Samsung Galaxy S4

Height: 137 mm
Width: 70 mm
Depth: 8 mm
Weight: 138 g
Operating System: Android OS v4.2
Camera: 13 megapixel, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, HDR

Highlights

• 5 inch Full HD (1080p) Display
• Quad or even Octo core processor (depending on version)
• 16/32/64GB Storage, expandable with MicroSD
• 4G Compatible

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has been by far the most popular Android phone of 2013 and for good reason: it offers a great package of tech specs and features from a trusted brand.

Display

The screen on the Galaxy S4 is an impressive 5 inches, meaning the screen is large without making the phone too big to hold. The quality of the display is high too: 1080p Full HD means the pixel density is 441 ppi which put its comfortably into the ‘Retina’ category.

Tech Specs

The Galaxy S4 is one of the fastest Android devices available.  The processor in the device actually depends on where your Galaxy S4 came from, as  Samsung decided to ship different processors to different markets. In the UK your most likely to get a Snapdragon  600 processor which offers a quad-core 1.9GHz speed. If your S4 is imported you could end up with a octa-core Exynos 5 chip. Both score roughly the same in benchmarks and when the S4 was released in early 2013 were about as good as you could get.

There’s 2GB of RAM, and a separate Adreno 320 GPU for handing the graphics. Storage is expandable by Micro SD card, and built in capacity depends on what model you buy, with choices of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB available. Sound is produced from a single back speaker, although this is of a good quality and you might not notice it doesn’t have stereo. The battery is a respectable 2600 mAh which means an average user should get about two days use from the phone.

Connectivity

The S4 comes with support for LTE, which is commonly referred to as 4G, as well as the faster 3G HSPA+ networks. This means that you should be able to get the full 75 mbps promised by 4G and as high as 42.2 mbps on 3G.

There’s obviously the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and there’s even a IR blaster allowing you to use the phone as a remote control.

As well as Google’s Chrome browser, Samsung have their own version which thankfully has Flash installed so you can interact with rich content online.

Camera

The Galaxy S4 has a great 13 megapixel main camera which takes great photos. It might not be as good as the HTC One in low light, but in daylight conditions it performs just as well. You can also record video in Full HD 1080p and thanks to some great stabilisation the videos are perfectly smooth. There’s also a perfectly good 2 megapixel front facing camera for video calling. Samsung have included some great camera software with many effects and modes as well as ways to create amazing looking albums.

Interface

The S4 runes on the Google’s Android operating system, version 4.2.2. Samsung have installed some of their own features on top of this excellent base including their TouchWiz Nature user interface.

Added bonus features include an instant translator which can translate across many of the apps including mail and messages. There’s also the ability to gesture to the phone in the air and you can use your eyes to scroll.

Conclusion

The Galaxy S4 is one of the best Android phones of 2013 – but you already knew that. It compares well with other devices such as HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z, but doesn’t outclass them. If you’re in the market for an new Android phone this should be a solid contender, but the competition shouldn’t be ignored either.Overall this one of the thinnest, best specced, coolest and user friendly smartphones on the market and you won’t regret choosing it.