It might seem like the Galaxy S IV has taken a long time reaching us but, in reality Samsung are doing things earlier than they did with the Galaxy S III and they’ve still managed to deliver. When we talk about Samsung, there’s no way to do so without talking about how successful they’ve become in the mobile market. The South Korean company has gone from trying to beat Apple at their own game to ruling the Android market.
The latest and greatest flagship from Samsung has been hotly anticipated by the industry as a whole and we’re sure that there are a lot of people looking forward to getting their hands on the new device. Samsung have gone to some great lengths to solidify the features and platform they introduced with the Galaxy S III.
JK Shin, the head of Samsung Mobile, introduced some headlining features of the device, such as Smart Pause, Air View, Samsung Home Sync, S Health and a whole host of features. There’s added features to the camera suite like Dual Shot – that essentially takes a photo with both cameras at the same time – and S Translator that translates between 9 languages and has 3000 pre-defined sentences and phrases. We’ll be going into these in more detail across the site so keep an eye out for them!
Under the Hood
Samsung have always done their best to make sure their phones have specs and hardware features that raise them a cut above their competitors. Samsung have tried to go one step further this time around and right from the stunning 5-inch Super AMOLED Display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 to the blazing-fast processors at the heart of it all. Just like the Galaxy S III last year, Samsung are announcing two different versions for release around the world. Here’s a rundown on the specs, and more nitty-gritty details take a look at these here.
- 5-inch Super AMOLED Full HD Display, at 1920 x 1080 with 441 PPI density
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro at 1.9 Ghz in the US and Samsung Exynos 5 Octa elsewhere
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage options with room for a MicroSD Card up to 64GB
- 13 Megapixel rear-facing camera with 2 Megapixel front-facing camera
- 2,600 mAh battery
- Temperature and Humidity Sensor with IR Sensor
- Android 4.2.2
Just as we heard, Samsung is going to be launching the device with different processors depending on which region. The US is going to be shipping with the Snapdragon S4 Pro, while the Exynos 5 Octa with it’s eight-core design will be running the show in Europe.
The Design
While Samsung have always pushed the boundaries on specs, one area that they’ve seem to stumble in a little is the materials used in their devices. There’s been a lot of discussion lately concerning the argument of plastic vs premium materials, like those used in the HTC One. Samsung’s devices have never been fragile, and for the most part they hold up well but they’ve always been labelled that they always feel the same: “plasticky”. Have they addressed this with the Galaxy S IV?
The Galaxy S IV is of course going to be a lighter, slimmer device while continuing to be a solid device. It’s clear that this year’s Galaxy S Smartphone follows in the footsteps of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II. The device itself is 7.9mm thin and weighs just 130 grams. Speaking of plastics, Samsung has developed a new molding technique technique that delivers a superior polycarbonate with an amazing finish. The Galaxy S IV will come in both Black Mist and White Frost color choices.
Launch Details
It’s strange to keep bringing the Galaxy S III up but, last year’s launch was a first for the U.S. Wireless Market. Samsung managed to launch the Galaxy S III on all four major carriers as the very same phone – not even Verizon got their dirty mitts on it. They then did the same with the Galaxy Note II. For obvious reasons then, the Galaxy S IV launch is going to be closely watched and hotly anticipated. 327 Carriers across 155 Countries starting from the end of April. Not only that but Samsung is promising global LTE support as well.
