Samsung Galaxy S4
If you're looking for Samsung's new Galaxy S4 to define a
novel new era of smartphone greatness, it's time to temper your
expectations. The brand-new flagship smartphone, which runs the latest
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, improves hardware significantly and it piles
on the features. Compared with the extremely successful Galaxy S3
that came before, it's a firm stride forward rather than a giant a
leap, but it raises the bar again for Samsung's competitors. And by
super-sizing the screen and packing in so much specialized software, the
GS4 sets itself even farther apart from the iPhone.
The Galaxy
S4 handset steadily draws from the same design language as the S3, but
takes almost every spec to an extreme -- the screen is larger (5
inches), the resolution greater (1080p), the battery capacity higher
(2,600mAh), the processor faster (1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz octa-core),
and the rear-facing camera stuffed with more megapixels (13, to be
exact). But, once you've gone through the features checklist (which also
includes lots of internal and external storage space and RAM), it's the
software extras that Samsung continues to lean on to keep its phones
one step ahead of the competition.
The problem is, based on my
brief time with the Galaxy S4, very few of the extensive list of
enhancements stood out as a killer, must-have,
cannot-possibly-live-without feature. The TV control app that works with
the IR blaster is perhaps one exception (the HTC One
has this, too), as are a handy translation tool and eye-tracking and
gesture capabilities that allow you to pause a video when you stop
paying attention and let you hover your finger over an item to preview
what it is. Many other software additions are semi-interesting ideas
that some power users may enjoy once they've figured them out, but which
will hardly convince a prospective buyer to pick the GS4 over, for
instance, the HTC One, Nokia Lumia 920, or iPhone 5.
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. Fans will find a familiar,
appealing smartphone that's packed with hardware and software features
-- albeit more than one person would ever use.
Editors' note:
This analysis is based on my first impressions after using the phone.
I'll continue to update this section as I get more time with the handset
after the official launch event, and in the coming weeks and months.
Design and build
At first glance, the Samsung Galaxy S4 looks like a cookie-cutter copy
of the GS3, but larger. It has the same rounded edges and narrow
physical home button as its predecessor, but at 7.9mm deep (0.31 inch)
and 130g (4.6 ounces), it's also a little lighter and thinner. Part of
the slim look and feel is a result of Samsung creating sharper,
straighter lines with the phone than the GS3's subtle curves (the Galaxy
line is apparently inspired by nature no more).
Samsung's new Galaxy S4 features a 5-inch 1080p HD screen and a slightly slimmer, lighter build than its antecedent.
Standing at 136.6mm tall by 68.9mm wide (5.4 inches by 2.7
inches), the Galaxy S4 fits right in between the GS3 and the Galaxy Note
phones. It's large, to be sure -- very large -- but since I've grown
used to holding big handsets, it didn't feel overwhelming in my hands. A
more dimpled finish on the white version I held reminded me of the
Galaxy S2, in contrast to the GS3's silky brushed feel. The GS4 also
comes in "Black Mist."
While visually appealing, I've never seen a Samsung phone that wows
me with its finely crafted build quality or materials. The GS4 doesn't
reach the same caliber as the beautiful, all-metal HTC One, nor is it as
polished as the iPhone 5. To be fair, that isn't Samsung's goal; after
all, Samsung has stuck by plastic for a few good reasons, including
durability (it won't smash like glass), manufacturing benefits, and
price.
As the rumors and leaks foretold, the GS4 has a 5-inch HD
Super AMOLED display with a 1,920x1,080-pixel screen resolution. While
it isn't exactly edge-to-edge, the smaller bezel makes the screen feel
more expansive. At full brightness, the display's 441ppi pixel density
looked rich and crisp, but I'll need to compare it with the BlackBerry Z10,
iPhone 5, and others to really get a lock on just how sharp it is.
Also, like you'd find in Nokia's Lumia line, the GS4 uses a highly
sensitive screen that lets you navigate with long fingernails or even
gloves (a must for cold-weather climates.)
Above the display
you'll find the usual array of sensors and the 2-megapixel front-facing
camera lens. There's no front-facing flash on the GS4 as I would have
liked, but that was mostly wishful thinking anyway. Below the screen,
you'll find the solitary physical home button, flanked by capacitive
menu and back buttons. On the top of the phone is where you'll find the
IR blaster, which shoots out infrared light to control your TV directly
from the handset.
What I really like about this blaster, other
than the accompanying app, is that Samsung promises it works for all
televisions, not just Samsung TVs. The app will let you control channels
and volume, and also play on-demand content through a partner.
Beneath the back panel sits a 2,600mAh battery and a microSD card slot capable of up to 64GB in expandable storage.
On the back, there's the 13-megapixel camera, a jump up from
the GS3's 8-megapixel lens. Even though the number of megapixels isn't
everything, Samsung has had a good track record with images so far. The
shooter has an LED flash and records 1080p HD video.
Beneath the
back cover, you'll find a microSD card slot that can store up to 64GB in
external memory, to go along with the 64GB internal storage. There's
also a 2,600mAh battery.
OS and apps The Galaxy S4 runs none other than Android
4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the most up-to-date version of Android you can get
right now. Riding on top of it as usual is Samsung's Touch Wiz overlay, a
customized interface that I, for one, think is getting a little long in
the tooth. Also, keep in mind that the next Android OS, Key Lime Pie,
should appear when Google I/O opens on May 15. That's not far away, so I hope that Samsung and the carriers fast-track the Galaxy S4 for an upgrade.
However,
Samsung does use TouchWiz to add a bevy of software enhancements, like
gestures, and a beefier notifications tray that offers a ton more
toggling options to quickly turn settings on and off. In addition to
your usual toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, you'll also see
toggles for call-blocking mode and eye-tracking gestures.
A tiny IR blaster on top turns your GS4 into a remote to control your TV.
To Samsung's credit, several functional tools carry over from the Galaxy Note 2, including the multiview mode that lets you split the screen to interact with two apps, say the browser and notes.
Once
again attempting to out-Google Google, Samsung introduces the S
Translator tool, embedding it into e-mail, the ChatOn messenger app, and
letting it stand as its own tool. Speaking of ChatOn, the Samsung-built
chat app adds three-way video calling, screen-sharing, and video calls
that make use of both cameras.
I also like the idea of another
new collaborative feature, Group Play. As with some of the GS3's
photo-sharing features, this one rewards GS4 owners by letting them
connect (via NFC or Bluetooth) to other Galaxy S4 devices to share
music, photos, documents, and even engage in multiplayer games. For the
music aspect, envision a whole room full of people playing the same song
from their phones: instant surround sound!
As for Group Play
games, Gun Bros 2 and Asphalt 7 have been specifically adapted for the
GS4. Samsung will release an SDK for other game developers to jump on
board with simultaneous, social game play. Good idea? Sure. But without
knowing how practical it is to set up and use, the jury is still out.
The Galaxy S4 interface includes a more extensive set of toggle controls in the drop-down menu.
Although I didn't get a chance to try this next feature during
my briefing, I like the idea of an integrated optical reader that can
scan QR codes, turn business cards into text, and translate with S
Translator. Nothing here is new to smartphones, and OCR (optical
character recognition) doesn't always work, but it's good to see this
sort of behavior brought to the surface.
Now, when Samsung spots a
trend, it pounces. Thus the birth of S Health, a
calorie-counter/pedometer in one that uses phone sensors like the
accelerometer and barometer to track your steps, jogs, hops, jolts,
snacks, and perspiration. Combined with one of its new Samsung-branded
fitness wrist bands, Samsung is attempting to replace specialized
third-party apps that do these functions already.
The problematic
S Voice assistant and S Memo note apps are returning programs, along
with settings that automatically adjust screen brightness based on the
app you're in. Samsung presents this as a benefit to you, making reading
or viewing more comfortable. In the GS3, a dimmer browser window threw
me off, and made me think that the screen brightness was severely
limited. I assume that, as with the GS3, the GS4 will let you adjust
your preferences in various settings menus. The GS4 does the same for
audio.
Samsung also announced a new feature for the S4 called
Galaxy S Voice Drive. Designed for in-car use, the voice command feature
will let drivers use the handset's built-in navigation system as well
as make calls, send messages, and check the weather. I didn't have the
opportunity to test the feature in a Manhattan hotel conference room,
but Samsung says that Voice Drive will start when you get into your car.
Eye-tracking software keeps tabs on where you're looking.
Eye-tracking gestures Conflicting rumors painted a scenario where you'd scroll the screen with your eyes using eye-tracking software within the GS4.
Turns
out, that's somewhat true. Smart Pause and Smart Scroll are two
features that build off the Galaxy S3's optional Smart Stay feature,
which kept the screen from dimming when you looked at it. In the GS4,
tilting the screen up or down while looking at it scrolls you up or
down, of course. As a daily commuter
with one hand on the phone and one on a hand strap, this could be a
more convenient way to catch up with news while on the train or bus.
I
really like the idea of Smart Pause, which halts a video you're
watching when your eyes dart away, then resumes when you start paying
attention again.
Both features worked better in theory than they
did in practice, though I should mention that the GS4 I was looking at
is (obviously) preproduction running prefinal software. Still, response
time was a beat slower than I wanted, taking a little time to pause and
resume the video, and scroll the screen. A minor delay makes sense. You
wouldn't want to start and stop again every time you're distracted for a
second. Instead, the software seems to track longer periods when you're
away, like if you stop what you're doing to order a cup of coffee, talk
to a friend, or climb a set of stairs.
Air View and gestures
While you can make googly eyes at the GS4, most gestures are still
reserved for your fingertips. Hovering features known as Air View make
their way from the stylus-centric Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to the Galaxy S4, but replace the stylus with your digit.
You can control the Galaxy S4 by waving your hand in front of the camera sensor.
Hover your finger and you can preview a video clip or image
from the photo gallery, glance at browser tab thumbnails, find your
place on a video timeline, and check out an e-mail. You'll also be able
to magnify calendar events and get a closer look in speed dial.
Flipboard has built a customized app to work with Air View, which lets
you hover over a tile to see which articles lie beneath.
In
addition to hovering with a fingertip, you can wave or wipe your whole
hand in front of the screen (and camera sensor) to navigate around. For
example, enable this gesture and you can agitate your palm to pick up
the phone or switch songs in a playlist. Steadily sliding your hand back
and forth can advance photos in a gallery, or browser tabs. You can
also scroll up and down in a list.
The feature was a little jerky
and jumpy when I tried it, but it did work. As with eye-tracking,
you'll have to wait a half-second to see results.
Cameras and video
If the promise of the GS4's 13-megapixel images doesn't wow you,
Samsung is hoping that its refreshed interface and enhanced features
will. Perhaps the most out-there is the dual-shot mode, which takes
photos and video from both the front- and rear-facing cameras, and
combines them into one (LG's Optimus G Pro does this, too.)
The
background shows the capture from your main camera, while the
foreground -- whatever you take from the front-facing camera -- lays on
top. You can choose to change the window size and shape on top, say a
postcard stamp, an oval, or a simple window. You can also swap camera
positions so that rear-facing gives you the inset and the front-facing
image forms the background. As to why, the answer, like some of
Samsung's many features, is more correctly: why not?
The camera interface takes full advantage of the GS4's display.
Even more new modes include Sound & Shot, which takes a
picture and captures up to 9 seconds of audio (sounds like HTC's Zoe
mode to me), and Drama Shot, which combines all the actions from a burst
shot into a single frame. If someone is jumping, for instance, you see
all stages of the leap in one shot (P.S. HTC has this, too in the One.)
Then
there's Cinema Photo, which lets you animate just one portion of a
video and keep the rest static (it creates a GIF), and Eraser mode,
which can erase an unwanted person from a shot. The Samsung team and I
tried this out five or six times on the demo device I got to hold, but
it didn't work; chalk it up to a prerelease software bug.
You'll
also find Story Album, which gathers friends into a single photo album.
Integration with Trip Advisor lets you add more location-based detail,
and you can print any album through self-publishing platform Blurb.
The GS4's new dual-shot mode combines photo and videos from the front-facing camera and rear camera into one frame.
Performance While the Galaxy S4 will look the same
everywhere in the world, it won't necessarily have the same motor under
the hood. Your future GS4 handset will either thrum from a 1.9GHz
quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series processor, or from a 1.6GHz eight-core chipset, Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa silicon.
We'll
need to set the two bad boys side by side in the lab to see real-time
performance differences, but in the meantime, the Octa-curious can get a
load of CNET editor Eric Franklin's Octa 5 benchmarks from Mobile World Congress.
Data
speed freaks can rest assured that the Galaxy S4 will support LTE in
expected markets (these haven't yet been announced), and LTE roaming
will be possible for some geographies (very nice).
As for battery
life, the phone has a large, 2,600mAh ticker, but also a larger screen
and even more features to compromise performance. Smart Stay and S Voice
both drain the battery more quickly, which just means that, as always,
potential buyers should adjust their expectations. The more video and
games you play, the shorter your life per battery charge.
In
terms of storage and memory, the Galaxy S4 has 2GB RAM, 64GB internal
storage, and another 64GB available through the microSD car slot. In
today's market, you can't get more than that.
Pricing and availability
If this phone sounds like something you want to get your hands on, you
won't have to wait too long. Samsung plans to stagger releases worldwide
in April and May. In the U.S., Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile,
U.S. Cellular, and Cricket Wireless will all get the Galaxy S4 (along with Sprint MVNO Ting). Samsung hasn't yet shared plans for other countries.
Samsung
also hasn't shared pricing yet, since it differs by region and by
carrier, but you can expect comparable pricing structures to what you
saw in your area for the GS3.
A more sensitive screen means you'll be able to use gloves when operating your phone.
What's missing? While the Galaxy S4 hits
expectations square on the head, there are still a few small areas that
competitors can crow about. As I mentioned, premium build materials are
one. After my briefing, it also isn't exactly clear where the Galaxy S4
comes down on wireless charging. Samsung will support wireless charging
through the Qi standard, though it's strange to me that Samsung didn't
drum up the feature, especially since we know that you can rig a Galaxy S3 to wirelessly charge. Competitors, like LG's Nexus 4 and Nokia's Lumia series, also support wireless charging.
How it compares with the competition
The Galaxy S4 is a high-end, fully featured smartphone that's meant for
almost everyone. Samsung has made sure to include every salient
hardware spec and enough new and interesting software features to hold
your attention, if not constant use.
Although the handset's
hardware isn't exceptionally beautiful and software isn't particularly
inspiring, it has every essential feature and then some. Right now, the
best way I can describe it is as the Gap clothing of smartphones. While
you may not use or even like every item on display, it's long on basics,
represents a certain high standard, and you'll be able to get it
anywhere.
Stay tuned for many more details, impressions, photos, and videos in the upcoming hours, weeks, and months.
