launch the Camera application with a customized shortcut - 1-2 seconds, and you can shoot.

The camera interface has not undergone any special changes - it is possible to both shoot video and receive photos from the main screen. In the quick settings menu, basic parameters can be adjusted, while additional options are hidden in the menu. The number of additional functions has been greatly reduced, on the other hand, all the innovations of the device are connected, as a rule, with the front camera (simultaneous shooting of video, photos, video calls). I absolutely did not like the fact that such important functions as white balance and exposure were taken out to the additional menu, they cannot be called up quickly, but it so happens that they are needed. This is a disadvantage for those who use such settings, but as they say in the company, their research shows that such a minority.

By default, ISO is set to Auto, but you can choose from values ​​of 100, 200, 400 and 800 units. There is an interesting option in the settings - automatic detection of insufficient lighting. When this option is enabled, the phone automatically switches to night mode.

The digital zoom x4 has not changed in any way compared to the previous models, only when zooming in, the degree of magnification is now indicated (1.x and so on up to 4), this was not the case before. It has become more convenient, but in real life these numbers are not so important. An example of a zoom can be found below.

In macro mode, as usual, the camera is at its best, this is one of the most successful modes for most phones, and the device from Samsung is no exception. Good elaboration of details, high-quality rendering of the foreground.

The LED flash is not very powerful, it gives out blue in some cases (in the photos with me it is clearly visible on the wall). On the other hand, no one expects high artistry from pictures with a flash (First, there are photos without a flash).

And here is a comparison in a normal street with other phones, in my opinion, the gain in almost all the shots is obvious (more details, inscriptions are better distinguishable, more correct color rendering - on average, the result is better for S4 almost always). However, you can compare the pictures yourself and draw completely opposite conclusions.

Particular emphasis was placed on shooting in low light conditions, as this became a priority for other manufacturers and Samsung decided to keep up. I cannot say that a miracle or a revolution was made here - the pictures just look better than in the Galaxy S3, and this is very noticeable. In the examples of such shooting (as usual, on the machine), you can see that each photo from the S4 has more detail. For example, signs are visible, the lights are not blurred, and there is less noise. Also, colors and shadows are displayed more correctly, there is no overexposure of images and the corresponding destruction of details. That is, it can be argued that the images have become much better in quality, and this can be seen even without close examination. Nevertheless, one cannot say that night photography is somehow especially good or that there has been a qualitative leap forward. Today, none of the manufacturers of cameras in mobile phones can provide excellent quality shooting in low light conditions.

I was struck by another moment in the S4 camera, in the S3 it was impossible to focus on the flame of a burning candle, while the new device can do it and the pictures are typical. This is one of the demonstrations of how the camera has been slightly improved for most of the modes.

For those who like to photograph documents, you can see a comparison of how different cameras shoot text.

Also photo shots indoors.

Sample photos, Samsung Galaxy S4:

Additional shooting modes

The phone has several options for effects that can be applied to a photo, but it is pointless to use them, because in the photo editor you will achieve exactly the same without destroying the original picture. The effects are as follows: Vignette, Gray-scale, Sepia, Vintage, Turquoise, Rainbow, Comic, Gothic Noir, Fish Eye. The last of the effects is not available in the built-in editor, but it can be achieved in third-party programs.

Eraser mode allows you to remove moving objects from the picture (people in a crowd or cars in the background). The phone takes a few pictures and then highlights in pink the area in which, it assumes, and there are "extra" items. If you are satisfied with the result, then you can delete them and see the picture without them.

Ordinary panoramas can be shot in the usual way - take the first shot and then move the camera to the left or right, trying not to tilt it vertically. There is no novelty here, and everything is pretty familiar. Shooting a 360-degree panorama is quite another matter. You take a picture of the starting point and then move the phone to the desired points that are displayed on the screen. On the street, this kind of dance looks very strange, a person is spinning at one point with a phone in his hands. The final result is a three-dimensional panorama, it is not always obtained with high quality, sometimes the same pieces are superimposed. But the final result on the phone can be twisted in different directions, that is, the picture is voluminous with a round hole in the upper part. On a computer, such a picture looks like a regular photo, there is no volume (in special software, you can twist it, like in a phone, but is it necessary).

Of course, this option is additional and by no means the most important - very few people will use it.

Perhaps, the Drama mode should be attributed to the same additional features - in 4 seconds the camera takes a hundred pictures (a mind-boggling number) and then highlights all stages of movement, for example, a person's jump. And in the final shot, all this is glued into one photo. Just walking in the frame is not enough for this mode to work.

Snapshot with audio commentary - in JPEG, in addition to information about the picture, a small video is recorded up to 9 seconds. In practice, it looks like this: you shoot and then dictate the note. It is very simple and convenient. For now, you can listen to such comments in KIES (new version) or on the phone itself (this functionality is not supported in previous models, but the snapshot itself opens perfectly). I'm not sure that the function will become massive, but such a combined view of notes (notes - where the photo is accompanied by sound) looks very interesting. How such pictures can be played on a PC is not very clear.

A cinematic photo (cinematic photo) is a recording of a GIF file with a size of several MB and a resolution of 800x450 pixels, in which you can choose the direction of movement for individual objects (!), Their immobility, and so on. For young people, this feature will be very cool.

Taking photos from two cameras at the same time allows you to expose the window for the front camera (this is a kind of sticker), you can get pictures from two angles. It may be interesting to create a kind of postcards or diaries. In everyday photography, this function is definitely not needed.

HDR (Rich Tone) mode is almost impossible to test in the absence of the sun - but at first glance, there are no special improvements compared to what it was.

Video recording and new features

The maximum video resolution is 1980x1020 pixels (30 frames per second). The recording quality has improved compared to the Galaxy S3, but it was interesting to compare with the iPhone 5 and HTC One, an example of such a comparison is provided below.

You can record video from two cameras at once, which allows you to create a dialogue effect. Or, on the contrary, walk down the street to slander something and show what is happening around. These are additional features that you shouldn't focus on. But someone might like them.

• An example of video recording from two cameras simultaneously (MP4, 46 MB) >>>

Impressions

I'll start from afar. I use Instagram all the time, where I already have over a thousand photos. The most common question people ask is "what are these pictures taken with?" Most do not believe that the camera of a mobile phone, in my case, the Galaxy S3, is so capable of shooting. Many are trying to bring me to clean water, and such fighters for the truth appear weekly. If I received one hundred rubles for each question about what these photos were taken with, then I would definitely earn a good monthly increase in my salary.

For me, the choice of the Galaxy S3 was not least dictated by the fact that with this phone I have freedom in photography - a lot of settings (which is not at all in the iPhone, there is only one option - to take a photo), guaranteed average quality and excellent quality in sufficient lighting. In fact, the S3 is the benchmark for image quality, it is one of the most popular models with such a high-quality camera (Note 2 can be considered an analogue). In the mass unconscious, a high-quality camera is considered one in the iPhone, although it clearly does not reach the level of the Galaxy S3 (I foresee outraged screams, but what can you do, this is the reality).

Basically, for most phone users, the quality of photos is determined only by how they are displayed on the phone screen. And here Samsung always has a win, since the quality and diagonal of the screens are much better and higher than those of competitors (not only the number of dots per inch plays a role, but also the diagonal of the screen). First of all, we must talk about the victory over the iPhone, although given that the majority of the quality of the photos on the latter are completely satisfied, this does not matter.

For me, the transition from the 8-megapixel camera of the Galaxy S3 to the S4 with its 13-megapixels was very easy and simple, no inconvenience, except that the exposure adjustment, which is necessary when shooting at night, was taken out to the far menu. Additional modes are clearly aimed at young people who will be happy to play with two cameras, create animated pictures and the like. This is de facto entertaining, additional content that is useless to rate in terms of likes / dislikes. I'm not sure mature consumers can do this. For example, my children, playing with the animation recording, very quickly found a use for it and said that this is a cool feature that most of them will like in their class. And they began to ask for an opportunity to bring a phone to show how it works. That is, we can say that schoolchildren are attracted by this, and there are a lot of such chips in the device, some of them will catch on and allow them to talk about the phone. This is a kind of entertainment.

I am pleased that while looking for additional functions that are not always serious, Samsung has not forgotten about the quality of the main function - the camera did not start shooting worse, it became better (color rendition, resolution, detail). Once again, Samsung was able to create a reference product that sets the tone for the market by this parameter - I hope no one will argue that other manufacturers do not have comparable cameras on the Android market, or they appear much later. In fact, we can say that the competition is between the iPhone and Galaxy, while other manufacturers are only trying to wedge themselves into this battle. It is still impossible to assess the quality of HTC One (there is no final hardware, there is still no), and Nokia Lumia 920 is such a niche device with limited additional functionality that it should not be seriously considered (and it has been proven many times that the quality of the images is mediocre, only night photography is extended to another level, which is not necessary for most people). We will try to make a complete photo comparison of different flagships and phones with good cameras in order to see who wins this competition, although such a comparison will be crafty (only a few choose a camera, most look at the combination of characteristics, and the failure of Nokia 808 sales is proof of this).

For me personally, the camera in the phone is important, and therefore the selection is always careful what to take and what to use. The conscious choice of the Galaxy S3 in terms of the totality of characteristics became possible thanks to the camera, with the S4, apparently, the same story will happen, unless Apple in the next model can do the impossible - but there is little hope for this, the company's calculation is to “point and shoot”, and This means that many camera modes will simply not be implemented, and Apple's experience in this area is simply not enough, unlike Samsung, which produces a large number of different cameras.

In total, in one word - like it. The camera in the S4 is excellent and outperforms other phones, as this comparison proves. Considering that the product will be very massive, you can expect that people will have more good quality photos, which is welcome.

Smartphone manufacturers do a lot to impress users with the quality of their photos. Whereas Nokia added a super camera to a smartphone, Samsung decided to do the opposite - add an Android smartphone to the camera. The result is Galaxy Zoom - not very convenient for making calls or surfing the Internet, but very interesting for those who constantly take pictures. Whether the capabilities of his camera are worth the compromises in terms of convenience, Vesti.Hi-tech figured out.

Recall that almost a year ago, Samsung already experimented with Android on a camera - they took a compact ultrazoom WB850F and crossed it with the flagship Galaxy S III. The result is a very powerful device with a record 21x optical zoom with stabilization. They called it honestly - Galaxy Camera and deprived of the ability to make calls. To make it clear - this is not a smartphone, this is a camera. In our review, we that the idea is great, but the implementation let us down. Has Samsung learned any lessons this time around? Could the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom be the only device in the hobby photographer's pocket, combining the functions of a phone, an Internet Communicator, a camera and an imaging device?

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom

• Operating system: Android 4.2.2, TouchWiz interface
• Processor: Samsung Exynos 4210, two ARM Cortex-A9 cores @ 1.5 GHz
• Display: 4.3 ", 960x540, AMOLED
• Camera: main - 16 megapixels, optical zoom 10x, flash, 1080p video recording; front 1.9 megapixels
• Memory: drive 8 GB, 1.5 GB of RAM, slot for microSD (up to 64 GB)
• Communications: cellular communication 2G, 3G; Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.0, infrared, microUSB 2.0, NFC
• Battery: removable 2330 mAh
• Dimensions, weight: 125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm (thickness indicated at thinnest point), 208 g

Appearance, ergonomics
With the Galaxy S4 Zoom, everything is different than with the Galaxy Camera - from the "front" part it is clearly a smartphone, and it is immediately clear which one is the Galaxy S 4 mini. The appearance is typical for all the latest "Samsung", the "family" features that have found an ideal embodiment in the Galaxy S 4, the company is trying to transfer to all devices of the Galaxy line, not excluding even full-size tablets:

The device is enclosed in a fairly compact, at least in width and length (125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm, and in the thickest place - almost 3 cm), a large body for a smartphone, but the weight permissible for a "photomiler" - 208 grams. The body uses two types of plastic - glossy white and "silver metal". Neither its appearance nor tactile sensations cause any special delight - everything is exactly the same as in the vast majority of other Galaxy devices of 2013.

On the screen side, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is a typical smartphone, with proximity / light sensors above the display, microphone, earpiece and even a front camera. From all other points of view, this is clearly a camera. The lens with a 10x zoom and a ring for zooming in / out of the picture folds into a small "pancake", there is an extension on the right for easy holding, flash and illumination, everything is as it should be for inexpensive photo compacts. Unlike a smartphone, the device is not very convenient to carry in a jeans pocket - the pocket is pulled back a lot, but in the pocket of a jacket or jacket it is another matter.

If you turn the Galaxy S4 Zoom horizontally, like a camera - and this is primarily a camera, no matter what Samsung marketers say - then on the upper edge on the right we will have a large and convenient shutter release button, and on the left there are traditionally "smartphone" narrow power buttons / lock and volume rocker.

Bottom - protected by a plastic "plug" thread for a tripod, an eyelet for a strap and a slot for a microSD card, on the right - a microUSB port and a cover that hides a battery and a SIM card. Finally, on the left is the headphone jack and infrared port.

Screen, filling
If the Galaxy Camera had a large, 4,7-inch display with HD-resolution, then in the Galaxy S4 Zoom everything is more modest - Samsung decided to limit itself to a 4.3-inch AMOLED matrix with a small resolution of 960 by 540 pixels. In the year when FullHD screens in smartphones have become commonplace, this is not only unimpressive, but also frustrating. Unless the high contrast and brightness of the AMOLED matrix or the fact that it is protected by the most advanced shock-resistant glass from Cornig - Gorilla Glass 3 - will comfort you.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom resembles the Galaxy S4 mini not only externally, but internally as well. An Exynos 4212 system-on-a-chip with two ARM Cortex-A9 processor cores was chosen as the processor. The core frequency is 1.5 GHz, and the RAM is 1.5 gigabytes. Built-in memory - 8 gigabytes (about 5 available), which is very little, given the large amount of Samsung system software. It's good that there is support for microSD cards with a capacity of up to 64 GB. The battery capacity has grown significantly compared to the Galaxy Camera - up to 2,330 mAh from 1,650, if you wish, you can buy a replaceable battery and not worry about the autonomy of the device at all.

The hardware of the device is quite enough for the comfortable operation of Android 4.2. Perhaps, in some advanced games, the Galaxy S4 Zoom will not demonstrate outstanding results, but this is not its "profile" either - it is inconvenient to keep it in the "play" position due to the specific shape of the case. The interface works without "brakes", despite the very "heavy" add-on from Samsung - TouchWiz. But the camera starts up slowly, and it is unlikely that the processor is "to blame" here, rather the software is not optimized enough. The sensor size is 1 / 2.3 ", the same as that of the Galaxy Camera and most of the less advanced" photographic cameras ".

Taking photos and videos
The main thing in such a device, of course, is taking photos. You can shoot using the on-screen buttons in the standard Camera application, or, much more conveniently, using the large two-stage shutter button. The zoom is adjusted again from the screen, or with the help of the ring that surrounds the lens.

The photography software used in the Galaxy S4 Zoom is largely unchanged from the Galaxy S4. By default, the camera shoots in automatic mode, you can select the size and aspect ratio of the frame. The maximum possible resolution is 16 megapixels at a 4: 3 aspect ratio and 14 megapixels at a 16: 9 aspect ratio. Videos can be shot in FullHD at 30 frames, 720p at 60 or 30, or if you want to make it as light as possible, in VGA mode.

There are many shooting scenarios available in smart scene mode - Macro, Food, Night, Landscape, and more. - more than two dozen in total, including "smart" modes with the choice of one frame from several shot in a row and the ability to remove foreign objects or bystanders from the frame. Finally, Galaxy Zoom, like the flagship of the Samsung smartphone line, can simultaneously shoot with the main and rear cameras.

Now about the main thing, about the quality of photos. At the maximum resolution - 16 megapixels, if you shoot a 4: 3 frame - Galaxy Zoom is the record holder among smartphones. The 10x zoom isn't nearly as impressive as the 21x zoom in the Galaxy Camera, but it's essentially the only thing worth buying a device for. The zoom lens significantly expands the photo capabilities of the device, no other smartphone is capable of this yet.

But the quality of the images itself - in terms of color rendering, dynamics, clarity - is fundamentally no different from what the flagships of the Samsung smartphone line - Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 3 are capable of. there is no special win. At high sensitivity values ​​(ISO 800 and above), the Zoom picture is noisy, which indicates the use of a fairly budget matrix. But in the "photosmartphone" the flash is implemented very well, the photos illuminated by it do not have an unnatural shade.

Another important disadvantage of Zoom as a camera is that due to imperfect, to put it mildly, ergonomics and slow launch of the Camera application (about three seconds before you can take the first picture), you can catch good moments with the Galaxy S4 Zoom - for example, photographing children or animals - hard. Using manual settings (exposure, aperture, white balance, exposure metering and ISO are set) or switching scene modes in the application is inconvenient, Samsung software is also unergonomic.

Using the zoom lens ring is also much more convenient than zooming in or out in the app. By turning the ring, you can also call up the "camera" application, but there is no quick way to start taking photos right from standby mode, from a locked device. This is despite the fact that in various forms it is available on almost all modern phones equipped with a dedicated button for taking photos.

Zoom, of course, can shoot video as well, but its quality is not impressive - any smartphone worth the same money is capable of about the same. Yes, a smartphone will not be able to realize a 10x zoom of a picture right during shooting, but the hero of this review does not cope with such a task perfectly. When you turn the lens ring while shooting a video, the picture begins to approach in jerks, the device often loses focus and starts looking for it again, turning on the backlight if necessary. Finally, the noise of the lens motor is perfectly audible in the video, even if you activate the function to reduce it in the settings. In short, it is far from ideal.

The gallery of pictures from the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom can be viewed by this link.

Another option is to use it "for business". For example, an employee of an insurance company can make high-quality images of damage right from the scene of an accident and immediately send them to the office. Or, for example, Galaxy Zoom can be used by an assistant director who selects locations for filming.

In any case, let me remind you once again: the main difference between Samsung's photo curiosity and other smartphones is its 10x zoom. If you do not need it, then any smart phone, iPhone 5c /, or, will be a more reasonable purchase. Recently, another completely new opportunity to take mobile photography to a new level appeared - "smartographs" from Sony, which are, in fact, a whole camera that fits into a high-quality lens, with a high-quality matrix and can work in conjunction with a smartphone in real time. Vesti.Hi-tech will soon tell about this new product in the review, we are already testing the device.

Purchase, conclusions
At the start of sales in the summer, Samsung set the price of the Galaxy S4 Zoom at the same level as the Galaxy S4 mini - 19,990 rubles. It was no longer too ambitious, and now the device (with an official guarantee) has dropped in Moscow to about 17,000 rubles. Zoom has no direct competitors, but at the same time, it is quite difficult to recommend it as a photo smartphone - as a smartphone it is very inconvenient, while the quality of photos, if viewed even on a FullHD TV display, does not surpass the Gqalaxy S4 or the latest models iPhone. The only (and unique) advantage is the optical zoom. It is this, for sure, that will become a decisive factor in making a purchase decision. Those who want to have a strong optical zoom in a smartphone will surely appreciate the device at its true worth. The rest should look at other solutions for advanced mobile photography - fortunately, there are more and more of them lately.

Samsung has clearly done a tremendous amount of work on Zoom - after all, no one ever conceived Android as a camera operating system, so the Korean engineers must have done a lot of things from scratch. However, for the device to become truly attractive to consumers, the company still needs to do at least two things. The first is to improve the quality of images to the level of advanced compact cameras (read: put a large sensor in a photo smartphone, like the Sony RX 100). The second is to drastically reduce the time between the moment when the user reaches for the camera to take a picture, and when this picture was taken. To do this, you need not only to optimize the software, ensuring faster camera readiness, but also to provide a way to more or less instantly start shooting from a locked device. And the interface of the main photo application on Samsung devices is still hopelessly inferior to competitors both in design and, most importantly, in ease of use.

So, let's summarize.

Pros:

• The only optical zoom device on the market with which you can make calls
• It is convenient to take pictures and immediately process them in any application
• "Living" battery

Minuses:

• Poor ergonomics
• Slow start camera
• The quality of pictures and videos is usually no better than that of modern flagship smartphones.