AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active Review

Our friends over at AT&T have sent us the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active for us to review. This is the next device in the Galaxy S 4 line of products and Samsung has been putting out quite a few. From the Galaxy S 4 Mini to the Galaxy S 4 Zoom, there might be an S 4 for everyone. However, AT&T has the exclusivity of the Galaxy S 4 Active in the United States. This is the rugged built-tough variant of the Galaxy S 4 and the Active is IP67 certified for dust and water. At AT&T both the S4 Active and the regular Galaxy S 4 retail for $199.99 with a 2-year contract. While the Active does not have the same screen or camera, it does have a pop of color and some neat features. The Galaxy S 4 Active is shaping up to be a nice offering, now let’s dive into our full review of the Active!

Design

The Galaxy S 4 Active has a similar build to the S4, but it comes in better colors choices and is more built-up. It is thicker at 0.36-inches thick and heavier at 5.29-ounces. Believe it or not added weight and thickness makes it a nicer phone to hold in your hand. It feels very nice to hold in your hand and it does not weigh your hand down. It is easy to bring with you, either pop it in your pocket or through it in your bag. The device comes in either Urban Gray or Dive Blue, I am testing out the blue variant and it is a very nice color. You still have some gray on the front and on the top and bottom of the device. It is a light blue color and goes well with the themes of summer and the Jersey Shore! The back of the device has a light black honeycomb pattern over the blue, it will just look like small light black dots on the blue unless you look at it from a close up. This pattern is also on the great part of the back of the device, only the gray portion has texture to it. The blue backing of the device is very smooth and is very nice to hold in the hand. The front of the device is a light gray at the top, bottom, and sides of the screen, but the Dive Blue color is the rim of the front of the device as well. Both the power/sleep button and volume rocker have a textured design and feel to them, these are in the blue color as well. The three buttons under the display are all physical buttons, with the icons colored in silver and they are slightly raised as well.

Now, let’s do a quick tour of the Galaxy S 4 Active in Dive Blue. The left hand side is home to the volume rocker and the power/sleep button lives on the right side. Below the display you have the three physical buttons, those being menu, home, and back. Above the display you have the Samsung logo, sensors, and a 2 megapixel camera. The bottom of the device features a micro USB port covered by a rubber door and a microphone. The top of the device has an IR reader, another microphone, and your headphone jack. On the back of the device you will fine the AT&T logo, a speaker, a Galaxy S 4 Active logo, and the 8 megapixel back camera with an LED flash. If you pop the back cover off you will find the micro SD card slot, a SIM card slot, and a 2600mAh battery. Keep in mind that you have to make sure the back cover is securely put back on, be sure to push down everywhere on the device especially under the LED flash to make sure it is secure.

The AT&T Galaxy S 4 Active is a built-tough device and it is meant for an active life style. From the rugged style design to the fake rivets/screws on the corners of the back of the device. It is built up more than the Galaxy S 4, at 0.36-inches thick and coming at 5.29-ounces. The Dive Blue color may make it harder to find if you drop it in the water, but it is a great color that fits in with themes of summer and the Jersey Shore. The Galaxy S 4 Active is IP67 Certified, but I don’t know if it as tough as a Rugby Smart. It is meant for active life style and it can handle the spills and thrills that you may encounter every day. You can take photos and video under water with Aqua Mode. It will be water-resistant up to 1 meter for 30 minutes and it is dust resistant as well.

Software

The Galaxy S 4 Active has almost an identical software experience to the Galaxy S 4. You are still running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with a Samsung user interface. You get the many smart features like Smart Stay and Smart Scroll. You get the notification bar, that will let you control your most important settings. Out of the box you get three home screens, but you can handle up to seven home screens. This is the same great software experience that is found on the Galaxy S 4. This Samsung User Interface gives you many new features on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Similar to other “Easier” modes that are available on many devices, Samsung has Easy Mode. This makes the Galaxy S 4 Active 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 Active and Easy Mode will help make that transition easier.

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 Active 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.

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 Active 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.

Another new feature is the 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.

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 Google Chrome, ChatOn, Group Play, Optical Reader, My Files, S Memo, S Translator, Story Album, Tip Advisor, YPmobile, and some others.

Hardware

The display on the Galaxy S 4 Active is a 5-inch Full HD TFT LCD Display with a resolution of 1920 X 1080. It features a 16 million colors and 441 pixel per inch. The Galaxy S 4 features a 5-inch Super AMOLED HD 1920 x 1080 441. You will most certainly notice a difference between the two display, the display on the Galaxy S 4 is cleared the winner. The main place you will notice the difference is with the vibrancy of the displays, the Active’s display is not as vibrant. This will impact the way you see colors and images, but reading text and viewing photos from afar is still a nice experience on the Active.

You get the same speedy 1.9GHz Dual-Core Qualcomm processor with 2GB of RAM on the Galaxy S 4 Active. This processor and ram combination performs very well and makes for a great experience on the device. This is one of the fastest devices on the market and it is faster than the HTC One. I did not experience any application crashes, lag, or slowness during my testing. This a very impressive device and multitasking is amazing on the device. It is a very solid and quick experience on the Galaxy S 4 Active.

In terms of storage options, the Galaxy S 4 Active for AT&T only comes in a 16GB storage size. Out of the box you get around 11GB of storage that the user can make use of. You can expand this storage with up to a 64GB micro SD card, thanks to the micro SD card slot under the back cover. If you are looking for even more storage, you can use a cloud storage service like DropBox or Google Drive.

The AT&T Galaxy S 4 Active 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 date speeds. My average download speed was around 14Mbps 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 other big difference with the Galaxy S 4 and the Galaxy S 4 Active would be the back camera. Before we dive into that let’s talk about the front facing camera. On the Galaxy S 4 Active you get a 2 megapixel camera that can record video in 720pHD. The front facing camera is fine for taking “selfies” or making video calls. Keep in mind that this is not a wide angle front facing camera, but you can still fit two or three people in the photos. The Galaxy S 4 features a 13 megapixel back camera, while the Galaxy S 4 Active only has a 8 megapixel back camera with LED flash. The big feature is that you can take photos or record video with the Active’s camera. While the quality is not as good as what we found when we tested out the Galaxy S 4, they quality is okay. Most of the time you will end up with a photo that works out well. The dual camera shooting or recording feature is not found on the Active as well. You can see our full gallery and video camera test below, this way you can judge for yourself.

Camera Gallery

Bottom Line

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active is a great smartphone and will fit in with AT&T’s current lineup. While the Active is more rugged than the Galaxy S 4, it is not military grade. The device is meant for someone who has an active life style. It is built up more than the Galaxy S 4 and because of this there are some tradeoffs. No longer do you have an awesome 13 megapixel camera, but instead you get an 8 megapixel back camera that works under water. In fact the device will survive a brief submersion, so if an accidental spill occurs, you should be okay. You don’t have a great Super AMOLED display, instead you get 5-inch LCD display that still works well. You still have the super fast AT&T 4G LTE and 4G HSPA+ networks and a 1.9GHz processor powering you device. The design and Dive Blue color of the S 4 Active is great. It comes in at a great price point of $199.99 with a 2-year contract as well. If you are a person who has an Active life style, looking for a device that can handle the spills and thrills that you may encounter every day the Galaxy S 4 Active might be the device for you. For More Information On The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active, Please Click Here. We would like to thank AT&T for providing us with a copy of the “AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active”.