Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Samsung Galaxy S4

I guess there's no need for a grand introduction to the pretty well known gadget that many had been wanted to get theirs hands on, Samsung Galaxy S4. Will probably skip the detailed specification on this devil as well and will only highlight that few component that was being highly promoted.
To many Galaxy S4 and S3 look identical and without touching it some might get confuse which is which and to me I identify it through the 'dots' on the front of the phone. Galaxy S4 you should see 4 dots and on S3 you will only get 3 of these dots
To be honest, before using Galaxy S4, I don't quite like the design let alone the S3 look alike appearance. The design look apple-ish and was boring with all the similar look. However physically holding and using the Galaxy S4 for quite some time now, I am actually loving it and here's why

  • Similar width to S3 but had a 5" display made possible with a thinner bezel
  • Very light compare to S3
  • Feels good in my palm
  • With or without swype function, I can type with one hand comfortable. My preference however is still best to type with swype
  • Standard / Recognised key and/or button positioning
Galaxy S4 is 0.7mm thinner than Galaxy S3 and trust me, it meant the world to me. It felt just so feather light and so fragile on my hand, and I often am afraid that it would just slip off from my hand. 
For those using iPhone4/4s, Galaxy S3 or other devices that require a micro sim, you can switch to Galaxy S4 without having to convert it into nano sim and neither will you need to revert back to the normal sim. It just fits perfectly on your existing micro sim. You will also be able to use your micro sd card on Galaxy S4 and the speaker on S4 is located at the bottom of the phone which I think wasn't necessary cause no matter it is on the top or bottom, both my hand will accidentally covered it on a landscape mode.
First impression switching on the device was nothing but amaze with the vivid and bright display on the 5 inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display on 441 ppi. Galaxy S4 is running on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly bean) and for those Android user, you might not find much different in terms of the core functionality and for those none Android user, it will not be a rocket science to get hook to it. There is this youtuber who shares alot about gadgets and technology, and though he might seems to side Android, he have his point backing up all his point. Do check him out at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXzySgo3V9KysSfELFLMAeA
While the fundamental feature are more or less the same, you will notice Samsung Galaxy S4 has its proprietary feature such as the Air View, Air Gesture, Smart Stay, Smart Scroll and etc. These are the feature the you would need to turn in order to use air command and other cool feature as seen on its promotional video.
Samsung Galaxy S4 come in 16/32/64GB internal storage and the Operating System and Samsung feature took almost half of my 16GB internal storage. These can be frustrated to some as not all of them would benefit from such features. Such feature are cool to see (or be seen) but might not be a necessity and a good example would be the air wave photo browsing feature. It only come in handy when you're eating with your hand and still want to browse through your photo album. Certain feature is tied to a particular app and a great example is the smart scroll which only work with the built in / default browser. If you install Google Chrome and the smart scroll will not work in it.
Other good to see feature would be the translator where you need to just point the camera at the word you don't understand and it will retrieve the meaning, pronunciation for you. Cool but not a feature I foresee myself using it often enough to say it aid in my daily lifestyle. Speaking of camera, Galaxy S4 comes with a 13 Megapixel rear camera with what suppose to be zero shutter lag. But I did a comparison with S3 and find that there's a slight delay in terms of shutter speed compare to S3. The camera mode does come with most of the popular feature from Galaxy Camera and that too take up some of the internal storage space.
 Like every S3 user, the question here is "to upgrade or not to upgrade", and I would say it really depends on your needs and budget.

What I like

  • Faster and buttery smooth navigation
  • Plenty of feature to play around with
  • Light and comfortably place into tight jean
  • Can't get enough of the Super Amoled 5" display
  • Doesn't require a stylus to perform feature from a Note 2
What I hope can be better
  • Faster shutter speed (like S3 or better maybe?)
  • Reserved less internal storage space while remaining most of the feature
  • Capability to integrate the cool function into other apps
The Potential
  • With the air gesture and air motion, you can actually turn the S4 into a motion dance machine which can be integrated into Samsung S Health hub that aim to create awareness on leading a healthy lifestyle

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