Some months ago I wrote a full review on my personal Galaxy S III, which I still use as my main phone today, and with over 10 million SIII units sold you can easily say that Samsung hit this one right on the head. With the amazing success of the S3, Samsung recently released their new flag-ship smartphone; the Samsung Galaxy S4.
I was very fortunate to receive a review unit of the Galaxy S4 for a TSF article review. The device runs on Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan with incredible 4G cellular speeds. In this review I’ll talk about the phone’s numerous features, hardware specs, design, user interface and the operating system (OS).
Figure 1 – Galaxy S4 and its box.
Unboxing the Device
When my unit arrived I was happy to see that I had received a full retail box and not a promotional box. Once you get past the “staring in awe” moment, you’ll notice its brown cardboard box. What is neat about the design is that the entire box is made from 100 percent recycled material. Even the printed text on the box is made with a soy-based ink.
Once inside you find a beautiful and clean Samsung Galaxy S4 staring back at you. An issue I quickly ran into was getting the phone out of its holder. Just like any new device I get, I like to be extremely careful with it, therefore it would be nice, and easy, if there was a pull tab to open it. Below the phone you’ll find your white USB charging and data cable along with your white USB wall port, and let’s not forget the included white Samsung headphones which actually play decent music and video playback. The only thing left is the documentation that your carrier may include along with a free shipping recycle bag for your old device(s).
Figure 2 – Benchmark Result
Specifications
“The Next Big Thing is Already Here”. What could Samsung mean when they said that? Well, how about the S4’s stunning and rich 5” HD Super AMOLED Gorilla Glass 3 display? Compared to the Galaxy S3’s 4.8” display you don’t gain much. However, what really makes the S4’s displaystand out is its 1920 x 1080 resolution and a pixel density of 441ppi , pushing out over 16 million colors. All an incredible step-up from the previous 720p resolution and 300ppi density found on the S3.
In terms of the smartphone’s hardware, Samsung didn’t skip out. At the core of the smartphone is a brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad Core CPU. Operating at 1.9GHz along with utilizing the built-in 2GB of RAM, games and applications run smoothly and quickly. The ‘phone, surprisingly, has a dedicated graphics processor as well, an Adreno 320, taking some of the load off the CPU.
The power plant of the S4 is its large capacity 2600 mAh battery. While testing the unit I found that I could easily go through at least two entire days of use without a recharge. However, results may vary. You’ll also receive 300 hours in 4G standby and gain an extra 50 hours when in 3G standby. Continuous talk time will last you 17 hours, whereas music playback will give you almost 70 hours and video playback 11 hours.
Now we get to the 13 megapixel rear facing camera. More along the lines of hardware rather than phone specifications, the camera takes wonderfully crisp pictures along with 1980 x 1080 full HD video recording at 30 frames per second. It is packed with many different sensors such as a back-illuminated sensor, auto focus and lenses such as high dynamic range mode or panorama. Samsung has also made it much easier to remember when and where the picture was taken. With things such as geo tagging, weather, adding sounds and using both the rear and front 2MP facing camera at the same time, capture the moment.
Figure 3 – S4 Design
Design
Coming in two different colors (expect more to come), White Frost and Black Mist, the S4 gives off a nice stylish look. The phone’s body is made entirely from plastic with the exception of the screen of course. Starting from the top bezel of the phone you’ll find the IR-Blaster which turns the phone into a universal remote, controlling TVs to Projectors. Next is the 3.2mm headphone jack which is conveniently placed on top to allow headphones to be in use while the phone sits in a pocket. On the left side of the plastic “chrome” bezel is the volume rocker and the power on/off button is on the right hand side. On the bottom is the phone’s charging/data micro USB port. At the top of the front screen is the device’s gesture sensor, which we’ll talk about more, a light sensor, front facing camera and proximity sensor. At the bottom of the screen is a physical home button with a capacitive LED backlit menu and return button. Finally, on the back is Samsung’s traditional removable back plate for easy access to the SIM card, MicroSD card and battery. Also located on the back is the rear facing camera, LED flash and speaker.
Weighing only 4.59oz and with dimensions of 5.38” x 2.74” x 0.31 the phone is easily held in your hand. Believe it or not, the phone is actually thinner than the S3. I did find that the device was a bit slippery, due to its smooth back plate, and may fall out of your pocket, so a case is suggested.
Figure 4 – List of quick selections
Features
At only $200 (with contract) on all major wireless carriers, Cricket, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, I can clearly state that this is one of the most feature packed devices on the market.
Looking at figure 4 you’ll see many of the quick selections that allow features to be turned on and off with one simple touch. Right from the start let’s begin with Samsung’s main selling point for this device, the fact that you can scroll with your eyes or even with an air gesture.
Utilizing the front facing camera the phone can detect your eyes then will allow you to scroll up and down web pages and other documents. Scrolling with my eyes was easy and it did allow me to look up and down with small head movements. For a while the feature was cool but I did end up turning the feature off. In a dark setting the feature fails to work at all or sometimes the phone would need to “recalculate” my eyes. The phone also uses your eyes for other things, such as when looking away from a video it pauses for you and keeps the display on when you’re staring right at the screen. The feature does have room to improve and I expect to see a totally revamped version in the Galaxy S5.
I’ve had a totally different experience with the air gestures. With a simple swipe over the front of phone I get a quick notification screen telling me time and date, messages, calls and battery life. With webpages or documents a swipe of your hand either up or down over the phone will bring you to the top or bottom of the page. One thing that I did turn off, but found useful, was how I could hover my hand over the webpage and have a zoomed view of whatever my finger was over. The same goes for things like pictures, taking a peak at an album, text messages, getting a quick view of messages, and calendar events.
The phone shares features found in the Galaxy S3 and Note II such as motion gestures like tap to go to the top; tapping the top of the device will bring you to the top of a list; multi-window allows you to have two applications running at the same time; power saving mode which gives you that extra power boost to get you through the day by underclocking the CPU and dimming the screen. Group play is brand new to the S4 and it allows up to eight different Galaxy S4’s to share music, videos, phones and games across all devices. I found that when using two devices the phones will split the sound acting as if you had a left and right speaker.
Finally we have the Samsung WhatON application. Using the phone’s IR-Blaster the S4 becomes a universal remote control which can be used on a large majority of TVs and projectors. It’s easy to setup and now it’s even harder to lose the remote.
It should be noted that these, of course, are not all of the features on the device. There is Samsung’s personal assistant, S-Voice and things such as a built in temperature and humidity sensor. The phone is so featured packed the article may never come to an end explaining them all.
Figure 5 – Samsung TouchWiz vs. Stock Android
User-Interface and OS
Every Android device, with the exception of the Nexus line, comes with a manufactured skin or overlay of Android. In Samsung’s case we have a colorful overlay called TouchWiz. What this overlay does is change the look, feel, sounds, and icons of Android. Since the phone has a nature type design carried over from the S3, the sounds are of nature itself.
Widgets are large and easy to read with the stock weather widget animating the current weather (This will need to be enabled within the widget’s settings). Like most Android devices it does come with a little bit of bloatware from your carrier but it’s not too much to worry about since you can hide applications.
Easy Mode was added to the device to allow new Android users to pick up on how to use a smartphone. The entire overlay is changed to a basic style look giving you large icons and fonts, and adding essential apps like messaging to the phone page.
While using the phone I did run into a few graphical errors such as a large black box on the home page or YouTube displaying two menus at the top.
The phone runs the latest version of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and the phone should receive the new Android Key Lime Pie update, that should correct these faults. Android really hasn’t changed too much; there are still widgets, major customization, custom lock screen, thousands of apps, music, videos, books, magazines and more.
Figure 6 – Waving Android
Conclusion
Figure 7 – Two awards
Receiving two of the most valuable awards for reviews the Samsung Galaxy S4 really does earn them. Just as with the S3, Samsung did it again and earned the title for one of the best phones on the market. If TSF had an award to give I would happily award it to this article.
With Samsung on the rise and with their major competitor, Apple, slowly falling behind on the cell phone market, we should look forward to what Samsung has ready for us next. Hopefully, this review gives you a comprehensive summary of the Galaxy S4’s details and can help you decide which device is truly best for you.
My final comment is that if you’re worried about moving to a big phone or need a phone that can handle abuse Samsung has you covered. Also available on the market is the Galaxy S4 Mini which is a slimmer and smaller version of its big brother, and the Galaxy Active which is a waterproof, dustproof, and all around “Toughbook” device.
© 2013 techsupportforum.com
2 Comments
Great write up! I’ve actually had my Galaxy S4 for about a month or so and love it.
First, the factory headphones are excellent. This is coming from a guy who owns a pair of SE535s and only listens to lossless audio. I’m an audiophile and have a discriminating ear yet I was surprised by the quality of the Galaxy S4 stock ear buds.
For one, the headphones are well made. The construction feels strong. Secondly, the cable is flat to minimize tangle I guess; however, I still haven’t figured out how to avoid knots. Third, and most importantly, the audio fidelity is pristine. If you like the thumping bass of hip-hop or the multifaceted textures of strings, you’ll enjoy these.
They also fit comfortably in my ears. Even when I’m walking fast or running, they don’t fall out but for good measure the ear buds include different sized buds for different sized ears. You’ll find one that works for you.
Second, the battery life is really good. I use my phone all the time for streaming videos from Youtube to browsing the web and placing phone calls but it hasn’t let me down. In fact, even when the warning light turns on, in other words, when the battery icon is showing that it is completely drained, I’ve found that I still have another 2 hours of life. I love this. I also love how I can see how much battery life each application is using and then I can close those Apps down. Hint: Google Earth will kill your battery.
On average, I get a day and half of charge out of mine.
Third, the phone is slippery. Yes, I agree with Masterchief on that. The plastic is glossy and slick but that’s one of the reasons it’s so beautiful to look at! I’m not saying you need to wear gloves for grip but you should probably invest in a protective case. Not only to get a handle on the phone but also to protect the large display from cracking. When these things drop, the glass shatters and the cost of replacing it is almost commensurate with the cost of a new phone.
On a side note, one minor grip I have is that I can’t use it with one hand. I’m a big guy with big hands yet I still have problems using the phone with one hand. A small part of me pines after the tiny iPhone display because it was so easy to use one-handed; however, the large GS4 display makes viewing videos so pleasant that I quickly forget about this peccadillo.
Fourth, and lastly, Masterchief mentioned that he’s had success with the eye scroll feature. I can’t say the same but that might be because I haven’t taken the time to learn how to use it.
But all in all I agree with Masterchief. This phone is great and I’m never going back to Blackberry.
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