Galaxy S4 •

Samsung to Launch Galaxy S4 Blue Version

November 14, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

A common practice being followed by mobile device makers is to churn out variants of their base models with slight but externally perceivable changes with little or no changes affected to the internals of the device. We have seen HTC do something similar by coming up with a variant of its One smartphone done up in a shade of bright red. It looked stunning to say the last and now it seems it is Samsung’s turn, with reports of it coming up with various color options to their base Galaxy S4 smartphone device. This includes the “Blue Arctic” edition that they have just announced would be available to the Best Buy “elite” members to book starting tomorrow. Other customers would have to wait a bit longer to place their order for the device at Best Buy.

The variations of the devices are coming by way of the network service providers who are retailing the sets. They also add the LTE support to some or LTE advanced support to the other and the likes to make the market appear buoyant.

So far as the Galaxy S4 blue edition goes, Best Buy would have the sets for Sprint, AT&T and Verizon edition. It can be assumed that the price of the set would be $200 with the contract clause binding as is the case with all the other presently available Galaxy S4 in the market.

The concept of adding more color options is nothing new with other retailers in the world market being up to it for some time now. This is also a very cost effective manner of keeping their product lineup fresh and consumer interest around it going, more so when newer smartphone versions are being introduced at such a rapid pace. Samsung already has a wide product range based on the S4 alone. These include the S4 Mini, S4 Zoom, S4 Activ along with the S4 Mega and the blue colored version will no doubt be a nice addition to the list.

Samsung CEO Not Impressed Even When Galaxy S4 Reaches 40 Million Sales Mark

October 25, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

Samsung had released their Galaxy S4 model earlier in the year (April 26 to be precise) and the set had made brisk sales at the outset. Yet Samsung does not seem to be too satisfied with the sales figures so far. They may have placed higher expectations on the handset. So much is the effect of the sales figures being returned for the set, that insiders have mentioned about company big wigs considering a move to release the Galaxy S5 ahead of its schedule. Their plans are to compensate for what is being claimed to be “bad” sales of the Galaxy S4.

While the market indicates good demand for the Samsung Galaxy S4, the top executives at Samsung stating the figures are low stems from the study of the device on a world wide scale. This findings has been scrutinized by the top echelons of the company and the conclusion that they have reached is that the sales of the device could have been better than what it is now. in reality though, what seems evident is that while the fan frenzy surrounding the S4 may have died down, the smartphone is not being sought in the manner in which it used to be when the device was launched.

But then, if the actual sale figures are taken into account, a 40 million mark is always impressive, so to say. The above was revealed by the company CEO J. K. Shin though he didn’t reveal how much more they were expecting the device to sell. The device started off with 10 million during the first month and then went on to register sales of another 30 million for the next 4 months.

What seems another area of concern for the CEO apart from S4 not garnering even bigger share of the market is the battery that the device comes with. He expressed his concern regarding the battery pack of the Galaxy S4 which seems to stem from some reports of the battery swelling up during charging and even having exploded, due this expansion. Samsung has already plans of moving on to solid state flexible batteries for their sets to come out by 2015. In the meantime, an even more powerful version of the Galaxy S4 with the latest Snapdragon 800 chip has made it European debut. While it’s not known when it is going to reach the US shores, what does seem likely is that it could upset quite a few equations in the current smartphone scene there.

Apple iPhone 5S vs Samsung Galaxy S4 – New iPhone Competition against S4

September 15, 2013 By Troy Rubenson 1 Comment

Last Tuesday marked the release of iPhone 5S. The Apple iPhone 5S replaced the iPhone 5 and is all set to take on competition from other brands. iPhone 5S’s major rival definitely is the Galaxy S4. We have compared the specs and features of both the devices to help you understand which one is a better device between the two.

CPU, RAM and Memory
The Apple iPhone 5S is running on a faster A7 chip that is capable of supporting 64bit version of iOS 7. This means you will be able to enjoy faster performance and better graphics. However, many analysts feel that the new A7 will only consume much battery juice. Apple isn’t talking much about the RAM mainly because it is not packing in a groundbreaking 3GB or 4GB in the iPhone 5S. We feel that the device is running on a 2GB RAM.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is powered with a quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU that delivers a clocking speed of 1.9GHz. It is well supported by 2GB RAM. Both the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4 are available in three storage space variants namely, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has an advantage of external memory storage that can detect up to 64GB of microSD.

Design and Display
The Apple iPhone 5S is available in three premium colors, namely gold, silver and gray. The exterior of the handset is made up of high quality aluminum. Still, the device weighs slightly less than the Galaxy S4 which has a durable plastic body.

The iPhone 5S has a 4inch IPS LCD display coupled with the Retina Display technology. It offers a display resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels with a pixel density of 326 ppi. The Galaxy S4 has got a larger 5inch full HD Super AMOLED display. It supports a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and offers a pixel density of 441 ppi.

Apple has consistently adhered to screen size of 4inch. However, many other manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Sony and Motorola are already offerings handsets with 5inch display. So, if a buyer is looking for a handset that offers him a bigger display space, definitely he will not opt for iPhone 5S.

Camera
The iPhone 5S features an enhanced 8MP camera. Apple claims that the camera sensor of iPhone 5S is able to produce more pixels which in turn helps in producing better images. At the front there is a 1.2MP camera on iPhone 5S. On the other hand, the Galaxy S4 features a 13MP camera at the rear which is able to record 1080p videos and there is a 2MP camera at the front.

The 8MP camera of iPhone 5S is coupled with a True Tone dual LED flash of which one is white and the other one is amber. While taking a photo, both the lights adjusts according to the room’s light and helps in producing in best colors. On the other side, the Galaxy S4’s camera is supported with a single LED flash. By this, we can say the iPhone 5S has a superior camera compared to Galaxy S4.

Operating System and Special Features
The iPhone 5S is powered with the latest iOS7 while the Galaxy S4 is now running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS. Both the OS has its sizeable amount of followers. Well, a majority of tech analysts believe that the Android OS has gained huge popularity thanks in terms of quality and performance.

Both iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4 has got respective voice assistant software called Siri and S Voice. Both the handsets offer cloud storage space.

Well, the most excellent feature of the iPhone 5S definitely is the fingerprint sensor placed below the home button. Apple calls this feature as Touch ID fingerprint sensor which can be used to login into iTunes or other online stores without the need of typing login credentials.

On the other side, Samsung has got Air Gesture feature which enables users to pick up calls and flip between screen by simply moving the hand over the display. The Galaxy S4 also has NFC feature for sharing content with other Samsung Galaxy devices by simply tapping the handsets together.

Battery
Tech analysts that iPhone 5S is quite a bummer mainly because the device is powered with a powerful A7 CPU that eats lot of resources and battery life. It is the same battery that powers the discontinued iPhone 5.

Still, Apple claims that the battery of iPhone 5S can offer 10 hours of talk time and 250 hours of standby time. Also another disappointment is that the battery is non-removable. The Galaxy S4 has got a mammoth 2600mAh removable battery which is capable of delivering a talk time of 17 hours and a standby time of 300 hours.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini With Verizon Logo Spotted

August 21, 2013 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

A Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini handset with the Verizon logo stamped at its back has recently been spotted, leading to speculations that the S4 Mini could be the newest addition to the Big Red’s Android arsenal. The image also revealed the model number of the device as SCH-1435 along with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean as the operating system.

True the image is anything but official though it could be a pointer of what to expect in future. Verizon has recently updated its product offering with the inclusion of the Droid Ultra range of smartphones as well as the Moto X though the S4 Mini operates in a completely different segment.

Being the smaller sibling of the flagship S4 device, the S4 Mini retains many of the good qualities of its bigger cousin but is packed in a smaller form factor. The S4 has been designed keeping in mind the requirement of those who prefer a display that is not as expansive as that of the S4. This will make the device more comfortable to hold and operate. Also of course, it’s not just the size but the price too has been downsized, though we are yet to know how much it’s worth right now.

Also included within its smaller dimension are a rather modest set of internals compared to a more elaborate set up for the standard S4. Powering the device will be a dual core Snapdragon 400 dual-core chip compared to a quad core Snapdragon 600 chip for the S4. The S4 Mini also benefits from a dedicated Adreno 305 GPU (Adreno 320 for the S4) along with 1.5 GB of RAM. Onboard storage amounts to 8 GB which is further expandable to 64 GB by way of micro SD cards. Providing the juice will be a 1,900 mAh while upfront, it will be a 4.3 inch super AMOLED display having a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. For comparison’s sake, the S4 boasts of a super AMOLED display having a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

However, the above spec sheet applies to the standard S4 Mini which should also tally with the Verizon version of the smartphone.

Is Galaxy S4 Winning Favorable Reviews By Using Performance-Boosting Hardware

August 1, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

At present, the Galaxy S4 is undoubtedly the numero uno smartphone in the market. No other smartphone in the market can surpass the quality and features offered by Galaxy S4. However, recently many tech analysts have pointed out that Samsung may have resorted to using performance enhancing hardware to perform faster in certain benchmarking apps to reap favorable reviews.

According to the tests conducted by tech site called AnandTech, the GPU present in different editions of Galaxy S4 produced faster speeds in specific performance gauging apps. It was found that the recorded speed was higher as compared to the speeds achieved by users. Samsung rejected the claims of the tech site and said they have not done anything on Galaxy S4 to produce better performance on benchmark tests.

Talking about the frequency of the display, the South Korean tech giant stated that Galaxy S4 has been manufactured to use a max of 533MHz of GPU frequency. This frequency is brought low to 480MHz when users play games for longer period on full-screen. The 533MHz frequency of GPU comes into play for launching apps that occupy full-screen mode like Gallery, Camera, Video Player and so on.

According to AnandTech, the Galaxy S4 has recorded a GPU frequency of 532MHz on benchmarking tests like GLBenchmark 2.5.1, Quadrant and AnTuTu. The international edition of Galaxy S4 has recorded of 480MHz. So, here we can see vast difference between the tests. The tests conducted by popular benchmarking tools indicate 11 percent increase in performance.

AnandTech claims it is because of this reason the Galaxy S4 has managed to perform well on many benchmarking tests. The site goes on to say that this has helped the Galaxy S4 to earn unfair advantage over its competitors. Samsung commented on the current issue by saying the max GPU frequencies were not aimed at enhancing specific benchmark test results but only for providing optimized user experience to its customers.

Benchmarking apps are mainly used for checking the performance of GPU, CPU, internet browsing, and various features by comparing it with other devices. The tests do not indicate how fast the device is for regular users.

Within a month of its launch, 10 million handsets of Galaxy S4 were sold. Even though Samsung managed to achieve huge sales, they failed to sell enough handsets according to their operating income estimate.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Combines Best of a Smartphone and Digital Camera

July 28, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is finally here in flesh and blood. In what can perhaps be considered the most audacious spin-off effort ever attempted on a smartphone, the S4 Zoom comes as a perfect cross between a smartphone and a point-and-shoot camera. Samsung has stated the device is aimed at those who take photography with their smartphones rather seriously. To that effect, the S4 Zoom has been endowed with a 16 megapixel camera that also boasts of an optical zoom of 10x. Samsung though is still calling it a smartphone and is claiming to be the first device of its class to offer 10x zoom. Whether its intended clientele also views the S4 Zoom as a smartphone or a digital camera with phone calling capabilities remains to be seen.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 itself boasts of an impressive image capturing and processing capabilities. However, as if that is not enough, the S4 Zoom takes things to newer heights. Among the cool innovative features that S4 Zoom boasts of include its ability to take pictures even when the device is being used to talk to a person. The image then can be transferred to the person you have been talking to. The Story Timeline is another cool addition to the S4 Zoom where the pictures can be arranged in a manner that will make it easy to be viewed in a timeline.

As for its specs, there is nothing much to cry home about. The device is powered by a dual core processor having a clock speed of 1.5 GHz. A 4.3 inch display having a resolution of 960 x 540 makes up the viewable area. The S4 Zoom runs the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. However, Samsung is yet to come out with the exact pricing or when the device is expected to reach markets.

The other derivatives of the Galaxy S4 that Samsung has come up with include the S4 Active and the S4 Mini.

Samsung Releases New Update For The Galaxy S4

July 5, 2013 By Deborah Cobing 2 Comments

Users of the Samsung Galaxy S4 have a pleasant surprise waiting for them. Their days of bugging issues appear to be ending soon, what with Samsung announcing an update for the device. The most common bug that had been tormenting the otherwise popular gadget had been its storage management. The latest upgrade to come is sure going to make this something of a bad past memory only.

The other important feature that the update would give the users of the Galaxy S4 is the ability to move applications to the micro SD card. The Galaxy S4 comes with 16 GB of internal; storage. But most of this space is taken up by the OS as well as the TouchWiz UI that runs over the OS. The user finally has just 9.15 GB of storage space left to play around with. After the update is applied, users would get 9.25 GB on the internal memory.

Other interesting features that the update comes with include better photographic abilities so that HDR recording will now be possible. The status bar would turn semi transparent and the notifications area can be toggled with the Smart Pause Toggle feature. Users of the gadget had complaints about a purple effect visible when scrolling on the gadget. This effect would not be there anymore post the update. For setting the secure boot status user can do that from Settings-> About Phone. There are also some more icons which users would have at their disposal.

SamMobile reports the upgrade is currently available for the Samsung Galaxy 4S models which run on the Sanpdragon processor that is the GT-I9505 models. Users in Germany only, with this variant would be able to download the update and install the same on their gadget. In the near future, those who own the GT-I9500 model also would be able to download the update which in turn will be made available to other parts of the world as well soon.

The update can be availed of either off the air or using the Samsung KIES application. The update is 366 MB by file size.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active Rumored to Retail For 649 Euros

June 10, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

The date of July 1being the day when Samsung launches its Galaxy S4 Active in the UK has yet to be confirmed officially by Samsung themselves. Yet, there is additional information that indicates that the price which the Galaxy S4 Active would come at is 649 Euro.

The Galaxy S4 Active is supposed to be a dust proof and water proof gadget and comes with an IP67 certification to this effect. The gadget would be able to sustain its watertight properties for 30 minutes, if it is kept submerged in the water. Other features of the device are its 5 inch screen which is full HD of 1920 X1080 pixel and 443 PPI. The screen is a TFT LCD technology based display unit.

The core processor is a quad core chip clocking 1.9 GHz. Its inbuilt memory is `16 GB and the RAM is of 2 GB. Off the 16 GB memory, 11.25 GB is usable for storage and the balance is taken up by the operating and starting up applications. Memory expansion provision is available via the microSD card slot that can take on 64 GB additional memory.

The Galaxy S4 would come with dual camera on it. Where the front one would be of 2 megapixel resolution, the rear camera will be of 8 megapixels. It would also have LED flash feature in it. OS of the Smartphone would be Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Over all, the device is expected to be a feature full gadget that is necessary to keep ahead in this very tough and tight mobile market. With so many other equally feature full gadgets doing the rounds, every bit of extra additions would go a long way in making a particular device like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active a success.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Price Rumored To Be £390

June 9, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

While announcing their Galaxy S4 Mini, Samsung had not indicated anything about the price tag that the Smartphone would carry on it. However, unconfirmed sources point out the mini version of the Samsung flagship device will be around £390.

For the price of £390 what the buyer would get is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini powered by a dual core 1.7 GHz processor running at its core. The display screen of 4.3 inch dimension would be based on AMOLED technology and have a resolution of 450 X 900 pixels. The gadget would run on the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini would come integrated with dual camera – a front facing camera having a resolution of 1.9 megapixel while a 8 megapixel camera make up the rear. For connectivity the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini would have Wi-Fi, 802.11 a/b/g/n, GPS. Bluetooth 4.0, LTE and NFC. The device would have 8 GB of internal storage data along with 1.5 GB of RAM. For those who require more storage, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will also come with a microSD Card slot.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is supposedly the budget variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4 model. For this reason it can be expected the price of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini would be lower than that of the Galaxy S4. As to when Samsung would officially acknowledge the price of the device is anybody’s guess right now. Other market factors play a big role in this regard, like when would other companies like Apple etc announce their new devices. Price of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini can therefore only be expected closer to its launch date. Maintaining the price details under tight wraps makes for competing firms inability to formulate their own pricing details for products they also have lined up for the market.

Galaxy S4 Mini, to Sport Similar Features as S4 with 4.3 inch Screen

May 31, 2013 By Troy Rubenson Leave a Comment

After months of speculations, Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S4 mini will be arriving soon through its official blog. The compact edition of the newly released Galaxy S4 is going to be available at affordable price and sport the latest Android OS

The Korean based tech giant had the same thing with the Galaxy S3 by releasing the Galaxy S3 mini edition. The release date of the Galaxy S4 Mini has not been disclosed by Samsung yet.

Recent sales reports show that in just one month after the release, more than 10 million handsets of Galaxy S4 were sold. This shows the immensely popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S4. By going by this, it is pretty evident that the manufacturer will want to release a scaled down and budget friendly edition of Galaxy S4 as soon as possible.

The Samsung CEO JK Shin officially announced that they are quite jubilant about the exceptional demands for Galaxy S4. The smartphone was aimed to make it useful as a life companion that would make the life of users simpler and richer. Samsung wants to offer more choices to the people on Galaxy S4 by introducing the compact and similar looking Galaxy S4 Mini. This way users will be able to take advantage of the flagship model at a reduced price.

As far as specs are concerned, the Galaxy S4 Mini will be housed with a 4.3inch qHD Super AMOLED display. It is going to run on latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS. It is going to powered with 1.7GHz dual-core CPU and 1.5GB RAM. It will come with 8GB storage space onboard.

The rear cam is of 8MP and the front-facing cam is of 1.9MP. The device only weighs 107g. It will support 4G LTE connectivity. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. We feel that in the near future even the new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS will be available for the device.

Panorama Shot, Sound&Shot, S Translator apps and many more apps that are exclusively available through Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on Galaxy S4 willl also be available on the Galaxy S4 Mini. It is going to be offered in two colors, white and black. Samsung has not spoken anything on the price of the Galaxy S4 Mini. By looking at the cheaply priced Galaxy S3 Mini, we can guess that the mini version of Galaxy S4 will be quite cheaper than the original S4.

Samsung aims to topple Apple as the most favorite smartphone maker in US by releasing high-end phones like Galaxy S4 and also make cheaper version like Galaxy S4 Mini for all kinds of buyers. The Galaxy S4 Mini may be available in three variants, a model that supports 4G LTE, a model that supports 3G HSPA+, and last a dual-SIM 3G model.

According to tech analysts, Samsung’s previous mini phone i.e. the Galaxy S3 did not achieve much success even though it offered similar features present on the original Galaxy S3. The phone had no issues and was quite decent. Some tech analysts felt that Galaxy brand name should be only used for premium smartphones and Samsung should have released the Galaxy S3 Mini with a different name. They might be feeling the same for the Galaxy S4 Min but we hope that the device manages to turn the critics wrong.

The Galaxy S4 Mini will be unveiled at the event which will be held on June 20^th. It is going to be the event where Samsung is going to unveil many of its new products such as Galaxy S4 Activ, new Samsung ATIV S product and Galaxy Note 3.

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