The complete guide to what you can
expect from the follow up to the world’s biggest-selling smartphone
It was seen as the most threatening answer
to the iPhone yet, and as all of those who have got hold of Samsung’s
much-hyped handset will confirm, there is little in the way of disappointment
with the Galaxy S4.
With a launch event in New York that many
believed was taking on Apple on its own territory, the South Korean company
pulled a blinder, producing a new device that one survey suggested was on the
wish-list for a whopping 25 per cent of iPhone owners.
Although we wouldn’t wish to keep up the
Apple comparisons, it is clear how far the Cupertino giant is starting to fall
behind - its iPhone 5’s biggest selling point was a larger screen; the
underlying operating system largely remained the same. Samsung’s new baby -
which will likely outsell Galaxy S4 is here!
Galaxy
S4 - Make Your Life Richer, Simpler, And More Fun
Apple's flagship - packs a five-inch 1080p
screen into a smaller body than its predecessor. the S III, and it is crammed
with features that redefine what we expect from our smartphones.
The 13 megapixel camera Is one thing (and
the ability to use the front and back cameras simultaneously Is something we
have no! seen before), the Translator quite something else, allowing for voices
or texts to be translated into nine different languages. Who needs school
language lessons now when the words you speak can be translated in real time,
mid-conversation?
Touch-less tech also featured highly in the
S4. You can view items without touching the screen, while new eye-tracking
technology, something that was tentatively introduced on the S III. starts to
create the impression that your phone is reacting to precisely how you are
using it. This could be seen as a gimmick but why not show off cutting-edge
tech like this? We're sure it will have its uses when fingers are mucky.
Touch-less
tech also featured highly in the S4.
Like something out a sci-fi movie, we have
the improved eye-tracker with a twist. Here you can stream a video, then look
away and have that him automatically pause until your peepers check out the
screen once more. And if you ever want to text without tapping buttons, the voice
recognition feature will come in handy.
"The phone represents the current top
of class in terms of features and software." says technology analyst Rob
Enderle. “Samsung has now gone the farthest to take over the user experience,
almost completely concealing Android. Many of the features, like Apple, only
work on the Samsung family of products - the Ul is Samsung's, and this is
intended to create an Apple-like lock in and loyalty with only the Android apps
common between phones’
Enderle continues: “The voice features in
particular appear stronger than Apple's offering, but overall, this is the
first Android phone that destroy the impression that the sharp Apple premium is
a good value."
Such is the impact of this phone, that
Apple issued a withering response. Phil Schiller. Apple’s senior vice president
of marketing, said the S4 was using an out-of-date operating system and it
criticized Android for not allowing seamless OS integration. In fact. Schiller
was wrong the S4 comes with Android 4.2.2 right from launch, something that no
other manufacturer has been able to match. Some analysts, however, also feel
that Samsung will face the same issue as Apple.
Jan Dawson, chief telecom analyst at Ovum,
said Samsung's innovative approach, which has seen it launch itself into top
spot in the world smartphone rankings, now poses the problem of how the devices
can be improved year-on-year when existing handsets are already top of their
class with few obvious shortcomings. He also believes Samsung faces a different
kind of challenge: how to set Samsung's devices apart from other devices that
share the Android operating system that provides so much of the functionality?
Dawson was, however, pleased with the
feature set of the new device. “As anticipated, the device features a slightly
larger screen, an unproved camera, and beefed up processor power and
memory," he said. “The company also augmented various features previously
available, including its eye-tracking capabilities ’
“As
anticipated, the device features a slightly larger screen, an unproved camera,
and beefed up processor power and memory,"
But he warned that Samsung was appearing to
be trying to kill the competition with sheer volume of new features and he said
competitors will naturally catch up.
Of course, this Is not a bad thing. The
Android market is by far the most competitive, given that iOS can only be used
on one manufacturer’s set of devices. Having the likes of HTC, Samsung and Sony
trying to get 3 slice of the pie will ensure better feature sets for the good
of the consumer. Even if it is a case of, as Samsung show, tying up with
third-party companies - users of the S4 can print photos using Blurb and build
up printed albums of pictures, for example.
It doesn't matter so much that the S4 is
less a reinvention and more an improvement on the S III. The fact Is it has an
eight-core processor and a larger battery in a slimmer device that also has
Group Play for better sharing of music and playing games. Hardware and software
is in sync.
Features such as the S Health software
works well with peripherals that include the S Band, HRM heart monitor and Body
Scale so that your device can keep you in shape. And it is secure too. Samsung
Knox lets you use work emails, for Instance, without worrying the IT manager.
Super easy on the eye - the screen has a Full HD Super AMOLF.D display - it's a
multimedia device that no other can touch.
It will also scare the makers of handheld
games machines. "Virtually everyone in the addressable market for games
will have a phone capable of playing handheld games," says Michael
Pachter, managing director of Equity Research. “The mobile game market should
erode the dedicated handheld market by 50 per cent and already has by 30 per
cent or so. The success of smartphones is what leads to my negative thesis on
Nintendo, as I think that company will see its handheld hardware and software
sales decline by 50 per cent or more from their 2008 peak."
But that is not Samsung’s problem and nor
is it one for Android. “The S4 has got a lot of innovative software features in
it to go with all the expected hardware improvements, plus 3 few new hardware
elements that enable new experiences like the environmental sensors and the IR
sensor to enable gesture-based control,- says Charles Gofvin, analyst at
Forrester Research. "I think the S4 will sell very well."
