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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heleymartin88 - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
</b><a href="http://is.gd/tDlFss">The bettel between android smartphone begin now.From hands-free gesture controls to a “photobomb”-erasing feature, here’s why you’ll want the Samsung Galaxy S4.6 Reasons to get the Samsung Galaxy S4.....</a></b>heleymartin88 - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
From hands-free gesture controls to a “photobomb”-erasing feature, here’s why you’ll want the Samsung Galaxy S4.6 Reasons to get the Samsung Galaxy S4 check out..... http://is.gd/tDlFssMugur - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
Brian, can you please have a head to head comparison between the Exinos and Qualcomm variants of the S4? I am really curios whether the Octa really means something in terms of battery and performance...1ndian - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
I think, Samsung's design is more repairable. So, for most of the people, its design is practical, easily repairable, makes the parts cheap and longer availability of parts compared to other phones... Yes they could have offered a better hardware design. But the amount of useful customization on the software side cannot be overlooked. I think software is the way to go because the hardware by itself is basically useless. Samsung's is the most customized OS in the android market. And, that hasn't affected the device's battery life or performance is a great achievement. So, as much as I hate the look of the phone... I will have to say the cost of the phone is worth it. Just for argument sake, how much do you think iPhone or SZ would cost with as many features as S4?sAiyAnstAr - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
If the build quality is good, then it wouldn't need to be repaired.mandywong - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
Galaxy S 4 is an amalgamation of various cutting-edge smartphone advancements and features of today - http://bit.ly/11vUzb3SmileyDT - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
Soon i will have it in my hands but once more the back cover is not the best and you can't use it withaout a case.. One drop and you have to search your pockets very deep! I'am looking for S4 cases and so far i have found only http://www.caseutopia.com to order some protection cases... better be safe than sorry. I hope someday samsung will produce smartphones with stronger materials. This is the only negative i find on this phone everything else is cool!MidianSpawned - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
Whaa Plastic... Whaa aluminum... Noooo HTC is best... Nut uh Samsung is better... Ya know what.. I have a Galaxy Note 2, am very happy with it. Get whatever phone suits you best, but before you buy, know this... Not a single phone out there tastes as good as, or, looks as good as pussy... Pussy, because any phone can order a pizza. That is all!rauelius - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
If you compare them, please remember to mention that the Galaxy S4 only offers 9GB of storage for Apps(SD-Cards don't do anything to increase storage for most functions) where as the HTC One offers 25GB for available storage. Music and Pictures can be streamed/uploaded via the Cloud and those are the only two things that the SD-Card really will do for the Galaxy S4. With games getting bigger and bigger and Google Music streaming the minuscule amount of storage on the Galaxy S4 makes the phone feel pointless combined with the excellent underlying hardware. It's like having a Ferrari with a Lawnmower's gastank, where as the HTC One is a Lamborghini with an actual gastank.Dug - Monday, April 29, 2013 - link
I'll admit I got the One for the looks and the camera. But I've found I really like Sense5 and Blinkfeed. Before I got it I thought I would never use it, now I use it constantly. There's a lot about touchwiz I don't like. All personal preference though.