Samsung's Galaxy S 4: Introduction & Hands On
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 14, 2013 7:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S 4
Final Words
With a release scheduled for sometime in Q2 of this year, today’s announcement is more of a preview. We’re sure to have more details on hardware and software in the coming months. For now, the Galaxy S 4 seems like a logical evolution of the Galaxy S lineup. Faster hardware and a larger higher-resolution display were both expected and delivered upon.
Power users will be pleased by the modern SoC integration, and I’m sure there are some that will still be happy with the removable battery and micro SD card slot.
Samsung has continued to increase its focus on delivering enhancements through software, which is very obvious based on the list of launch features for the Galaxy S 4. Although I’m sure power users will still prefer unmodified Android, it’s important to note that many of the features Samsung is introducing with the Galaxy S 4 will be very easy to market to mainstream consumers. The ability to control your smartphone without ever touching it or pause/unpause video with a glance are marketing messages that are very clear and easy to deliver.
The same is true for the enhancements to the camera app. While Samsung continued down the path of the megapixel race, truth be told it will have an easier time selling the Galaxy S 4 to mainstream consumers based on specs and the added features enabled by the new camera app.
Round it all up with S Translate and S Health, two more features that aren’t really new but definitely speak directly to consumers. It’s Apple’s Siri strategy, but coming from many different angles. Samsung’s consumer focused strategy is one that has done very well and I see the Galaxy S 4 continuing that. The real question is how well all of these features will perform/work in final software. Conceptually the Galaxy S 4’s software suite makes a lot of sense, the proof as always will be in the execution and how long it takes Samsung to get to the appropriate level of polish.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
206 Comments
View All Comments
sbh - Friday, March 15, 2013 - link
You mean Phil Schiller, he of Apple employ, in that sham interview?Tell me you're joking.
JohnnyL53 - Friday, March 15, 2013 - link
Technically 4.1 (Jelly Bean) was announced in June 2012 so this will be a year old come June. Phil expediently ignored the updates since then.tommydaniel - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
Can you confirm the trim is in fact metal and not simply plastic made to look like metal? They kept saying it was sturdier, if they actually used metal that would make sense, but they never said in the presentation..CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
Yes it's metal, see the pictures. Blow them up, it's metal already.tommydaniel - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
You do realize they can easily make plastic look like metal, just like they did on the S3?CeriseCogburn - Saturday, March 16, 2013 - link
No, they can't - metal takes on characteristic hues and scratches that plastic does not.Like I said, look at the pics.
CeriseCogburn - Saturday, March 16, 2013 - link
Of course, you have a crappy monitor, you have no clue how to expand any of the pics, or grab and really blow up - and you're half blind, far sighted, and as far as IRL experience we'll call it a zero, shop class turned into flower arrangement far before the clueless rube know it alls spammed the net.Despoiler - Friday, March 15, 2013 - link
It's plastic. They revealed in their announcement that they developed a new polycarbonate for the S4.CeriseCogburn - Saturday, March 16, 2013 - link
That's for the plastic parts ding dongkarasaj - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
I don't think the S3 had it, but that metal stripe around the S4 really improves my opinion of the phone. Earlier I wasn't much of a fan of Samsung's design (I don't like Glossy-like plastic, and just the way it looked didn't appeal to me) but that metal makes it look different I guess. Am I the only one?