Samsung Galaxy Zoom and Nokia EOS: a new breed of camera phone

Squeezing a camera into a phone is always going to be a compromise, but a pair of upcoming models look set to offer far better image quality and versatility than we’re used to.

A new leaked image purporting to show the Nokia EOS’s body all but confirms (assuming it’s legit) that it will feature a 41MP PureView camera with Zeiss optics, the same used by the Nokia 808. Crucially, however, it’ll shoehorn it inside a much thinner, more stylish body, and the phone will run Windows software rather than the clunky, outdated Symbian.

On the 808, the PureView sensor actually crops out a few megapixels: if you shoot in 4:3 format images are 38MP in size; in 16:9, they’re 34MP. But that’s still a great deal more detail than you get from the 5MP, 8MP or even 13MP cameras you’ll find on rival smartphones. The larger pixel count means you can crop photos down without losing detail – effectively giving you a way to “zoom” without a zoom lens.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, of course, goes a step further by actually whacking a 10x optical zoom lens on a Galaxy S4 (albeit one that has been a little pruned in the specs and features department). So it’s a point-and-shoot compact camera that also happens to be a powerful Android smartphone.

We’re expecting to go hands-on with the Galaxy S4 Zoom (and possibly an Android-powered mirrorless camera) at next week’s Samsung event. The Nokia EOS, meanwhile, is still not officially confirmed, but more information seems destined to leak out in the coming weeks.

[Via Engadget]