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The Samsung Galaxy S4 delivers an effortless user experience (view larger).
The Galaxy S4 does what you want and what you didn't know was even possible. Erase a photo's background distractions with just a touch, catch every part of your child's somersault, or capture your view of the city skyline. Preview photos and files or read a news article without ever touching the screen. Use one screen to check Facebook as you catch up on email.
Offering a highly crafted design with a larger screen and improved battery life, the sleek and innovative Galaxy S4 is slimmer yet stronger, with less to hold yet more to see.
The Galaxy S4 features a 5-inch Full HD 1080p Super AMOLED touch-enabled display, a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera with Full HD 1080p video recording capabilities, 2-megapixel front camera, 16 GB of storage plus microSD memory expansion up to 64 GB (via optional card), 2 GB of RAM for excellent multitasking, a full complement of wireless connectivity (including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC), and enterprise-ready security features.
Catch Any Moment, Keep Every Memory
Equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, the Galaxy S4 also boasts a Dual Camera function that allows simultaneous use of both front and rear cameras. When capturing moments, you can choose from a variety of frame effects that blend the two pictures naturally and also adjust the size of the small picture inside the big one. You can also select from eight different ways to combine the two photos taken by the front camera and the rear camera.
The camera includes 12 shooting modes, including the Drama shot mode that enables you to see all the action in one continuous time-lapse and Sound & Shot for storing sound and voice together as the picture is taken. Additionally, the Dual Video Call function enables you to make and receive a video call with friends and family while showing what you are looking at during the call.
Your special moments can be automatically stored in a photo album with the Story Album function. Photos are automatically gathered and sorted out according to your timeline, geo-tagging information, or a specific event to create a photo album.
And your photos and videos are showcased on the world's first Full HD Super AMOLED display. Its 5-inch screen has a 441 ppi (pixels per inch) pixel density for stunning viewing quality and Corning's Gorilla Glass 3, making it stronger and more resistant to scratches and cracks than ever before.
Bring People Together
More than just a personal device, the Galaxy S4 makes the most of your relationships and enables you to easily share and experience many of life's pleasures together with family and friends, wherever you are. With the Group Play function, you can enjoy music, photos, documents, and games with those around you without even requiring a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. You'll be able to connect directly to other Galaxy S4 users instantly. For example, the Share Music option enables you to have the same song playing on multiple phones in sync to create the best party atmosphere.
Spec Highlights 3G/4G LTE connectivity
(LTE available in limited markets)
Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) with TouchWiz enhancements
1.9 GHz quad-core processor
5.0-inch touchscreen Full HD display (1080 x 1920)
13-megapixel rear camera; Full HD 1080p video capture
Front-facing 2.0-MP camera
16 GB storage + 2 GB of RAM
Wireless-N Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 + NFC
2600 mAh battery for a full day of use
See full specs below
Slimmer yet stronger, with a 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display (view larger).
Effortless Experience
The GALAXY S4 ensures that tasks are effortless with innovative features that detect your face, voice, and motions to enable screen control with no need for finger touch activation. Samsung Smart Pause enables you to control the screen by where you look. When you are watching a video, the video pauses when you look away and then it starts right up again when you are back. Samsung Smart Scroll allows you to scroll the browser or emails up and down without touching the screen. It recognizes your face looking at the screen and movement of your wrist, and then it scrolls the pages up or down accordingly. Air View enables you to hover with your fingers to preview the content of an email, image gallery, or video without having to open it. You can even see a magnified view on the internet browser, or a phone number saved in the speed dial on the keypad. Air Gesture allows you to change the music track, scroll up and down a Web page, or accept a call with a wave of your hand. With S Voice Drive, you can activate commands via voice control for optimization when driving. Once connected with a car's Bluetooth connection, the phone automatically turns into driving mode to convert text to speech so you can easily and safely check messages with no need to look at the screen. Samsung Optical Reader automatically recognizes text, a business card, or QR code information, providing useful functions such as translation, call, text message, and search.
Take it at Your Own Pace
Offering a number of features for first-time smartphone owners as well as those switching from another operating system, the Galaxy S4 has a streamlined start-up wizard so you can begin using the device faster and learn about its unique features from the start.
Originally introduced with the Galaxy S3, Easy Mode has been enhanced by simplifying the home screen layout, camera, calendar, messaging and the internet browser to make the settings menu easy to navigate. Once you're more comfortable with the Galaxy S4, you can switch back to the standard home screen interface.
The Smart Switch PC application enables you to transfer contacts, messages, photos, music, calendar notifications and more from another phone to the Galaxy S 4. Smart Switch can identify favorite applications and recommend the same or similar applications within Google Play.
A Smartphone That Makes TV Better
With its infrared sensor (the same technology as your remote control), the Galaxy S4's WatchON feature can change the TV channel from your phone. And you get a custom TV guide that shows you what you like to watch. With Samsung Hub, you can watch more music, movies, and games with one app and one sign-in.
Protect Your Information
Not only ideal for personal use, the Galaxy S4 is also a SAFE-designated device, which means it has additional security features to safe-guard sensitive data and communications. The Galaxy S4 is the first Samsung device to include Samsung's KNOX solution, which provides comprehensive mobile security at the hardware level and enhanced personal privacy for individuals at the software level. It delivers industry-leading mobile security for companies with stringent security requirements, and allows IT managers to access and manage the passcode-protected work information without disturbing the content within an individual's personal space (including photos, emails, music files and social network data).
What's in the Box
Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, 2600 mAh battery, USB cable, wall charger, quick start guide
Display: 5.0-inches Camera: 13-MP Processor Speed: 1.9 GHz OS: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) Product Dimensions: 2.8 x 0.3 x 5.4 inches ; 4.6 ounces Shipping Weight: 1 pounds Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. ASIN: B00E6FGSHY Item model number: Galaxy S4
Galaxy S4 is an incredible phone. I have been using this unlocked S4 for past 2 days helping a friend to migrate from iPhone 4S. My friend has been on iPhone and it also gave me a unique perspective. I used iPhone for couple of years and been using Android for past 3+ years.
I have used Galaxy S3, Note II and for me S4 is more like a S3s 
If you have a Galaxy S3, it is perfect and there is no need to move to S4. The new features are more like minor upgrades for me. Just like Detroit rolls out new cars every year, phone manufacturers have found excellent way to make yearly upgrades.
Battery came for almost a day. The video playback was crisp and my friend was amazed at the customization options. It is heaven for a iphone user to come out of shackles and explores the wonderful world of Android. It sure sounds like it is for geeks, but Samsung has created lot of ways to simplify and make it less intimidating. The EASY mode is for one such reason. Samsung’s addition of all those apps (commonly referred as crapware) is not as bad as HTC or LG. Android experience is classified as pure vanilla in phones like Nexus. Vendors like Samsung have added a whole lot of extra programs.
5? HD Super AMOLED 1920 x 1080 display (441 ppi) is just plain gorgeous. 13 MP camera takes ginormous image sizes. I put a 64 GB microSDXC card SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC Class 6 Memory Card with SD Adapter – Retail Packaging as my friend wants to take lot of movies (built-in 2 GB RAM, 16 GB ROM). No stuttering, and very smooth playback of videos captured in varying light conditions (HD Playback; HD Recording). Compatible video types are AVI/DIVX, WMV/ASF, FLV, MKV, MP4/3GP, WEBM. HDR and Panaromic photos were incredibly sharp. Compatible audio types are: AAC, AMR, MP3, OGG, WMA/ASF, 3GA/M4A, FLAC, WAV. Google Music, PlayerPro Music player are producing excellent music. Audio/Video is one section where S4 has nudged S3. For a normal user, if you are not into lot of video processing this does not matter.
S4's infrared sensor is the same technology as TV remote control, so with WatchON you can change the TV channel from your phone. My friend was shocked to see this feature. Having used Android for a long time, I explored all new features one by one. My friend is still getting used to and feels this is too complicated. I broke down into lot of sub features and told my friend he may not use 50% of features, but told him to explore one feature at a time and focus on that.
Games were very buttery, this phones runs ARM®-based octa-core mobile CPU. This is apparently world’s first! Inside this chip is Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU. I tried several car racing games and performance was phenomenal. People on the XDA-Developers forum report seeing smearing and ghosting when scrolling on the phone. This especially occurs to people when scrolling among darker colors, which begin showing up as purple. I tried hard to see if I could on the S4 I was testing with my friend and I could not see it. I am sure these can be upgraded with software over due course.
Air View and Air Gestures – are they worth it? Air view is similar to how the S-pen on the Galaxy Note 8 works. Simply hover finger a few millimeters above the screen and in supported apps, you’ll see a preview of content. This works with many of Samsung’s built-in apps, including the photo gallery, the dialer, Samsung’s browser and email client. It also works with Flipboard. Air View works by cranking up the capacitive sensor on the screen. Another new feature is Air Gestures. This uses the IR sensor on the top of the phone to detect movement by your palm or finger. One can flip between open tabs in Samsung’s browser app, skip to a new song in the music player and do many other things. I say these are still in works and sometimes not very efficient.
GPS was spot on and I tried multiple GPS apps. It was bright outdoors (had to crank the brightness all the way up). I tried multiple apps to demonstrate to my friend. In the end, my friend was impressed with what all Android and in particular S4 had to offer. Smooth and Stunning display!
I tried following apps and they just worked awesome.
Amazon Mobile
Android Status
Androidify
Angry Birds (Space/Seasons)
Asphalt 7
Amazon App Store
Box
Car Maintenance Reminder Pro
Chrome
CNET TV
NAVIGON (from Garmin – offline maps)
Google Navigation/Earth/Maps
Google Currents (nice way to read News)
Draw Something
Google Drive
Ebay
Linkedin
Google Music
Tapatalk (awesome forum browsing app)
OverDrive Media Console: Library eBooks & Audiobooks (public library consumption of media)
Microsoft One Note (legacy docs, skydrive of 25 GB is good)
Subsonic Music Streamer
Terminal Emulator (still need to use vi, yes this is it)
TweetCaster Pro for Android (excellent twitter client)
Twit.Tv
Google Voice
Plenty of Widgets
Ask questions, the review cannot do justice to Galaxy S4. I will be glad to answer any questions.
I have to be honest and say that this is the best phone I have ever owned!!!..and this is coming from an ex iphone owner!!..the features on the Galaxy s4 are unmatched!!..I mean its sooo many different things this phone can do like last night 4 example..I was watching a video on facebook and I was able to go out of the app into several others with the vid still playing in my screen sorta like picture in picture!!…oh my god and the voice commands just have me in awe as well!..I was at work and was able to say the word “reject” and it sent the call to voicemail..also one day I was in my kitchen preparing dinner and my hands were dirty from handling raw chicken..I just simply said the word “answer” and not only did it pick up the call , but it placed it on speaker phone as well. Great phone!!!.I recommend you get one as well..
Not sure how the other reviewer got their phone since I believe it was just released yesterday. I got my phone this morning as a little bday gift to myself. Haven’t played with it too much with everything else going on but it’s got a gorgeous screen. It’s so big and colors are sharp. And I’ve finally got 4G to use my unlimited internet with, yay! Just downloaded a bunch of my old apps on it and there was no lag with the phone or the internet. Totally forgot I was using 4G and not wifi. Oh for you girls, I’ve got medium size hands and I’ve been handling it one-handed.
Pros:
1) fast
2) big screen
3) easy to customize home screen – icons will shift themselves if you want to put one in a spot that is currently occupied
4) can see battery percentage in top right corner
5) drop down menu chock full of stuff – you can access the settings or get to different functions like driving mode easily
6) camera has a gazillion options – the pic with sound is pretty cool and so is the one adding you into the picture one
7) micro sd card slot and removable battery
connected to my wireless printer with no trouble
Only 3 cons so far:
1) power button is on the other side from the volume button so I have to make sure I dont have my index finger on the vol before I squeeze and push the power button.
2) very thin and flimsy feeling – definitely getting a case for it
3) air gestures seems gimmicky, can’t get mine to work
For reference, I was using the motorola atrix prior to today. Will update as I get to know it better.
UPDATE 5/5/13:
Still getting use to the new phone. Thanks to someone’s tip about the sensor being in the top left corner I’ve got one feature of the air gestures to work. I really like the new side tab that works sorta like the pull down tab except it’s loaded with apps. It makes it easier to switch inbetween apps instead of going back to the homescreen or holding the home button for last used apps. You can edit the apps that show up too. Battery life is better than expected. I figure with the bigger screen, a charge wont last as long as my old phone but it’s about the same. I can get 2 days light-moderate use (checking email, using gps and setting my alarm) on one charge with 25% left over so I’m not pushing it. Takes about 1.5hr to charge it up.
Moving to S4 from iPhone was a big decision and while it is a good product it is not great.
iPhone is much more user friendly, easy to operate and a right size…
sorry my comparison is with iphone because thats what I used for few years..
If you make up your mind you can use this thing, camera is exceptional, big screen is awesome and at the end of the day I am not going back to iphone, I am working my way out!
This phone is beautiful, well-made, fast, sturdy, with a gorgeous screen. But, as has been widely reported, there’s not a whole lot of space on it. Many of Samsung’s features are useful, but much of them are solutions looking for a problem (the smart scrolling, when it works, is not very compelling.) There’s also a LOT of redundant apps. For virtually every great Google app, there is an inferior Samsung app – Chrome and Internet; Play Music and Music Player; Play Store and Samsung Hub. It’s kind of insulting – it assumes the end user is unable to figure out how to find their own favorite apps.
There are also issues with bloat. There are numerous very, very poorly made AT&T apps that vary in usefulness (like messaging, which is useful, and AT&T Navigation, which is not free and far less useful than Google Maps, which is.) Most of these apps don’t look as though they’ve been modified much since Froyo, and they don’t look great on this phone’s resolution. Happily, though none of these apps can be removed completely, they can be disabled so the OS pretends they do not exist.
The last problem is one of the weirdest and most frustrating though it’s somewhat minor. The AT&T version of this phone had disabled autocorrection in the keyboard. It makes no sense. The keyboard app used the amazing SwiftKey as a back end, but it will not actually use it to correct typos automatically. I’ve held this phone up next to a Sprint counterpart, and the option is available. Complaining to AT&T does nothing – they have confirmed it’s there, but will not say if an update will correct it. The bottom line is it is defective by design.
So, the bottom line is this is a beautiful, useful phone with amazing hardware that is hobbled by it’s questionable software.
I got this phone yesterday, and I have been playing with it nonstop for the past 24 hours. First off, I’d like to say that yes, I have fallen in love with this phone since I opened it up.
Visual Review:
It looks similar to the GS3 and Note, but what would you expect from a Galaxy? It’s very nice, because the bezel is so small, so its one of the easiest phones to hold that has a 5 inch screen. I would recommend getting a case and spare batteries however. It feels very slick and I often worry about dropping it. Also, the spare batteries would take advantage of the removable cover. I love that option; seeing as how I am very techy, I am always on my phone. The display is hands down the best phone display you will ever see. You cannot see any pixels no matter how close you look…Seriously…And the colors are outstanding… I compared the phone display with my girlfriend’s iPhone 5 and it wasn’t comparable.
Feature Review:
I have found so many neat features on this phone. One of my absolute favorite features is the IR Blaster. NO MORE REMOTES! I can just change the channels with my phone, and its amazingly easy to set up and program to new TV’s. It also shows the schedules of what shows are playing on, say, Charter TV, which is awesome. Secondly, Air-view is not just a gimmick. Now people can use the phone with gloves on and it will work flawlessly. Although yes, there are some unnecessary features that need to be ignored, that more or less show off the hardware, such as the air swipe to change between photos… But whatever, its still a hell of an invention, right? Also, the camera is awesome as well. It is fast, and has many sweet and ACTUALLY USEFUL features…not just the stupid visual effects that nobody uses. Last night I could barely see my girlfriend and I put the phone on night mode and took a picture, and I could easily see her in the picture. It was like an actual night-vision camera, but with proper colors. Its also very detailed. I also like the dual camera picture mode.
Pros
-Fastest performing phone statistically on the market
-Sleek
-Great camera
-Awesome Software and Hardware
-Amazing Display
-Lots of tech under the hood that most phones dont have.
Cons
-Slippery
-Doesn’t have the waterproofing that the xPeria Z has
-Only comes in black or white
-I guess I wish it had a heavier, more premium back to it.
Overall, I would highly advocate anyone purchasing this phone. I was worried at first but once I got it I realized I made the best decision. Blows other phones out of the water.
If you own an Iphone, and actually want to give android a serious shot, this phone will make you happy you made that decision.
While I initially purchased the HTC One, my dad decided to try out the Samsung Galaxy S4 and I’d say he made the better choice between the two of us. I ended up returning my HTC One not only because of the problems I had with it, but also in part because the SGS4 just offered a more complete package that I knew could last me at least a year or longer. I’ve detailed below some pros and cons after using the device for a few weeks.
Pros
- Bright screen with great viewing angles: While I can’t sign off on the color reproduction, the brightness is definitely great along with the viewing angles. I don’t really share videos with others often, but for those that do it’s a great aspect of the screen to have. For the color-sticklers like me you’re still getting a oled screen so colors are going to look over-saturated and have a certain pop to them that isn’t true to life. But I’ll admit it does have a certain visual appeal to it, and my friends that aren’t that particular really enjoy it.
- MicroSD cart slot and removable battery: The inclusion of the microSD card slot for me is a nice plus, since I can just load on a bunch of movies and tv shows to watch on the go (can’t do that over the cellular network because of data caps). The removable battery means that you can swap it out if you want in the middle of the day, but I’ve never been one to buy multiple batteries personally. The nice part for me is that you can buy higher capacity after-market batteries, have the option of just buying a new battery when it starts to degrade over time, and do easy force resets by just taking out the battery. And for you secret agents out there, pulling out the battery is the only way to make sure the phone isn’t being used to track you, turning it off isn’t enough.
- Great camera quality: Let me start off by saying that I think for overall mixed shooting environments from bright light to moderate light the SGS4 is the Android phone to beat currently. When you’re talking about strictly low-light performance it is going to be 2nd place to the HTC One in the Android realm. I tend to shoot more during the day or in the evenings during sunset time. I’d imagine that most people tend to take pictures in a variety of lighting environments and for that the SGS4 is the better overall camera in my opinion. The higher resolution is nice to work with too if you like to crop images on your computer after taking them.
- Solid software/device support: The SGS4 at present is the only one that’s made the extra mile to build in extensive bluetooth support. In fact its the only bluetooth device I can use my fitbit flex with, because other Android phones haven’t gone the extra mile in this area. If wireless accessories and the like are your kind of thing, I’d say Samsung is the way to go if you want to ensure support. Not even Google’s Nexus line can boast this fact.
Cons
- Plastic design: There’s no other way to put it, this phone just doesn’t feel like a high-end device in my hand. Especially since I got to hold the HTC One in one hand and this one in the other it becomes all the more apparent that Samsung used cheaper materials to build this phone. On the plus side the plastic feels durable and likely to hold up well to drops and moderate abuse. Can’t say that about the HTC One. Also the plastic design means that the battery isn’t sealed in like the HTC One.
- Still about average battery life: The battery life is just about getting me through my day, but I’m still packing an external charger and the charging cable with me. I just end up having to use them less often than I did with my HTC One when I had that. So yes while it’s a bit better than the HTC One in my opinion, it’s not exactly going to set any records. It’s about what you’re probably used to seeing with a smartphone these days and nothing more. I wish they’d integrate some giant batteries like Motorola does with their MAXX line of devices, but until then this is the best you can get. You can buy increased capacity batteries after-market to help alleviate the battery issue, though I can’t comment on their quality or performance. My usage consists of streaming pandora to and from work, regularly accessing gmail throughout the day, watching a tv-show during lunch sometimes, about 1-2 hrs of phone calls, and regularly texting.
- Useless Samsung software: Nearly all of the implementations that Samsung built in like S-voice and others feel either gimmicky and useless or intrusive with the native Android interface. There is just a overall cartoonish look to the UI and feels like an overall departure from the clean UI design of stock android and even the relatively-close-to-stock look of the HTC One. I’m not a fan, and I feel it makes the software look more childish with the brighter colors and more playful font choices. It simply doesn’t look very professional. I do like the quick-access menu to settings from the control-bar pull-down but that’s about it.
- Software support: Samsung has a history of pretty much making their present flagship devices very old news when they launch their next device. They’ve been making some effort to provide faster Android updates, but as time goes on I can’t vouch for what kind of software support they’ll provide you. I’m a believer that if you buy a phone, it should be supported as is without you having to root or do any other work on your own. It’s unreasonable to expect the average consumer to root their phones, and they shouldn’t have to. Now that Android version 4.3 got announced we can see how long they’ll take for an update.
Overall, I’d say the SGS4 definitely fulfills the solid camera performance criterion, does well-enough on the display quality, and offers about average battery life with options to improve it without having to buy a bulky add-on case. While I have some reservations with the build-quality, it does feel like it’ll handle some drops. Since this is my dad’s phone I’m giving it back to him after using it for a few weeks. The question of whether I’ll buy one for myself….probably not right now. But mostly because I’ve resolved to wait for the next Nexus phone whenever that’s released. I have a Galaxy Nexus right now which works fine, so I’m in no rush to upgrade. But if I had to buy an Android phone today it would be the SGS4 – simple as that.
I love the galaxy s4.
All the features on the phone is awesome. Except I only had one problem wish the battery would last longer than a day.
***EDIT***
After few days of usage of the galaxy s4 I really love the phone despite the battery life. I disabled everything that i don’t use, still nothing. I even bought an extended battery to last longer. Still Nothin. I don’t know what’s going on if it could be the phone itself. I’ve been trying to google search to see if anyone is having the same issue. I’ve tried everything. My battery percent goes down pretty fast not even less than a minute and it doesn’t last a whole day.
Please let me know. If anyone else is having the same issue??
I really love this phone.
After five years on the Apple train, it was time for me to change it up. I was bored with the same old design and little-to-no innovation, both in software and hardware. I switched from the iPhone 4S to the Galaxy S4 over a month ago, and have yet to be let down in any way. First off, you can’t beat the price. Only cost me $168 (with Prime shipping) and came in a couple of days. I didn’t realize just how awful the iPhone screen was compared to the S4. Watching Netflix is a breeze now (and looks darn good) compared to the iPhone I had. The quickness and ability of this phone has captured my attention and has me locked in for the next round. I’m glad I made the switch!
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