By: iPadfanzz staff on March 18, 2013
The latest talk of the town is Samsung Galaxy S4 which is making quite a wave with its huge set of never-seen-before features. The S4 comes with top of the line hardware specs with the company's latest software user interface tweaks, including eye-tracking and gesture control. The Galaxy S4 will be available in the U.S. in April from all four major carriers. According to reports, the S4 will be available in the US with a price tag of about $579 which is slightly lower than the iPhone 5 16 GB which retails for $649 contract-free. The official price has not been made public by Samsung, so it must be taken with a grain of salt.
The S4 looks similar to S3, but is thinner and features a 5-inch Super AMOLED HD screen -- larger than both the S III and the iPhone 5 -- with 441 ppi; resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. Under the hood, the S4 is powered by a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor and will ship with 16, 32 and 64 GB storage. There is also a microSD storage slot. The phone supports WiFi, 3G and 4G LTE and has GPS and near field communication capabilities. The smartphone comes with Android's 4.2.2 Jelly Bean as its foundation. The S4’s rear camera has 13 MP resolution, with 2 MP for the front-facing lens. Both cameras shoot video at 1080p resolution. Let’s take a look at some interesting features of the S4.
Hardware:
Screen
The S4 utilizes Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 3, making it a durable travel companion for all of life’s adventures. The smartphone also has the world’s first Full HD Super AMOLED display to showcase images at their very best. Its 5-inch large screen has 441ppi for stunning viewing quality.
Processor
Samsung has begun the era of Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor. Samsung said the Exynos 5 Octa won’t show up in the U.S. version of the Galaxy S4, which will instead rely on a Qualcomm 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon. However, the Octa processor will be used in the S4 in other markets--and it will be used in other high-end smartphones and tablets. The Exynos 5 Octa has a hardware engine that can record and play Full HD video at up to 60 frames per second and an image processor that can capture 13-megapixel shots at 30 frames per second, according to Samsung.
The Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor is a technological marvel. The processor has four high-performance Cortex-A15 cores and four low-power Cortex-A7 cores. Samsung said the processor delivers twice the graphics performance of its Exynos 4 Quad and supports WQXGA (2560x1600) displays.
The decision by Samsung to introduce a eight-core processor in a smartphone is a bold and yet a bit strange move, given that most PCs are getting fine by using only dual-cores processors (or quad-cores in high-end systems). It is also true that you will not find too many apps that are ready to take advantage of the four cores let alone eight.
Backing the eight-core with 2GB of RAM will give users amazing power to do multi-taking with breeze.
Battery
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 2,600mAh battery, which is 300mAh more than the HTC One.
Camera
Samsung has put a lot of focus on cameras in S4 as the new smartphone now packs in a 13-megapixel camera sensor, an upgrade from the 8-megapixel sensor in S III. The front camera jumps from 1 to 2 megapixels as well. But what’s interesting is that now you can use these two cameras can be used together in a mode Samsung calls Dual Camera. The Dual Camera functionality allows both cameras to be used simultaneously to record video or take photos. Now you can decide how the second camera superimposes on to the main camera screen — either in an overlay or in true side-by-side mode. It also lets users make video calls while showing off what they are seeing without having to switch camera positions.
In addition, as a result of software tweaks, now you have a mode called Drama Shot that lets users create cinemagraph-like images that are saved as animated GIFs. Users can also create special Story Albums from geo-tagged information as a way to create virtual reminders of a trip or event.
Gestures and More
Samsung has introduces a feature called Air View which allows users to hover their finders over content in certain apps – such as Flipboard — and see a preview of the content before changing screens. Air Gestures lets you to navigate the phone and even make voice calls without touching the screen. There’s also an Eraser Shot which lets you scan through an image and wipe out any unnecessary clutter from the picture.
Samsung also has new Smart Pause and Smart Scroll features that help users control content based on action. With Smart Pause, videos in enabled apps will pause when you are turned away and resume when turned back. It doesn't work by using eye-tracking, but instead uses facial recognition. Use Smart Scroll to scroll through the browser and email without touching the screen. It uses your face movements and wrist gestures to determine when to scroll.
Samsung's own ChatOn can now support up to three video callers at once, share screens and use both the front and back of the SGS4's camera while you talk.
4G LTE
It is a LTE handset.
Inductive charging
It is a cool feature that gives it the ability to charge wirelessly.
IR LED
The S4 has an IR blaster so you can control your television using your phone.
Noise cancellation
Now clean up background noise from your calls.
S Translator
It lets you translate any text you find on the phone, including emails. The app can speak in languages, including Portuguese, English and Spanish. S
Group Play
This feature you may not have seen on smartphones earlier. It lets you connect with up to eight other SGS4s to share music and play games. It means that Group Play can work like a seven-channel surround sound system.
S Health
The built-in pedometer allows the phone to count calories or steps and can even connect with the new S Band, Samsung’s answer to the Nike Fuelband.
Story Album
Use the app to print out pictures straight from your phone.
S Voice Drive
It now knows when you are in your car, if paired with Bluetooth, and adapts to show things like driving directions and locations.
U.S. carriers
Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket Wireless have announced that they will sell the Galaxy S4.
