Welcome back to my last part on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Earlier parts can be found here.
So, let’s start by saying that I have returned my S4 Zoom, due to one issue / bug that just frustrated me. Annoyingly, everything else about the phone and camera was fine. The battery was removable, it had a micro SD card slot, it was based on the S4 Mini so a competent performer. It also can take good photos and the optical zoom and xenon flash assured you always got a decent snap. It even had preset modes to take the guess work out of what advanced settings you needed for a waterfall, fireworks, and many other scenarios photos. It even had a centre button, handy for turning the phone on whilst sitting on a table.
But for a camera first, phone second device, it was a weakness or fault in the panoramic mode that let the device down. As mentioned already, panoramic photos were being captured at only 400-600kb maximum file sizes, resulting in poor pixel count and not acceptable for a camera phone.
However, if you never take panoramic photos, then the S4 Zoom is a fantastic piece of kit. Sadly, I do take many due to living in a very scenic place, and consequently the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom has been returned.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 
why did u return the s4 zoom.. I doubt that is a hardware issue. it is most likely a kernel issue which can be easily fixed with an update.. just recently unpacked the kernel.. gonna see if i can get it on github, to see if anyone could pick up where the problem is. ordering mine soon 🙂
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Well if you can get the panoramic mode to create photos above 700kb, and be more like 4mb plus then that is great. But according to my research the Zoom is hardware limited by its memory. Don’t forget based on the S4 Mini. That can only take panoramic photos at 1.5mb approx. Due to this problem I returned phone.
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hmm. interesting. hardware limited by the memory… as in the ram ? i have a phone with 256 mb ram, (altek leo) and takes pretty decent panoramic photos.. also did u ever try to take the panoramic shots at lower mega pixels than the 16 ? P.S. do you know what size panoramas the actual galaxy s4 does ? or the comparable galaxy camera ?
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You have no control of the settings including the zoom when using panoramic mode.
My friend has the S4 Mini which averages panoramics at 1.5mb. The S4 takes panoramic anything from 3mb up to 48mb. Average around 15mb.
The S4 Zoom panoramic photos if shot horizontally are only 300kb. Shooting vertically raises the quality to 400-650kb but still rubbish. GSM Arena in their review noted the panoramic mode could only shoot at 500 pixels height.
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Somebody on XDA Developers said this app would cure issue but I can’t test it now. Can you?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moblynx.cameraics&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5tb2JseW54LmNhbWVyYWljcyJd
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The ICS app did not work well… But what did was HD Panorama+ , fantastic even. got images approaching 5 megs, with resolution 4000×9000 . very impressive. Will post on XDA when i get a really good one. a shame you returned yours. I love this phone.
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That’s great. Thanks for update. Ironically Samsung are releasing an updated version of the S4 Zoom with LTE. So I could get the new model now.
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I’m think of getting a 2nd phone to use as a phone/camera when I don’t want to take my camera out with me. Would you recommend the S4 Zoom or the Lumia 925 based on your experiences, based primarily on the camera but as a phone also? Presumably you haven’t used the 1020 or 920?
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S4 Zoom is the better camera. Xenon flash and 10 x zoom but it’s more camera in thickness than 925. Have a look at my flickr. http://Www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100 look at sets. Samples for each phone. Personally I would pick zoom. Unless you need panoramic photos then 925.
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Nice photos. Both cameras look pretty good but I am tempted more by the Zoom as I like Android (had an S3 and Note2) and didn’t like Windows Phone when I tried it on a Lumia 820 – too restrictive. Main things putting me off are the screen size (I like the Note) and bulk. How did you find it in trouser pockets for example?
BTW, thanks for the informative blog posts about the cameras. I see you no longer have the Zoom. What are you using now?
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Thanks for your kind comments.
Using an iphone 5S with a Sony QX10 hub lens. I had a Sony Xperia Z1 but had to return it as faulty. That was lovely hardware. Camera needed software update though.
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