Samsung Galaxy S IV: First Look

Finally after much leaks and rumors  Samsung Galaxy S IV is here. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S IV at an event in New York. The smartphone boosts an eight-core 1.6 GHz processor, with 2GB RAM. The company says that the phone will be rolled out in 155 countries starting April 2013.

Samsung declared that the international version of Galaxy S IV will be powered by Exynos 5 Octa chipset. This chipset has four Cortex-A15 cores clocking up to 1.6GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores clocking up to 1.2GHz. The graphics are handled by the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 chip. There will also be a second version that will only hit certain markets. This version will be powered by the newly launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with its quad-core Krait 300 chipset and the Adreno 320 graphics. Both versions will have 2GB of RAM, and will get the LTE feature in certain markets. It will also feature wireless charging in some markets.

The Galaxy S IV houses a 4.99” 1920x1080 pixel Super AMOLED display, with a pixel density of 441 ppi. Galaxy S IV will be available in three storage options – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Galaxy S IV also has an IR Blaster to control your entertainment devices at home using Samsung’s WatchON service. The Galaxy S IV, at 7.9mm thick, is actually thinner than Galaxy S III, despite a bigger display. The disappointment to some users is that the Galaxy S VI carries forward some plastic build.

Samsung confirmed that Galaxy S IV will be available in two versions – White Frost and Black Mist. More colours will be available soon. The S IV will have Android 4.2.2 and a spruced up Touchwiz UI. The rest of the specs include a 13MP rear camera, a 2MP front camera, NFC, 4G in certain markets and a 2,600mAh battery.

Let’s take a look at which of the Galaxy S4’s features are promising, and which ones aren’t:

S Translator:

Ever since the concept of the Babel Fish was introduced by Douglas Adams, we’ve been waiting for such a tool that can translate everything on the fly. With the S Translator, Samsung may have actually achieved that. The S Translator offers speech-to-text and text-to-speech translations in 10 languages including French, English and Chinese and Samsung hopes to increase that number soon.

Smart Pause:

For the uninitiated, Smart Pause tracks your eyes using the front camera on the Galaxy S4 and pauses a running video when you look away from the screen.

S Voice Drive:

Samsung has extended the functionality of its S Voice tool on the Galaxy S4. With S Voice Drive, the icons and commands to be used within the GPS navigation app become simpler so that it’s safer to use while driving. Icons on the screen are larger and you can also use your voice to command the navigation app. We think it’s a good feature especially for people who rely a lot on GPS navigation in their vehicles.

S Health:

Samsung has tried to make mobile fitness apps redundant by packing in a hell of a lot of functionality into the S Health suite. With S Health, you can track things like distance walked/run, calorie intake and even sleeping patterns. We have a feeling that even the laziest among us may be tempted to try out some of these features on the Galaxy S4, just to see how well they work.

Eraser (Camera Feature):

A very useful feature that Samsung has added to the Galaxy S4 camera’s repertoire is the Eraser feature. This feature lets you analyse a photo you’ve taken and cleanly remove objects that you don’t want in the image. This means that you can cleanly erase unwanted objects, photo-bombers from your photos without much effort.

Air Gesture:

This is another feature that is getting a big marketing push from Samsung. We just don’t understand the use-case scenario for Air Gesture which lets you navigate the phone without touching the display. The only time when the feature could be useful is if your fingers are dirty and you still want to use the phone. However, like Smart Scroll, the feature is quite buggy and has inconsistent performance.

Dual Shot:

Dual Shot is one of the silliest features on offer from the Galaxy S4. It lets you take pictures with both the front and primary cameras on the phone at the same time. Samsung says this is good because it lets you add yourself to photos that you’re taking but the execution is awkward. First, you are added to the photo within a frame that makes it clear that you weren’t in the shot. Secondly, when was the last time you were conscious about what you looked like when you were taking a photo?

While the pricing is considered, pre-order prices for the Samsung Galaxy S4 have been leaked by a couple of European sites showing that the phone will cost around 650 Euros (Rs. 45,500 approx.). GSM Arena spotted the Galaxy S4 go live on an Italian retailer’s site for 699 Euros following which Amazon Germany also listed the phone for 650 Euros.

Full Specs Here: Samsung Galaxy S IV