By Jamil Jafri Follow on Twitter @JamilJafri, @MBuyersGuide
At Samsung's Unpacked 2013 event Samsung revealed the long awaited Galaxy S4. It is the predecessor to the Galaxy S III which has had more than 50 million sales. The device is technically the best phone in the world followed closely by the HTC One. Apart from the mammoth sized spec numbers Samsung haven't forgotten how to improve the way you use the phone day-to-day by adding a multitude of software features. Specifications and features after the "read more" break
The software improvements like Smart-stay, Smart-scroll (description below) are additions to the features found in the Galaxy SIII. It is evident that Samsung have focused on making these features justify the "Smartphone" moniker that a lot of phones claim to be with very little trace of "smartness". However, the usefulness of the features is still debatable.
DisplayThe most significant feature of this device is the 5" display which is one of the largest you can find on on an android device. Its sports a 1080p resolution for a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch which far exceeds the density of the iPhone 5's retina display. This makes for really sharp images and makes it impossible to distinguish between pixels. AMOLED makes a welcome return to this Galaxy. It produces highly saturated colours which is mostly unrealistic when looking at photos but looks great in general. To put it simply, the colours just "Pop". | "To put it simply, the colours just "Pop". " This wouldn't be a Samsung flagship without some neat additional features. Display settings like temperature and colour saturation adjust themselves depending on what app you are using and optimises itself to indoor/outdoor visibility. One of the standard additions is the Gorilla glass 3 which makes it tough and scratch resistant (Note: not scratch impervious) Like the Lumia 920, you can operate the touchscreen wearing gloves. |
Camera
"...virtually erase objects within a burst shot." The main camera is a 13MP shooter with 1080p HD video recording while the front facing one has 2MP, 1080p video capabilities. One of the most intriguing software feature added to the camera, called Erase, enables you to virtually erase objects within a burst shot. I find that the dual shoot camera feature is quite gimmicky and doesn't serve much use. It essentially takes pictures/video using both front and rear cameras simultaneously where one picture/video resides within the frame of the other. |
Software features
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Availability
The Galaxy S4 will be available at Three, O2, T-Mobile, EE, Vodafone, Phones 4 U and Carphone Warehouse.
So far prices and release date information is not provided by the mentioned networks. Stay tuned to Mobile Buyers Guide and we'll let you know when this information is available.
So far prices and release date information is not provided by the mentioned networks. Stay tuned to Mobile Buyers Guide and we'll let you know when this information is available.
If you wan't to know something about the Galaxy S4 in particular, please let us know in the comments and we'll update you as soon as soon as possible.