Mobile Technology

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S4

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Samsung pulled back the curtain on its new flagship, the Galaxy S4
Samsung pulled back the curtain on its new flagship, the Galaxy S4
Samsung's over-the-top event stayed true to the history of its Radio City Music Hall venue
The Galaxy S4 is one of the thinner phones on the market, at 7.9 mm
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When Samsung tipped its Unpacked event in New York City, there was no mystery surrounding what the company would announce. It’s no surprise, then, that the company stuck to the script and opened the curtain to its latest flagship, the Galaxy S4.

Specs

The Galaxy S4 is one of the thinner phones on the market, at 7.9 mm

The Galaxy S4 has a similar exterior to its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. The most notable differences are a larger screen (5-inch 1080p next to the S3’s 4.8-inch 720p) and a thinner build. It's around eight percent thinner than the Galaxy S3.

The S4 – like its predecessor – will ship in two different models (depending on region). One version totes an octa-core – yes, eight cores – processor: Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa CPU, clocked at 1.6 GHz. The other version is a 1.9 GHz quad-core Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm. The phone sports 2 GB of RAM, and will be sold in three storage variants: 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. It also sports an improved 13-megapixel camera.

Features

Samsung's over-the-top event stayed true to the history of its Radio City Music Hall venue

The rumor about the S4's Smart Scroll feature turned out to be legit ... sort of. It will supposedly scroll web pages and emails when you reach the bottom, but the technology is based on facial recognition and wrist movement, not eye movement. The Galaxy S4 features a few other facial tracking features, including Smart Pause – which pauses a video when you look away, and resumes playback when you look back.

The S4 sports several new camera software features. Dual Camera combines video or images from the front and back cameras, under a variety of templates. Also included is Drama Shot, which takes bursts of shots and combines them automatically into a collage. The Sound & Shot feature – as you might expect – adds sound clips to still photos.

The device runs Android 4.2.2 Jellybean, with Samsung’s Touchwiz UI layered on top. Samsung hasn't yet announced pricing or specific release info, but it says that the handset will ship globally beginning in Q2, 2013.

To see how Samsung's new handset compares to its arch rival's, check out our Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5 comparison.

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10 comments
Ozuzi
The Drama Shot sounds interesting, more chance of a nice image where everyones eyes are open etc., big file though for a 16gig camera
Seth Kazzim
Better specs than my pc... :(
Royce Edwards
All in all fairly nice but I wouldn't buy the version with the 4 core Snapdragon. When Samsung says that the processor choice is based on region they should have simply said we plan to send the inferior phone to the United States because they'll buy anything. Anti-American sentiment ran very strong in the cheesy live event that they ran last night. I'll be waiting to see what Android phones come out in the next couple of months.
Michele Li
The S4 was supposed to have wireless charging built-in but it's a $100 add-on. I'm keeping my S3 and getting the $40 Qi wireless charger set from Monster Watts
Gregg Eshelman
Where's the slider keyboard version?
Ernest Garee
The best cell phone that they have come out with to date dose not compare in quality to the old reliable land line.
NiKoNPwnedU
LOL REALLY? ol' Reliable Land Line? I dropped my Land Line cause it was non-stop Static. I had the phone company come out so many times I forgot they didn't live with me. Screw the Land Line!
barrettjet
Go gettum "Sammy". Apple gives you planned obsolescence ,,, "Just a little better" and it looks like Samsung gives us the "State of the Art". Now about that GPS. Does it have one? Is it WAAS? 3 meter error or less. How good is it? Works in a BizJet cockpit? with heated, shielding windshields) Works indoors? (My HTC does) It seems to never get reviewed.
Systems Engineer - Paul
Too bad no one has made a proper cell phone caddy for this beautiful new product that actually secures with a belt loop!
SuperSlakkie
I heard there is a dual-sim version... Is this true??