Review: Samsung Galaxy S4

The S4's screen is bigger, and it is slightly lighter, yet the same size as its predecessor.

---

The Galaxy S4 is probably the most eagerly awaited Samsung smartphone to date, and it doesn't disappoint. I was dying to get my hands on one to play with, and honestly, it exceeded even my wildest expectations. The S4 improves on all aspects of its predecessor, and introduces some fantastic new software features and apps, and also has a more powerful kit under the hood.

Where the Galaxy S3 felt a little plasticky, the S4 feels more solid, and of a better quality. The edges are less rounded and metallic, with the buttons also in a metallic finish polycarbonate. The back also features a small diamond pattern, which jazzes it up, without being overly bling.

Naysayers complain that the plastic back looks cheap, but for me, it's a plus. The back cover is easy to pop off, to remove the battery and access the microSD and SIM slots. It's lighter, too, than its metal counterparts. The screen is taller, and the edging thinner. It measures 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm and weighs a light 130g - slightly smaller and lighter than the S3, but the difference is negligible.

The only tiny gripe I have is with the buttons, and I had the same gripe with the S3. When using the adjust volume / zoom button, I tend to position my hand so that I inadvertently press the power button at the same time.

The five-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 1080p HD display is, quite frankly, faultless. It has a pixel density of 441ppi, with flawless colour saturation and contrast. Edges are sharp and crisp, video is crystal clear, and photos look simply fantastic.

In addition, wide viewing angles and good visibility in the sun really sets this display apart from its peers.

All in all, the improvements are significant. Moreover, Samsung has made the screen bigger, the phone slightly lighter, and yet kept it the same size as its predecessor, which I find amazing.

The S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung's TouchWiz UX user interface on top. Before I get into that, I must say the S4 is chock-a-block with software features and apps. As someone who has never been an avid app user, I didn't expect to enjoy them, but found myself like a kid in a toyshop when playing with the device.

The functionality is just superb. Everything works exactly as it is meant to, even the usually annoying voice recognition feature. I had no problem giving the phone commands to call, or type an SMS, and when on the go, trying to do a million things at once, being able to answer your phone with a command is a huge plus.

TouchWiz has some awesome features, such as Air Viewing, which lets you hover your finger above the screen to get info and other Smart Screen functions that improve efficiency and are, quite frankly, just fun to use. One feature I was dying to test drive was the Eye Scrolling feature, which actually works. I was expecting this to be buggy, as the technology is in its infancy, but it really does work.

While not strictly adding to my experience, or being a feature I need, it does take the device to a new level, and is fun to play with.

There are some nifty additions to the interface, too, as it has beefed up its one-touch system icons in the notifications bar at the top, with the list expanding to 15 icons that'll save you having to rootle around your settings to find. You can also edit these, by dragging and dropping to rearrange them.

The S4 comes preloaded with many apps, and it would take me weeks to go into them all. Let me touch on a few that I particularly loved.

S Health, a built-in fitness tracker, is a particular favourite of mine. It acts as a pedometer, counting the number of steps you take during the day. However, it is so much more, as you can add your calorie goals and foods consumed during the day. The device pulls calorie count information from its database for each item eaten. Taking it a step further though, the S4 has sensors that allow the device to measure ambient temperature and humidity, which feeds into the app. S Health can also synch with third-party apps to monitor blood pressure and suchlike over Bluetooth. Nifty indeed.

Another app I enjoyed was Story Album, which allows you to select photos from the gallery, to be sorted into albums, based on when and where you took them. Of course, you can sort them manually, but who has the time? This feature knows intuitively where you've been travelling, and if you take several photos at the same time and place, it will suggest that you create an album. It then puts the photos together in a pretty package that's easy to upload.

The last app I'll mention is the S Translator app, which lets you instantly translate text, via either speech-to-text or text-to-speech. The feature supports nine languages, including English, French, Latin American Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. If you have no network connection, it has 3 000 popular phrases embedded.

The 13MP rear-mounted camera is fantastic, and the 2MP front-facing camera more than adequate for its purpose. In addition, 1080p full HD video recording at 30 frames per second covers all your camera and filming needs. Another plus for me was voice recognition, allowing you to take a picture by voice commands of 'cheese', 'capture' or 'shoot'.

The S4 cameras are really good, and integrated for the first time, through the Dual Shot feature, which allows you to use both cameras at the same time. It works by letting you take a picture with the rear camera, while the front one appears as a small, postage-stamp-like thumbnail. It's nice for those who are tired of taking awkward 'selfies' at tourist spots that leave out half of the scenery.

Drama Shot allows you to take a series of pictures of moving subjects in quick succession. Fabulous for sports, it creates really lively and fun snaps. Sound & Shot lets you add a 'sound byte' into your picture, for capturing special events. All photos are crisp and clear, with vivid colours. I can't imagine needing another camera, unless you're a professional photographer.

The 4G LTE device, featuring a 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon from Qualcomm, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB of built-in storage and microSD card slot is super snappy. Data transfer depends on your network, but I found all Web pages and suchlike opened pretty quickly. Apps also downloaded in a matter of seconds.

The Galaxy S4's connectivity is more than adequate; it uses WiFi Direct that allows WiFi-enabled devices to easily connect with each other and communicate without the need for a wireless access point connection. S Beam and near-field communication (NFC) are also included and work well with this.

It supports all manner of WiFi connections, and can hang on to the signal even when weak, as it has WiFi channel bonding that helps preserve data transfer. It also supports 2G, 3G and 4G, as well as the obvious Bluetooth.

The battery life was slightly better than I expected. I am used to a smartphone running itself flat in a day of average use, but I found the S4 lasted a few more hours. The screen is probably the biggest drain, so as with most high-end smartphones, you'll drain the battery with excessive video watching or game playing.

I loved this phone. Samsung touts it as a 'life companion', and honestly, it is. I fell in love with the myriad features, and can't imagine being without them now. I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about this device, besides my issue with the buttons, which feels a little churlish to mention, as it's a personal issue with the way I handle the phone. The S4 does everything and more, and just works so superbly. It's a little on the pricey side, at R8 499, but with everything it does, I don't think the cost is outrageous.