When we were struggling to figure out
what to buy and invest in at the end of the financial year, Korean giants
Samsung unveiled their latest offering - Samsung Galaxy S4. Fourth time around,
they are willing to focus more on how far can they push innovative software
features. It is all about experimenting and innovating rather than just
focusing on heavy hardware.
At an event in New York, Samsung astonished
the world by offering a smartphone with a octa-core processor (whoa). Yes, an 8
core processor. Admit it, you just dreamt about how you plan to push this
dream device to its limits! It is bigger in size than its predecessor as it has
a 5 inch screen. There are 2 variants that will be launched of the S4. One
version will feature an octa-core and the other version will have a 1.9 GHz
quad-core Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm. The phone sports 2 GB of RAM, and will
be sold in three storage variants: 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. It also sports an
improved 13-megapixel camera.
Samsung
Galaxy S4
So, here is what is sensational about the
phone
Hardware specifications
Something that had kept everyone wondering
on what would be the next offering. After S3 and Note 2, how much more can a
smartphone offer. Rumors from quad core processor to a high end camera, all of
these rumors were put away.
The phone has 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED;
1,920x1,080 screen, at 441 pixels per inch. The phone 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. The The Exynos 5410 chipset has a set of four
Cortex-A15 cores to do the heavy lifting and another quarter of power-saving
Cortex-A7 cores, which takes care of less demanding tasks.
The
phone has 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED; 1,920x1,080 screen, at 441 pixels per
inch.
The phone is equipped with a 13 megapixel
primary camera and 2 megapixel secondary camera.
Other innovative features
Samsung has always relied heavily upon its
software offerings. Innovation lies in these as most phones can posses the
hardware, but the ability to utilize it to the fullest. The most fascinating
feature in the camera is the "eraser" feature. You can now simply
erase those who you don't want in the picture. You can also snap a picture of
other people and place yourself.
Multi-lingual voice recognition is another
added benefit as now it recognizes several dialects with ease. This Siri-like
voice recognition outclasses Siri. You can ask it to read your email out loud
and ask the phone to respond to a text message while you're driving. It also
handles navigation and other phone features.
The eye tracker, that was hyped beyond
belief is here too. If you're watching a video and look away, the video will
pause automatically and resume when you turn your eyes back to the screen. You
can also scroll by looking up or down and by slightly tilting the phone. It's
not the full-fledged eye tracking that was rumored - but it's a step in that
direction.
Air Gestures will now allow you to control
the phone by waving your hand above the screen. You can swipe left to right or
up and down. You can even hover over an email or other item to get more
information without having to touch it.
Final words
Overall, we were not blown away by the
features offered by Samsung. But it certainly is an extremely cool product. As
per our judgment, the price will be anywhere around $810 i.e. on par with
iPhone 5, HTC Butterfly and Blackberry Z10. The device is due to launch end of
April.
Technical specs
Samsung Galaxy S4
·
Display: 5 inch 6M-color
Super AMOLED HD
·
Chipset: Exynos 5410
Octa / Snapdragon 600
·
CPU: 1.6 GHz Quad-core
ARM Cortex-A15 and 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7/1.9GHz Krait 300
·
RAM: 2 GB
·
Operating System: Android
4.2.2 - Jellybean
·
Camera: 13 megapixel
primary camera and 2 megapixel secondary camera
·
Memory: 16/32GB/64GB
storage, microSD card slot
·
Connectivity: Wi-Fi
a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard micro USB port with MHL
features (TV Out, USB host), GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio
jack, NFC, Infrared port
iPhone 5 & HTC One
iPhone
5 and HTC One
·
Display: 4 inches / 4.7
inches
·
Chipset: Apple A6 /
Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600
·
CPU: Dual-Core 1.2 GHz /
Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300
·
RAM: 1 GB RAM / 2 GB RAM
·
Operating System: iOS 6
/ Android Jellybean 4.1.2
·
Camera: 8 MP, 3264x2448
pixels, autofocus, LED flash / 4 Ultra Pixel, 2688 x 1520 pixels, autofocus,
LED flash
·
Memory: 16/32/64 GB
·
Connectivity: DC-HSDPA,
42 Mbps; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, LTE, 100 Mbps; EV-DO Rev. A, up to
3.1 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.0/ HSPA+; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps
UL, 100 Mbps DL, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.0
