The Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom is a rework of the Galaxy Camera from last year, and it’s based on theGalaxy S4 mini, rather than the Galaxy S III. While shooting photos may be one of the primary goals of the S4 zoom, the device is a proper smartphone.
It’s got a slightly bigger battery than the S4 mini – 2,330mAh vs. 1,900mAh – but the chipset is older, let’s see how that balances out.
The Galaxy S4 zoom lasted 15 and a half hours of calling on a 3G network. That’s right between the S4 mini and the big Galaxy S4 (no coincidence as the battery capacity of the zoom is in the middle too). So, while it may be a bit awkward, you can talk for hours and hours on the Galaxy S4 zoom without running out of battery.
Talk time
- Huawei Ascend Mate25:12
- Sony Xperia SP19:49
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)18:03
- Samsung Galaxy Note II N710016:57
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Active16:40
- Sony Xperia Z16:03
- Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom15:32
- LG Optimus G15:30
- Sony Xperia ZL15:22
- Nokia Lumia 72015:17
- Nokia Lumia 62014:17
- Oppo Find 514:17
- Pantech Burst4:46
The S4 mini turned out to be one of the best performer in the Web browser test and while the Galaxy S4 zoom couldn’t match it, it still did a respectable 8 hours 51 minutes (an hour less than the mini). The screens are the same – 4.3″ Super AMOLED with qHD resolution – so we suspect the older Cortex-A9 chipset is to blame for the difference (the S4 mini has a more efficient Snapdragon chipset).
Web browsing
- HTC One9:58
- Apple iPhone 59:56
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini9:47
- Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)9:12
- Apple iPad mini9:05
- Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom8:51
- Samsung Galaxy Note II N71008:48
- BlackBerry Q108:42
- Nokia Lumia 8108:20
- Asus Padfone 28:20
- Huawei Ascend Mate8:17
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus3:01
Finally, the video playback test showed a decent 9 and a half hours of endurance, but that’s nearly 4 hours behind the Galaxy S4 mini. That’s a lot, considering the Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom has a 430mAh battery advantage (once again, the different chipsets mean different video decode hardware).
Video playback
- Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)16:35
- Samsung Galaxy Express10:00
- Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus10:00
- Nokia 808 PureView9:53
- Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam9:42
- Samsung Rugby Smart I8479:34
- Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom9:30
- HTC One S9:28
- Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)9:27
- Apple iPhone 4S9:24
- HTC Evo 4G LTE9:07
- BlackBerry Z108:44
- Nokia Lumia 7103:27
So, in the end we come back to the chipset – the dual-core Cortex-A9 chipset just has no place in a 2013 mid-range phone (let alone a special device like the Galaxy S4 zoom). Performance is okay now, but future versions of Android and new, more demanding games and apps will hit a wall eventually. The Krait-based Snapdragon 400 in the Galaxy S4 mini is a lot more comfortable as far as future-proofing is concerned – and as it turns out, battery life.
Still, the bigger battery allows the Galaxy S4 zoom to last longer on standby, which combined with the better talk time lead to a good endurance rating of 61 hours, compared to 54 hours for the S4 mini, 62 for the I9500 Galaxy S4 and 69 hours for the I9505 Galaxy S4.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom does pretty well. It’s battery has enough juice to handle common smartphone tasks and the camera end of things too. Just don’t go crazy with the xenon flash.
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