All about Samsung Galaxy S4

[WelshBloke]

Maybe the IR LED? It's supposed to have IR based gesture recognition too.

That would suggest the camera can detect IR light.

Why dont they use that for night mode on the main camera?

 

[ChronoReverse]

The camera sensors in smartphones can already detect IR (and have filters to reduce it). As for nightmode, it's greyscale and fuzzy because IR has a longer wavelength.

I'm still thinking it's the IR LED since Samsung doesn't have a top power button like HTC to build it into.

 

[WelshBloke]

The camera sensors in smartphones can already detect IR (and have filters to reduce it). As for nightmode, it's greyscale and fuzzy because IR has a longer wavelength.

I'm still thinking it's the IR LED since Samsung doesn't have a top power button like HTC to build it into.

I was more thinking of having an IR emitting LED on the back for night mode so it would still be "dark" for anybodies eyes but still "light" for the camera.

 

[Eug]

You can't properly focus with true infrared, because the focus point will be different from the focus point for visible light.

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The S4 is 70 mm wide. As I said in the BB thread, I'm sure the S4 will sell very well, but I think 70 mm is far too wide for a phone. If I had to get a Samsung, I'd much rather get 720p S4 junior or something. Something like 62 mm wide.

 

[ChronoReverse]

It's a little bit less wide than the GS3 which sold a bajillion so it's probably okay for the flagship? I'm quite pleasantly surprised that they made this smaller than the GS3 despite bigger battery life.

 

[Red Storm]

It's a little bit less wide than the GS3 which sold a bajillion so it's probably okay for the flagship? I'm quite pleasantly surprised that they made this smaller than the GS3 despite bigger battery life.

Yeah I am very impressed they managed to upgrade the display resolution and size, and actually make the device a tad smaller than the S3.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'll wait to see how the GPUs compare as well as the battery life before picking one up.

If this benchmark of the Qualcomm version is real:

https://glbenchmark.com/phonedetails.jsp?D=Samsung SHV-E300S

Then the higher clock speeds and DDR3 memory (compared to DDR2) of the S4 means higher performance than the HTC One and a GPU that is at least in the ballpark of the Exynos version.

If the US only gets the Snapdragon version I won't mind too much. That would mean it has the same GPU as the current Nexus 4, so as long as the Nexus 4 gets updates the American Galaxy 4 community can piggy-back.

When I look at a phone like the SGS4, I see a device that I might can keep for three or four years as a primary phone as long as I keep getting new Android versions. Screen resolutions can't go any higher, SOCs can only get so fast for apps to utilize, and a MicroSD slot means I can always up the storage to the standard of the next few years. If the Snapdragon version is going to have a better CM than that is the version I want for this reason.

 

[Eug]

It's a little bit less wide than the GS3 which sold a bajillion so it's probably okay for the flagship? I'm quite pleasantly surprised that they made this smaller than the GS3 despite bigger battery life.

Yes, I like its design more than the GS3. However, I already disliked the width of the GS3.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Samsung has typically released the Qualcomm Snapdragon version of their phone here in the US because of the LTE requirement.

I think this time around its a yield issue. An Octo-Core CPU sounds like yield hell, especially if you can't do the old PS3 trick of just assuming one core will be ruined and leave it disabled.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I fully agree. The only things I want in the GS4 that aren't in there are the front facing high quality speakers from the HONE and the camera from the 808. But even without those the GS4 still represents pretty close to the logical limit of the hardware.

Well, I suppose a non-pentile OLED would be nice too (but at 1080p I don't think I'll really care).


In any case, I recognize the GS4 is a sizeable jump when looking beyond its initial aesthetics but I'm not sure I will jump at it from my HOXL...

 

[s44]

If the US only gets the Snapdragon version I won't mind too much

I would, because this is going to be my main portable music device.

I may have to import an international one... or get a Note.

 

[Red Storm]

I would, because this is going to be my main portable music device.

I may have to import an international one... or get a Note.

What impact does the SoC have on music?

 

[ChronoReverse]

I think the Exynos version of the GS3 had a better DAC because it's not using the Qualcomm one.

Still, I'd wait to see the acoustics tests from GSMarena before making any decisions.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Well, I suppose a non-pentile OLED would be nice too (but at 1080p I don't think I'll really care).

I am Mr. IHatePentile so I am going to look real close before I buy and see if I can still see the screen door effect. I bet I can't.

 

[Skurge]

I am Mr. IHatePentile so I am going to look real close before I buy and see if I can still see the screen door effect. I bet I can't.

Isn't this display RGB?

EDIT: It's some weird arrangement if this site is to be believed.
http://mobile.it168.com/a2013/0313/1461/000001461394_all.shtml

 

[Eug]

I am Mr. IHatePentile so I am going to look real close before I buy and see if I can still see the screen door effect. I bet I can't.

I hate Pentile too, but for a 1080p 5" screen I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, even for a 720p 4.3" screen I wouldn't worry about it either.

It's really the lower pixel density screens of yesteryear where pentile really falls down.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The GPU should be faster than the A6 and close to A6X performance because the SGS4 uses LDDR3 and has higher clock speed.

Really not liking the design of SGS4 . I wonder if HTC will release HTC one + with the new Snapdragon 800.

for the sake of branding I hope not. they need to just stick with it and realize that for a year, they have a great phone. you don't need to rehash at the hint of any new technology. I mean apple pulls it off and even then they generally use older tech (with the exception of the A6). And only people who read into paper specs are complaining then.

 

[ChronoReverse]

That's true, I don't think the performance difference at the level of the 600 and A15 for the GS4 will practically mean much. It'll be the dev-support that clinches it for me.

 

[Red Storm]

for the sake of branding I hope not. they need to just stick with it and realize that for a year, they have a great phone. you don't need to rehash at the hint of any new technology. I mean apple pulls it off and even then they generally use older tech (with the exception of the A6). And only people who read into paper specs are complaining then.

Apple can easily pull it off because they compete with no one within their OS. They could say a new iPhone will only come out every other year or every 6 months and there's nothing anyone could do about it. HTC (or any other Android manufacturer) has no such luxury.

 

[s44]

Apple can easily pull it off because they compete with no one within their OS. They could say a new iPhone will only come out every other year or every 6 months and there's nothing anyone could do about it. HTC (or any other Android manufacturer) has no such luxury.

But people were still buying new S3s even with the Optimus G out.

In fact, we were still *recommending* the S3 with the Optimus G out!

 

[Eug]

Apple can easily pull it off because they compete with no one within their OS. They could say a new iPhone will only come out every other year or every 6 months and there's nothing anyone could do about it. HTC (or any other Android manufacturer) has no such luxury.

That and the fact that the OS is far more optimized. A dual-core A9 on iOS (even OS 6) feels significantly smoother than a dual-core A9 on Android (any version).

Apple doesn't emphasize hardware geek specs because they don't have to, and IMO, it actually takes away from the branding when targetting the masses.

 

[badb0y]

HTC One Developer Edition is looking real nice right now. If it has good support I will probably get that next. Does the international SGS4 work with AT&T LTE?

 

[ChronoReverse]

That and the fact that the OS is far more optimized. A dual-core A9 on iOS (even OS 6) feels significantly smoother than a dual-core A9 on Android (any version).

Apple doesn't emphasize hardware geek specs because they don't have to, and IMO, it actually takes away from the branding when targetting the masses.

Yeah, that's very true.

But that's also the same reason why this generation we don't _have_ to care as much. There might be a difference between the Snapdragon 600 and the Exynos 5 but it'll be small enough that it shouldn't affect the feel.

 

[pm]

So I was pretty underwhelmed by the Samsung S4 announcement. I was particularly impressed by the HTC One but the Samsung S4 simply didn't get me excited or interested for reasons that I'm sure are pretty shallow and wouldn't hold up against an enthusiasts questioning. But that's my opinion and I'll stand by it until I see a detailed review of the S4.

I will say that I'm not in the market for a new phone until Googe's IO conference when I'll see what they announce, and I'm a little disturbed by this trend of increasing smartphone sizes. I thought the iPhone 4 size was roughly where I want a phone to be and this new trendline of increasing sizes is starting to leave me as a consumer behind. All of the smaller phones have worse specs compared to the flagship big ones, but I can barely fit my current smartphone in the pocket of my running shorts as it is so that leaves me looking at less than ideal options or a mini-tablet in my pocket.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

So I was pretty underwhelmed by the Samsung S4 announcement. I was particularly impressed by the HTC One but the Samsung S4 simply didn't get me excited or interested for reasons that I'm sure are pretty shallow and wouldn't hold up against an enthusiasts questioning. But that's my opinion and I'll stand by it until I see a detailed review of the S4.

I will say that I'm not in the market for a new phone until Googe's IO conference when I'll see what they announce, and I'm a little disturbed by this trend of increasing smartphone sizes. I thought the iPhone 4 size was roughly where I want a phone to be and this new trendline of increasing sizes is starting to leave me as a consumer behind. All of the smaller phones have worse specs compared to the flagship big ones, but I can barely fit my current smartphone in the pocket of my running shorts as it is so that leaves me looking at less than ideal options or a mini-tablet in my pocket.

The Galaxy S4 did decrease in size compared to the Galaxy S3.