Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1
by Brian Klug on April 24, 2013 12:01 AM ESTCPU Performance
For our CPU analysis we're left with our usual browser based benchmarks. Again this isn't an ideal list of tests but it's the best we've got for now. Where necessary we'll show results using both stock and Chrome browsers. We did notice a single case of thermal based throttling under SunSpider 0.9.1 (the benchmark alone is ine, but running it after a bunch of others caused throttling), so we're once again presenting results in our standard test environment as well as inside of a freezer to show peak performance. Although the Galaxy S 4 managed to throttle in one of our tests, the device never felt all that warm to the touch. We could be seeing some of the same aggressively set thermal governors that we saw back with the Nexus 4. It's also worth pointing out that we're simply in an era of pushing the limits of just how fast you can go at 28nm LP in many of these smartphones. The mobile SoC vendors also need to do a better job of power management, enabling controlled bursting to these high frequency states vs. sustaining the higher frequencies until there's a serious enough thermal issue that the CPU cores have to throttle themselves significantly.
Under Kraken in particular we see a measurable improvement in performance over the 1.7GHz S600 used in the HTC One. Qualcomm still can't attain the peak performance of ARM's Cortex A15, but once again we're looking at a much lower power profile.
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sigmatau - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Oh and I own a Nokia 900 and am looking to go back to Android. My phone works great. The email is perfect, never a crash, and the UI is smooth and flood. What is lacking is software. I just bought a Camaro and can't even use the OnStar app for it. The battery could be better and the camera isn't the best. For work, though, it is perfect. Email and IE is tops for my job. Not sure why portal websites still don't work as well on Android. I, also don't understand why the screen (OLED made by Samsung) is unreadable in sunlight.Hrel - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Wow, what's with all the hate on Sprint? Even camping in Wisconsin I have service on Sprint. Who cares if the phone is made of metal or plastic or cow dung? You should ALWAYS be putting your smartphone in a case, ALWAYS! So I say use the cheapest durable material possible. Since it's ALWAYS in a case, it's fine. If you aren't putting your 600 dollar+ phone in a case NO, you are WRONG, it ALWAYS goes in a case, ALWAYS!MilwaukeeMike - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Alright, I had to jump in here... I'm a sprint user in Wisconsin and their network is terrible. They are the only major carrier who's speed tests must be measured in kpbs instead of mbps to avoid the heavy use of decimals. He put a caveat on the review because a slow network makes the phone work longer and hurts battery life and because Sprint's network is so much slower, you'll see much better results from other networks. He made the right choice to leave out a 3G browsing graph because it wouldn't be an accurate showing of the phone's battery life.... especially since his other phones are on other (better) networks.You do realize some people care about materials... if you don't, fine use a case. but if you do care, then the metal phones are nicer. Apple's had success with their metal phone too you've probably noticed.
Hrel - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Apple had success because it's Apple. People who buy Apple buy Apple, they could release a phone powered by human blood and people would buy it. If you live near MIlwaukee or Green Bay then I'm not sure what you're talking about. If you live podunk then yeah, you need Verizon. But Verizon is 110/month. Virgin Mobile (Sprint) is 35/month. I'll take a slower network over 900/year.dolo4delf - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
I have an Ipod Touch...love it....would not buy an Iphone though...kyuu - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
No, you are wrong. Do what you like with your own phone, but I'm not putting mine in a case -- adding extra weight and thickness, ruining the in-hand feel, or covering up the exterior -- because you say so.And no, I don't own an iPhone.
sigmatau - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Go shove your case! You are wrong! If your phone needs a case, than it is a sorry POS. The only case I've had for a phone was a terrible Samsung phone. Not for a blackberry, not for an iphone, not for my Nokia 900. So you are wrong. Put your laptop in a case when you use it.gnx - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Glad to hear the camera is an upgrade. Looks like Sammy was primarily concerned about comparison with the Iphone5, focused on pixels, aperture, software enhancements (including aggressive night mode), etc. I have to admit, since I take photos oft in well-lit situations, outdoors and indoors, and don't take photos with friends in low-light bars often, this is what I'm looking for as a daily driver. Also, less noise in background colors is an important plus for me, since I blow up parts, and crop out others for the optimal photo to share.Hopefully Klug will update his review when he gets a hand on the international Exynos Octa version? I'm going for that one, even if I have to lose LTE, since it's more useful for travel abroad, and hopefully will have better CPU/GPU performance and maybe battery too. I don't think there's been a actual customer product with ARM's Big.Little architecture (Exynos Octa being a variant), so I'm looking forward to an analysis by Anandtech on that.
Battery is my third concern, but when you can buy a spare battery and chargers that charge both the phone and the battery at the same time, it becomes a mute problem.
AMOLED is always something of a hate-love relationship. It's oversaturated and power-hogger in browsing mode (cause of the white background), but I have to admit, unlike a laptop or desktop screen, in the relatively cramped phone, it does make the screen pop-out more. Especially with the minimal bezel on this SGS4! I remember each time I'm in carrier stores, the AMOLED screens really catch one's eye when side by side with a LCD screen, even though under further use, the LCD seems to have better clarity, even it it seems subdued. But what I really want to know is if the AMOLED tech used on this SGS4 has matured enough that we don't need to worry about gradual burn-in, which was a real problem in older AMOLED screens.
Touchwiz is still too chaotic for me, but at least I can always install a custom launcher. Just wish they provided an optional color theme for settings, etc, but that's probably asking for too much. At least, if this sells well, we'll have ample support from XDA developers.
Plastic is the bummer here. Gees, is it really impossible to build removable batteries and sd cards without resorting to plastic? My originally HTC Nexus One had a removable backcover. Surely, Samsung can do something close too? (No?) Or has Apple cornered so much of the aluminum supply, that it's prohibitively expensive and detrimental to timely large scale production? (as some Sammy sources imply?) Can't help wondering, with the competition from the HTC One, the next Note III due this fall will have a metal or some other upgraded case.
In anycase, further reviews on international SGS4 models with different parts, and updated reviews for the HTC One with US carriers and updated software would be appreciated!!
Thanks, Anandtech!!
BestPal - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Brian, you guys always do the best reviews, thanks!Y'all also do the most technically comprehensive reviews too, which is great for us gear heads :)
In that vain, and since you have the Sprint variant, I would like to ask a bit of a technically curious question I have about the Sprint variant...
Sprint is now finally going back to using removable SIMs on their GSM-capable devices, which is awesome for folks who travel overseas. Even better, Sprint is fairly liberal about unlocking their devices, albeit with having the OEM modify the device such that it won't do GSM inside the US on US bands, which is a long-standing Sprint thing but is absolutely fine. The main thing is that it allows using the device with a foreign SIM outside the US. However, on this device Sprint appears to have had Samsung do something strange, which is even though the device passed the FCC with UMTS 850 in it, Sprint appears to have requested Samsung to disable it, EVEN FOR overseas usage, leaving it with only UMTS 1900 and 2100. For those of us who frequently travel to South America (and a bunch of other places in the world too), crippling that band for overseas use is very problematic. Any idea why Sprint did that? Since in Sprint's case that band won't be useable in the US anyway. Anyway, I can think of no good reason to do this.
antef - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Samsung doesn't know how to do UI and they prove that with every phone or tablet they put out. TouchWiz is like Windows XP and IE6 with a million extra toolbars installed. The hardware menu key is awful and if they stopped and thought about it for a few moments they would realize why it's bad for new users, the platform, and those switching between tablets and phones. As the owner of two Samsung Nexus devices, I think they're hardware is great, but they can't get it together with usability and UI.