Samsung Galaxy S4 is easily the most anticipated Android smartphone till date and Samsung must have felt the pressure to bring out a handset that will continue the Galaxy S legacy. It is not going to be easy to be the king of smartphones with expectations soaring high and with devices like HTC One and Sony Xperia Z making a formidable rival-line up.
With the rivals trumping up the hardware internals to match, Samsung has upped it’s position offering many new top end innovative software features to stay ahead.
In our Samsung Galaxy S4 review, we take you through all the features and quality of the device to see if it can continue the enviable legacy of the flagship S series.
The 2 D’s – Design and Display
Galaxy S4 marks a subtle design change compared to the previous year’s S3. Though outright it might looks similar with the same rounded-rectangle design, a closer observation will reveal the Samsung designers has not borrowed entirely the previous year’s shell but has made significant improvement and changes. A slightly bigger display at 5-inch does not mean the Galaxy S4 needs to be bigger in dimension in comparison with Galaxy S3 that has a 4.8 inch screen. In fact thanks to lesser bezel around, Galaxy S4 with a dimension of 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm has a marginally lesser width and is also lighter than S3, weighing just 130 grams, a bit lighter than the 144g of the HTC One and the 145g of the Xperia Z. The impressive 7.9 mm thickness is only a tad more than iPhone 5 and will make the other rival models fat in comparison. All this means the phone is much better on palms and is easy to use and most of you would not strain to work your fingers around. The 5-inch display with full HD resolution (1080 x 1920 pixels) stacks up a very impressive 441 ppi density. The super AMOLED display is nothing short of being brilliant with an eye-popping vibrant colors and super-clear ans crisp texts. It’s delight to watch when the screen come to life. Watching videos on this 5″ display is impressive and the crazy hardware specs which we talk about later handles high-bitrate videos like eating popcorns. A close observation also reveals that the Gorilla Glass 3 sits just below the edges of the screen rather than slightly above the edge as it was in S3. A small move but nevertheless makes it less vulnerable during impacts compared to its predecessor. Though Galaxy S4 looks very similar to the predecessor S3, the faux-metal band around the sides is a new addition and gives a premium look to the device. This slight design change along with thinner, lighter body has far more implications in handling the device. The flat sides makes for a good grip and snuggles into our palm nicely and the weight seems to be perfect to hold not wafer light not heavy. Just perfect.
The Hardware Internals
As expected the flagship devices features the best of the hardware specs available at the time of their release and trust Samsung to pack them. Galaxy S4 is available in two different processor specs. One that uses a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset and the other debuts Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 5 chip clocked at 1.6GHz.While the US carriers had opted for Snapdragon 600 chipset, the international version, which we have at our review desk, ships with the 8-core. Both the versions also packs a 2 GB of RAM. Strictly speaking, the Exynos 5 octa chip is two quad cored paired together, a four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.6GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.2GHz and mated to a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU. Pop out the back panel and you find a larger, bumped up 2600 mAh battery. You also find the microSD card and micro SIM at the same place we expect if you are used to S3. If you are running out of internal storage, you can slice in an extra storage upto 64 GB with an optional SD card.
Touch-free controls
First came the touchscreens and now follows the touch-free gestures. In the race for touch-free interactions with the smartphone, Samsung wins handsomely and they loves to add ‘smart features’ that performs motion, eye and voice controls. Some might dismiss most of the features as gimmicks but no one can deny people love fiddling with sci-fi in reality. More importantly, it’s sheer fun as well as few ‘tricks’ are quiet handy. So Galaxy S4 boasts of many touch-free controls but keep in mind, they squeeze out extra battery. So it’s wise to keep what is really needed in general use. I would definitely keep the Air view option on, never mind the extra tax on the battery. Airview first appeared in Galaxy Note 2 but here in S4, the S Pen is replaced with finger tips. So when you hover your finger tips on screen it previews you information. Airview works only with selected Samsung customized apps like Message apps, stock browser, email app (not with the default gmail app), S Planner, Speed dial and Media app. Especially with S Planner, it works neat and makes access to your day’s events and tasks easier and I used it often. It also has to be noted, the air view works better here in S4 compared to Note 2.
S Health for health freaks
S Translate in tight situations
It provides for real-time translation and translates what you say, text and will even convert emails, SMS messages and ChatON IMs that is fully or containing sentences in language you don’t speak. The catch though is mobile data has to be enabled, an offline translation mode would have been awesome. Nevertheless for frequent travelers, the app might be handy. Though currently, the app only supports 9 language, we can hope to see many more added in the future. [gallery link="file" ids="3915,3914,3913"]Safety Assistant… you never know when
Difficult times need smart alerts, after all some help is better than no help. Samsung must be lauded for providing with a safety assistant in case of emergency. What it basically does is allow you to send an emergency message to the contacts you have set in the app. To do this, you have to press the volume up and down together for 3 seconds and the safety assistant locates your place via GPS and sends a SOS alert to the specified contacts with your location co-ordinates via google map as well as it can take pictures using both the front and rear and send it along the message. The test I performed surprised me with a very accurate location details complete with the plot, street and neighborhood details.
The other features…
Making good use of NFC, Group Play allows you to connect multiple mobile devices to share /play music, videos, games together. So what you see or play in one device is shared with the rest. And then we have Watch On app that uses the IR blaster in Galaxy S4 which allows you to control your TV and can do more than just changing channels or controlling the sound. It can also suggest programs based on your preference, provide schedules etc. Ditch the remote. I was disappointed not to find India in the list of countries, though the option ‘other countries/region’ worked when I tested with my Samsung TV Tired of organizing your stored images or sorting them out? Story album storifies or stacks your buckets of pictures based on locations or events and organizes it for you. Also finding way is Samsung Link to share and play content across multiple devices anywhere any time, Samsung Hub stocking videos, books, games and learning materials. If you are lost and clueless there is also a help app to wade you through.Lock Screen unlocked
By default the lock screen just has ‘Life Companion’ written on it and a small clock. Dig into lock screen settings, you can find options to customize it. You can also add widgets and shortcuts to dial, message, Google Now, browser and camera app which can be directly accessed by swiping the finger up the specific shortcut app.
The mighty camera
From a 8 megapixels so far in it’s flagship devices Samsung makes a big leap to 13 megapixels, though sheer mega pixel does not necessarily translate to good picture, it does adds up well and also from the consumer point of view, many of whom might just go by numbers. Neverthless, the camera delivers good, detailed images but at low light like most camera phones suffers a bit. Though the night mode fares a bit better at low lights. To keep itself in strong position, Samsung has added interesting camera features and capabilities.
Verdict
I have been using SGS3 as my primary phone for the last many months and now having used S4 for a brief time, I feel the latest and the successor is more polished device and accomplish a lot. Though looking similar on a first look, a closer observation and brief usage prompts us the minor but positive changes and improvements Samsung has put into the new device. Riding high on hardware specs what clearly pushes ahead the Galaxy S4 in the race for domination is the many unique, interesting and innovative tweaks, features and software additions Samsung has introduced. Some might be sheer gimmicky, while few remains a fun-do while couple of them simplifies and enhances our interactions, lifestyle and experience. While most flagship devices can match up to the hardware specs, what differentiates the Samsung Galaxy S4 and possibly make it the most sold Android smartphone again this year to uphold the Galaxy S legacy is the fact with all the innovative and interesting features, the smartphone presents itself as a complete able task performer as well as entertainer, a smartphone with a vibrant personality. [pros]- Brilliant screen
- Blazing processor
- Unique software features
- Good camera and features especially Dual shot mode
- Safety assistant
- The plastic debate continues.