Calling and web
Calling on the Samsung Galaxy S4 carries on
from its predecessor - namely in being excellent. It’s got a slightly narrow
earpiece range, which means that you have to be careful where you position it
in relation to your ear, but that’s a really minor quibble as the overall
effect is impressive and works well thanks to some clever volume management.
The S4 has noise reduction built in, and many people commented how clear the
sound was over the airwaves. The S4 supports HD voice as well, which is carried
over the 3G/4G/LTE networks so you’ll get the best clarity on offer. In short,
this phone worked well no matter where we were.
The
S4 supports HD voice as well, which is carried over the 3G/4G/LTE networks so
you’ll get the best clarity on offer
Dropped calls should be a thing of the past
on all handsets, but that’s not always the case; however, with high-end
handsets there’s no reason to think it should happen, and the power of the S4
to keep hold of a signal is impressive.
The messaging experience on Samsung
smartphones has never been the strongest, and thankfully it’s getting better
and better with each iteration. We’d go as far as saying that it’s actually
GOOD on the Samsung Galaxy S4, and that’s coming from a place of wanting to
throw the Galaxy S3 out a window once or twice when the email client didn’t
connect properly. Text messaging is still a key part of the Samsung Galaxy S4,
and has been slightly upgraded; where there was just a conversation view with
bubbles before, you now get little contact pictures next to each person, which
adds a touch of personality to an SMS conversation. Yes, again it’s not a new
experience, but it works well on the phone.
Internet on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is
covered by two applications: the inbuilt browser and Google Chrome. This might
lead to some confusion as, for the most part, the two applications do precisely
the same thing. However, the default browser (Samsung’s own) still comes with a
few tricks of its own, and has been upgraded since the Galaxy S3.
It’s not any quicker, which is odd given
the uprated processor, but that’s likely because the Galaxy S3 was already running
at the top end of the speed the connection would let it.
Media and storage
The Galaxy S4 is a media marvel in every
sense of the phrase, from music to video to even the FM radio, and if you’re
after a spot of entertainment on the go, then there’s very litde better out
there, with the iPhone 5 the only possible rival.
The Galaxy S4 has done away with the FM
Radio for some reason though - it’s a shame as the Samsung app was one of the
best out there for listening to some tunes over the airwaves.
Both the video and music player are
excellent. Music supports voice control, while the movie player is head and
shoulders above the rest of the competition, in no small part thanks to that
Full HD Super AMOLED screen, with a clean interface and Smart Pause functionality.
This did cause some issues though - as there is a slight delay to confirm eye
movement which detracts from the feature.
Storage
on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is limited if you opt for the 16GB version of the
phone, as over 6GB of it is taken up by pre-installed apps and the OS itself
Storage on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is limited
if you opt for the 16GB version of the phone, as over 6GB of it is taken up by
pre-installed apps and the OS itself. That might not sound like a problem when
you consider that you can whack in up to 64GB of microSD storage thanks to the
expansion slot, but this is the zone where apps download.
This isn’t a problem that only Samsung has
to deal with, but the fact that the internal storage is so limited thanks to
the preinstalled elements means this becomes even more of an issue than we saw
on the iPad, which at least had over 2GB more to start with. The memory card
slot really does help though by giving you a safe haven for your media.
Candid camera
The Samsung Galaxy S4 camera is a big
upgrade over other sensors it has put into phones, and with a 13MP sensor you
can see why. It is capable of taking some stunning photos and comes with a
decent auto mode, which allows you to get really great shots no matter what the
framing. New features, though, such as being able to take a picture using the
front and back camera simultaneously, are niche at best. Samsung made a big
deal about this new function at the launch of the Galaxy S4, but in reality we
can’t ever see a scenario where you want your face to be in the picture too. We
do like that you can have loads of frames for your face though, so there are
scenarios to use it - it’s just not a USP of the phone.
The
Samsung Galaxy S4 camera is a big upgrade over other sensors it has put into phones,
and with a 13MP sensor you can see why.
There are a number of other new apps on the
Galaxy S4. Optical Reader allows you to translate words on the screen in front
of you. In reality we can only see it being any good for getting business card
details or understanding a foreign word.
There’s also S Translate, which is a
powerful tool that will let you speak or type words into the phone and have
them translated into another language. It’s a simple system to actually use -
we found very little that went wrong with it.
Because
the feature isn’t perfect, we can’t say it’s a useful way to navigate around
the screen
Another new feature is that of Smart
Scroll. This technology was designed to also monitor your eyes, but when it
notes you’re looking at the phone the Galaxy S4 will allow you tilt the handset
back and forth to move the text or email you’re trying to read up and down the
screen. Because the feature isn’t perfect, we can’t say it’s a useful way to
navigate around the screen.
Battery life
The good news about battery life is that
the Samsung Galaxy S4 is able to handle all the things you can throw at it and
still keep the 2600mAh battery chugging along at the end of the day. We found
that in general use it was very well received, as nothing we found could hurt
it.
We will say that those that like gaming,
movie watching and internet browsing will struggle to make the battery last on
this phone, as the screen is the biggest drain. That sounds obvious, but we’re
actually happy that the Galaxy S4 isn’t one of those devices that will see your
battery juicing down from an overly-enthusiastic background syncing process.
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Samsung
Galaxy S4
- Processor and key specs: Version
one has an Exynos octa-core 1.6GHz processor while version two includes
a Qualcomm quad-core 1.9GHz processor. Both have 2GB of RAM, 16, 32 or
64GB storage and a beastly 2600mAh battery.
- Other features: The S4 runs
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. It can take advantage of 4G too. The actual
device weighs 130g which isn’t hefty and will not weigh down a pocket.
- Design and build: A sleek device
that is just 7.9mm thick. At 137mm tall and 70mm wide, it is bigger than
an iPhone. It is made of plastic which can feel rather cheap.
- Screen: For all the talk of the
iPhone 5, its four-inch 326 pixel screen doesn’t compare with the 1,920
x 1080 five-inch, 441 ppi screen of the S4 which perhaps is better
suited to a phablet.
- Software features: But the S4
improve. While software features capable of running en S3 will be made
available, we like the pause-when-you-look- away from the screen feature
and the touch less interfacing that can be done
- Camera:
A Whooping 13-MP offering make all the difference. Yes, it doesn’t
always matter how many pixels there are but this Camera is a Vast
improvement on S3
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