Our friends over at AT&T have sent us the Samsung Galaxy S 4 for us to review! This is Samsung’s latest flagship device and they are calling it “The Next Big Thing”. However, it is coming to market at a super competitive time and the AT&T lineup that it is joining is filled with great devices. We recently reviewed the AT&T HTC One and called it the best smartphone on the market! You Can See Our Review Of The AT&T HTC One, By Clicking Here. The HTC One is not the only competition for the S 4, you also have the Optimus G Pro from LG. Is the Galaxy S 4 taking the king of being the best smartphone on the market or will it share that possession with the HTC One? We will answer that in the full review which begins right now!
Unboxing
NJTechReviews unboxed the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 and gives some first impressions on the device, you can see it below!
Design
The AT&T Galaxy S 4 has a very similar design to that of the Galaxy S III, from a distance or sometimes close to the device they are hard to tell apart. The Galaxy S 4 has some subtle design changes from its predecessor, it has more rounded corners. It resembles the Galaxy Note II and other recent Samsung devices. It comes in 2(two) devices, either black or white. You have aluminum or silver edging around the device. While the S III was plastic, Samsung is saying the S 4 is made out of polycarbonate. It does feel as if it is built better than the S III. The Galaxy S 4 needed to feel more solid, its need to be up there with the fully aluminum HTC One. It is a very clean design and it feels like it’s built well. There is small line design on the color parts of the device and this gives some pop to the design. It is found on both the white and black variants, this sets it apart from the colors of the Note II or the S III.
The design is similar to that of the G S III and the button placement is similar as well. On the top of the device you will find the headphone jack and secondary microphone. Your volume rocker is built-in to the left hand side, the volume rocker is slightly raised above the siding. The right hand side is home to the power/sleep button. The bottom of the device is home to the micro USB port. Above the display you have a Samsung logo, earpiece, LED notification light, and a 2 megapixel camera. Below the display you have a physical home button with the back and menu touch buttons. The back of the device is home to the 13 megapixel camera with LED flash, an AT&T logo, a Galaxy S 4 logo, and a speaker. The back cover still feels like a flimsy plastic, but feels a little bit more tougher. Under the back cover you will find the SIM card slot, micro SD card slot, and a 2600mAh battery with Near Field Communications built inside.
Overall, to sum up the design of the Galaxy S 4, it is a big device. It is very close to the size of the Galaxy Note II, as it has a 5-inch screen. In comparison to the AT&T LG Optimus G Pro, it is slightly smaller. However, up against the HTC One it is a bigger device as well. The Galaxy S 4 has a nice design and is built well.
Hardware
The 5-inch Super AMOLED HD 1920 x 1080 441 pixels per inch display is very vibrant and clear. Images and webpages look great on it and reading text on the display is very clear as well. The 441 pixels per inch really do perform well and when it is paired with the Super AMOLED HD display it make for a great combination. Text is very clear, it is not distort when you zoom in and I expect this from a Super AMOLED HD display. The high pixels per inch number helps the display even more, it is very vibrant and is great to read off of. In comparison to the HTC One, the S 4′s display is brighter and has better viewing angles. Samsung did an amazing job with the display on the S 4.
The Galaxy S 4′s processor is faster than the one inside the HTC One, it features a 1.9GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM. The S 4 is a very fast device and is one of the fastest devices that I have seen on the market. I did not experience any application crashes, lag, or slowness during my testing. The Galaxy S 4 is a very impressive device and multitasking is amazing on the device. It is a very solid and quick experience on the AT&T Galaxy S 4.
The AT&T Galaxy S 4 does run on their super fast 4G LTE network. If 4G LTE has not yet been launched or rolled out in your area, you will be running on AT&T’s extensively back hauled 4G HSPA+ network. Through out my testing I was on AT&T’s 4G LTE network and I was impressed with the data speeds. My average download speed was around 13.5Mbps and the average upload speed was 5Mbps. I am quite happy with these data speeds and the performance of loading web pages and streaming video happen very quickly.
The Galaxy S 4 has a good amount of storage options, it does offer something that the HTC One does not as well. The main storage inside of the device is your choice of either 16GB or 32GB. You can expand this storage with up to a 64GB micro SD card, thanks to the micro SD card slot under the back cover of the S 4. If you would like even more storage, there are many cloud storage solutions like Dropbox or Google Drive. Dropbox can even automatically upload your camera roll to your account, this way you can free up storage on the device itself.
The Galaxy S 4 camera has a main 13 megapixel back camera and a front facing 2 megapixel camera. The front facing camera is fine for taking “selfies” or making video calls. However, it does not have the wide-angle front facing camera found on the HTC One. You can still fit 2(two) or 3(three) people in the frame. The back camera is hit or miss for photos, but I think it is on par with the HTC One’s UltraPixel camera. If you get the right photo there is chance of it being excellent in quality. On the other hand video quality is great and I would say it beats out the LG Optimus G Pro for AT&T. The microphone is certainly better than the one on the G Pro. You can see our photo and video camera tests below, this way you can judge for yourself. The Galaxy S 4 has many options of taking photos like, photos with sound, shooting with both cameras, HDR, panoramas, effects, making motion videos or GIF’s, and much more. There are over 12 features built-in to the camera application. Similar to the HTC One and Optimus G Pro you get both a record button and a shutter button. However, I would have liked to see a dedicated camera shutter button on the device.
Gallery-Sample Photos Taken On The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4
Software
The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 is running Android 4.2.2 right out of the box, this is great to see. Samsung has added a boat load of new features to the Galaxy S 4 and I will be diving into the biggest features. Samsung’s Touch Wiz user interface is laid on top of Android 4.2.2 and it gives it some new features.
Let’s start off with the new notification panel, it is quite unique and allows you to quickly access the most important settings. If you pull down the bar from the top of the screen and hit the button in the right hand corner. You will see a new settings grid appear and you can turn them off or turn them on. You can customize it your liking from the pen button on the top of the screen. This comes in very handy and is easier than going into the settings application.
Similar to other “Easier” modes that are available on many devices, Samsung has Easy Mode. This makes the Galaxy S 4 very easy to use and therefore can be used as a first time smartphone. They have simplified the layout and design of the new software mode.It changes the phone to 3(three) pages, these will let you access your contacts, applications, and a few widgets. Not only does it change it in the form of design, but it changes the touch sensitivity, size of icons, size of text, and more. It makes the device very easy to use, but it does not limit the usability and features of the device as well. Eventually you can upgrade to the full software on the Galaxy S 4 and Easy Mode will help make that transition easier.
No longer do you have to use your finger to control your smartphone, let us usher in the age of Air Gestures! You can turn these on or off as much you like and you can choose which features or applications you want them to be used in. If your hand are dirty, simply wave your hand over the phone to answer the call. If your phone is on your desk and you need to check your time or if you have any new notifications, simple swipe your hand over the device. This will start the Quick Glance mode, you can see your battery level, notifications, and more. I am very big fan of this feature. Air Gestures usually work but, they don’t always work correctly or in a timely manner. I am not sure if these features have to be on the device, they are not mandatory and not all customers will even use them. They are nice features to have and to use occasionally, but they are not the end all to be all. Air View does make an appearance on the Galaxy S 4 but, no S-Pen is required. Simply just hover your finger over the display and you can read or view the content with out physically touching the screen.
For those of you who use a Jawbone UP or FitBit, S-Health may be the application for you. From the application you can have the S 4 track your steps, calories burned, where you went on the run, and more. However, it does not replace a physician. Similar to FitBit and Jawbone, Samsung will be launching a line of S-Health accessories, from a WiFi Scale, to an arm band, and even a heart rate monitor. You will be able to see a lot of your health on you smartphone with the application and the optional accessories.
In terms of the pre-loaded applications on the device, you do get a few. Luckily some of the can be deleted. You do get the redesigned Samsung Hub, which will turn in to your one stop shop for renting or buying TV Shows/Movies and you can get some music or books while you are there as well. You will get AT&T Drive Mode which goes along with there It Can Wait campaign. It will help you stop texting or even using your phone while driving, if you are going over 25 mph it will automatically respond back to those texts and forward those calls right to voicemail. AT&T Navigator, AT&T FamilyMap, MyAT&T, MobileTV, AT&T Hotspot, Messages, AT&T Locker, and AT&T Smart WiFi are on board as well. A special version of Flipboard comes as well, you will be able to use Air Gestures to control the application. The full Google App Suite, as well as YouTube is here for you. Other applications pre-loaded on the device are POLARIS Office 6, Play Music, Play Store, Google Chrome, Story Album, Trip Advisor, YPmobile, WatchON, S Voice, S Translator, S Memo, Optical Reader, My Files, and more!
Bottom Line
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is the current king of the Galaxy lineup. This brings the best of all of the Galaxy devices and combines it for a flagship device. It is very similar to the Galaxy S III, for instance it does have a similar processor. The faster processor does make a difference on the S 4, it is one of the fastest devices that I have tested. It does have a lot of improvements as well, one of them being the impressive 5-inch Super AMOLED HD display. You have plenty of options for storage and a really nice user interface. While the touch controls are there, they won’t necessarily be used by everyone. You do have expandable storage on the Galaxy S 4 as well, this is something that the HTC One does not have. The 2600mAh battery gets the job done and as long as you charge it overnight it should last the full day. On AT&T the Galaxy S 4 is currently one of the best device and is tied with the HTC One for the best device on their lineup. I still have to say the design of the HTC One is amazing and feels really nice in the hand, but the Galaxy S 4 does feel built very well. If you are looking for a pop of color AT&T has the exclusive Red Aurora color of the S 4! The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is currently available at AT&T, you can get it online or at an AT&T retail store. For the 16GB variant it will cost $199.99 with a 2-year contract, while the 32GB variant goes for $249.99 with a 2-year contract. For More Information On The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4, Please Click Here. Let us know if you go for the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 in the comments below. We would like to thank AT&T for providing us with a copy of the “AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4″.
Pingback: AT&T Lights Up 4G LTE On The Southern Parts Of The Jersey Shore! | NJTechReviews
Pingback: AT&T’s Exclusive Red Galaxy S 4 Is Now Available! | NJTechReviews
Pingback: AT&T Unleashes 4G LTE To Warren County NJ! | NJTechReviews