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Samsung Galaxy K Zoom hits UK on 31 May

Brits waiting to buy Samsung's quirky 10x zoom smartphone need only wait one more day, the South Korean tech giant says.

Luke Westaway Senior editor
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
2 min read

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Samsung's unusual Galaxy K Zoom smartphone -- which features a 10x optical zoom lens -- goes on sale in the UK tomorrow, the Galaxy S5 -maker has confirmed, available to snap up from Carphone Warehouse, Samsung's own-brand shops and some online and high-street retailers.

The Galaxy K Zoom (the K stands for "camera" apparently), was first glimpsed earlier this year, and is Samsung's second attempt at melding a smartphone with a high-zooming digital camera. Last year's Galaxy S4 Zoom managed decent image quality, but its bulky frame and sluggish performance meant it only achieved a measly three stars in our in-depth review .

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom gets you closer (pictures)

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The K Zoom isn't exactly the slimmest phone we've ever seen, measuring 20.2mm at its thinnest point, but has ditched the chunky plastic hand-grip that made the S4 Zoom so cumbersome. In our hands-on my colleague Joshua Goldman said that the K Zoom, "Feels more natural to use as a phone and a camera."

The camera unit has a 20.7-megapixel sensor, while a more modest 2-megapixel camera can be found on the front. The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat, which is the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, is powered by a hexa-core chip, and has a 4.8-inch 1,280x720 pixel display.

There's no word on pricing yet, but with all that hardware, don't expect the K Zoom to be cheap. I'd advise giving it a try in the shop before buying, to see how you handle its chunky frame.

Are you tempted to buy? Stick your thoughts in the comments.

Watch this: Galaxy K Zoom: Samsung's second shot at 10x zoom camera phone