Mobile Technology

Samsung making "rugged" Galaxy S4, 8-inch Galaxy tablet

Samsung is reportedly prepping a rugged version of the Galaxy S4 and an 8-inch Galaxy tablet (Original photo: Shutterstock)
Samsung is reportedly prepping a rugged version of the Galaxy S4 and an 8-inch Galaxy tablet (Original photo: Shutterstock)

You get the sense that Samsung wants to be everything to everyone. The Korean company makes smartphones and tablets in all shapes and sizes. It does high-end, it does low-end, and it even does mid-range. You name it, Sammy has either done it or is planning on doing it. So the next items on the agenda should be no surprise: a rugged, outdoorsy version of the Galaxy S 4, and an 8-inch Galaxy Tab.

Today’s scoop comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. Their “people familiar with the matter” say that the rugged S4 is tentatively branded as the “Galaxy S 4 Active.” It will be water-proof and dust-proof (much like the Sony Xperia Z), but taking design cues from the standard Galaxy S 4.

The WSJ thinks that the Galaxy S 4: Bear Grylls Edition (not really) is designed to target business and government customers. Samsung’s KNOX security suite, waiting in the pipeline, is also aimed squarely at the enterprise – where a new war is being waged, along with Apple and Google.

The source expects the phone to ship in July.

Galaxy Tab 8.0?

The report only mentions the 8-inch Galaxy tablet in passing, but it sounds like it would be a Galaxy Tab or other standard tablet. In other words, no stylus or Note branding. It's expected to release in June.If Samsung could pack a high-res display and cutting-edge processor into the 8-incher, maybe it could steal some of the rumored iPad mini 2’s thunder. For all of the current iPad mini's great qualities, its display and internal components are very 2011-ish. Samsung would love to get a jump on its rival for the hearts (and dollars) of 8-inch tablet customers.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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3 comments
Daishi
The thin plastic cases on the Samsung phones don't bother me but it seems like it is a major gripe with a lot of people. I'm not sure if the S4 is any worse than the S3 or people are just expecting more from them but some of the S4 reviews I read have beat them up about it.
The review from the verge said: "I don't like holding this phone, and I can't overstate how much that informs the experience of using it. It makes an awful first impression, slippery and slimy and simply unpleasant in your hand"
Ouch. They make so many different phones to fit every need I guess I am surprised it took them this long to offer a version with a different casing.
John in Brisbane
None of the coverage I've seen mentions "shock proof" or anything similar. It is a bit silly that we buy these quite expensive bits of kit, designed to be held and carried around for years, and one bad drop and they're stuffed! I've just shattered the screen on my s3 so it's a sore point right now. There are lots of awesome cases of course but they add bulk and reduce the utility of something that is already pretty big. It doesn't take much to reduce the break-ability of something - you mainly just need a tiny amount of padding to reduce the max g-force experienced during the sudden deceleration associated with the device landing on something. Someone (Samsung? HTC?) just needs to incorporate that into the design in a way that doesn't add massive bulk or make the device hard to get out of a pocket (hello, rubber bumpers!)
Phyzzi
Motorola already did this with the RAZR MAXX, but people had already been burned by the combination of Big Red and Moto before this and it went out of fashion pretty fast. That said, one thing people really like about Samsung is the replaceable battery and other things (I have taken my G Nexus all the way apart and replaced parts with minimal issue). I'll take repairable over durable on almost any part besides the screens, which are already made of gorilla glass -mine, with a 0.5 mm "screen protector", has survived probably 20 consequential drops, and better than a year of pretty nasty abuse (if you play Ingress, you know what I mean).