Samsung Galaxy S4 review

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the most hotly anticipated smartphone ever from the Korean brand, and with a glut of top end features, it's the most powerful and desirable device Samsung has created yet.
One of the most impressive things about the phone is the fact the size hasn't changed from its predecessor - the Galaxy S4 comes in at 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, meaning there's no extra heft to try and work with in your palm.
However, despite this fact, the screen on the S4 has been increased once more, to a whopping 5-inch display with Full HD resolution. This means the same amount of pixels you'd have seen on a TV that cost well over $2,000 four years ago is now riding around in your pocket.

Let's not pretend that Samsung is a pioneer in this area though: like a great many features of the Galaxy S4, the phone borrows a lot from the other top smartphones of the moment. Both the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC One have screens that rock the same resolution, but neither of them have the jaw-dropping clout of the Super AMOLED HD screen on offer here.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy S4 White at Amazon UK for £325.01

On top of that, there's a much faster processor packed under the hood, ample storage space for media thanks to an expandable memory card slot, and the likes of 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and pretty much any other connection you care to mention on board.

Samsung has tried to supplement this with a tranche of software upgrades too, meaning a more powerful camera, a better way to communicate with your friends and consume media, and interestingly a big push into health through dedicated apps too.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 costs the same as the HTC One, give or take a few dollars here or there, on contract. This will still put it around $65 per month, which isn't too bad for such a high design.

But before we dissect all the possibilities the phone has to offer, let's look at the design. As we mentioned, it's impressive in its form factor, thanks to the sub-8mm thickness, and at 130g it manages to still be light without shaving off so much heft that you feel like you've got a flimsy piece of plastic.

That's probably the biggest compliment we can pay the Samsung Galaxy S4 - where its predecessor felt a little bit cheap in the hand, the S4 manages to bring a much more solid build and better construction to boot.
So while the "faux metal" band makes a comeback on this model, it looks a lot more premium. And there's very little flex in the chassis when you hold it tightly, which was another problem with the Galaxy S3 at times.

That doesn't mean the that phone is completely remodelled from the S3 - it's very similar in appearance, so much so that a number of people asking to see it during our review thought we were palming them off with our old S3. The polycarbonate chassis remains, but that brings with it the faithful battery cover which conceals a removable battery and microSD slot.

We're not so fussed about the battery being able to drop out of the phone - so few people carry around a spare battery, and nowadays portable charging blocks are becoming so cheap and light that they make much more sense too.
We'd almost prefer something like the Sony Xperia Z, which has a refined and packaged chassis but doesn't need a removable battery: it makes use of a slot instead for the memory card. This integrated nature would make for a slightly more premium feel to the phone.

However, it's a small gripe with the S4, as while the cover feels flimsy, it's better than it was on the S2 and the S3, and they both sold like hot cakes.
In the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S4 feels much better than any other Samsung phone we've held (apart from the gargantuan smartphones the brand used to make - the i8910 Omnia HD might have been built like a brick, but it felt wonderful to hold). The screen's spread towards the sides of the phone means a much narrower bezel, and the effect is certainly impressive.

It might look very similar to the S3, but when you take the Samsung Galaxy S4 up close, you really start to appreciate the nuances.
We'd say it feels a lot more like the LG Optimus G range now - when we first picked it up, we were struck with how similar it felt in terms of sturdiness and the polycarbonate construction to the LG Optimus G Pro.
That's no criticism, as the device was well built too, but it has a similar rounded feel. This is intriguing given the history of the two companies, and shows more of a leaning towards the plastic shell from the Asian brands in general.

Buttonry has barely changed from before - the power button has been shifted slightly on the right-hand side, and is now much easier to hit. Samsung has clearly taken some lessons from the Galaxy Note 2, which has a really well positioned power/lock button.
The volume key is less easy to hit, and could be lower down in our eyes, but the travel on both of these buttons is satisfying, and you'll always know when you've hit them.
The plastic used on the home key has been upgraded too, with a more solid feel under the thumb when you press down to get back to the main home screen. The two buttons flanking it give you access to menus or take you back from whence you came, and while both are easily hidden, they light up nicely with an even glow when called into action.
There are loads of sensors on the front of the phone above the screen, including cameras to track your eyes, a 2MP camera for HD video calling and a proximity sensor for knowing where the phone is in relation to your ear. On the white review unit we had, their presence looks rather ugly either side of the generous earpiece, but on the darker models this is less of an issue.

The other notable addition to the design of the Galaxy S4 is the infra red blaster on the top of the phone. This allows you to control your TV, satellite box, DVD player, amp and even air conditioner, according to the reviewer notes. Again, this isn't a new feature, but it works well in practice, and despite being small is powerful enough indeed.
Other than that, there's not a lot more to say about the design of the phone, as it's just a little underwhelming. We know it's unfair to lambast a brand for not overhauling the design every year, but in the One X and the One, HTC has proven that it is possible to offer up a new design each time around and still keep things attractive.
Looking so similar to the Galaxy S3, you can't help but feel Samsung has gone a little too Apple and created something more in keeping with the Samsung Galaxy S3S - a minor update to a great phone to keep those coming out of contract happy that they have a premium phone to upgrade to.
We do implore you to get the phone in your hand before making a judgement though - while it's not got the best design on the market when it comes to materials, it's a big step forward compared to the Galaxy S3 and allows for a grippy and easy-to-hold phone, with a whopping screen inside.
To just dismiss it for being plastic would be doing the S4 a disservice as it has so much more going for it than that, but it's worth remembering that to a lot of people, the way a phone looks is as important as how much RAM it's got on board and how fast the CPU is - if not more so.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has an all-new screen, and we'll state it now: the Samsung Galaxy S4 has the best display you can find on a smartphone.
It's the same Super AMOLED technology used in other Galaxy smartphones, but this time it's been cranked up to Full HD resolution, which is 1920 x 1080 pixels, if you're asking.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy S4 White at Amazon UK for £325.01

This uses the same PenTile matrix that's drawn so much criticism for Samsung over the years, as some state that Samsung is using too many of one colour of pixel, or sub-pixel (the colours within each pixel) is too basic – all of this has meant that older Galaxy smartphones have had something of a blue or green tint, or been a little low-resolution when viewed (admittedly really) close up.

The Samsung Galaxy S

Well, and you'll forgive us for saying the same thing that we did last year with the Galaxy S3, close up now there's no way you can see any jagged edges or elements within the icons. It's simply superb, and makes everything from web pages to video look brilliant.

The Samsung Galaxy S2

And there's no worry about the tints of old, nor the criticisms levied at Samsung for making over-saturated screens, as often people have claimed that the colours look too strong on these devices thanks to the OLED technology used.
It is a feature of the technology, and not just because of the high contrast ratios on offer, but with the Galaxy S4 Samsung has added in a mode to make the colours look more natural, should the user so with to have it that way.

The Samsung Galaxy S3

This method does drop the brightness somewhat, and that's already lower than you might find on the HTC One but that extra brightness isn't needed thanks to the contrast ratio we mentioned earlier. One of the strengths of OLED technology is that when a pixel is displaying a black image, it's completely off, and therefore draws less power and looks darker. Compared to LCD screens, which have a backlight to light the colours in front, this means that the blacks will never be as black as found on an OLED.
So, as we said, there's nothing to want for with the Super AMOLED Full HD screen found on the Samsung Galaxy S4. It might not be as high resolution as the HTC One, simply because it's larger with the same amount of pixels, but viewed up close you'll struggle to find a flaw with it.

The Samsung Galaxy S4

You can change the brightness from the notification bar by sliding your finger up and down the screen - but if you want to make things easier you can just tag the Auto button and have the Galaxy S4 working away at deciding the optimum brightness for you.
What's new here is the ability to customise the auto level - so if you like things a little lighter or darker, then you can choose such a thing. It's a good way to manage your battery even easier.
Another feature, which is both good and bad, is the improved capacitive technology used in the screen. This is designed to ape a feature brought by Nokia on the Lumia 920, which allows the user to wear gloves and still use the phone - which will be a key feature to those in colder climes, or like to wear gloves for sport or similar.
However, while this works well for gloves, it does over-power the screen somewhat, in that when you're holding your finger over the screen looking to scroll up and down when you're read a certain paragraph, it will sometimes register a press when you've no intention of doing so. It's irritating to say the least, and something that we hope Samsung irons out with future software updates.
Aside from that, there's not a thing that we can criticise the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen for in any way, as it's as close to perfect as you can get on a smartphone - making it a great device for so many more functions as a result.

The interface on the Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't an officially new release of TouchWiz, the Korean brand's name for its Android overlay, but it does bring a whole host of new features to the Galaxy range, working best on the S4.
It's built on top of Android Jelly Bean 4.2, which means there are several significant upgrades from the previous version, found on most of the other top-end Galaxy devices and, crucially, ahead of the likes of the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy S4 White at Amazon UK for £325.01

One gets the feeling Samsung has delayed Android 4.2 for the Galaxy S3 simply so it can offer differentiation with the new model – things like split menus mean you feel like you're greeted with a different phone, despite both the S3 and S4 doing roughly the same thing.

So, for instance, in the drag down notification bar, you're now greeted with two icons in the top right-hand corner; one takes you to the internal settings from anywhere in the phone, and the other gives you quick shortcuts to turn elements within the S4 off and on.
You can also get access to the full grid of options instantly by dragging down from the notifications bar using two fingers instead of one. Tricksy.
This is an idea Google pushed with the new iteration of Android, and works well. However, it's a little redundant here, as the phone already has these in a long line in the notification bar. You can also edit these quick toggles too, so it means that you'll rarely push the other button to get the full list.
Android 4.2 promises further smoothness upgrades too, and while this works on the likes of the Nexus 4, we're not sure what it's really added with the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Considering that this phone is running the quad-core Qualcomm 600 chip, clocked at 1.9GHz and combined with 2GB of RAM, we would have expected this phone to run faster than anything we'd ever seen before.
While that is true for the most part, it's only a touch more than we've seen on the Galaxy S3. Apps will open and close faster, but elements like the time taken to open the multi-taking menu (triggered by holding down the home key from anywhere in the phone) still take a beat to activate.
It makes us hanker for the octa-core processor that other parts of the world are getting - the reason being that 4G can't apparently be added to that chip very easily, so we have to make do with a quad core option. It's not as simple as saying that other version is twice as fast, as it's essentially two quad core chips doing different tasks when needed, but there's no doubt that the other version is faster.
In case you're wondering, there are two versions of the Galaxy S4: one with the Exynos 5 octa-core, and this one (model number GT-1905) that has the Qualcomm Snapdragon quad core. This version is clocked at 1.9GHz, which means it runs faster in general - however, the octa core has two sets of four cores, with one for day to day stuff and the other for heavy lifting, such as photo processing and such.
While we're miffed we don't have the option of this other version (it's smashed the benchmarks in many tests) there are questions about whether the battery will hold up as well as the device flicks between the two quad core processors inside - it could improve efficiency or deplete it, depending on the implementation, so perhaps bigger isn't always better.

The general Android / TouchWiz interface is still the same as ever: this means that you can throw as many widgets and apps all over the seven home screens that you like.
It's still a great way of doing things, and since Android Jelly Bean has been used you can now flick items out of the way just by dragging them onto the screen and holding them in the place you want.
What is interesting is that Samsung still hasn't added the functionality to drag and drop app icons on top of one another to create a folder. We're pretty sure Apple is trying to patent such an idea, but given rivals have managed to use this method (such as HTC with the One) we'd have expected Samsung to do the same.
It's not a big deal, but having to drag an app to the top of the screen, create a folder, name it, then drag other apps in is a bit of a hassle.
Another huge frustration is the fact that Australian models of the handset don't allow users to customise the bottom row of icons on the device. So if you prefer the Chrome app to the Internet app, you have no way of switching it over in the tray, short of installing a brand new launcher on the phone.
For some reason, this is a completely arbitrary decision for the Australian market, with international versions lacking the locked tray apps.
One area that has been changed massively from S3 to S4 is the lock screen. Firstly, there's a new way to mess around with this UI: where once you could only touch the screen and watch the water ripple around, now you can choose to have your finger trigger a little light that hovers under your finger.
Combined with the S4's improved screen technology that's been super-boosted, in terms of sensitivity, to allow you to use gloves with it, you can now hold your finger a centimetre or so above the display and watch the light flicker along under your digit. It's not a big thing, but one that we found ourselves constantly playing with like tiny children.
The lock screen, thanks to the Android 4.2 update, now allows you to have widgets on there before you open the phone, allowing music control, remotes to display and messages to preview.
While there are some useful implementations of these (the music player is really handy to have, and can be resized by dragging the track list up and down) others, like favourite apps, really don't help as much. You can still thankfully have all the lockscreen shortcuts, which means you can interact in the same way as before. To open the phone into a widget you just tap it then swipe below. We initially wanted to criticise the phone for this, but after a few days it really becomes second nature.
To open the phone from a widget you just tap it then swipe below. We initially wanted to criticise the phone for this, but after a few days it really becomes second nature.
There are a number of issues we found with the interface though: for instance, Page Buddy being removed, which is available in the Galaxy S3 and Note 2. This function would display a new home screen when certain actions are initiated, such as connecting a pair of headphones or roaming in another country.
You can't get this on the Galaxy S4, and its omission is terrible, as it was one of our favourite features of the S3. You can get recommended apps when you plug in headphones in the notification window; however, these are ludicrous in their inability to be relevant.
Plugging in headphones and being recommended to check Facebook, Chrome or Email? Doesn't make sense to us at all, but apparently it's based on 'what we do when headphones are plugged in.' Yeah, whatever, Samsung.
Another issue is the volume bar - for some reason, using this causes terrible lag on the phone, with it taking a long time to appear on the screen when pressed, and at times not responding to input - then deciding a few seconds later to blast right up to full volume.
It's clearly a software issue, and one that Samsung will sort out in the near future, but it's definitely an issue.

We would say the blocky nature of the UI really isn't attractive. It basically adds a load of features into a previously simple experience, which may or may not please some people. Thankfully, all this is switched off by default - and you can even have your own message saying hello every time you open the phone.
It's clear that Samsung has toed the Google line in using Android 4.2 on the Galaxy S4, as this lock screen functionality is straight from the search giant's design board (with a few Samsung design ideals placed on top).
It's also present in the menu system, which, rather than one long list of all your options, is divided into four screens: Connectivity, My Device, Accounts, and More. It's a neat way of packaging things all up, but it can be hard to hit the categories on the top given the size of the screen.
The interface on the Samsung Galaxy S4, to the uninitiated or the Galaxy S2 user looking for their next upgrade, is great. It has loads of innovative ideas and works blazingly fast. We can see why some people find TouchWiz a little cartoony and convoluted at times, but in our eyes this is a great combination of power and simplicity in a smartphone.

Contacts are very similar to before on the Samsung Galaxy S4, but this is no bad thing. Laid out in an easy to read format and manageable ways of connecting the right people together, this is a perfectly passable way of looking for the people that matter to you.
The main thing that we like is the ability to smart dial. This means that when you open the number pad you can enter the name as you would have done on predictive text all those years ago - so 3-2-3 would be the command to bring up 'Dad', for instance.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy S4 White at Amazon UK for £325.01

It's a slick way of getting around the contact list. It's hardly new - most phones pack it as an option now, and those that don't (iPhone) sorely miss it - but it saves you monkeying around in the main contacts list.
That said, the experience there is very good. If you've got the likes of Exchange, Facebook and Google accounts set up on your phone then chances are you'll be able to see a host of names here to play with. We're sad that Twitter was taken out of the experience, as it was helpful to have on the Galaxy S2 by allowing you to see friends' Tweets in their contact profile.
However, if you're not savvy enough to work out how to stop every person you're following on Twitter displaying in your contacts' list, then you would have hundreds floating around there.
(By the way, it's a simple tap of the menu button and selecting 'Contacts to display' where you can choose which service will supply the people to chat to. You can customise this too, meaning you only have certain services coming through, which means you can choose to just have the likes of Facebook and Google, where most people will store contacts.
Pro tip: hit 'Settings' and then tag 'Only contacts with phone numbers', which will clean up your phone book no end).
Beyond that, there's not a lot more to the Samsung Galaxy S4 contacts interface that really makes it stand out - it doesn't have the ability to parse through albums on social networks or update you with people's musings through statuses, but to many that's more of a hindrance. And to those where it's not, you can head on over to the HTC One to see how all that works.
The interface is simple, it's damned easy to navigate to the people you want (using the alphabetised list on the right-hand side and then using the slider to get more exact) and the result is instant when opening a contact.

You can link contacts together easily by going into the name and hitting joined contacts, then selecting other profiles from social networks to bring everything into one place. Samsung still hasn't mastered the art of suggesting these links in one big batch, so expect a lengthy time spend doing so when you turn the phone on.
One big change we're not sure we're in love with: every contact that doesn't have a picture drawn in (from the likes of Facebook or Google+) will have a stock smiling male cartoon face - it's meant to be cutesy, but it can come across a little creepy when it flashes up onscreen from an unknown number.
Another oddity with the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the ability to use high res pictures to populate contact images - other handsets allow you to define that any social network, Facebook in particular, will always display HD pictures when you connect a person in your phone book to the social network profile.
It might sound like a minor thing, but when high-res pictures flash up during a phone call, it makes the phone feel a lot more premium, which is rarely the case with the Galaxy S4, which will only do so if you've linked Google+ or tagged them in your own photo.

Calling

Calling on the Samsung Galaxy S4 carries on from its predecessor - namely in being excellent. It's got a slightly narrow earpiece range, which means that you have to be careful where you position it in relation to your ear, but that's a really minor quibble as the overall effect is impressive and works well thanks to some clever volume management.
The S4 has noise reduction built in, and many people commented how clear the the sound was over the airwaves. The S4 supports HD voice as well, which is carried over the 3G/4G networks of Telstra and Vodafone so you'll always get the best clarity on offer.

In short, this phone worked well no matter where we were. Dropped calls should be a thing of the past on all handsets, but that's not always the case; however, with high end handsets there's no reason to think it should happen, and the power of the S4 to keep hold of signal is impressive.
In fact, the signal strength was regularly impressive, making very few trips down to the dreaded 'no bar' icon that means you might have a connection but, hey, you might not. Nobody enjoys that smartphone lottery, right?
There are a number of extra bells and whistles to play with here too which offer varying success. You can set something called 'Adapt Sound' which asks you to pop in a pair of headphones and listen to a range of sounds at different frequencies, thus tailoring the output to your ears.

You can also choose to have 'Clear Sound' or 'Soft Sound' during the calls, but when we tried these modes all we got was a slight variation in volume. There are other tricks that are more useful in call, like being able to turn noise reduction on and off and being able to boost the volume when needed.
Otherwise, it's the same great calling experience we've come to expect from the Samsung Galaxy range, even down to the three options that come up when you end a call (Message, Call or Video Call) so you can get in touch with the person if you've forgotten pertinent information. Although video call never works, let's be honest. Even Apple is starting to wonder...
In short, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the best phones for actually, you know, phoning, out there. It's size isn't horrendous next to the ear and people can hear you - and vice versa. Job done