Samsung Galaxy S4 First Look Review

After Months and Months of mockups and rumors the Samsung Galaxy S4 was finally launched in New York last month to great fanfare, and last week at a glitzy S4 "World Tour" event held at London's Olympia.After incredible success with the Galaxy SII and Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4 had to be something special, and my first impressions are that it is precisely that.

The Build and Design

Can you tell which is which? Let me help you out - the S4 is the one on the right. The key differences are that marginally taller screen, a smaller bottom lip, and a rearrangement of the sensors. If you look closely, you'll even notice that extra black dot at the top, above the screen. That's the infrared sensor, which the S4 uses to power its gesture control feature

The Galaxy S4 looks something like a cross between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2. It comes in 'black mist' and 'white frost' colors which look pretty standard but still stylish.I'm sure that other colors will launch later on in the year later.Despite the fact Samsung has stuck with the same flimsy plastic rear cover found on the Galaxy S3, the design of the Galaxy S4 is impressive. This is mostly because the firm has managed to put a larger screen into a slightly smaller handset, compared to the S3. It's an impressive feat and means the Galaxy S4 doesn't feel unwieldy in the hand. It's both thin and light – 7.9mm and 130g according to Samsung.Despite the fact Samsung has stuck with the same flimsy plastic rear cover found on the Galaxy S3, the design of the Galaxy S4 is impressive. This is mostly because the firm has managed to put a larger screen into a slightly smaller handset, compared to the S3. It's an impressive feat and means the Galaxy S4 doesn't feel unwieldy in the hand. It's both thin and light – 7.9mm and 130g according to Samsung.Despite the fact Samsung has stuck with the same flimsy plastic rear cover found on the Galaxy S3, the design of the Galaxy S4 is impressive.
Despite sporting a larger, 5in Full HD display, the S4 is slightly narrower, slimmer and lighter than the S3. If you don't believe us, take a look at the image below, which shows the two phones side by side.
The plastic build is a downfall of the Galaxy S4, it can't complete with the likes of Apple, Sony and HTC in this area.

Hardware

S4 is really thin even with all those components put together

There's no faulting the Galaxy S4's hardware which rivals devices like the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z. It's a shame that the UK model will come with a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor instead of the Exynos octa-core chip.Nevertheless, the Galaxy S4 still look great even with the 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor.But I'm still not sure which version will come to Myanmar but my thoughts are that it might come with Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 1.6 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 & 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7.Unfortunately the Exynos 5 Octa one does not support 4G LTE,but who cares in Myanmar there is no 4G connection.
Once again, storage is an iPhone matching 16GB, 32GB and 64GB and Samsung has gladly kept the micro SD card slot for expansion. This is an area where Samsung has one up on many of its competitors.
The 5in Full HD SuperAMOLED screen on the Galaxy S4 is impressive. It matches the Xperia Z's pixel density of 441ppi meaning the HTC One is still the highest at 469ppi. Samsung says it consumes less power than the Galaxy S3's display which I hope is true.As you would expect from a wallet emptying flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4 is packed with connectivity – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and support for 4G LTE networks(Not for the GT-19500 version).The Galaxy S4 also has two additional sensors than its predecessor, infrared and a barometer. It's a shame the device doesn't have built-in wireless charging, a feature which I would like to see more of in high-end smartphones.

Software

As you might know, the Galaxy S4 will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.The interface is familiar to that of the Galaxy S3 so existing Samsung users will feel right at home. Other Android users shouldn't find it too hard to get used to either, since everything is located where you would expect it to be. One tweak is that the settings menu has been split into different tabbed sections, but this isn't hard to get accustomed to.

What Samsung offers is seemingly endless amounts of software features on top of the usual Android ones. The firm did this with the Galaxy S3 to differentiate itself and has gone even further with the Galaxy S4.
Air View and Air Gesture mean you can preview and scroll through content by hovering a finger above the screen or waving your hand across it. It works reasonably well and could be handy in a few niche situations such as when you're cooking and have messy hands.
Samsung has also advances its Smart Screen technology with the Galaxy S4. Smart Scroll and Smart Pause are two new features which utilise the front facing camera.I can see that automatically pausing a video if you look away from a screen is cool but pretty handy too, the problem is a slight delay before it happens and a weird sensation where you don't know if the handset has done it properly or not.
I found the automatic scrolling of Smart Scroll buggy and hard to use – apparently it doesn’t work too well if you wear glasses. When it does work, it's a neat thing to show off in the pub but we can't see a real-life use for it apart from being extremely lazy.
 For those into fitness gadgets, the Galaxy S4 is one in itself. With its multiple sensors and S Health app you can keep track of your steps, calories used and other information.
The list goes on with things like Group Play with which you can share content between devices but only if they are also Galaxy S4s.
It's a mixed bag with the software features for us. Many seem to be there for the sake of it, to have bragging rights but no real day-to-day benefit to the user. However, lots look like they could be really handy. We'll find out when we use the Galaxy S4 for a decent period of time.
Plenty more software features appear in the camera app which we'll talk about next.

The new S-Translator feature is a whirl.It is designed as the ultimate digital phrasebook, and can translate text between ten different languages, including English, German, French and Spanish. It can also speak out translations for those unsure how to pronounce the results.Its big party trick, however, is the ability to convert the spoken word into another language via the phone's voice-recognition engine. We found it was hit and miss, however, working only once in five attempts, and then providing only the most literal of translations.

Camera

One of the major attractions of the S3 was the quality of its camera, and the S4 moves it on a notch, with 13-megapixel capture and - yes - a host of new features.
There's Dual Shot, which uses both rear- and front-facing cameras to shoot simultaneously and embed the image shot with the rear camera (of the photographer) into the photograph. Sound Shot allows you to record nine seconds of audio after snapping, while Drama Shot captures a quick series of images and superimposes them on top of each other, resulting in a collage action shot.
I suspect these features will become little-used novelties, but the quality of the camera output speaks for itself.

Battery

With a battery about a quarter larger than the Galaxy S3 and a display which uses less power despite packing more pixels, I would expect the Galaxy S4 to offer decent battery life. I'll find out whether the 2600mAh battery can do it or not when I get my review sample.

Accessories

The range of S4 accessories includes the S View Cover, a protective case with a cute little slot to see the time, battery status, what music is playing, and caller ID if someone rings you.

 

The S View cover comes in a range of colors.

There's also a selection of fitness gizmos that talk to the built-in S Health app, including a heart-rate monitor and a set of scales that sends data to your phone. And the waterproof S Band pedometer bracelet records how many steps you take and how much you move when you're asleep.
There's also an Xbox-style game controller pad with dual analogue sticks. The S4 slots in and off you go with your latest game.

Conclusion

I came away impressed by the Samsung Galaxy S4, and that's principally down to the phone's physical design.It isn't that the S4 is a thing of beauty; it's nowhere near as compelling as the silky aluminum chassis of the HTC One, and it feels cheaper than an iPhone 5. But yet by upping the screen size and battery size, and shrinking the chassis, Samsung has achieved something extraordinary. Now, we wait to see how it performs in real-world use.

The Galaxy S4's HD Display