IntroductionAnother
year, another Galaxy S phone! Since the very first Galaxy S, which came
out in 2010, Samsung has been regularly refining and improving its
formula for success in the mobile industry. It is mainly thanks to this
series of handsets that the manufacturer is now enjoying lush revenue
streams and having a profound influence over the whole Android
ecosystem.
Today, the Galaxy S phones stand for approachable
design, superb performance and premium features. By the looks of it, the
new Galaxy S4 is going to have all three components. But will it see
the same outstanding success as its predecessors?
The market
landscape this year is different from what it was in previous years. The
competition is no longer as confused and unprepared as it used to be.
For the first time ever, the Galaxy S smartphone of the year will have
to go against some very tough Android-powered opponents like the
marvelous HTC One and Sony Xperia Z, both of which offer impressive
designs and unique features. Has Samsung managed to come up with enough
goodies to make the Galaxy S4 the undisputed king of the Android jungle,
or will the throne be stolen by some of the other contenders?
The
smartphone wars are getting more and more intriguing. The battle which
used to be between two powerful factions has grown into a full-blown
massacre now that the other parties have joined. The Galaxy S4 is here,
so let's take a good look at it and try to determine its chances of
being the last phone standing!
DesignIt's
not that the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is untouched compared
to the one of the S III, but let's just say that the design language is
almost identical. Still, we have to acknowledge the fact that the
manufacturer has refined the exterior a bit. Even then, the Galaxy S4's
appearance isn't anything to write home about. Its main virtues are that
it's not bad and it's comfortable to hold, despite the considerable
dimensions.
The latter is not only due to the ergonomic shape of
the product, but also to the nice glossy plastic material that's been
used for the casing. If you've touched a Galaxy S III, the GS4's plastic
feels exactly the same way. As always, it attracts fingerprints, but
that's not a major problem. The nonslippery, pleasant-to-touch finish
more than makes up. The design of the back side is rather bland, as it
only houses the camera, LED flash, Samsung logo and tiny speaker grill.
5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches
136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm
5.38 x 2.78 x 0.34 inches
136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm5.41 x 2.69 x 0.37 inches
137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm
5.47 x 2.8 x 0.31 inches
139 x 71 x 7.9 mm
The GS4 is a true engineering achievement, as it packs a
larger screen than the GS III, but manages to be a bit smaller and
lighter at the same time!
All physical keys on the Galaxy S4 function very well. That
includes the Home, Power/Lock and Volume buttons. Of course, some of
them could be even better, namely the volume rocker, but they won't
cause you any trouble the way they work now.
If we have to
describe our feelings towards the SGS4's design in a single sentence, we
would say that it isn't anything to write home about, but it works. We
still dislike the fact that the back cover is a thin, flimsy piece of
plastic, but at least it has a pleasant in-hand feel to it.
Display
The
Galaxy S4 comes with a wonderful display! Similarly to many high-end
Android handsets this year, its diagonal measures 5 inches. The
resolution is, of course, 1080 x 1920 pixels. With a pixel density of
441 ppi, it's obvious that the display is incredibly sharp and detailed.
It's still a Super AMOLED screen, though, which means that the inherent
pros and cons of the technology are all present here.
As before,
this Super AMOLED screen by Samsung uses a PenTile matrix, but the
manufacturer has tweaked the technology a bit, adding an additional
green subpixel to each pixel. This, combined with the high pixel density
means that you won't be able to notice the pixelization problems
observed with the early PenTile screens. On the screen of the Galaxy S4,
everything is smooth and free of graininess.
Needless to say,
colors are quite vivid and saturated. They make for an amazing
multimedia experience (images, video, games...), but aren't particularly
natural, which might be irritating to some, or in some cases.
Thankfully, there's an option allowing you to tone the saturation down a
bit and make the colors look a bit more realistic.
As you would
expect out of an AMOLED screen, viewing angles are terrific, though
there's some color degradation observed when you're viewing the handset
at more extreme angles, but this generally isn't a problem.
Outdoor
visibility isn't top-notch, because the screen can't get very bright.
We mean, it's bright, but definitely not the brightest out there. As a
result, viewing will be difficult if you're outside and it's a
beautiful, sunny day. The brightness can also be set very low, but
again, it would have been better if it could go even lower, so as to
make using the handset in the dark a bit more comfortable for our eyes.
I
do not know about you, but for me, a gaming notebook is a poor (an
extremely poor one at that) substitute for a full fledged gaming
desktop. After all, you do not have the luxury of a really large display
for your eyes to enjoy superb visuals, not to mention the kind of audio
that is pumped out from your notebook speakers tend to be lame – very.
Of course, if you are a gaming addict, then at any time that you need to
get that gaming fix of yours going, a gaming notebook would be the
ideal solution. After all, something is better than nothing at all,
right? MSI certainly knows that they have a couple of models in the
market that will appeal to the masses, and they are the new MSI GX70 and
the GX60.
