For months, the Samsung Galaxy S4 hype had seemingly settled into a comfortable spot in the stratosphere. Samsung was reporting record-breaking profits every quarter, BlackBerry and Nokia were left for dead, and the shine had worn off of Apple and the iPhone. Nearly every analyst was predicting a changing of the guards.
Now that the device is finally out, does it live up to expectations? For many people, that depends entirely on what they seek out of their smartphone. If you want a powerful, no-nonsense companion, the Galaxy S4 can be exactly that, with some tinkering. If you want to play around with the industry's latest inventions, it's basically a must-have.
If you want smart, cutting-edge design, though, you may be left a little wanting.
We'll get to that eventually, of course. The first thing you'll notice is the Galaxy S4's screen and body. It won't necessarily be a matter of size, because compared to the Galaxy S3 there's barely a difference in terms of screen or build. The Galaxy S4 looks just like the Galaxy S3, feels like an S3, and weighs almost exactly the same. Considering what Samsung packed into it, that's a pretty nice accomplishment.
However, if you were hoping to see Samsung distance itself from plastic bodies and go for something bolder, ala the HTC One, you'll be disappointed. At this point, it seems like every tech junkie on the Internet hates the plastic bodies of Samsung's phones. While some have grown quite fond of the smooth plastic rear, it's fair to say the Galaxy S4 is a tier below the iPhone 5 and HTC One in terms of having that premium feel.
That complaint disappears when you actually turn the screen on. The Galaxy S4 sports a 1920 x 1080 resolution that simply pops when it's in use (so long as you set the brightness yourself, the phone is rather finicky with its display settings on auto). Even though the screen is barely bigger than the Galaxy S3's, the 5-inch display is large and luminous, and it was actually rather jarring going back to the iPhone 5's seemingly shrunken screen afterwards.
Speaking of Apple, I'm an iPhone 5 owner who has never really spent any significant amount of time with Android before now. There are a lot of complaints about Android's complexity, and while it does take a little more time to grow accustomed to the operating system, it's not nearly as difficult as it may seem. It's true that you can't really beat iOS in terms of simplicity, but Android's customization options are great. The Galaxy S4's internals run everything almost flawlessly, so when it comes to imperfections on the software side it's hard to blame anyone other than Samsung for it.
By now you've probably heard about all the proprietary Samsung features that it has baked into the phone. The company is actively trying to distance itself from Android, but the sheer amount of stuff packed into the Galaxy S4 definitely makes it seem like the phone suffers from feature creep. Samsung threw everything they had into this device, and while new apps like S Health, S Translator and features like Air View and Smart Scroll are certainly different, their usefulness is up for debate.
For those interested in the latest innovations, the Galaxy S4 is a treasure trove. Unfortunately, Samsung still has some kinks to work out. Air View can only be used in a limited number of apps right now, and even then its appeal in programs like Flipboard is neglibile (hover over a category to view some headlines). Smart Scroll's eye-tracking tech is interesting on its face, but issues abound, and endlessly scrolling Internet pages are bound to frustrate. Air Gestures can be finicky as well, and don't seem to actually make navigation easier than simply using a swipe from your thumb.
Let's face it: in their current state, these features won't be used very much. They differentiate the Galaxy S4 from competitors, but they seem included for the "wow" factor more than anything else. Even the differentiation comes at a cost, since Samsung's built-in software takes up about 8.8GB of the phone's internal storage. That means if you buy the 16GB Galaxy S4, about half its memory is already taken up. You can't uninstall them, either, meaning that even as they languish in an app folder unused they're still going to limit the amount of things you can do with your phone.
To be fair, there are some features that are fantastic. I've already written about the Swype-like keyboard, which got zero hype (probably because it's already available on the Galaxy S3 and other Android devices), but it's easily the most well-executed and helpful feature on the device. As an iOS user, that's something I dearly want. It's when you get to things like Air View and the Smart screen that things start stretching at the seams.
Fortunately, the Galaxy S4 offers nothing if not options. Most, if not all, of the features you find annoying can be turned off or tossed aside in some way. Don't like the sounds that play incessantly every time you do anything? Turn 'em off. Don't care about the S Health app? Replace it with something you find more useful. Hate Smart Scroll? Turn it off.
It's at this point you may be wondering why someone would even buy Samsung's new phone, and that's what makes this particular device so hard to review. The Galaxy S4 is actually a very well-made, quality device with excellent performance capabilities that takes great pictures. The battery lasts all day without a problem (though some have reported issues with that), the screen is beautiful, and everything you expect a smartphone to do is done extremely well. It's the extra stuff that's difficult to recommend.
Here's where we land:
- If you're interested in what Samsung's doing with its own software and features, the Galaxy S4 is a no-brainer.
- If you want something a little more straightforward, you can turn anything you don't like on the Galaxy S4 off, but using none of them may limit your app/software options on a 16GB device.
- If you own a Galaxy S3, hold off. Many of the S4's features will eventually become available on it via download, and the build is virtually identical.
- If you want the Galaxy S4's performance power without Samsung's proprietary software... well, you're actually in luck. Google has you covered.
