Samsung Galaxy S4: “a second look. Samsung Galaxy S4 I9500 - S Specifications 4 Articles

Samsung Electronics presents the fourth generation of the flagship Galaxy S line - the Galaxy S4 smartphone, which is designed to combine all the most valuable to you into a single whole and to be closer to those who really matter to you.

Photo of Samsung Galaxy S4 2013

Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 13MP main camera and boasts a Dual Camera function that allows you to take pictures and video simultaneously with both the main and front cameras. While shooting, users can also choose from a variety of frame effects that can be used to blend two shots in a completely natural way, as well as adjust the size of a small photo within a large one. The end result of these actions is a completely exclusive image that uniquely combines the photographer and what he is looking at. At the same time, the Dual Video function makes it possible to make and receive group video calls from friends and family.

photo of the back cover of the smartphone

With Group Play, you can enjoy music, view photos and play games with everyone around you without having to connect to Wi-Fi or mobile operator signal. This innovative feature allows you to connect directly to other users for instant information sharing, gaming, co-creation and other entertainment. The Share Music option allows you to play the same song simultaneously on multiple smartphones, which, for example, will allow you to create a unique party atmosphere even in places not intended for this.
GALAXY S 4 brings people closer together by breaking down language barriers. Any trip to another country will be an unforgettable adventure, thanks to the S Translator function, which instantly makes text or voice translations of all applications, including email, text messages and ChatON. This instant translation is possible, both from speech to text, and vice versa, which ensures users receive the correct information while abroad.

live photo devices

Samsung Smart Pause allows you to control the content on the screen with your gaze. For example, when you look away while watching a video, it stops, moreover, the display will resume as soon as you look at your smartphone again. Scrolling through browser pages or e-mail without touching the screen is made possible by the Samsung Smart Scroll function. It tracks the movements of your eyes and hands, reacts to them by scrolling up or down the pages, respectively.

With Air View, you can view the contents of an email file, S Planner image gallery or video gallery without opening a document, just hovering your finger over it. You can just as easily be able to zoom in on a web page in your browser, or a saved phone number. With Air Gesture, you can switch between music tracks, scroll up and down a web page, or take a call with a wave of your hand.

With VoiceTM Drive, you can activate smartphone functions using your voice for greater comfort and safety while driving. Once connected to the car control system via Bluetooth, the smartphone automatically switches to text-to-speech mode while driving, allowing you to easily and safely check your incoming messages without having to look at the screen.

Overview

Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone review (video):

With dedicated S Health software, the Galaxy S4 monitors your health. A set of sensors built into your smartphone systematically captures and records physiological indicators and the state of the environment in order to improve your life. In addition, each user can easily check their health status with special nutrition diaries, physical activity records and sleep monitoring to stay fit and healthy at all times.

Samsung Galaxy S4 price

The S4 will begin shipping in the second quarter of 2013 worldwide. Prices for the Samsung Galaxy S4 in the UK will average € 650 (roughly $ 850 or RUB 26,000).

Smartphone sales in Russia will start on April 26, 2013. The price of versions with 16 GB of integrated memory will be 29,990 rubles, while versions with a 64 GB drive will cost 36,990 rubles.

The next flagship phone of the South Korean company has appeared - Samsung Galaxy S4. It gives a chance to even more firmly establish itself in the smartphone market, confirming its dominance among Android devices.

Samsung's new flagship improves on almost every aspect of the previous model by bundling more powerful hardware with a host of new software features. The gadget has received a bunch of new sensors, aiming to get an all-in-one tool.

Let's immediately note the main disadvantages that the device has in our opinion:

• the design began to gradually become obsolete;
• externally, the smartphone looks worse than the aluminum HTC One or the glass Sony Xperia Z;
• no FM radio;
• video recording is slightly worse than in the Galaxy S3;
• The overall camera interface makes framing pretty tricky.

Now let's move on to a more detailed overview of the main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the new smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with the standard set of accessories you would expect in a box. This is an A / C adapter to be used with the included microUSB cable, headphones that are incomparably better than those included with the Galaxy S3. This time, all accessories are painted white.

The new HS330 headphones are equipped with dual speakers for better reproduction of high and low frequencies of sound.

The earbuds have also been modified in shape, material and size to make them more comfortable. The control buttons on the headset are also improved over the Galaxy S3.

Now let's go directly to the exterior. The dimensions of the Galaxy S4 are likely to be one of the achievements, as the smartphone is the same height as its predecessor, but it is 0.8 mm narrower, 0.7 mm thinner and 3 grams lighter. And this is all despite the 0.2-inch enlarged screen, a more capacious battery, which is still removable. So, the dimensions of the phone are 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm, and the weight is 130 g.

The screen of the gadget is covered with the new Gorilla Glass 3. This glass has a new composition and provides increased resistance to scratches. In fact, early tests showed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is more difficult to scratch than the Galaxy S3.

The design has changed little when compared to its predecessor. The phone uses the same Hyperglazed finish, which, in our opinion, is a disadvantage for the gadget, since holding the smartphone in your hands you feel not a flagship device, but a plastic toy. In this it loses to HTC One and Sony Xperia Z.

This does not mean, however, that the Galaxy S4 looks worse than its predecessor. The new texture gives it a more serious and stylish look, and the rear panel now looks different depending on the viewing angle.

Thin bezels left more room for a shiny screen, but more on that later. The slim body has a higher vibration level. Also note that now the black paint will be available from the very beginning of sales.

Note that the new product is easier to use than the Samsung Galaxy S3. It is also more comfortable to hold in your hand than the HTC One.

The Samsung smartphone has many sensors that are scattered throughout the body, but the basic controls and their placement have remained largely unchanged.

Below the display you will find the same three buttons as in the Galaxy S3 - touch-sensitive "Menu" and "Back", as well as a mechanical "Home".

There is additional functionality: when pressed for a long time, the "Menu" button processes Google Now, while "Home" brings up the task switcher, there are other possibilities, which are described in more detail in the instructions.

Above the display is a speaker, a bunch of sensors, and a 2.1MP front-facing camera. There is an LED indicator, a traditional ambient light sensor, an IR gesture sensor that allows you to control some applications such as a web browser and a music player.

There is a paired volume rocker on the left side of the Samsung Galaxy S4, while the power / lock button is on the right. Unfortunately, although the camera has received a significant update, the control button is still missing. You can use the volume key to take a photo, but it cannot completely replace the two-stage (aim and release) button.

At the top, you can see a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an IR sensor, which allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control for household appliances. There is a preinstalled application that will allow you to control some devices.

The microUSB port at the bottom is used for data transfer and charging. It not only supports USB-host, but also MHL 2.0, which provides the ability to output 3D Full HD video to TV without an external power source. Previously, it was necessary to connect a charger, but now they got rid of it.

Also at the bottom is the main microphone.

On the back of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a 13MP Full HD camera. Like the Galaxy S3, the LED flash is nearby, but the speaker grill has been moved to the lower left edge of the device.

Performance and software

The Samsung Galaxy S4, which we have in our hands, is equipped with a Snapdragon 600 chipset. We, of course, know that there will be a modification with an 8-core Exynos 5 Octa, but for now we will test the available version of the smartphone.

The Krait 4-core 1.9GHz gadget with 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 GPU should show excellent performance in our opinion. Built-in memory - from 16 to 64 GB, depending on the version, there is a slot for microSD cards. Operating system - Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

The device of the South Korean company bypassed the HTC One and Optimus G Pro in single-threaded (Benchmark Pi) and multi-threaded (LinPack) benchmarks. Both of these phones use the same chipset, but only clocked at 1.7GHz.

Geekbench 2 is a cross-platform benchmark that compares the Galaxy S4 to the iPhone 5, which scores twice as bad. The HTC One and LG Optimus G Pro also lagged behind the test device, although we should note that they are running an older version of Android 4.1.2. Recall that the new flagship Samsung has an operating system - Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Now let's move on to compound tests. In AnTuTu, our gadget was again at the top, and in Quadrant the difference between it and Optimus G Pro is very small. Although the HTC One lagged far behind here.

Now let's test the graphics. In GLBenchmark 2.5 in 1080p off-screen mode, our smartphone confidently won. The Galaxy S4 also topped the Epic Citadel benchmark, although the 60fps limitation played a role here. Without that, perhaps there was a big difference with the HTC One. However, this benchmark uses the Unreal Engine, which is sometimes found in high-end 3D mobile games, and shows real performance.

Finally, JavaScript and HTML 5 performance testing. The smartphone performed well in these benchmarks, but lagged behind the Galaxy Note II. We used Android Browser for the test, not Google Chrome, which is also pre-installed.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 with the Snapdragon 600 chipset showed excellent performance even in places like heavy animated galleries and video players.

There is support for Wi-Fi, GPS / A-GPS / GLONASS, 3G and LTE (optional), Bluetooth 4.0.

Screen

One of the most important updates brought by the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the new 5-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The gadget has a PenTile matrix with a pixel density of 441 ppi.

The PenTile design has also been redesigned so that there are twice as many green subpixels as blue and red subpixels, and their location has also changed. However, this, of course, is not noticeable without a microscope.

The image quality is excellent. The smartphone has an impressive contrast ratio and near-perfect viewing angles. Intense colors turn anyone, even the most boring, into an amazingly vivid image and are beyond the reach of any LCD display. If you're not a fan of oversaturated AMOLED displays, Samsung gives you the option to change saturation to a more natural level.

The brightness levels of the Samsung Galaxy S4 are roughly on par with the rest of the company's AMOLED matrices, that is, it is not very high. However, due to the low reflectivity, it does not affect the image in sunlight. Keep in mind that turning on auto settings on the screen limits the maximum brightness to 300 nits, so if it matters to you, it's best to keep it.

Of course, Nokia is brighter than the AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, but the difference is not so dramatic. The South Korean smartphone showed good image quality in sunlight, although it is surprising that it did not overtake the Galaxy S3 in this indicator, despite the higher brightness. Perhaps the new Gorilla glass brought in additional reflections and thus made up for the benefits.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13-megapixel camera capable of taking pictures of 4128x3096 pixels. There is also a 2-megapixel front camera, which is capable of photographing and recording video simultaneously with the main one.

It is possible to include various effects. They can be previewed so you can see how a particular scene will look when you apply the effect.

Let's take a look at the different modes. There are standard ones such as Rich Tone (), Panorama, Night and Sports. Panoramic shots are quite impressive, they can be 360 ​​degrees or more, and can be more than 60 MP (note that if you hold the phone vertically, the panoramic image will be almost twice the resolution). Here's an example of a panorama.

The gadget has many shooting modes, which are described in the instructions. All of them are good and useful, but we need to answer the question, is the Galaxy S4 camera good at shooting? The answer is yes, yes, very good. The South Korean company has gone to great lengths to maintain good image quality while upscaling.

In the photo, you can distinguish many small details, but there is little noise. Colors are accurate, maybe slightly oversaturated, and the white balance is somewhere between neutral and cool (typical for Samsung phone cameras). The smartphone retains the details of the image in the darkened zone, however, sometimes at the expense of detailing in the light. To fix this, you can use the HDR mode.

Samsung Galaxy S4 records video in format MP4 with bitrate 17 Mbps on average. Stereo sound is saved at 128 bit rate Kbps and sampling rate 48 kHz.

The camcorder does not provide users with so many shooting modes, but there are some effects here too. For example, you can do slow movements, double shooting. Slow-motion video can go up to 8x slowdown, but the resolution drops to 800x450 pixels, and the frame rate drops to 15 per second. Typical video settings are 1920 x 1080 pixels and 30 frames per second.

Touch focus is available before and during movie recording, you can return to continuous AF mode if you like. You can take 9.6 megapixel (16: 9) photos while recording.

The video captured by the phone shows a lot of fine detail and little noise. Colors and white balance are similar to those obtained in photographs, generally accurate, but slightly oversaturated and with a cold white balance shift. One thing that can be attributed to the downside is the narrowed field of view. It is smaller than the Galaxy S III and HTC One. The difference is quite noticeable, with the Galaxy S4 capturing a lot less than the competition.

The video quality itself isn't much better than the Galaxy S III. You can check this yourself by comparing the records. An example captured on a Galaxy S4 is shown below.

When we turned on digital video stabilization, it became more detailed, and the contrast improved. Below is an example in which stabilization is enabled.

Battery

Removing the cover that covers the battery compartment reveals a microSIM slot, an updated removable 2600mAh battery and a microSD card slot. The memory card slot is hot-swappable.

As it turned out during our battery testing, the extra 500 mAh is easily eaten away by high screen resolutions and more power-hungry chipsets. As a result, no significant superiority over its predecessor is observed. Endurance during video playback and web browsing was only slightly improved, but in standby mode it took a huge step forward. This, of course, is understandable: after all, the chipset does not process any applications, and the screen is off.

The gadget can autonomously work for 13 hours 53 minutes when talking using 3G networks, 8 hours 42 minutes when surfing the Internet and 10 hours 16 minutes when playing high-definition video.

Testing has shown that a smartphone can last an average of 63 hours if used for an hour a day for web browsing, video and telephony.

Price

The cost of Samsung Galaxy S4 in the Russian market will depend on the modification:

- 16 GB / 3G - 29,990 rubles;

- 64 GB / 3G - 36,990 rubles;

- 16 GB / LTE - 29,990 rubles;

- 64 GB / LTE - 36,990 rubles.

The South Korean company Samsung was able to achieve tremendous success through the release of a line of Galaxy devices. More specifically, the highlights were seen in the sales of models such as the S2 and S3. In five months, the second model was sold around the world in the amount of twenty million pieces. The total circulation exceeded sixty million. Impressive, isn't it? Well, what awaited the follower - the S4 GT-I9500 smartphone? Today we have to talk about him.

Brief technical characteristics

S4 GT-I9500, the price of which was more than ten thousand Russian rubles, received a five-inch screen, a good camera with a resolution of 13 megapixels, a processor with eight cores, two gigabytes of RAM and a battery with a capacity of 2600 milliampere-hours. An unexpected drawback was the presence of an operating system of the "Android" family of only version 4.2.

Exterior

S4 GT-I9500 16GB is made in a classic candy bar form factor. We will not see any striking changes in comparison with the previous models. This is all the same appearance that Galaxy S3 or Note 2 had. And in general, many other devices are similar to this flagship in appearance. Should a potential buyer be offended for the fact that he pays that kind of money for the absence of "chips" in the exterior? Maybe yes. Nevertheless, the device is selling really well, and nobody pays special attention to the fact that the design is literally roughly copied.

Weight and dimensions

Previously, many believed that in comparison with the same model "Galaxy C3" the dimensions of the device will increase, since the diagonal of the screen will grow. However, it turned out that the device, on the contrary, became thinner. With its 130 grams, the smartphone reaches 136.6 mm in height, and 69.8 and 7.9 mm in width and thickness, respectively. All characteristics have improved, including the battery, and this must be taken into account when talking about mass and dimensional characteristics. We can say thank you to the Koreans for going through a number of parameters, making the phone more powerful, but the weight and size characteristics did not deteriorate, but even changed for the better.

Minuses

What is the disadvantage? Oh, the S4 GT-I9500 16GB doesn't boast good workmanship. This flaw becomes an event that brings, if not harmony, then at least a strict balance to the picture. For how many years Samsung have been struggling with this problem - the problem of plastic, and something they just can't come to a path resolution of the deficiency. At the same time, it will not work to complain about the unreliability of the design. Here we have not ordinary plastic, but polycarbonate. This allows you to bend the lid without visible consequences (of course, if you are not particularly zealous). By the way, its coverage has undergone a number of qualitative changes. Among them - masking emerging scratches with the help of special drawings. The coating is applied in such a way as to rub off as slowly as possible. On the side there is a metal, at first glance, edging. In fact, it is not metal, but plastic. Unfortunately, it is easy to scratch it.

Colors and build quality

From the very beginning, the device was produced in two colors. It is dark gray and white. Of course, the traditional dark gray looks more presentable. However, everything is decided by a question of taste. A little later, the manufacturer promised to release on the market other color solutions, about five pieces. And here each user will have the right to decide which color to choose for him. There are no complaints about the build quality of the smartphone. The back cover of the device adheres to it very tightly. Despite this, it is quite easy to remove it.

Controls, ports, sockets

The Galaxy S4 GT-I9500, the firmware for which was released shortly after the device's debut, is equipped with a missed event indicator located on the top, above the screen, on the front side. If there are missed calls or messages, it will flash blue. The central key is made mechanical, and the side elements are touch-sensitive. On the side, on the left side, you can find a paired key, which is designed to adjust the volume. In terms of hardness, it is average. It is quite convenient to use during a call. On the opposite side there is a lock button. On the top there is a window and a jack for wired headphones. There is also a second microphone, and the first is located at the bottom. There is also a MicroUSB connector on the bottom.

Screen

A five-inch (or rather, 4.99-inch) display with a SuperAMOLED matrix is ​​expected in this model. the screen is 1920 by 1080 pixels. The density is 441 points per inch. Many people tend to think that screens with such a matrix have excessive brightness, which leads to the display of unnatural colors. However, this is not quite true. In the case of the subject of our today's review, the buyer himself can configure the display options that are most suitable for him. In this area, the South Korean developer, in general, offers users the most flexible customization options.

Autonomous work

The Galaxy C4 has a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2600 milliampere-hours. Compared to its predecessor, this parameter has been improved by half a thousand units. But the energy consumption of the screen has significantly decreased. In theory, we should have gotten more runtime thanks to these two changes. But we left out the processor. Here we add numerous additional functions, sometimes completely unnecessary and delusional. Thus, the battery life remains virtually unchanged.

Communications

Bluetooth works stably both when transferring files (by the way, it is carried out at speeds up to 24 Mbps), and when connecting wireless headsets. In the USB connection mode, we are expecting some minor changes. The developers have banned the simultaneous work with USB and bluetooth. With a wired connection, the device continues to charge. GSM networks use the EDGE standard for data transmission. The work of the Wi-Fi module does not cause any complaints. Separately, the Koreans should be praised for the built-in NFC module.

Conclusion and feedback

What do buyers of this device note? If you have had experience with the S3 model, then the new product is unlikely to surprise you with anything. But she will not disappoint either. Customers will get special emotions only from the bright design when buying a device with a corresponding color scheme. Users note that one of the advantages of steel is small size compared to its predecessor with improved performance. If in previous models the Koreans focused on technical characteristics, this time they decided to change the line of behavior and highlighted the device's chips.

Are they needed? Not always. Especially those that are built into the software. Not every customer, judging by the reviews, liked them. But they load memory and drain the battery. Is there any sense from them then? Absolutely none. At least positive. The camera resolution has increased and the photo quality is even better compared to the previous model. Although many people take it as a standard. As a result, we find that the S4 does not stand out in anything special against the background of its predecessor. Yes, the characteristics have improved, but not enough to throw the previous device into the stove and run headlong after a new one. Take, for example, the same battery. Let's see if the Korean company succeeds in continuing the line.

It has long earned its reputation among buyers and even has its own loyal fans. There are many models of a wide variety of equipment in the line. The smartphones of this well-known company are especially popular. In this article we will consider one of the most common models today - Samsung Galaxy S4, the technical characteristics of which are still of interest to many, despite the fact that the phone is not a novelty of the season.

Appearance

It is the design of the device that is an extremely controversial topic. After the release of the model on the world markets, there were many claims to the Korean manufacturer about the device. The thing is that visually the novelty practically did not differ from its predecessor. In fact, this is one of the main problems of the entire series of Samsung smartphones. There is no design at all, all products are made in the same style, as if the manufacturer deliberately seeks to depersonalize their models. Characteristics of Galaxy S4 ", in terms of external performance, is in many respects similar to all descriptions of the design of devices from the company. The flagship has a simple, streamlined from all sides, uncomplicated forms. for constant scratches, does not deter you from purchasing it. It's amazing that even despite such a faceless design, "Samsung Galaxy S4" (whose technical characteristics cover all the flaws of the case) keeps in the top of the best-selling models in the world. Sly Korean manufacturers are not worse than you and me understand that appearance is far from being the most important factor when choosing a phone. The company frankly declares that it is not going to change its strategy in the near future. However, perhaps it should be done, especially with such production capacities. Samsung Galaxy S4 ", whose characteristics are largely identical, has slightly less rounded corners. s, slightly wider bezel and a different flash location. The dimensions and weight of the device remain unchanged. The innovations include materials: fashionable polycarbonate has replaced ordinary plastic. This is good news, as there is a possibility that the new case will be more scratch resistant.

Ease of use

The model keys and connectors remained in place. The side bezel that frames the display has been slightly reduced, which made it possible to fit the characteristics of a larger screen into the same dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy C4. This is undoubtedly commendable, because the large screen will appeal to everyone, but the huge size confuses many. It is also encouraging that the back cover remains removable, that is, the user has the ability to independently replace the battery, insert a SIM card without additional devices, etc. Initially, the phone came out in two colors (black and white), a little later, colored cases appeared, which allows everyone to choose a gadget in their favorite color scheme.

Screen

Once on the path, Koreans invariably follow it. The new "Samsung Galaxy S4" (screen characteristic 1920X1080 pixels) is equipped with a Super AMOLED display. The diagonal is 126 mm, full and over 441 pixels - the pixel density really pleased the buyers. In general, the screen is quite good, the brightness is quite sufficient, wide viewing angles - of course, plus, the smallest elements on the display are clearly drawn. The screen is touch sensitive. "Samsung Galaxy C4", the characteristics of which are considered in this article, is distinguished by another interesting feature - the ability to control the sensor with gloves. This is very convenient, especially considering the harsh Russian winters.

Camera

Immediately, we note that the experience of creating cameras, accumulated by the Korean company over the years, has not been wasted. The new smartphone received a good camera. Of course, this applies directly to the photo processing algorithm itself, because the Exmor R (camera module) from Samsung was developed by Sony. The matrix used is back-illuminated BSI and has a resolution of 13 megapixels. There is also one aimed, as a rule, at creating self-portraits and video calls (its resolution is 2 megapixels). The manufacturer promises users the ability to simultaneously shoot from both cameras. An entertaining addition will be software that can compose and process the received materials, creating whole stories, accompanied by an audio track. There is no dedicated button for photos on the body, but this is not required, because you can release the shutter using the volume key. In general, Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped with a sufficiently high-quality camera. For many, the characteristic in numbers does not carry any practical information, so you can view photos taken by the flagship on the street and indoors.

Performance

The hardware platform of the smartphone is based on the most powerful SoC Exynos 5410 Octa. It includes 2 quad-core processors (ARM Cortex - A15 with a frequency of 1.9 GHz and ARM Cortex - A7 with a reduced frequency of 1.2 GHz.). The use case proposed by the company is obvious: under a serious load, the first is used, and to perform those tasks that do not provide significant computing power, energy efficient ones are replacing the top-end cores. As for image processing, here Samsung Galaxy S4 (graphics performance, as already mentioned, is decent) is supported by a specialized graphics core PowerVR SGX 544MP3.

Autonomous work

The flagship is equipped with a removable battery, which can be extremely necessary, for example, in situations with a swollen battery (which sometimes happens) or in cases of long trips, when it certainly does not hurt to get a second battery. The smartphone also supports a function that is indispensable for all advanced users. They will tell you more about the capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S4 battery.

• Internet. With Wi-Fi turned on and the browser page refreshed every minute, the gadget withstands about 8.5 hours of work. All this at 70% brightness and savings off.
• Reading. In conditions of disconnected wireless networks, the phone remains charged for 10.5 hours while automatically turning pages.
• Video. It is possible to play continuously for 10.5 hours, in contrast to Samsung's characteristics are slightly lower (6 hours of battery life in the specified mode).

In general, it can be noted that the battery life of the flagship is satisfactory. However, you have to constantly monitor and disable unnecessary services. In this regard, the phone is similar to powerful smartphones from other well-known manufacturers. If you keep all apps and services on all the time, the charge will barely last until the evening.

Samsung Galaxy C4 Duos (specifications)

In fact, it is a miniature copy of Galaxy C4. Everything is a little smaller here: the screen, the body, the camera resolution, and the performance. The main advantages of the model are compactness, more affordable price and, of course, the ability to install two SIM cards at the same time. This moment is often decisive when choosing a particular smartphone. In modern conditions, when you need to constantly be in touch, it is very convenient to have one device and several SIM cards in it. This allows you to save on calls between different operators and not carry several devices with you.

Remarks

With constant use, the Samsung Galaxy C4 smartphone (the characteristics have been reviewed in detail) gives out camera malfunctions, which were subsequently corrected in the new firmware.

Like most powerful phones, the upper part of the lid heats up, but this is only under serious loads.

There are also some complaints about the Super AMOLED display and the difficulty of using it on a sunny day.

conclusions

"Galaxy S4", like "Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini", the characteristics of which are slightly lower, are certainly high-end smartphones. The company does not disappoint its fans and continues to produce quality products.

As for prices, everything is standard here: the starting price at the beginning of sales is 30,000 rubles, but it drops rapidly with the release of new models. If the main thing for you is not the appearance of the device, but its practicality and "filling", you can safely purchase "Samsung". For many years, the phones of this company have been in the top of the best and are the main competitors of the IPhone, Sony, HTC and others.

In its flagship smartphones Samsung traditionally uses various types of plastic, this solution has both positive and negative sides. On the positive side, it is worth noting the low weight (130 grams) and thickness (7.9 mm) of the device. Negative: Glossy plastic is completely impractical and quickly becomes covered in fingerprints and scratches.

The dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 phone are typical for a five-inch smartphones - it is wide and tall, so it is not very convenient to hold it in the hand, however, the situation is partially improved by the weight and thickness, which are lower than that of many competitors, as well as smoothed corners in the body. Compared to the (i9300), the dimensions of the S4 have not changed much, but the display diagonal has increased.

Screen - 4.4

Display diagonal - 5 inches, matrix type - Super AMOLED HD, screen resolution - 1920 × 1080 pixels, protective coating - Gorilla Glass 2, PPI value - 441. The advantages of the display are large diagonal and high resolution, excellent brightness and contrast. The screen will appeal to fans of bright colors. Cons - Super AMOLED technology, due to which the image is overly contrasting, not everyone will like it. At close range, you can see red halos around the letters on the Samsung Galaxy S4's screen, however, most users won't notice them (by the way, since the Galaxy S3, they have become less noticeable due to the high resolution). An indirect plus of using Super AMOLED is an energy-intensive screen, including due to this, the Samsung Galaxy S4 works on a single charge longer than many competitors.

Camera

The smartphone has a 13 MP camera with LED flash. The maximum video resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the recording speed is 30 frames per second, the sound is recorded in stereo. ??

Working with text - 5.0

The standard keyboard in the Samsung Galaxy S4 is comfortable, with Swype and the ability to enter numbers without going into extra character mode. Disadvantages - inconvenient language switching system: you need to hold your finger on the "space" key and swipe left or right. To enter most of the additional characters, including the comma, you need to call the additional menu. Also one of the shortcomings is the relatively small size of letters in the Russian layout, despite the large diagonal of the screen.

Internet - 3.0

The device browser is great for browsing the Internet: it has a separate mode for reading pages without pictures. According to user reviews, this mode is convenient to use when reading a large amount of text on the Internet, without being distracted by pictures. But there is no fit of the text to the screen with multiple scaling. The Galaxy S4 (as well as the entire line) uses a special power saving mode in the browser, the color scheme changes slightly (for example, the white color goes into blue tones), but the battery life significantly increases when using the browser.

Interfaces

The smartphone supports most of the common wireless interfaces: dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC. The device has the S Beam function, with which you can quickly transfer files, such as photos, music or videos, from one Galaxy S4 to another using Wi-Fi or NFC, pressing them to each other "backs".
LTE support is present only in the version of the smartphone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset.

Multimedia - 4.6

Samsung Galaxy S4 plays almost any video without preliminary conversion - the device has support for rare audio formats and video containers. In the player, you can select audio tracks, as well as subtitles embedded in the video file. The audio player plays most common as well as rare formats, including uncompressed FLAC audio. At the moment, the Galaxy line is one of the best in terms of the number of supported audio and video formats and video player settings.

Battery - 2.9

The smartphone has a removable lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2600 mAh. We tested the "battery" in our two standard tests: the device is capable of playing HD video at maximum brightness for 7 hours, and the music mode drains it in 45 hours. The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S4 surpasses most smartphones, this applies not only to synthetic tests, but also to everyday use.

Performance - 2.5

The device uses the Samsung Exynos Octa 5410 platform with an eight-core processor, PowerVR SGX544MP3 graphics subsystem and 2 GB of RAM. It is worth talking about this platform in a little more detail: it uses the big.LITTLE technology, which controls the operation of the device cores. In fact, this chipset uses two different quad-core processors (one running at 1.2 GHz and the other at 1.8 GHz). The point is that in everyday use, a less productive processor is responsible for the work, and in games and other "heavy" operations, its more productive "colleague" turns on.

For an ordinary user, this means a small increase in battery life and nothing more. You probably won't even notice switching between processors.

The characteristics and power of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will allow you to watch Full HD videos and play even the most powerful games. We tested the Galaxy S4 in Asphalt 8 and Real Racing 3, both games run perfectly and run smoothly even at maximum settings.

Separately, we note that there is a modification of the device based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset, which implements support for Russian LTE frequencies.

Memory - 4.0

The internal memory of the device is 16GB or 64GB, depending on the modification. Samsung Galaxy S4 supports microSD cards up to 64GB. Due to the presence of a slot for a memory card, the user does not have to worry about the lack of memory in the device.

Peculiarities

The device works under the control of Samsung's proprietary shell - TouchWiz. In this shell, the manufacturer has added its own browser, dialer, SMS client, music and video players, its own weather application and many other programs. The built-in video player supports most third-party video codecs and video formats, making it easy to watch even unconverted video from your phone. The audio player allows you to listen to music not only by performer, but also by folder. S Memo is an excellent note-taking program with handwriting support. At the moment, TouchWiz is one of the most convenient shells