{"id":19469,"date":"2013-07-02T16:10:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T21:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=19469"},"modified":"2013-07-02T16:04:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T21:04:32","slug":"review-samsung-galaxy-s4-refines-a-winning-formula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/hardware\/review-samsung-galaxy-s4-refines-a-winning-formula\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Samsung Galaxy S4 Refines A Winning Formula"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s really no denying that Samsung is the biggest name in Android phones. The Korean giant’s most recent flagship, the Galaxy S4, sold 10 million units in the first month<\/a>. Considering that the S III (the difference in use of Arabic and Roman numbers between phone versions is on Samsung’s part) took almost two months to do that and the S II (a slightly less than famous phone) didn’t sell as many units until 10 months after being on the market. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Even more impressive is the report<\/a> from\u00a0Canaccord Genuity stating that the S4 actually outsold the iPhone 5 in the month of May. True, the iPhone 5 is nine months old — an eternity in smartphone time — and the S4 did just come out, but Apple traditionally dominates sales.<\/p>\n

What changed? Has Samsung’s reputation toppled Apple’s, or is this the surge of the new? Is it the phone itself or the company? Now that the initial hype has died down, let’s check out the Galaxy S4, specifically taking a look at the Sprint edition.<\/p>\n

First Impressions<\/h3>\n

Remember when the iPhone 4S came out and everyone kvetched that it wasn’t a massively different body from the 4? There’s a little of that going on with the Galaxy S4. There had been a much more drastic shift in body type between the S II and S III, but that makes sense. The S III<\/a> took what didn’t work in the previous model and rejected it, and the S4 continues that by refining. It’s a little narrower and the home button is a bit differently shaped, but at first glance, you could easily mistake one for the other.<\/p>\n

\"Source:

The S4 is the one on the left.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A longer look reveals the stylish silver colored band around the S4, which is a pretty clear differentiation. That same silver is also around the front central button, which is flanked by two capacitive buttons — back and menu. Interestingly, back is on the right and menu on the left. This makes it awkward to switch from an Android device that has the back button on the left, which is something I believe is a bit more common (examples include the Nexus 4, Nexus S, and every single HTC phone). Beyond that, you’ve got a microUSB port on the bottom, power on the right, volume dial on the left, and a headphone jack on top. That’s the same layout as the S III and a formula Samsung is unlikely to change for some time.<\/p>\n

There’s been a bit of sneering about Samsung’s use of plastics while HTC, Nokia, and Apple use carbon, glass, and metals. No disrespect meant, but some of us prefer a device that actually lets us swap the battery easily. The S4’s back comes off in seconds. My only quibble is that the battery cover itself feels weak and I worried about snapping it on removal. Underneath said cover you find a microSD slot, your SIM card slot, and a 2600 mAh battery. That helps power the 5″ HD screen. Remember when 5″ was huge for a phone? It still is, actually.<\/p>\n

The Software<\/h3>\n

This is the part where I usually sit and kvetch about Samsung dumping TouchWiz all over Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). It’s gotten so bad that I may be as sick of writing about it as you are of hearing it. Thing is, it’s actually gotten better. The version of TouchWiz on the S4 isn’t annoying me as much as usual. I even like the little “lens flare” effect under my fingers when unlocking. It could be familiarity, or it could be that Samsung has refined the path started with the S III. This alteration makes TouchWiz feel less like branding and more like a unique user experience. For the die-hard Android users, there’s always the $650 Developer Edition<\/a> of the S4, running mostly plain Android. However, that version isn’t a Nexus device, and the DE will need tweaked updates, so you’re in Samsung’s hands. If you’re doing that, why not deal with TouchWiz and be done with it?<\/p>\n

\"Source:

Because it offends me.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Samsung experience on the S4 features a ton of custom software and new features. Here’s a dirty secret: Some vendors send us review guides, pointing out new features. Samsung had to send an honest-to-goodness manual to detail all the newness of the S4, and we didn’t get to test every single feature even then. It’s madness, but in a good way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Air Gestures makes you feel like a Jedi, using an infrared sensor to detect gestures near the phone. This is great if you live somewhere with actual seasons, and might need to wear gloves sometimes. Other than that though, flipping through galleries without touching the phone feels kind of\u00a0<\/span>gimmicky. Air View (previews when your finger hovers certain things) sound cool, but I’m not feeling it as anything practical. These are all\u00a0customization\u00a0in Settings, which is a good thing, as all that IR sensor use can’t be good for the battery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of infrared, my favorite software feature depends on it. Samsung’s WatchOn, a TV companion app that also acts as a universal remote. This came in handy when someone gave me an old TV minus the remote. The WatchOn software found the model easily and interfaced beautifully with our set-top box. I watch a lot less TV on the actual TV these days, what with Hulu Plus and all that, but the WatchOn software made the experience quite a bit smarter.<\/p>\n

Less useful to me is Samsung’s new Easy Mode, a stripped down version of the OS for beginners. I am clearly not the target audience of this feature. I hate training wheels on tech for the most part. Additionally, as the whole point of TouchWiz was to simplify a complex OS (Windows Mobile, represent), the idea of it being so complex as to require an easy mode seems to be proof that it has overstayed its welcome.<\/p>\n

\"Source:

“I still poop myself and I find this condescending.”<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Getting back to useful features, Samsung also updated the notification panel to allow even more device toggling. As with the most recent versions of Android, a two-fingered swipe down takes you right to the toggle view, where all sorts of goodies are literally at your fingertips. Samsung’s implementation is actually a bit smoother than Google’s built in choice, and the S4 deserves full marks for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of pre-loaded apps, there are quite a few. I mean, there’s a lot. A whole lot. BaconReader, 1Weather, CBS Sports, Drop Box, Optical Reader, Polaris Office, S Health, S Memo, S Voice, Samsung’s own app store, Samsung Hub, Samsung Link, Scout, Sprint Music Plus (making a total of three music apps on the thing), Sprint TV & Movies, Sprint Worldwide, Sprint Zone, Story Album, Trip Advisor, Voice Recorder, VPN Client, Google Wallet ,and the aforementioned WatchOn make for a crowded app drawer. Several apps aren’t removable (without rooting the phone), which is annoying but many are, which is an insane improvement over older phones.<\/p>\n

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite feature, the little menu that you can call up on the left hand side of the screen. It reminds me of Mac OS’s Dock or Windows’ Quick launch. It’s not exactly needed with task switching, but it’s nice to have a second option.<\/p>\n

As an interesting side note, this is the first phone where I’ve used the Swype keyboard the majority of the time. I found I was typing <\/span>inaccurately <\/span>(even for me) when not gliding. My hat is off to Samsung for including it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Performance<\/h3>\n

The joy of the current cutting edge quad-core smartphones is that they work like a dream. We’ve yet to develop enough junk to bog them down, and that makes these phones awesome. The S4 is like the Optimus G<\/a> in that going from it to a perfectly good dual-core device like an S III takes adjusting. It’s just that powerful. The power of the S4 means you can load the 16 GB of onboard storage with lots of HD video and actually enjoy it on the Super AMOLED screen (with 441 pixels per inch) without stuttering. Although all the power in the world won’t make this screen fun to use in direct sunlight; when taking walks in the Texas sun, I had to find a shady spot to adjust my Google Music settings and whatnot. That reminds me. This is a great music phone. Samsung bundles comfortable earbuds and the sound is crisp enough for users. The speaker is nice and clear as well. My only sound-related quibble is two-fold in that the default alerts are too loud even on the lowest settings and vibrate can be “heard” from one room over.<\/p>\n

\"Source:iStock\"

It doesn’t help that all of the pre-loaded alerts and rings are annoying as hell.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Call quality is, of course, a subjective factor that depends on the actual network. Techcitement’s Sprint review unit never dropped calls and everything was clear. However, Sprint’s 4G LTE network continues to disappoint. There were several times that the S4 was booted to 3G, especially indoors. It’s possible that this may improve with Sprint’s shutting down of the old Nextel iDEN network and using the bandwidth for LTE, but that means more waiting and in the meantime. Sprint users are paying for 4G and being beaten out by T-Mobile’s 3.5 G HSPA+.<\/p>\n

One vast improvement on the S4 is the battery. A\u00a0 2600 mAh battery works wonders here. Much of that power goes to fueling the chip and the screen, but even after that, the S4 had serious staying power. Most impressive was how long the smartphone ran after the “please plug me in RIGHT NOW OH THE HUMANITY” errors started. Assuming you don’t leave NFC, Bluetooth, and GPS running constantly, there’s no reason the S4 shouldn’t get you through the day. I would note though that you don’t want to leave the S4 in your pocket. All that power comes at a price, and that price is heat. The S4 can run really hot at times, much more so than the S III.<\/span>
\n
\nAll the major handset makers seem to be giving the camera function of the smartphone a lot of love lately. Nokia, HTC, and Apple have all tricked out the image capture function of their respective flagship devices and Samsung is no different. Instead of being content with the default Android camera features, the S4 has added a bunch of software to the 13 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras. Some additions are cute but puzzling — like the ability to take a “dual camera” photo from the rear and front at the same time. This was something people wanted? Other features, like taking stills while in a video, are quite welcome. Then, there are the blog-friendly features, like Animated Photos (essentially an automated animated GIF) or Sound and Shoot, which embeds audio in images. Audio, you should note, that can only be shared by other S4 users. Meh. Panorama and filters are there, of course, and are old hat. More impressive though, is the Drama Shot, which is a mode that shoots 100x in a single burst. This can make cool composite images, assuming you can get it to work. I have some trouble with that particular camera feature.<\/p>\n

For those of us who only want to take photos and post them places, I have to note that the S4 has possibly the best color balance of any Android phone I have used to date. Photos feel right in a way they didn’t on the S III. I’m also impressed by the audio pickup when taking video. There’s a little too much ambient noise, but for the most part, I can actually hear what my toddler was saying when the video was taken.<\/p>\n

\"s4_image_spidey\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\"s4_image_parts\"<\/span><\/p>\n

We didn’t test S-Beam or NFC, two Samsung data transfer solutions, but reports are that these work swell for those who like that sort of thing. Also going untested was the screen share feature that lets you see your screen on another device and the ability to have two apps on screen at once (we tested this on the Note II<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Hackability<\/h3>\n

Samsung and Google really, really want you to buy the Developer Edition. As you can imagine, the S4 comes with the Bootloader locked, so you can’t just stick on any custom ROM you might fancy. We’re not going to link to how, but you can indeed get around this. After you find the workaround that’s not hard to find — Techictement takes no responsibility for anything that may happen to your device in the attempt — you can tweak as much as you like, including putting a straight-up Android experience, minus TouchWiz.<\/p>\n

\"Source:funnyordie.com\"

And there was much rejoicing.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Strengths<\/h3>\n

The S4’s biggest selling point is the name. Samsung has become the brand of choice for many. The S4 is a great illustration as to why, with powerful multimedia and computing features, smart software, and cutting-edge hardware. The Galaxy S series is the one to beat, and the S4 cements that.<\/p>\n

The Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

Is it possible that Samsung is growing complacent? The heat issues on the S4 were bad enough that two associates actually returned theirs. It’s easy to blame the chip, but the same one is inside the Optimus G and no such issues were reported with that phone. There’s also talk that sales numbers are dropping now that the initial thrill of breaking records is over. That’s likely more indicative of the overall state of the market, but it raises an eyebrow.<\/p>\n

One other thing we want to note is that the S4 is a little flimsy feeling. Samsung must agree on some level because there is already a follow-up model: the S4 Active. The Active is water resistant and tougher, which might cause me to be less prone to worry about damaging that phone.<\/p>\n

Pricing & Availability<\/h3>\n

The S4 is available on all four major U.S. carriers. Prices start at $199 normally, but there are already deals to be had (Sprint has it direct for $150<\/a>\u00a0when you port a new number in, Best Buy<\/a> is giving $50 gift cards, etc). I wouldn’t be shocked if there are great deals over the Fourth of July weekend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wrap Up<\/h3>\n

The current generation of quad-core smartphones are amazing and the S4 is no exception. The On The Cheap writer in me is a fan of how it’s popularity has driven S III prices down, despite the difference for the average user being minimal. In fact, if you’re already on an S III, I would suggest holding out for the S5. For everyone else, the only good reason to not buy an S4 is personal taste. I strongly recommend giving it a test drive anyway though, because your palette may change with this phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s really no denying that Samsung is the biggest name in Android phones. The Korean giant’s most recent flagship, the Galaxy S4, sold 10 million units in the first month. Considering that the S III (the difference in use of Arabic and Roman numbers between phone versions is on Samsung’s part) took almost two months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1917],"tags":[34,3,2828,4872,61,1540,10,2746,2046,1541],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19469"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19936,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19469\/revisions\/19936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}