If you're already a Galaxy acolyte, you'll love the S4.
Samsung knows what it wants to be in the Android smartphone race, and
it manages to execute it very, very well. But, if you're looking for an
aggressive revamp to the company's flagship series in the Galaxy S4, you might find yourself disappointed.
As teased in the promotional image
Samsung released a few days prior to the Samsung Unpacked 2013 event,
the Galaxy S4 looks just like its prior flagship brethren — there's
plenty of the same curves and general feel on the handset, so no major
waves will be made in design. Although the difference in weight from the
S4 and the S III is a scant .1 ounces, the feel on the new phone is
actually deceptively light. Add to it a very sleek cover (which actually
snaps into the back of the phone) and an eye-popping 5" 441 PPI Super
AMOLED screen, and it makes a strong statement as a new phone — even
without an envelope-pushing design.
Often, when smartphone manufacturers push for lighter and slimmer
designs, they're forced to sacrifice battery life for the sake of a
sleek design. Not so with the Galaxy S4, which boasts a 2600 mAh battery
and is a notable improvement over the S III's 2100 mAh battery. The S4
comes armed with an impressive array of sensors, including infrared,
humidity, and temperature, to name a few, so even at 2600 mAh, the
Galaxy S4's battery has its work cut out for it.
The software design is the big selling point for the Galaxy S4,
although it runs on the already-available Android Jellybean 4.2.2. It's a
smooth interface that takes advantage of Jellybean's sophistication to
create an organic experience, and users who have never worked with an
Android phone will feel at ease with its smooth scrolling and intuitive
UI. The phone comes loaded with plenty of smart and convenient
apps—especially the new Samsung Translate, which did its job in both
text-to-speech and speech-to-text. Another interesting offering is
Samsung Health, which will ostensibly track your steps, calories burned
and other fun facts to keep track of your daily fitness. It's worth it
to say that these are all "nice to have" extras — something Samsung is
obviously attuned to in developing its software.
Samsung is giving the hard sell with the Galaxy S4's new features but
some work far better in theory than in practice. Smart Screen, with its
purported eye-tracking technology, has been particularly oversold as
the scrolling feature relies more on the phone's tilt angle than the
location and movement of the user's eyeballs. Whether or not you're
looking at the screen, tilting the handset back and forth will deliver
quite the same effect as Samsung promised with Smart Scroll.
Similarly overblown was the screen's ability to work with gloves. We
tried out several gloves of varying thickness and only with the very
thinnest eventually did the Galaxy S4 register that a finger was, in
fact, touching the screen after about a dozen attempts jabbing at
various buttons. Samsung's Air Wave, which uses proximate hand gestures
to detect swiping or scrolling movements without the user having to
touch the screen, worked marginally better though it's nowhere near as
efficient as simply using your fingers.
Prior to Samsung Unpacked, rumors were circulating about the Galaxy
S4's camera and most sites were hedging their bets on seeing an 8 MP
camera, like the S III, but with perhaps an improved sensor. Samsung did
one better and the S4 comes equipped with a 13 MP rear camera, as well
as a 2 MP front-facing camera. The device handled HD picture and video
superbly, providing crisp, clear images even in the relatively low
lighting of Radio City Music Hall's basement bar. That being said, some
of the new features touted by Samsung leave something to be desired.
Drama Shot, which overlaps sequential photos, was somewhat temperamental
and operating it was far from intuitive. However, Dual Shot, which
simultaneously utilizes both the front and rear cameras, worked nicely.
Essentially, if you're already a sworn Android fan, the Galaxy S4 is
exactly what you want. The updated screen, elongated battery life and
some of the most useful apps to date are more than enough to make the
upgrade. However, it's not an earth-shattering change, and those looking
for a big reason to jump ship to an Android smartphone may find the new
handset lackluster. If you're waiting for a vast leap forward in
smartphone design and technology, it might not be the device for
you. With the Galaxy S4, Samsung seems more focused on changing the
phone from the inside out than revolutionizing a design that the company
and its customers are already comfortable with.
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