All about Samsung Galaxy S4

[Red Storm]

When I had my S3 I just kept a spare battery at work and in the car, but it was only for emergencies as I had charging cables everywhere so I was always covered.

 

[Dari]

When I had my S3 I just kept a spare battery at work and in the car, but it was only for emergencies as I had charging cables everywhere so I was always covered.

Is this your response to me?

 

[ImDonly1]

Link? If it really is going to be $500 then there's no question I'm going Samsung again this round.

I highly doubt it will be $500.
Samsung has an established brand and knows people will pay money for it.

The S3 and all other phones were $800 at launch (international, early adopter fee) at most retail shops online. They always MSRP for ~$600-700.

There is no reason for them to lower their MSRP now.

 

[Compddd]

Anyone know when this thing is hitting Verizon? I'm itching to ditch this Lumia 822.

 

[dawheat]

I bought my S3 off Amazon off-contract for $550 a couple months after it launched in the US. I'd expect it to be something like $650 at launch and then to come down after the first wave dies down.

 

[QueBert]

Its front camera tracks your eyes and automatically scrolls text for you.

Hopefully this feature can be disabled, I know a few cock-eyed people and this would really make using the phone a shitty experience for them.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

When I had my S3 I just kept a spare battery at work and in the car, but it was only for emergencies as I had charging cables everywhere so I was always covered.

Well yes, that's certainly a possibility for many. I have a charger in the car, one at work, one in my battery. If I really need to I can charge.

However this is with a work day. I'm not staring at my phone all day, playing games, watching videos.

On the other hand when I go on a ski trip where I take a 4 hour bus ride each way, yeah I'll be using my phone. THAT'S when I want my charger, a wall plug, etc.

Not everyone carries battery packs (they're popular in Asia but not here), and it's not practical. And not everyone carries a spare battery. So yes, there is the demand to last all day.

There's days I go out and about on the weekends. Take friends around, eat, hang out, go to the park, go to a bar, basically a long day. Plenty of photos, sharing on social networks to show other friends, etc. I can tell you most people aren't like us and won't have spare batteries in their pockets.

When I went to visit a bunch of friends last year at NYC, no one had a spare battery out of 15 people. 3 worked at Google too. By 2am, we were down to 4 or 5 phones left, and I was operating without data to save my last 15% of battery.

 

[Zaap]

What some anecdotal group of "most people" supposedly do is not a valid or practical technology argument.

Perhaps "most people" don't use their seatbelts. So? Is that a valid argument for or against having and using them. No.

"Most people" could balance their toasters over the bathtub they're in if that became the current fad. I wouldn't.

 

[lopri]

It's almost a month since they announced it yet there is one English review and one Russian review only.. And is this product really expected to go on sale this month?

Also - Is the following confirmed?

9505 - Snapdragon 600 + 3G + LTE (70% of the world)
9500 - Exynos 5 Octa + 3G (30% of the world)
300 = Exynos 5 Octa + 3G + LTE (Korea only)

If so, are the LTE in 9505 and 300 are interchangeable in real-world usage?

 

[Miklebud]

It's almost a month since they announced it yet there is one English review and one Russian review only.. And is this product really expected to go on sale this month?

Also - Is the following confirmed?

9505 - Snapdragon 600 + 3G + LTE (70% of the world)
9500 - Exynos 5 Octa + 3G (30% of the world)
300 = Exynos 5 Octa + 3G + LTE (Korea only)

If so, are the LTE in 9505 and 300 are interchangeable in real-world usage?

So that means AT&T will be getting the 9505? I haven't looked hard enough to find out which one they're getting. I was kinda hoping for the 9500, but anything is an upgrade from my 3GS! Going to preorder on April 16th!

 

[Cappuccino]

Gonna sell my iphone 4 16GB and buy S4

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's almost a month since they announced it yet there is one English review and one Russian review only.. And is this product really expected to go on sale this month?

Also - Is the following confirmed?

9505 - Snapdragon 600 + 3G + LTE (70% of the world)
9500 - Exynos 5 Octa + 3G (30% of the world)
300 = Exynos 5 Octa + 3G + LTE (Korea only)

If so, are the LTE in 9505 and 300 are interchangeable in real-world usage?

Is this true? I have a hard time believing LTE deployments have been that strong. If 50% of the LTE use in 2012 was in the USA, what changed so much this year?

 

[GTRagnarok]

Is this true? I have a hard time believing LTE deployments have been that strong. If 50% of the LTE use in 2012 was in the USA, what changed so much this year?

The 70% refers to the Snapdragon, not the LTE.

 

[Phokus]

Any good reviews of the S4 vs. HTC one yet, especially in the camera department?

 

[ChronoReverse]

GSMArena has one, dunno if you'll consider it good.

 

[krumme]

Phonearena did a new camera comparison, with lots of pictures under different situations. Then you can judge yourself. Let me hear what you think about the pictures?

 

[Thegonagle]

I highly doubt it will be $500.
Samsung has an established brand and knows people will pay money for it.

The S3 and all other phones were $800 at launch (international, early adopter fee) at most retail shops online. They always MSRP for ~$600-700.

There is no reason for them to lower their MSRP now.

Except for the all the money they didn't spend building a quality piece of hardware ala Apple, HTC, LG (esp. Nexus 4), Nokia...

Screw Samsung. Their specs are good, but that's about all they've got. I'm so not impressed otherwise. Signal reception is horrible. Samsung drops the data in places every other brand of smartphone doesn't break a sweat. Even Samsung's freaking cheap flip phones have nothing on LG's cheap flip phones--or Pantech's cheap flip phones for all it matters.

I hope the HTC One really helps light a fire under Samsung's ass, because their hardware formula is "fastest SOC stuffed inside of cheaply built, overrated junk," and it needs to come to an end. If Samsung expects us to think that their latest masterpiece is worth $800, they need to do more than put lipstick on their plastic pig--excuse me, I mean polycarbonate plastic pig--with crap like "my nails aren't dry yet" touchless gestures.

 

[WelshBloke]

Lol, if you don't like plastic bodied phones there's plenty of alternatives. No need to get quite so worked up about something that's not compulsory.

 

[olds]

Well I think a few more people buy removable batteries. But I can tell you I only know about 2-3 people who do that who are NOT internet geeks like us. Even though I had that ability on my SGS2 and Nexus S, I only did so when on vacation like requiring 1 full day outdoors. But even without it I'd try my best to survive on a single day's worth of battery. I just think it's excessive to carry a battery in my pocket given limited space already.

I carry a laptop bag when I travel so I have two spare batteries with me usually. A normal battery and an extended battery with the battery cover. Though I have never had to use both. I could kill my battery on the plane watching videos or playing games. Now that I have a Kindle, I watch movies and play games on it.

 

[olds]

Lol, if you don't like plastic bodied phones there's plenty of alternatives. No need to get quite so worked up about something that's not compulsory.

Ya, get the metal phone. Then wrap it in an OtterBox.

 

[dguy6789]

Except for the all the money they didn't spend building a quality piece of hardware ala Apple, HTC, LG (esp. Nexus 4), Nokia...

Screw Samsung. Their specs are good, but that's about all they've got. I'm so not impressed otherwise.

How about better camera?(Heck the One has a worse camera than the One X lol) Better stock software? Larger/better screens? Removable battery? MicroSD slot?

The Nexus 4 is a pos build quality wise btw. The body squeaks and gives if you squeeze it a little lol.

 

[GTRagnarok]

HotHardware says the Snapdragon version has 4GB of RAM.

http://hothardware.com/News/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Coming-To-ATT-First-4GB-RAM-Up-to-25X-Faster-Than-GS3/

Hmmm, true or not? We saw a similar thing with the S3 where the US version got 2GB.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Doubt it. First it's a 32bit platform so you have all the problems about addressing 4GB plus we have multiple reviews of the Snapdragon version all saying 2GB.

 

[Thegonagle]

HTC One's camera will be fine, although I hope the next "Ultrapixel" sensor comes in at 6-8 MP. If you have to crop/zoom/edit, 4 MP is a bit tight. That doesn't stop me from wanting one though. It's not a deal breaker.

I do think that HTC is right when they say 13 MP isn't helpful for a phone. Their tiny lenses are poorly matched for that amount of resolution, and file sizes get to be a little ridiculous at some point. And of course, there's the low light issue.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

HTC One's camera will be fine, although I hope the next "Ultrapixel" sensor comes in at 6-8 MP. If you have to crop/zoom/edit, 4 MP is a bit tight. That doesn't stop me from wanting one though. It's not a deal breaker.

I do think that HTC is right when they say 13 MP isn't helpful for a phone. Their tiny lenses are poorly matched for that amount of resolution, and file sizes get to be a little ridiculous at some point. And of course, there's the low light issue.

But you need to look at if the SGS4 is improved over the S3. If it is, then I wouldn't say it's harmful. Yes there's harm in just shooting to 100MP. That would give you crap. But if camera sensor technology is improving along with processing power, then you can still crank out great images.

So while Samsung isn't going the same direction as HTC, as long as the S4 produces just as good images, then I think we should be ok. It probably won't excel low light, but I'd like to see what we get.

How about better camera?(Heck the One has a worse camera than the One X lol) Better stock software? Larger/better screens? Removable battery? MicroSD slot?

The Nexus 4 is a pos build quality wise btw. The body squeaks and gives if you squeeze it a little lol.

The One does better than the One X in low light. It isn't clear cut better or worse. There's plusses and minuses. The Nexus 4 build is ok but yes there are creak issues. It at least doesn't feel like a cheap POS.