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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darwinosx - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Anyone who complains the iPhone is too light need to reevaluate their priorities.medi02 - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
Plastic does NOT get either dirty or scratched easier than metal, this is from an owner of 2+ year old galaxy S+, who never used any sorts of protective cover. The only marks on it are from dropping it on concrete from about 1.6 meters.This "it must be metal" madness should stop. Go apply that to other gadgets.
hyperdoggy - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
If it doesn't come off looking like a 5 dollar chinatown toy, then yes. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with plastic, HTC and Nokia does it well, but the fisher price mode that samsung is in, i can't help but to feel Samsung could of done it a lot better.emkei - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Do you seriously think galaxy look like 5 dollor toy? lol.....n3xas - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Your argument is invalid. Smaller display is not a con for many people. You can't judge battery life by the capacity alone. Larger because of the speakers, I prefer larger any day to cuping the phone with my hands like an idiot and trying to hear something. Resistance to breaking or scratching still unknown. Heavier? yes, aluminum is heavier than plastic.danbob999 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Smaller display IS a con. It's just that it often comes with a benefit: smaller overall phone.Samsung did the impossible and made a phone which is both smaller and has a larger display than the competition.
If the Galaxy S4 was of the same size but with a 4" display it would suck.
Resistance to breaking might be unkown, but it is known that light plastic devices survive better to drops than heavy alluminium ones. Plastic is light, absorbs shock and let waves pass through. Perfect material for a phone. If you want an heavier phone noone stops you from attaching a lead plate to its back.
Thud2 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
"but it is known that light plastic devices survive better to drops than heavy aluminium ones"Oh, "it is known"?
That kind of attribution is not acceptable.
danbob999 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Are you really denying that plastic is more shock-absorbant than metal?Krolkrowa - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
Smaller display in not a con in this situation. The HTC has a better ppi and it has a LCD3 display which is actually better than the AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S4. The colours on it are just better and the blacks are not that bad. 0.3" is not much difference, if you want 25 reasons why HTC One is better check this video out from PhoneBuff on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHIXtw34wK4darwinosx - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
From the review;"If you compare the all-plastic Galaxy S 4 to the all-metal HTC One, there's a difference of 13 grams."
I've seen several articles saying that Samsung is going to be upping their build quality because of the HTC One and iPhone and the constant perception by so many people that Samsung phones and tablets feel and look cheap.