The great Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 will soon hit the Nigerian market and definitely this end of discussion smartphone will be the next phone every body will want to own.Although many of the features had been leaked in
the weeks leading up to the event, the launch was still a time for
Samsung to show-off its latest handset, while no doubt making sure that
Apple's got its work cut-out with the
iPhone 5S.
Here we'll take a look at the phone's new features and outline its
key specifications, as well as rounding up the current price in Nigeria.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 DESIGN
With the
Galaxy S3
proving to be such a success, Samsung hasn't strayed too far from that
design with the Galaxy S4. The rounded edges and lozenge-shaped home
button at the bottom of the phone are all instantly recognisable.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is thinner and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy S3
While the S3 looked and felt, well, quite plasticy, the Samsung S4
looks that much nicer and more like the high-end phone that it should
be. It has a polycarbonate case, but it's now slimmer (7.9mm) and
lighter (130g) than its predecessor.
Two versions of the phone will be available: Black Mist and White
Frost. It's hard to pass judgement on the phone until we've seen it in
the flesh, but in the shots we've seen it certainly looks like a step up
from the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Available in black or white, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is instantly recognisable
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 SCREEN
As expected, the Galaxy S4 has a 5in Full HD (1,920x1,080) Super
AMOLED screen. That's a stunning 441ppi, making this one of the
highest-density phones that we've seen. The
HTC One
manages slightly more at 468ppi, thanks to its slightly-smaller 4.7in
Full HD screen. On balance, though, you're going to find it hard to tell
the difference or spot individual pixels on either screen.
There was no mention of the Green PHOLED technology, which was
rumoured to be making its first appearance here. However, we've been
impressed with Samsung's Super AMOLED technology before and it's always
been power efficient, helping to save battery life.
As expected, the screen can be operated just by hovering your finger
over it, giving rise to two new features. Air View lets you hover over
content, such as an email or photo, to preview it without having to open
it. Air Gesture, lets you change tracks, scroll through a web page or
answer a call with the wave of your hand. We haven't had chance to try
the system out yet, but this should make fine-control of the touchscreen
operating system that little bit easier.
Air View and Air Gesture let you operate the touchscreen without touching it
Gorilla Glass 3 helps make the phone durable, although we'd still
recommend a screen protector or case if you're going to keep your phone
in a pocket with sharp items, such as keys.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 CAMERAS
Cameras are an important part of any smartphone, with many people
preferring them to compact cameras. From the specifications, Samsung
hasn't let us down with the Galaxy S4 camera, with a 13-megapixel rear
camera, complete with Flash and a high-speed shutter mode. At the front
is a 2-megapixel camera.
The 13-megapixel rear camera certainly has impressive specifications, but the front camera can be used to control the phone
Now, two cameras on a smartphone is hardly something new, but with
Dual Camera you can operate both of them at the same time. It feels a
little gimmicky to us, but the idea is that you can film yourself with
the front camera and then superimpose yourself on the footage from the
rear camera. The examples we've seen look a little twee and we're not
sure that most people want their faces to appear surrounded by a postage
stamp border over the footage they're recording.
You can superimpose yourself as a floating stamp in videos, if you like that kind of thing
The front camera also serves a purpose in controlling the phone with
Smart Pause. This technology knows when you're looking at the screen so
it can, for example, pause a video when you turn your head and look
away. As soon as you look back, the video continues. It's a neat way of
using the cameras for more than just still images and video.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 PROCESSOR
We were expecting the Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 5 processor in the
phone and that's an option, with a 1.6GHz model. However, a 1.9GHz
Quad-Core version of the phone will also be sold, depending on where you
live in the world. Samsung hasn't specified yet which version we'll get
in the UK, although we would expect to get the Octa-Core model.
The company
tweeted a rendering of the new chip, which is also rumoured to power the new
Galaxy Note 3 phone/tablet, from its @SamsungExynos Twitter account, so whetting the appetites of Samsung fans everywhere.
The new chip's eight-core design is based on ARM's big.LITTLE
architecture. This means that there are four powerful Cortex-A15 cores
for the phone's most power-hungry functions, and four lower-power
Cortex-A7 models to take care of simpler tasks. When the phone isn't
needed to do anything fancy, the more powerful cores shut down,
extending battery life.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 BATTERY
Speaking of battery life, the new handset will use a 2,600mAh
battery. That's 500mAh bigger than the one in the S3 and should be big
enough to cope with the slightly-enlarged screen, and the greater
demands of 4G, while still running all day.
The battery is also removable, so you can carry a charged spare if
you're going to be out for a long time. It also means that a failing
battery can easily be replaced.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 4G AND WIRELESS
You can't make a modern phone and not support the latest wireless
standards, so the Samsung Galaxy S4 has full support for 4G LTE
networks. Global 4G support has been promised, supporting download
speeds of 100Mbit/s and uploads of 50Mbit/s. Full 3G and 2.5G support
is, of course, also present.
For use at home there's also better Wi-Fi support, with the new
802.11ac standard supported. We've seen this networking standard deliver
speeds well over 200Mbit/s, so using super-fast broadband speeds on
your phone at home is going to easy.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 NFC
NFC makes an appearance, so the phone will be compatible with
Google Wallet,
so you can pay for goods in compatible shops using just your phone. It
will also support Visa's payWave, widening the choice and range of
places that you can shop in.
In addition, Samsung showed some other ways that NFC can be used. One
of the most different was Group Play. By tapping your Samsung Galaxy S4
to another one, you can share music and pictures. Samsung has also
promised that the technology will support multi-player gaming and it's
opening up the SDK to encourage other companies to develop for it.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 STORAGE
No great surprises on the storage front, with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB
models announced. However, it's good to see that there's still a microSD
card slot, so you can add up to 64GB of storage. Depending on the
prices, it may even work out cheaper to buy a lower-capacity model and
then upgrade it when you need to with a memory card.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 S HEALTH
With fitness accessories apps being big business, Samsung clearly
doesn't want to miss out and has launched S Health with the Galaxy S4.
Using your phone a variety of accessories, you'll be able to measure
your weight and health.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 OTHER FEATURES
If all of that wasn't enough, the Galaxy S4 also has an IR
transmitter, which you can use to control your home entertainment kit
via the WatchOn app. There's also S Voice Drive, which puts up a simpler
interface for when you're driving and recognises voice prompts.
Finally, when you're abroad the translation services let you type in a
message and have the phone read it out in a different language; the
spoken reply is then converted back into your language on the screen.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 RELEASE DATE
Samsung has promised to have the phone out by the end of April. Exact
launch dates will depend on the country, but we expect the UK to be one
of the first on the list. We'll bring you updated information as and
when it becomes available.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 PRICE AND UK NETWORKS
The Samsung S4 will be available in MTN,ETISALAT,GLO and AIRTEL with a possible price of N110,000
