Finally, the most awaited event of the year – release of Samsung Galaxy S4 is here. The event was officially titled, Samsung unpacked 2013 Episode 1 – and invited us to – “Come and meet the next Galaxy”. Samsung has never messed up with its releases so far, and yet again it proves to do so. The South Korean firm had already filled Times Square with its huge posters of the Unpacked event in New York ahead of the launch this week on 14th, bringing on the fight to Apple’s home market.
Albert Einstein is said to be born on 14th of March, so does it mean we expect a device as smart as him? Will Samsung Galaxy S4 be the blockbuster of this year’s mobile market? Did all the lustrous rumors about S4 turn out to be true? Jeremy Maxwell, a preteen boy by that name, was the one and only “secret messenger” of the device unveiled from the teaser. Well, until yesterday it was only Jeremy and Samsung, who seemed to know what was coming up but this is not the case anymore, catch up more on S4 below.
Jessica Dolcourt of CNET quotes “After using the device at a briefing (along with several other journalists), I do think that Samsung has accomplished what it’s set out to do in pushing its Galaxy brand forward.”
Here are the details:
Android OS –Jelly bean has been there for a while now, and given its popularity and strength, this seems to be promising for the S4. The S4 will be rolled out with 327 mobile operators in 155 countries, from the end of April and will run Jelly Bean 4.2.2.
Design – Plastic again yet more appealing. Sammy has stuck with plastic for a few good reasons like durability, manufacturing benefits and price. Phone has rounded edges, narrow physical home button, thinner and lighter.
S4 more powerful than iPhone 5 – Samsung Galaxy S4 powered with its in house Exynos-5 (5410)Octa/1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Fusion Pro processor based on the regions. Exynos-5 Octa is powered with 8 whopping cores following a big little architecture i.e. 4 cores being the most powerful Cortex A15 clocked at 1.6 GHZ and the remaining four being the low power Cortex A7 clocked at 1.2 GHz.This way, it could take control of both the power hungry tasks with A15 and low demand simpler day to day tasks with A7 ensuring no lags. When the phone doesn’t need to do anything fancy, the powerful cores are said to be shut down saving battery.
All the bells and whistles – The S4 is said to have a screen larger than the S3 at 5 inches and the resolution increased to 1080p. The core panel technology is AMOLED with a rich pixel density of 441 ppi. The S4 makes reading and viewing more comfortable by adjusting the screen brightness based on the App. This is valid for audio too. With a huge panel size, resolution and a high pixel count, near-field communication and a full support for Bluetooth 4.0, this will be a beast of a device.
Battery life – The S4 has a higher battery capacity 2600mAh battery, but a large screen and even more features to compromise performance.
Camera power – A daring 13 MP rear facing camera and a 2 MP front facing camera (with no flash) of course adds up to the lucrative features of this beauty. Eye scrolling/Smart scroll is one welcoming feature. This would be able to sense the eye’s placement on the page. When it tracks eye movement near the end of the page, the software would scroll down to reveal more paragraphs. Smart pause is also added to this bunch of delights, which would pause the video when the user is not viewing it anymore.
Dual shot mode – Front and rear both the camera’s support photos and videos. The dual-camera recording system allows you to record video using both cameras, at the same time, letting individuals interact and customize the recording experience. The Wow here is you can record sound before the shutter is pressed or can be added after the shutter is pressed. Drama shot, an upgraded version of burst shot, lets you take 100 photos in 4 seconds. Now, you can present those images in an easy-to manage collage. It also automatically creates a photo album with Story album
TV control app – Top of the S4 has an IR blaster, which beams out infrared light to control TV directly from the handset. And this is not just Samsung TV, S4 generously extends this feature support to work with all televisions. You can now control channels and volume using S4.
S health – S4 tries to replace third party apps with S health. S health tracks your steps, jogs, snacks, hogs and perspiration using the phone’s sensor like an accelerometer and barometer.
S voice drive – Samsung rolls out Voice drive feature is designed for in-car use. This voice command feature lets the driver use the built in navigation system in the handsets as well as make calls, send messages, and check the weather.
S voice assistant and S memo programs to return to S4.
Air view and gestures -Floating touch technology introduced in S4, lets you use their fingers as a mouse cursor and hover over an item to draw more information. In addition to the fingertips, you can even wave or wipe your whole screen to navigate around.
Apple’s Vice president-Marketing, Phil Schiller had slammed the forthcoming Galaxy S4‘s “year-old” Android software, pointing out that customers will have to wait for an upgrade. Schiller’s views just ahead of the launch proved how important a phone the S4 actually is, representing the flagship of the Android market.
Here is a hands-on video by The Verge:
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How do you like the new Samsung Galaxy S4?
