The phone is still generating healthy amount of sales but the Korean manufacturer doesn't want to sit idle as its competitors are coming up with more advanced handsets. To consolidate its position of a leader in the smartphone market, the company has unveiled its brand new Galaxy S4 flagship phone.
We'll be taking a detailed look at the features and hardware of the phone to see if it can meet the high expectations of Android users.
Features and Hardware of Samsung Galaxy S4
Design:
On the design front, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is almost identical to last year's flagship S III handset. You still get the same polycarbonate plastic body with rounded corners and glossy hyperglaze finish. However, Samsung has managed to tone down the weight and thickness of the phone, which is quite an achievement as it sports a slightly larger display and higher capacity battery.The back panel is removable and has a smooth glossy finish with a dotted texture which gives the phone a stylish appearance. However, like its predecessor, it also attracts fingerprints which will require regular cleaning.
Speaking of controls, you'll find the volume rocker on the left and the power/lock key on the right. The 3.5 mm audio jack is available on the top edge, while the microUSB port lies at the bottom. On the front, there is a physical home key flanked with the touch sensitive Menu and Back keys on either side. Overall, the phone looks quite good and stylish but the design is certainly not one of the major selling points of the phone.
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Display:
The Galaxy S4's 5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display is extremely sharp and detailed. The screen has a full HD resolution of 1080 X 1920 pixels and a sharp pixel density count of 441 ppi. With such a ppi count, the display offers a stunning viewing experience especially while watching HD content.The screen still uses the Pentile Matrix arrangement found on the S3's display panel, but Samsung has added an extra green subpixel, which results in a crisper output. The display is absolutely gorgeous with vivid and nicely saturated colors, excellent brightness and infinite contrast. Add to that, top-notch viewing angles and good sunlight legibility and you have one of the best displays in the market.
Internal Hardware:
Samsung has always packed excellent hardware into its flagship phones and it has continued that tradition with the S4. This year's flagship will be available in two variants just like the S3. One variant of the phone will come with an Exynos 5 Octa core chipset whereas the other one will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.The former will be accompanied by an octa-core processor clocked at 1.6 GHz whereas the latter will have a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor. However, both of them are expected to deliver a top-notch performance. The phone will also offer 2 GB of RAM and internal storage of 16, 32 or 64 GB along with the ability to expand the memory capacity by up to 64 GB using an external microSD card.
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Software:
Samsung Galaxy S4 arrives on shelves with the latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system and Samsung's custom TouchWiz UI. As you'd expect, the stock Android features are top-notch, but Samsung has a knack of offering something extra on its line-up of Galaxy phones.
So, in comes S Translator, Group Play, S Health, S Travel, Air Gestures, Air View, Smart Pause, Smart Scroll, Samsung Watch On, Optical Reader and many more features which set the S4 apart from rest of the competition.
Samsung's TouchWiz user interface is easy to use and looks amazing on the gorgeous display of the phone. Like always, Samsung has managed to deliver a top-notch software experience on its latest smartphone.
Camera:
Samsung has bumped up the both the cameras of the S4 to a higher resolution compared to the S3. The rear camera now has a 13 megapixel sensor whereas the secondary front-facing camera has a 2 megapixel sensor. Both are capable of full HD 1080p video recording and can be used at the same time through the Dual-Shot mode..jpg "Dual-Shot mode on Galaxy S4") |
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The camera interface now includes new features like Beauty Face, Sports, Best Photo, Sound & Shot, Drama Mode, Story Album, and Cinema Photo and much more in addition to the standard features like exposure, effects, resolution, night mode and others.
The primary camera manages to deliver superb image and video quality in daylight with fine details and realistic colors. However, the performance goes down a bit in low-light conditions even while using the LED flash.
Battery:
Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on a 2600 mAh battery which is removable. The company hasn't disclosed any information regarding the battery life, but at the launch event they did mention that the phone's battery will easily last for a day. Thankfully for users, the company wasn't lying.The battery has enough power to get heavy users through a full day with ease. Moderate users can expect to squeeze out even more life out of the unit. Furthermore, there's an option of carrying a spare unit to keep the phone running even longer.
Conclusion:
Samsung's latest flagship phone is carrying huge expectations on its shoulders as the Galaxy S3 was a blockbuster success last year. And going by what the S4 has to offer, it seems that the company is well-placed to surpass those expectations. The only notable downside of the Galaxy S4 is the design which fails in comparison to the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z.However, the phone more than makes up for it on all other fronts. It has a gorgeous display, super-fast processor, removable battery, microSD card slot, superb camera and innovative software features which make it the most complete flagship smartphone in the market.
Faizan Ahmad About the Author:
This article is posted by Faizan who is the Author and Founder of TechSenser. He is a Professional Blogger from India and a passionate writer about Technology, Gadgets, How-to-Guides, etc. You can connect him on Google+.
