Thoughts on the Galaxy Zoom

The Galaxy Zoom: trailblazer for a new world of connected camera, or
second attempt at a class of device that nobody actually wants?

I'm probably going to be outspoken here, but I really like what Samsung have done with the Galaxy Zoom. I don't particularly mind being outspoken, after all I think I was one of the few people to review the original Galaxy Note who actually got it. To all the naysayers who wrote derogatory comedy posts about the Note rather than real reviews, I will merely point to a now thriving device class with millions of fans and say I told you so. Now I don't think this generation of Galaxy Zoom will be the one to really carve a niche here as the Note did in its category, but I do think the idea is right.

Last year Samsung released the Galaxy Camera, a device that I found wanting from just about every perspective. It wasn't a smartphone, lacking any telephony capabilities; as a camera it wasn't good enough compared to similarly priced standalones either. Sure, it had some smarts, but not enough to make the price premium for the imaging on offer a worthwhile proposition. The size of the device made carrying it around a rather non-trivial issue too. If I want to carry around a relatively non-compact imaging device, then I want to do that in return for a fairly tangible gain in imaging ability, right? I struggled then to see how it belonged anywhere in the market, and I haven't seen anything since that made that any more apparent for me. 

The Galaxy Zoom on the other hand is better pitched. From an imaging standpoint it's more compromised than the Galaxy Camera, but I think that's right. As an imaging device it's positioned more to go head to head with smaller point and shoots, both in terms of likely image quality to judge from the few example stills I've seen, but also in terms of the form factor and the use-case scenarios where that is desirable. In that market segment offering full smartphone capabilities becomes a much more compelling option I think. That said, the difference between success and failure there is likely to be exquisitely price sensitive. 

What premium will people pay to get smartphone capabilities in a device that will certainly be a secondary device to complement a smartphone, even if that one that offers the important but relatively limited use-case scenario of being able to perform duties as a temporary primary device when the situation calls for it? For reference that is exactly the niche my Pureview 808 fills right now, it stands in for a point n shoot most of the time, but sometimes steps up to be my primary smartphone too. In exchange for 10x zoom and an incomparably better OS I could be persuaded to switch to the Zoom to fulfill that role.

Reading those last two paragraphs one could be mistaken for thinking that I am suggesting price point is the only barrier standing in the way of success for the Galaxy Zoom, but it isn't. Or at least is isn't as far as my wants dictate, but I will readily admit I'm an outlier and could stand to be proven comprensively wrong here where the mass market is concerned. While I think compromising on imaging in favour of smarts and telephony is the right idea, for my money the smartphone experience offered by the Zoom is still too limited. Were it to offer a 720p screen, internals worthy of a good 2012 device, and a feature set pitched around the level of the S3 I think it could be close to a homerun - or at least a device with a genuine shot at launching a new device category with some real authority. Perhaps in the next generation?

That criticism aside, all in all I think Samsung have taken the first steps in the right direction here, even if it isn't quite enough to wholly satisfy me at the present time. I can say with certainty that I look forward to trying it out... if the price is right.