Review Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung announced its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S4 back in March this year and it was available in April. Galaxy S4 is one of the most awaited phones for this year, especially after the tremendous success with Galaxy SIII. Galaxy SIII was huge success that it was able to outsell the iPhone as well.

With Galaxy S4, Samsung has made sure that it does not miss out on any features, be it hardware or software. It is currently the best smartphone in terms of hardware with Octa core processor (Quad core in certain regions) and runs on Android 4.2.2.

Related Reading: iPhone 5 vs HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4- Specs Comparison

So today, we review the Samsung Galaxy S4 to find out how good it is when compared to the competition.

Let’s first have a quick look at the specifications;

• Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2.
• 3G/ 4G LTE Cat 3 100mbps/ 50Mbps
• 5 inch Super HD, Super AMOLEDscreen with 441ppi
• Exynos 5 Octa (1.6/1.2GHz) or quad-core Snapdragon (1.9GHz)
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB/32GB/64GB Storage, microSD card
• 13 MP camera, font facing 2 MP
• Temperature and Humidity sensor along with IR sensor
• 2600mAH battery
• Dual Camera app
• 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (HT80) + BT 4.0, USB 2.0 NFC, GPS/GNSS, IR LED, MHL 2.0

From the specs its clear that the hardware of the device is top notch.

Design and Build Quality:

At first look, the Galaxy S4 looks very similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy S4, there has not been much change in terms of design. But what Samsung has managed to do is to fit a 5.0 inch display in almost similar dimensions of Galaxy S3 and also made it slimmer.

On the whole, the Galaxy S4 is a fairly elegant looking device, although when compared to competition (HTC One, iPhone 5 and Lumia 920) it does not look up to the mark. When it comes to Samsung, we all know its plastics. All the phones Samsung has made under the Galaxy brand has been made of plastics and Galaxy S4 is no exception. But good thing about the plastic is that it looks durable as it does not break up easily. Over the sides of Galaxy S4, Samsung has given a metallic finish giving it a premium feel (the bezel).

The back cover is glossy plastics with textured pattern which makes it feel good even though it gets an impression of cheap plastics.

At the bottom you have the micro USB charging slot along with the mic.

The right side houses the power button and the left side has the volume keys.

On the top, you have the 3.5 mm jack along with secondary microphone and an infrared option.

At the bottom of the screen is the home button and the two capacitive touch keys. The 13MP camera and the flash unit is at the back along with a Samsung logo.

Overall, if you take the proportions, Galaxy S4 is thinner, lighter and good in hands.

Display:

The Galaxy S4 comes with a Full HD, 5.0 inch Super AMOLED screen which performs really good. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixel with 441 ppi, when compared to 720p screen of Galaxy S4. As of now, only very few devices comes with full HD screen and Galaxy S4 is one of them.

Color reproduction and viewing angles are really good and there is option to auto adjust the display brightness. The sunlight readability is just OK, Lumia 920 has better readability than Galaxy S4. It is really hard to find issues with the screen and watching videos is a treat on this phone.

Samsung has also added a new feature “Adapt Display” (explained later in the article) which automatically optimises the display brightness and performance. The touch performance is also good and Samsung has added to ability to use the screen with gloves and this can be managed from the settings.

Camera and Video Recording:

Today, any flagship phone which comes to market has one focus on a good camera and Samsung did not want Galaxy S4 to be left out as it has packed with a 13MP camera along with new features and options. Camera is a really good one with quite a lot of features and produces great pictures in most of the cases.

Some of the new modes in Galaxy S4 includes Drama mode where you can capture with multiple exposure and select the best one or merge them into a dramatic picture.

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There is also built-in HDR support along with Panorama, animated photo, photo with sound and many more.

Apart from this, there is also options for camera which includes selecting the photo size, face detection, ISO etc.

You can also take photos with filters instead of using filters by editing the photos.

There is also Dual camera mode, you can use both the cameras together (front and rear). The front camera picture is added to the rear camera inside a frame which is customizable.

Galaxy S4 also comes with video stabilization. Galaxy S4 camera performs really good in well lit conditions both indoor and outdoor. The low light performance is also commendable, but when you compare with Lumia 920, there is so much noise added to it.

If you want to see the camera samples, please check this article- Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 920- Camera Comparison.

Software and Performance:

Ever since Samsung started making Android phones, their custom software, Touchwiz has been built into the device. Galaxy S4 also comes with Touchwiz on top of Android. With Galaxy S4, Samung has introduced new apps and features in the Touchwiz. Few of the new apps include S Translator, Story Album, Air Gestures, Smart screen, S Health, Samsung Hub and more. While some of these new features are useful, others are pure gimmicks.

Home Screen:

The home screen has five different views and Samsung has added it new apps like travel, Story Album, etc, into these home screens. You can customize your home screen by adding widgets, wallpapers or folders into it.

Navigating between these home screens is really fast and there is absolutely no issues.

Notifications:

The notification center has options to quickly enable or disable the settings. You can also adjust the brightness levels using the notification center. Along with this, there is also a detailed settings panel which can enable or disable quite a lot of options in your Galaxy S4. The implementation is pretty good and handy as well. There is power saving option and also enabling features like NFC, S Beam, Air view, etc.

Browser:

The browser included in Touchwiz is really good and the rendering is top notch. You can use the smart scroll or the air gestures on the browser. The keyboard on the Galaxy S4 is also good which is easy to type as there is sufficient spacing.

New features:

There are quite a lot of new features as mentioned before. The Smart Screen feature automatically scrolling up or down emails or websites when you tilt the phone from one side to another. Whenever you look away, the device makes sure to pause whatever you’re watching, so you don’t miss anything. Smart Pause resumes where you left off when you look back at the screen again.

As mentioned before, you can set the phone to Adapt display which will automatically select the screen capabilities based on the conditions. With 7 automatic modes and 4 manual modes, the Samsung GALAXY S4 provides the optimal viewing experience.

Galaxy S4 also packs with few air gestures. These gestures allows you to control the device without touching the screen. For example if you want to read the contents of an email without opening it, you can use Air view, just hover on top of the email and it shows a preview.

With Group Play, you can wirelessly connect multiple S4 phones to play games and share photos and documents. Get all phones together and create a powerful sound system that enhances the sound quality and keeps the party going.

Story Album allows you to customize the photos and create a album where you can set the themes for specific events. You can even apply themes and choose various layouts. Then print the photos and hold the memories in your hand.

S Health is a health and fitness app which will track your workouts, daily intake, and weight levels.

But on the whole, we feel that these features won’t be useful on a daily basis and moreover these features take time to get used to it.

Performance:

With an Exynos 5 Octa processor and 2GB of RAM, you know device is really powerful and it is really capable. In almost all cases, the performance was really great with great speed. But some occasions like using the camera and hitting the back button quite a few times, you might see a lag. This is probably because of the fact that Touchwiz has too many apps running and is not optimized for great usage. But overall, switching between the apps and opening the apps are really fast. It is only in the camera app we would a certain amount of lag.

The call quality is really good and there are no complaints and the data speed on 3.5G connection was really awesome. The device comes with 16GB of storage, but user gets only around 9GB or so which is pretty disappointing. The new apps and features take up quite a lot of space on your device.

The device supports microSD card, so you can easily expand the storage using this option.

Battery Life:

When it comes to any smartphone OS, one of the inherent problem has been battery life. And when the OS is Android, it is further an issue. The Galaxy S4 packs a 2,600 mAh removable battery under the cover and this can power your smartphone for one full day with normal usage. We tested the phone for 3G connectivity only, so are not sure how it performs on 4G LTE.

While the Galaxy S4 does not set any new benchmarks with battery usage, the huge battery comes as an advantage for the huge full HD display along with high end hardware. Since it has a removable battery, you can get an extra battery to power it up for long travels. If you are not using the new features, we recommend you to disable most of the gimmickry features.

Related Reading: Samsung Galaxy S4 Accessories

Here is a quick video review of Galaxy S4;

Conclusion:

With Galaxy S4, Samsung had made sure that it does not come second to any in terms of features and hardware and it is reflected in the device. Galaxy S4 is an awesome device with an elegant design, brilliant screen and top notch hardware. It also has a great camera with tons of features. It is only in Touchwiz UI, you might find a certain lag. But overall, the device performs extremely well.

Samsung’s addition of new apps and features have in turn made the device come with lesser amount of storage and also these features are not useful in day to day usage. At the price is it being offered (around $700+), the phone is not cheap by any means. But having said that the Galaxy S4 is an awesome device to buy if you are looking to have one of the best smartphones.