May 11, 2013 12:53 AM
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The Samsung Galaxy S4 wants to topple the iPhone from its top spot, and wipe the floor with other manufacturers. Can Samsung succeed? Let's find out.
Samsung’s biggest release for a year. The Samsung Galaxy S4 will doubtless be popular but is it the best smartphone of the year, and are the new features worth having? The brand has not radically changed the design of the phone compared to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S3.
Even so, look closely and you’ll see that the Samsung S4 has definite style improvements, with straighter lines and a sleeker, more serious look to it. But it’s the same glossy plastic finish, so if you are keener on a more premium feel like the iPhone 5 or HTC One, you may feel this is a bit shouty. Even so, it’s a classier look than the S3.
Size and build: Like last year’s model, the Samsung S4 isn't a phone for petite hands. But Samsung has squeezed in a screen that’s bigger than last year’s into a handset that’s slightly smaller (the dimensions are 136.6mm tall, the same as the S3, while the width and depth, 69.8mm and 7.9mm, are smaller). The change in depth is particularly noticeable and means that though it’s big it doesn't feel unmanageable. The display is 5 in this year, against last year’s 4.8in on the S3.
Features: Okay, deep breath, we've got a lot to get through. This phone is choc-a-block with features. Last year’s Smart Stay technology, where the front-facing camera would monitor your eyeballs and dim the screen when you weren't looking at it, has been enhanced.
So now, if you're watching video and your peepers stray, Smart Pause stops playback until you look back again, at which point it smoothly restarts. The same tech is used in conjunction with the accelerometer so that when you reach the bottom of a web page, tilting the phone scrolls the content up for you. And there are other features which mean you don't have to touch the touchscreen. Pass your hand near the phone when it’s in standby and the screen gently wakes, shows a near-dark background speckled with stars and reveals how many texts, emails or missed calls you have before turning off again. It’s a neat feature.
There are gestures which mean that when you hover your fingers near a contact in your address book it reveals more details without your having to open the contact. You can turn pages by waving your hand nearby.
There’s one more way not to touch the screen: the sensitivity can go up to 11 so you can use the phone with your gloves on. And after the spring the UK has had, you'll know that’s important. Nokia has it on many of its Lumia handsets but it’s good to see the technology implemented here.
The phone has wellness features built in. By wellness, Samsung means the S4 wants to encourage you to be healthy. So the pedometer can spur you on to take 10, 000 steps, rewarding you with a notification when you get there. It knows whether you're walking, running or climbing stairs.
There are even temperature and humidity sensors, so you can monitor more than you'd imagine. You can also use the phone as a decent TV remote, thanks to the infra-red transmitter in the top. The extra features all work well, although most of them may prove too gimmicky for most users.
Screen: This is not the first Full HD resolution screen. Those 1920 x 1080 pixels are also found on the Sony Xperia Z and HTC One, for instance. And the smaller screen on the HTC means it has a slightly higher pixel density per inch. But this is more than enough. It’s 455 pixels per inch so no wonder it looks great. And this is a Super AMOLED display, which Samsung is familiar with and knows how to optimize. It’s amazingly vivid, punchily colourful, and laser-sharp. Altogether it’s a screen that’s hard to resist thanks to its glossy richness.
Camera: Samsung has one of those new-fangled 13MP sensors that’s also found on the Sony Xperia Z. it’s a powerful little devil, that delivers strong shots and is easy to use. Low light, as ever with smartphone cameras, is not your friend. But this is a versatile and capable camera. For all that, the photos aren't quite as wonderful as on the HTC One which takes a different approach thanks to its fewer-but-better pixel strategy. The four-megapixel sensor on HTC’s phone is spectacular in lower light, managing it so well you may never need to turn the flash on.
There are plenty of features to explore here, too, such as the facility to shoot on the front and rear cameras simultaneously. You may struggle to find compelling uses for this, but it adds extra ways to save your memories.
Performance: This is a very speedy phone. However much you’re doing, it never slows down or shows any sign or being out of breath. It powers on, at speed. The touchscreen is responsive, web pages load quickly and apps launch instantly. All this because of the Octa-core variant of Galaxy S4 has eight processing cores, with the four powerful Cortex A15 chips clocked at 1.6 GHz and the four power-saving Cortex A7 chips running at 1.2 GHz.
Battery: Smartphones drain batteries. Big screens drain batteries. Fancy features like air gestures drain batteries. So you might fear that the S4 would be on its knees by lunchtime. But no, there’s a big cell in this phone and it keeps you going through a full day with ease.
You can make it to a second day if you're parsimonious in your usage, but daily recharges off the best peace of mind. This battery life is excellent, bettering many of its rivals, though not beating the Motorola RAZR HD.
Verdict: Samsung’s flagship is a real beauty. It feels good, looks smart and does more than previous smartphones have. On the other hand, just as most people only scratch the surface of the capabilities of their home computers, settling for email, word processing and a little light gaming, there are going to be a lot of customers who barely dig into the features here.
Many are gimmicky, some are decidedly niche, but it all still adds up to a phone with so many capabilities, it’s likely there'll be lots to delight you. There are innovations to show off down the pub and genuinely useful features. Even if you don't use them, this phone’s performance is so slick it is an appealing combination. Is it the best Android smartphone yet? Well, it lacks the gorgeous and demure styling of the HTC One, and the Sony Xperia Z edges it for photo skills, but the combination of power and innovation put it towards the top of the tree, a branch or so below the HTC One but outgunning all other rivals.
There’s no doubt it'll be deeply popular and has a certain wow factor. And it means Apple will have to deliver something special to stay ahead. Meantime, this is easily Samsung’s best yet.
