Galaxy S4 revealed

Samsung says the features of Galaxy S4 were developed based on consumer insights.

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The long-awaited Galaxy S4 has been unveiled by Samsung, and has already been widely hailed as the best Android smartphone to date.

The handset slimmer and lighter (at 130g and 7.9mm) than its predecessor the Galaxy S3, featuring and 5-inch, full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display, with 441 ppi. It is powered by a 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The Galaxy S4 also supports HSPA+ 42 Mbps and 4G LTE.

It will be available in two colours at launch (Black Mist and White Frost) but Samsung says additional colour options will follow later in the year. The handset will be available from the second quarterly globally.

The rumours of eye-tracking technology have been confirmed, and the S4 features 'Samsung Smart Pause' and 'Samsung Smart Scroll' which allow users to control the screen using just their eyes.

"When you are watching a video, the video pauses when you look away then it starts right up again when you are back. 'Samsung Smart Scroll' allows you to scroll the browser or emails up and down without touching the screen. It recognises your face looking at the screen and movement of your wrist and then scroll the pages up or down accordingly," says Samsung.

The 'Air Gesture' feature also allows enables the user to change a music track, accept a call or scroll up and down a Web page with a wave of their hand - without touching the screen.

The S4 has a 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera and features 'Dual Camera' and 'Dual Video Call' (which allows the user to show friends what they are looking at while on the video call). It also allows the user to choose various frame effects to combine the two pictures taken by the front and back cameras into a single image.

Among the 12 shooting modes available are 'Drama Shot' (which creates a continuous time-lapse) and 'Sound & Shot' which records and stores sound and voice along with the photo.

New 'S Health' software also uses a combination of sensors built into the handset to monitor the health of the user. "Users can easily check their health conditions using food diary, exercise diary and sleep monitor to stay fit and healthy," says Samsung, adding that certain functions are only enabled by specific accessories.

The S4 also has an IR sensor that allows it to function as a universal remote control for TV and entertainment systems.

At the launch, Samsung pushed the message that the Galaxy S4 is designed to be a "life companion for a richer, simpler and fuller life".

Samsung's president and head of IT and mobile communications, JK Shin says: "With the Galaxy S4, Samsung is again going to enhance the way we live. All the innovative features of Galaxy S4 were developed based on the insights and needs we found from our consumers all around the world.

"Following the successful Galaxy S series, this phone is yet another great proof point of people-inspired innovation."

Reuters quotes Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi as saying: "They kind of cherry-picked features that other competitors had, and then packed them up all together into one device.

"The story though is more about who Samsung is and where they want to be. It is clear today that they want to play in an ecosystem game, their own ecosystem. The word Android didn't come up once."

Forrester analyst Charles Golvin says: "Samsung has fulfilled the promise of their marketing that they are the tech innovators. It remains to be seen whether it's overload for customers, whether they can really take advantage of all these features."

Full specifications: