We are just about a week away from the announcement of this year’s Samsung flagship smartphone, The Galaxy S IV, and it looks like the South Korean manufacturer is putting a lot of that $11 plus billion in marketing dollars to good use by feeding it into the hype machine. We already know that the Samsung “Unpacked” event for the Galaxy S IV will take place in New York City on March 14th, and that they will not only stream the event on YouTube but also on the big screen in Times Square, so they took the obvious step to promote the unveiling with a couple of humongous billboards in the famed intersection to remind the world that it’s still on the way.
The pictures of these billboards were first posted to Samsung’s blog and they hardly seem to be standing out too much from the rest of the ads with their flashing neon lights that surround them. Maybe Samsung was going for the subtle approach because the device isn’t out yet, but who knows. At any rate if you weren’t familiar with the Samsung Galaxy S line of devices, chances are you may not give these advertisements a second look. The good thing for Sammy is that they are fast becoming a household name in mobile so maybe that point is moot.
What else can be said about the highly anticipated smartphone that hasn’t been poured over already? Hardware wise we’re expecting to see a 5 inch Full HD 1080p SoLUX display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 clocked at 1.9 Ghz. We also know that the device will be made of plastic (not really a surprise there),as opposed to the more industrial materials that competitors like Apple, HTC, and LG have been using. We’ve also seen some leaked software enhancements for the S IV like Smart Pause, a feature that controls video playback to the point where it will pause what the user is watching if they turn away from the screen, and Smart Scroll which will control the scrolling in apps like GMail and Chrome by following your eyes.
There’s usually a point just before a device is released after months of hype that we all get a little tired of hearing about it and just want to see the thing to get it over with. I know I’m at that point so who else is with me? Or are you all still just as excited as when the first render leaked?