If you appreciate good pictures and you are on a hunt for a new smartphone, check out these 6 best smartphones with optical zoom.
When you want to take a picture of something, but you are not able to approach closer, zoom always comes in handy. It approaches you to the object without you having to move physically. Smartphone cameras can have two types of zoom, optical and digital. Many people think that optical zoom and digital zoom do the same thing. Well, that isn’t quite true.
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Optical zoom is achieved by retractable lenses that physically approach the camera closer. This is why the images taken with optical zoom keep the same quality. Digital zoom is just a fancy name for image process. Digital zoom basically centers the object and increases the pixel size. The thing that digital zoom does can be achieved with any image processing software. Images that you get with a digital zoom turn out to have a bad quality. Of course, if you are just taking selfies, you don’t need any kind of zoom, do you? To all selfie lovers, we advise to check out our list of 15 Worst Times and Places to Take a Selfie so you wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 6 best smartphones with optical zoom!
6. Altek Leo
Altek Leo is a phone you get when you pair a digital camera with a smartphone. It was one of the first modern smartphones to feature an optical zoom. Packing 3.2 inch screen, this smartphone has a 14MP back camera with a 3x optical zoom, but no front camera at all. The thing that will keep away the users is the fact that the smartphone has Android 2.1 OS without the ability to access Google Play. This means you can forget about downloading the apps and games.
5. Nokia Lumia 1020
You may remember Lumia 1020 from our list of Smartphones with the Highest Megapixel Camera. Smartphone’s back f/2.2 aperture sized camera is equipped with a record 41MP, Carl Zeiss optics, and Xenon & LED flash. It has a 6x optical zoom. The front camera has 1.2MP and isn’t something you will be eager to use. Other specs include 4.7 inch screen, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
4. Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
For anyone who thought Samsung Galaxy S4 13MP back camera could do better, Samsung released S4 Zoom model. It is smaller and weaker in specifications than S4, but with an important difference. Instead of 13MP camera, there is a 16MP camera with a 10x optical zoom and Xenon Flash. The camera is rated as excellent, giving you your money’s worth. At least the back one, since the front one is a regular camera with 1.9MP. The thing that could stand in the way between you and this smartphone are the low specs.
3. Samsung Galaxy K Zoom
In 2014, this was a smartphone to own. It has a 10x optical zoom camera, but this time with 20.7 MP, Xenon & LED flash. Also, compared to S4 Zoom, K Zoom has better specifications like slightly larger screen, Hexa – Core processor, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The front camera remains selfie unfriendly.
2. Asus Zenfone Zoom
After some time of calm regarding the optical zoom packed smartphones, Asus decided to try once again and see how the market will react. It reacted pretty well, at least the part looking for a smartphone able to deliver good image quality. The 13MP camera with a 3x optical zoom was warmly received, unlike the rest of the features. According to the reviews, the main problem with Asus Zenfone Zoom is that it doesn’t bring anything else remarkable to the table. Camera and optical zoom ability are great, but nothing spectacular. Bloated software (lots of unnecessary apps) and overall performance is something that won’t be overlooked. And now, let’s see the number one in our list of best smartphones with optical zoom.
1. iPhone 7/ 7 Plus
The last entry on our list of 6 best smartphones with optical zoom is also the newest one. When iPhone 7 hit the market in September, its camera was described by Apple as “the best smartphone camera ever”. Back camera has f/1.8 aperture size, 12MP and quad-LED (dual tone) flash. Apple also claims that the camera has a 2x optical zoom. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Although we listed iPhone 7 on the list, the smartphone’s optical zoom is questionable. This is because there are no retractable lenses. Instead, the zoom is achieved by dual lenses. These indeed provide the 2x magnification, so technically the phone has an optical zoom. We decided to let iPhone slip through with this one, since the camera was highly praised, and this optical zoom looks like it’s doing what it should be. As our final thought, we will quote CNET. iPhone 7 is “everything you need in a phone, except the headphone jack.”
