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Aloysius Low/CNET
Samsung’s unusual Galaxy K Zoom smartphone — which features a 10x optical zoom lens — goes on sale in the UK tomorrow, the Galaxy S5 -maker has confirmed, available to snap up from Carphone Warehouse, Samsung’s own-brand shops and some online and high-street retailers.
The Galaxy K Zoom (the K stands for “camera” apparently), was first glimpsed earlier this year, and is Samsung’s second attempt at melding a smartphone with a high-zooming digital camera. Last year’s Galaxy S4 Zoom managed decent image quality, but its bulky frame and sluggish performance meant it only achieved a measly three stars in our in-depth review .
Samsung Galaxy K Zoom gets you closer (pictures)
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The K Zoom isn’t exactly the slimmest phone we’ve ever seen, measuring 20.2mm at its thinnest point, but has ditched the chunky plastic hand-grip that made the S4 Zoom so cumbersome. In our hands-on my colleague Joshua Goldman said that the K Zoom, “Feels more natural to use as a phone and a camera.”
The camera unit has a 20.7-megapixel sensor, while a more modest 2-megapixel camera can be found on the front. The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat, which is the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, is powered by a hexa-core chip, and has a 4.8-inch 1,280×720 pixel display.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but with all that hardware, don’t expect the K Zoom to be cheap. I’d advise giving it a try in the shop before buying, to see how you handle its chunky frame.
Are you tempted to buy? Stick your thoughts in the comments.
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