The next flagship phone of the South Korean company has appeared – Samsung Galaxy S4. It offers a chance to further 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, combining more powerful Hardware with a set of new software functions. The gadget received a bunch of new sensors, aiming to become an all-in-one tool.
Let us immediately note the main disadvantages that the device has in our opinion:
- the design began to gradually become outdated;
- externally, the smartphone looks worse than the aluminum HTC One or glass Sony Xperia Z;
- no FM radio;
- Video recording is slightly worse than in the Galaxy S3;
- The overall camera interface makes framing quite difficult.
Now let's move on to more detailed review the main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the new smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy The S4 comes with the standard set of accessories you'd expect in a box. This is an A/C adapter that needs 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 drivers that allow you to better reproduce high and low frequencies sound.
The headphones have also changed the shape, material and size of the tip, making them more comfortable. The control buttons on the headset have also been improved compared to the Galaxy S3.
Now let's move on to the appearance. The dimensions of the Galaxy S4 are likely to be one of the biggest advancements, as the smartphone is the same height as its predecessor, but is 0.8mm narrower, 0.7mm thinner and 3 grams lighter. And this is all despite the screen increased by 0.2 inches, more capacious battery, which remained removable as before. So, the dimensions of the phone are 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm, and the weight is 130 grams.
The gadget screen is covered with new Gorilla Glass 3. This glass has a new composition and provides increased scratch resistance. And 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 comparing the new product with its predecessor. The phone uses the same Hyperglazed finish, which, in our opinion, is a minus for the gadget, since when you hold the smartphone in your hands, you feel not a flagship device, but a plastic toy. This is where he loses HTC One And Sony Xperia Z.
This, however, does not mean that the Galaxy S4 looks worse than its predecessor. The new texture gives it a more serious and stylish look. appearance, A back panel now looks different depending on the viewing angle.
Thin bezels left more space for the shiny screen, but more on that later. The slim body has more high level vibrations. We also note that now black color will be available from the very beginning of sales.
Note that the new product is easier to use than the Samsung Galaxy S3. It's also more comfortable to hold than the HTC One.
The Samsung smartphone has a lot of sensors scattered throughout the body, but the basic controls and their layout remain largely unchanged.
Under 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 options that are described in more detail in the instructions.
Above the display there is a speaker, a bunch of sensors and a 2.1-megapixel front-camera. There is an LED indicator, a traditional ambient light sensor, and an IR gesture sensor that allows you to control some applications such as the web browser and music player.
On the left side of the Samsung Galaxy S4 there is a dual volume rocker, 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 won't completely replace the two-stage (point and shutter) button.
At the top end you can see a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an IR sensor that allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control remote control For household appliances. There is a pre-installed application that will allow you to control some devices.
The microUSB port on the bottom is used for data transfer and charging. It not only supports USB host, but also MHL 2.0, which makes it possible to output 3D Full HD video to TV without an external power source. Previously you had to connect Charger, but here they got rid of it.
Also at the bottom is the main microphone.
On the back of the Samsung Galaxy S4 there is a 13-megapixel Full HD camera. Same as Galaxy S3 led flash is nearby, but the speaker grille has been moved to the bottom left edge of the device.
Performance and Software
The Samsung Galaxy S4 that 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.
Gadget with 4 Krait cores clocked at 1.9 GHz, with 2 GB random access memory and the 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 South Korean company's device outperformed HTC One and Optimus G Pro in single-threaded (Benchmark Pi) and multi-threaded (LinPack) performance tests. Both of these phones use the same chipset, but only at 1.7 GHz.
Geekbench 2 is a cross-platform benchmark that compares the Galaxy S4 with the iPhone 5, which performed twice as poorly. HTC One and LG Optimus G Pro also lagged behind the test device, although we should note that they use more old version OS Android 4.1.2. Let us remind you that in the new Samsung flagship 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 HTC One lagged behind significantly 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 test, although the 60 frames per second limitation played a role here. Without this, there might have been a big difference with the HTC One. However, this benchmark uses the Unreal Engine, which is sometimes found in high-end 3D games for mobile phones and shows real performance.
Finally, JavaScript and HTML 5 performance testing. The smartphone performed well in these benchmarks, but lagged behind 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 delivered excellent performance even in areas 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 that the Samsung Galaxy S4 brought was a new 5-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The gadget has a PenTile matrix with a pixel density of 441 ppi.
The PenTile design has also been changed so that there are now twice as many green subpixels as blue and red subpixels, and their placement has also changed. However, this is naturally not noticeable without a microscope.
The image quality is excellent. The smartphone has impressive contrast and almost perfect viewing angles. Rich colors transform any, even the most boring, image into a surprisingly bright 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 the saturation to a more natural level.
The brightness levels of the Samsung Galaxy S4 are about on par with the company's other AMOLED panels, meaning it's not very high. However, due to low reflectivity, it does not affect the image in sunlight. Keep in mind that turning on the auto settings on-screen option limits the maximum brightness value to 300 nits, so if this matters to you, it's best to keep it.
Of course, Nokia turned out to be 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 outperform the Galaxy S3 in this indicator, despite its higher brightness. Perhaps the new Gorilla glass brought additional reflections and thus offset 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 that is capable of taking photos and recording video simultaneously with the main one.
It is possible to enable various effects. They can be previewed so you can see how a particular scene will look when the effect is applied.
Let's 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 larger than 60 MP (note that if you hold the phone vertically, the panoramic image will have almost twice the resolution). Here is an example of a panorama.
The gadget has many shooting modes, which are described in the instructions. They are all good and useful, but we need to answer the question: does it shoot well? Galaxy camera S4? The answer is yes, yes, very good. The South Korean company has done great job for supporting good quality images with increasing resolution.
You can see a lot in the photo small parts, and there is little noise. Colors are accurate, if slightly oversaturated, and the white balance is somewhere between neutral and cool (typical for cameras Samsung phones). The smartphone retains the details of the image in the dark area, although sometimes at the expense of detail in the light. To fix this, you can use HDR mode.
Samsung Galaxy S4 records video in MP4 with bitrate 17 Mbps on average. Stereo sound is saved at 128 bitrate 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 reach up to 8x slow motion, but the resolution drops to 800x450 pixels and the frame rate to 15 per second. Regular Options for video – resolution 1920x1080 pixels and frequency 30 frames per second.
Touch focusing is available before and during video recording, and you can switch back to continuous autofocus if you prefer. You can take 9.6 MP (16:9) photos while recording.
On video, taken by phone, you can see a lot of small details and little noise. Colors and white balance are similar to those in photographs, generally accurate but slightly oversaturated and with a cool white balance shift. One thing that can be considered a disadvantage is the narrowed field of view. It is smaller than the Galaxy S III and HTC One. The difference is quite noticeable; the Galaxy S4 captures much less of the frame than its competitors.
The video quality itself isn't much better than the Galaxy S III. You can check this yourself by comparing the records. An example shot 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
If you remove the cover that covers the battery compartment, you can see the microSIM slot, an updated removable battery with a capacity of 2600 mAh and a microSD card slot. The memory card slot is hot-swappable.
As it turned out during our battery testing, the additional 500 mAh is easily eaten up high resolution screen and more energy-intensive chipsets. As a result, there is no significant superiority over its predecessor. Endurance during video playback and web browsing has been improved only slightly, but standby performance has been a huge step forward. This is, of course, understandable: after all, the chipset does not process any applications, and the screen is turned off.
The gadget can work autonomously 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 the smartphone can last an average of 63 hours if used for an hour a day for web browsing, video and telephony.
Price
Samsung Galaxy S4 price at 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.
If everything has been clear with the Galaxy S3 for a long time, it’s time to figure out a little about which firmware is best suited to the current one. Galaxy flagship S4. This year this smartphone will receive its last Android update and in this case, you need to decide on backup options, so to speak, with alternative solutions in terms of software. And this is what we advise you, Galaxy S4 owners.
The most popular and newest games for Android. Download for free.
Warning: before you throw yourself into the pool, check that you have selected the correct firmware for the desired version: GT-i9500 for the standard version of the smartphone, and GT-i9505 for the 4G model.
PAC-Man 4.4.2
PAC-Man is one of those firmware that is gaining more and more authority and popularity. This firmware combines many features of ParanoidAndroid, CyanogenMod and AOKP. The Galaxy S4 i9500 version is built on Android based 4.4 KitKat still requires the elimination of some rough edges, but the latest version of i9505 is considered more stable because it uses Android 4.3 as a base.
Lidroid V2.0
Anyone who is used to TouchWiz should turn their attention to Lidroid. This firmware is based on official android 4.4.2 and includes all the basic Samsung bells and whistles, such as a theme editor and an excellent file manager.
MIUI
You're probably wondering why we mentioned this already well-known firmware? Probably because samsung screen Galaxy S4 and MIUI color scheme go well together, as this firmware was specially created for smartphones. If you like large icon sizes, then MIUI will be right up your alley.
Prism Barebone
Prism Barebone is built on Android 4.3. The ROM is very stable in its operation and allows you to choose between TouchWiz and pure Android design. All pre-installed applications were removed, but Samsung widgets remained in its composition.
CyanogenMod 11
CyanogenMod has become the most popular and most traditional custom firmware. It is stable, reliable and, most importantly, updates appear regularly. If you don’t know where to go, then SM will be a win-win choice. There is both a version for the Galaxy S4 I9500 and for the S4 4G I9505. The most stable version is CyanogenMod 10.2, based on Android 4.3.
And other flagships were released by Samsung very quickly - at the beginning of 2015. I never tire of repeating that this is one of the advantages of buying a smartphone from a renowned large manufacturer, and not “exactly the same unknown Chinese, but half the price.” Moreover, consider the relevance of the Galaxy S4 - this is a phone of 2013! And Samsung even intends to update the Galaxy Note II to Android 5.0! This is already completely “out of the blue” - can you name at least one “Chinese” who is supported 2.5 years after graduation?
In short, the Android 5.0 firmware for my beloved Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 (and even in the Black Edition version!) did not arrive in the most prompt manner - it was released earlier for the Exynos version of the GT-I9500. And then I had to sew it up myself. But everything went quickly and without unnecessary difficulties. Now I’m sharing exactly how.
Here's a short guide to Android firmware 5.0 on Galaxy S4:
- and make sure that your smartphone has enough charge;
- enter the smartphone into Download Mode (while simultaneously pressing the “off” + “volume down” + “home button”) keys, then press “Volume up”;
- connect to device USB cable;
- in the Odin application on your computer, select files from the archive with the firmware:
- for the column PIT - a file with the extension *.pit;
- for PDA - a file whose name contains the word CODE, if there is none, then you should know that this is the heaviest file in the archive;
- for CSC - a file whose name contains the word CSC;
- for Phone - a file containing MODEM in the name;
- Note. If the files for the CSC, Phone and PIT columns are not in the archive with the firmware, then we sew exclusively using the one-file method, i.e. indicate the location of the firmware in the PDA column, and leave the remaining lines empty.
- Make sure that the “Auto Reboot” and “F.” checkboxes are checked in Odin. Reset Time". If the location of the *.pit file was specified, then the “Re-Partition” checkbox will be checked automatically;
- Press the “Start” button and watch how the firmware process occurs. The phone may reboot several times during installation and in no case should you disconnect the cable from it until the message “All threads completed” appears in the Odin log or the green information window with the inscription “PASS!” lights up.
The firmware update process traditionally lasts several minutes (from 5 to 15) and if successful, you will be asked to configure the smartphone according to your preferences. After this you can start working. If you have a question, go straight to the second section of this post - everything is described there.
There are not many changes in Android 5.0 on the Galaxy S4, since they are hidden by the TouchWIZ shell. It was not just launched on new system, it was also reworked. But in general, it offers exactly the same interface as before, hiding some of the innovations of the fifth version of the “robot”. IN Galaxy case Samsung's S4 skin is a mixture of bare Android 5.0.1, the style and the original TouchWIZ variant on the S4. Something like this.
All notifications are now displayed on the lock screen - this feature was transferred from pure Android 5 almost unchanged. The ability to launch the camera even on a smartphone locked with a pattern or password has also been added.
List latest apps in the form of tabs was simply taken from the system itself, although the panel at the bottom with additional options- this is an obvious “slap” from Samsung.
The notification panel is designed in the style of the mentioned Galaxy S5. Moreover, the changes partially overlap the innovations of Android 5.0. Notifications are also displayed, but the ability to “shrink” the toolbar has been eliminated and the standard “Samsung” functionality is left.
Other changes are less significant. Much remains “under the hood” - we will talk about this in detail. Of course, the standard applications were redrawn.
The settings are also designed differently, but nothing more. There is nothing fundamentally new here. Moreover, the division by tabs, which was relevant for the Galaxy S4, was retained, and a year later it was replaced by a grid of icons.
Many people complain a lot about glitches after Android installations 5.0 on Galaxy S4. For glitches, worse autonomy and brakes. I can say from myself that I haven’t noticed any glitches yet, but slight delays in interface rendering do occur. Autonomy does not seem to be worse yet. But in any case, if your smartphone does not work well after the update, I recommend resetting everything to factory settings. If this does not suit you, you can roll back the Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4.
How to return Android 4.4 to Galaxy S4
Very simple. I specifically highlighted this in a subsection so that it is noticeable. And so you can roll back the Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4 in the following way:
- do the same step by step as was listed above for flashing to Android 5.0.
Yes, that's so elementary. There is no difference, you just need to specify a different firmware file in Odin. If you still have questions, ask in the comments! And in general, leave your reviews about Android 5.0 for Galaxy S4!
Enthusiasts love to compare new models with old ones, as well as with competitors. I was somewhat surprised by the short-sightedness of this kind of comparison, since most reviewers believe that there are few differences from the Galaxy S3 and they all lie in technical parameters. There are actually many differences, and most of them are qualitative, not quantitative. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, the first thing you notice about the S4 is the lack of twitching standard interface. So, Galaxy S4 is the first samsung smartphone no brakes.
Apparently, they finally kicked out the programmers who had been engaged in destructive activities at Samsung for many years. It's hardly a matter of increased power, although the S4's performance has increased very noticeably compared to the Galaxy S3. For example, the latest Android 4.1.2 update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 also significantly revitalized the tablet, compared to previous firmware, the user interface just started to fly.
Although marketing materials everywhere indicate that the Galaxy S4 has eight cores, only four work simultaneously: at low loads, 4 Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz cores to save energy, and at high loads, 4 Cortex-A15 1.6 GHz cores. There is also a modern PowerVR SGX 544MP3 video accelerator on board, which is cooler than the iPhone5, if anyone cares.
Despite the larger screen compared to previous models and more powerful processor, the life time on one charge is about the same - about a day with moderate use. Of course, heavy games like Real Racing 3 (which, by the way, runs almost perfectly) will drain the battery in a few hours, but still, in this mode, the Galaxy S4 discharges noticeably slower than Sony devices, for example. This is thanks not only to the new, more economical processor, but also to the battery, whose capacity is 2600mAh. At the same time, the device remains thin and is almost no larger in size than its predecessor.
Another qualitative difference is the SuperAMOLED display. And it’s not even the FullHD resolution of 1080x1920, but the fact that the display is surprisingly well calibrated. If our reviews do not show graphs of color rendering quality measurements, then most likely we were ashamed to post them, and the device seemed defective. Sometimes this happens in pre-sale copies, which are sometimes completed just before sales begin. So, the Galaxy S4 impressed with good color reproduction. Traditionally, on Samsung devices, I recommend the “Cinema” screen mode, in which the colors are closest to the sRGB standard.
The SuperAMOLED screen traditionally has a wide color gamut:
It is easy to see that the white balance is slightly biased towards cool tones, but in real images this is almost unnoticeable. But the gamma curve is as it should be:
The last time I remember this was on the Samsung Galaxy S2, and the colors did not look acidic. In the display settings there is also a mode “ Professional photography”, in this mode the blues and greens will be a little richer, but the color rendition is not as accurate due to the red channel:
However, you won't notice this in real photographs. Compared to the “Cinema” mode, in this mode the landscapes will look brighter, but this is a matter of taste. By the way, the screen is more slippery and pleasant
Another thing that is very useful in everyday life is Adapt Sound. This is a sound equalizer that adapts to the characteristics of your hearing and your headphones. Instead of tweaking the highs/lows, you take a test where you answer honestly whether you can hear the signal or not. This exercise should be done once in a quiet room. As a result, the phone will apply these settings when listening to music, amplifying what you hear less. Believe me, you can hardly achieve this sound by turning the knobs of traditional equalizers, or it will take you a lot of time. The Adapt Sound feature is available in your phone's audio settings.
There is also a sound interesting thing– increase the ringer volume if the phone is in a bag or pocket. Apparently, S4 detects this using its proximity sensor. Even if the sound doesn't reach you, you'll probably feel the vibration - the vibration alert on the S4 is harsh.
And also in terms of sound, a trifle, but nice - the alarm clock finally rings with increasing volume, reducing the likelihood of a heart attack in the morning. Of course, there are a lot of third-party alarm clocks that do the same thing, but it’s strange that such practical thing was not built into the system initially.
Other little things include the presence of an infrared port and a built-in universal application for controlling audio/video equipment various manufacturers, not just Samsung. The application hangs in the status bar, and it is really convenient to use if you are too lazy to look for the remote control.
The S4 can be operated with gloves as new type the screen can sense you from a distance, appreciate it in winter. You definitely don’t want to type text while wearing gloves, because the accuracy of your keystrokes is significantly reduced, but answering a call without freezing your hand will now be easier. By the way, it seemed to me that the screen interacts better through leather gloves than through knitted ones; perhaps they were thinner.
And another small improvement that makes the interface more convenient - when you drag icons across the desktop, a diagram of your screens is displayed below, where you can see which of them has free space.
But what I didn’t really like and still seems strange is the lack of normal on-screen keyboard. Of course, what is on the S4 by default is much better than anything that came before - finally there is a row with numbers, like on tablet keyboards, but for some reason they are still missing separate buttons punctuation. So far, I consider the paid Smart Keyboard Pro to be the most convenient.
Getting a root on the Galaxy S4 does not pose any difficulties if you are not bothered by the loss of warranty and you like to tinker with your phone.
Thank you for your attention.
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