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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Roy2001 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
No plastic and AMOLED which SUCKS.medi02 - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
Never heard something as idiotic.Samsung's AMOLED is the reason I don't even consider other manufacturers.
superflex - Friday, May 3, 2013 - link
Until you get it in direct sunlight. AMOLED definitely has it's limitations.Belard - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
I find the HTC One a truly exciting design compared to the SGS4... The cheap plastic look and feel of Samsung is why I bought the AtrixHD instead (same feature set, but crappy camera) as it looks different and looks better. The HTC feels like a well made product... looks great all over.But why it MAY NOT matter how the Samsung looks is for people who ALWAYS puts an external protection case over their phones, so with the HTC One & iPhones - you don't get to see sign industrial designs that make them sexy and made the purchase... silly, isn't it?
So... for the case protectors, it doesn't matter.
I like my phone to be as small as possible... I don't use them... and so the HTC One will matter more. Also, all that touchwiz stuff is... kind of ugh.
RiotSloth - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
I love Anandtech, and in particular Brian Klug's excellent and objective reviews. If you really want to know all about a new phone, it really is THE place to come and read. I assumed others would feel the same, but NO, there seems to be the same infantile nonsense on here as on other sites. Why do people get so fixated with people's phone choice? As I pointed out on another site, both of these phones are capable of explaining the sum of human knowledge to you almost instantly. they take pictures, they can direct you anywhere, they play music and HD video. In short they are probably the most amazing thing ever created in the whole of human history. And yet people make infantile remarks over whether one is plastic or metal?!MarkHunt - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
Have to say it, but majority of the new Chinese Android quad core phones do nearly everything the S4 does for a pittance for a similar performance level. The build quality of the S4 looks no better either.medi02 - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
Exactly how much does Samsung save but not using metal cover?Is it really more than couple of bucks?
PS
Got Samsung's first Galaxy S (9001).
About 2 years old.
Never used any kind of protection for it whatsoever. I bet most people whining about it being plastic would use some protective cover on it anyway.
medi02 - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
"Most users admittedly don't care however and just see "bright" colors."Uhm, check any pro-sumer camera out there, which of them does NOT oversaturate taken pictures in JPEG mode?
This can't be a hardware fault, can it, after all, RAW looks fine.
So the only reason they oversaturate is because MOST CONSUMERS ACTUALLY LIKE IT THAT WAY. Models that use TFTs can't go as far, since, well, you know, cough, they are actually inferior to AMOLEDs, cough...
rohini - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
And finally the Galaxy SIV has been launched in India for INR 41500 which is a bit expensive but it is well under the asking price for the 16GB version of iPhone 5 16GB and HTC Butterfly.People in India who are planning to buy the S IV should also be aware of the other alternatives close to 40k INR. http://goo.gl/MbJ95
Alvar - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/cunrjq6">6 Reasons to get the Samsung Galaxy S4</a>