Dimensions of samsung galaxy s4. Review of Samsung Galaxy S4 - a flagship designed to conquer the world

It’s not uncommon for certain devices to attract attention “on paper” due to their attractive design and balanced characteristics, but in real life it turns out that design is the only thing they have. With Samsung devices the situation is often diametrically opposite. On the monitor screen, the design seems boring, and the characteristics are the same as those of others, but upon closer acquaintance you notice that everything works not just as you expect, but even a little better. This applies to everything - interface, camera, autonomy, tactile sensations, and so on. As a result, to evaluate the Samsung Galaxy S4, it is not enough to look at pictures of it and read about its capabilities; you need to see it in person. Not a single person who has held the device in their hands has remained indifferent, and those who also know what capabilities are inherent in it are forced to admit the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult to compete with Samsung. Our readers have already had the opportunity to watch a video review of the smartphone, today we bring to your attention text review Samsung Galaxy S4.

Even though this model The smartphone differs from the one we saw in the video review; it is not commercial. Final version Samsung Galaxy S4 may have a different set installed applications and interface.

Design and ergonomics

As already mentioned in the video review, the design of the Samsung i9500 is closer to the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos and Samsung Galaxy Premier than to the Samsung i9300. This is facilitated by the flat back of the case and its sides, as well as the “volumetric” Home key. In addition, the plastic no longer has a metallic texture; it rather resembles the LG Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G, with the only difference being that they use glass and the pattern is underneath it, whereas in the Galaxy S4 the main body material is polycarbonate (plastic). However, this simple pattern gives the smartphone body that very zest, without which it would become just another white device.

The quality of assembly and fitting of parts is excellent; when you pick up a smartphone, you realize that you are holding an expensive device, albeit without cold metal or slippery glass. Taking into account the fact that the new product is equipped with a 0.2-inch (half a centimeter) larger display, the width of the smartphone is even smaller than its predecessor, 6.98 cm versus 7.06 cm, respectively. The thickness and weight have changed for the better - 7.9 mm versus 8.6 mm and 130 g versus 133 g. And only the height remained at the same level - 136.6 mm, with all this, in addition to a larger diagonal display, the smartphone was equipped with a more capacious battery. Now its capacity is 2600 mAh, while the Samsung Galaxy S3 had 2100 mAh. It is these little things that make up the overall favorable picture of the device. Everything is a little smaller and yet a little better. Note that the reduction in thickness did not affect the camera module in any way; on the contrary, instead of 8 MP in the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 owners will have at their disposal a trendy 13 MP.

Those who are confused by the number of eyes in the upper part of the front panel can look towards the smartphone with a dark blue body color. We note that the number of sensors is really off the scale, there are nine of them, they are used to control the smartphone and obtain various data. In addition to the visible elements, at the top of the case there is one that becomes noticeable only in the presence of certain events, be it a missed call, message, letter or message from Facebook - an indicator flashing in different colors.

Otherwise, all elements are located in the usual Samsung smartphones places. Therefore, we will not dwell on them in detail, we simply suggest looking at the photographs.

Operating system and shell

The Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone is the first device that has come into our hands, running operating system Android version 4.2.2. It also uses the latest version of the TouchWiz shell, which is quite easy to recognize, despite the fact that a lot of it looks completely different. In the future, the Galaxy S3, Note II and a number of other devices will sport the same interface. The main difference between the shell is the modified lock screen, settings menu, background (in the first copy it was white) and notification panel.

The lock screen allows you to supplement the main window with five additional ones, on which you can place both application shortcuts and their widgets. Tracking your finger movements looks funny, it resembles sunbeams on the wall; the closer you bring your finger to the screen, the brighter the beam of light. Unlike the first copy, in this screen unlocking can be either as such or familiar to more earlier versions TouchWiz, that is, with a ripple effect and corresponding sound. There is an automatic screen unlock mode depending on your location.

The desktop can still include from one to seven windows, and the panel with shortcuts from one to five applications. The interface works very smoothly, this applies to both flipping through windows and moving widgets and shortcuts. The response to touch is immediate. Following the general trend, the Samsung Galaxy S4 sensor is capable of processing touches not only from fingers, but also from other objects, for example, you can easily type a message while wearing gloves.
The notification panel can display five or eight toggles in portrait and landscape mode, or all twenty when you tap the icon in the top right corner. If any of the shortcuts are not visible on the screen, and you don’t want to open them all, you can scroll left or right.

Appeared in the smartphone additional features voice and gesture controls, displaying hints when hovering over a specific area of ​​the screen, and tracking the user's eye movements. In emergency situations (configurable in the menu), the smartphone itself can take photos with the main and front cameras and send them along with data about your location to a specified number.

Hardware platform

When at the beginning of the review we said that Samsung smartphones are similar to other devices technical specifications, we were slightly lying, Samsung Galaxy S4 is the first smartphone with an eight-core chip. System-on-a-chip Exynos 5410 manufactured using a 28 nm process technology and includes four powerful Cortex-A15 cores with clock frequency 1.6 GHz, and four economical Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz. Looking ahead, we note that the Antutu Tester application, which we use when testing autonomy, uses maximum load processor and maximum screen brightness. Therefore, the benchmark results are relatively modest when compared with other models. If you do not load the device to 100%, the user can count on 88 hours of music playback, 12 hours 40 minutes of reading at 0% brightness, 10 hours 30 minutes of HD video from Youtube at the same brightness and sound in headphones at 12 out of 15 levels, and 8 hours 35 minutes at 50% brightness. Those who do not plan to load their smartphone so actively will charge the device every two, two and a half days. At the same time, you do not have to turn off all existing sensors, wireless modules, GPS, and switch to operating mode on a 2G network; during this time you can listen to 2-3 hours of music, watch about 30 minutes of video from Youtube, chat for another hour on social networks and, of course, perform phone calls and send messages. The result is more than worthy. There is hardly a device of this class that can surpass the Samsung Galaxy S4 in terms of autonomy.

System-on-a-chip Exynos 5 Octa shows the best performance results to date in all benchmarks without exception. In just one new 3DMark test, the Galaxy S4 scored 4 points lower than Sony Xperia ZL, but such an insignificant difference can be attributed to measurement error. Games, Full HD video, everything starts and runs smoothly. It's hard to imagine what 2 GB can load RAM and four 1.6 GHz processor cores and three video system cores. The amount of built-in memory, depending on the configuration, can be 16, 32 or 64 GB. You can add 64 GB to them through the use of memory cards and virtually unlimited capacity when connecting USB drives via USB Host.

Display

IN this device Samsung used for the first time Full HD screen with a diagonal of 5 inches. For the first time in the screen settings, it became possible to select modes " Professional Adobe RGB" or "Optimized". In addition to the two new ones, there are “Dynamic”, “Standard” and “Film”. All of them significantly affect the output image, which will be discussed a little later. In addition to the listed modes, there is automatic brightness adjustment depending on the image on the screen.

Brightness indicators range from 7.23 cd/m² (auto-brightness adjustment) to 323 cd/m² (auto-brightness adjustment disabled) in the “Dynamic” mode. In Adobe RGB and Film modes, brightness does not exceed 315 cd/m². Therefore, if you feel a lack of brightness, we recommend turning off automatic adjustment (not to be confused with automatic adjustment brightness) and select dynamic screen mode. But in cases where minimum brightness is needed, it is better to turn on automatic adjustment.

For those who don't like bright colors, the Samsung Galaxy S4's display may not seem all that bright when using the Movie mode and setting the brightness to the lowest setting possible. The higher the brightness, the more the displayed colors will differ from the RGB reference. Similarly, brightness affects color temperature and gray.
You can see the display in “Professional” modes below. If you don't take into account bright colors, the grayscale and color temperature settings are almost the same as those shown Super AMOLED display in Film mode.

Color gamut: Film mode, brightness 0%, 50% and 100%

Gamma curve by brightness scale: Film mode, brightness 50% and 100%

Color temperature: Film mode, brightness 50% and 100%

Graphs of color gamut, temperature and gamma in Adobe mode RGB at 50% brightness

Graphs of color gamut, temperature and gamma in the “Dynamic” mode at 50% brightness

As in its predecessor, in the Samsung Galaxy S4 the pixels of the Super AMOLED matrix are formed according to the PenTile scheme, that is, RGBG. The notorious PenTile cannot be seen with the naked eye, but what white gives off green can only be seen when comparing head-to-head with IPS matrices. Today, the reference Full HD display in terms of color display quality that we have seen is set to Huawei Ascend D2, but unless you're a stickler for everything right, you won't be disappointed Samsung screen Galaxy S4.

The behavior of the Samsung Galaxy S4 display on a bright sunny day is in no way inferior to smartphones, despite the fact that their brightness is much higher. An anti-reflective substrate helps with this. Given the long-awaited arrival of sunny days, we had the opportunity to test the display in bright light. We never once felt the urge to increase the brightness, whether when working with the camera or just reading email.

Camera

Samsung understands that consumers are greedy for numbers, so they did not use incomprehensible ultrapixels in their flagship, the shortage of which HTC still feels, but installed a 13 MP Sony Exmor RS matrix. Readers could already evaluate the quality of shooting of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Next week there will be a comparison with more serious camera phones - Asus Padfone2 and Huawei Ascend D2.

The speed of the camera, convenience and number of settings are quite capable of satisfying the most demanding users.

Example of 13 MP photos taken by Samsung Galaxy S4

Example of Full HD video recording

Without stabilization

With stabilization

Video review of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone

Results

Let us remind you that this review is not the last material on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Separately, we will look at the device interface and tell you about our impressions after a long using Samsung Galaxy S4 as my primary means of communication.

Samsung's new flagship is not a revolution or a discovery; it is a natural development of its predecessor. The new product has improved the display and its diagonal, installed a 13 MP camera, a modern hardware platform, a capacious battery and the most latest version operating room Android systems. All this suggests that this is a flagship without any discounts. It demonstrates excellent runtime and ergonomics, ample display customization options, high performance, and a smooth and user-friendly interface. The recommended price of the smartphone is higher than HTC One, but lower than on Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia ZL. The cost of Huawei Ascend D2 is still in question; the estimated release date for the latter is the end of May. Closer to this time the price will become known. None of the presented devices is up to the Galaxy S4 in terms of autonomy and performance, version of the operating system and smooth operation of the interface, but regarding the quality of the camera, everything is no longer so clear; why, you can find out from comparative review. However, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is best device, which can be purchased before the beginning of summer, and even after it it’s unlikely that there will soon be smartphones that can encroach on its superiority Samsung flagship.

Samsung Galaxy S4 has been on sale for a couple of months not only abroad, but also here, and the number of sold out devices around the world is simply off the charts. This all means that the smartphone turned out great, and users’ interest in Samsung devices only growing every year. Meet the review of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4!

Perhaps I went too far with the “flagship of the company” - the device is not such a thing after all. Why? Yes, because the Note 3 is now available on the market, which is the “main” one. It can also be classified as a tablet because large size screen, and to smartphones, naturally, due to the ability to make calls. But today we will not talk about him - before us is one of best phones on the market and probably the best among Samsung products. In general, today we will look at the S4 - the flagship of the Galaxy line!

Design and ergonomics

If the 4.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S3 was too big for you, then the 5-inch Galaxy S4 should be absolutely huge. But this is not so, Samsung engineers and designers did a great job, so the SGS4 has an even narrower body than its predecessor, while it houses a lot of bigger screen. In addition, the device is also incredibly thin, dimensions are 136.6 × 70 × 7.9 mm, and weight is 130 g.

Now let's talk about the location of the main controls and connectors. On the right side you will find the power button, on the left - the volume control, on the bottom - a microphone and microUSB connector, and on the top - a headphone jack. Here everything is in the usual places for Samsung smartphones.

On the back is the company logo and the main 13-megapixel camera with flash, and in front above the screen is a 2-megapixel front camera with the ability to shoot video in 1080p, as well as proximity sensors, lighting sensors and an alert indicator.

Display

Here it is very good and this is not surprising, how could it be otherwise in a flagship smartphone? Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen, of course with Pen Tile. Samsung claims a pixel density of 441 ppi, but that's actually not the case. Due to the non-standard pixel structure in this technology, we have 291 ppi. However, you won’t notice the pixels with the naked eye, so you can rest easy - the display in the SGS4 is one of the best on the market, although (in my opinion) it is inferior to the LG G2.

An interesting feature of this smartphone it became possible to select modes, so that the toxicity of flowers inherent AMOLED screens, can be reduced somewhat. There are “Professional Adobe RGB”, “Optimized”, “Dynamic”, “Standard” and “Film” modes. I advise you to put the latter - here the colors are the calmest and closest to the real ones.

Camera

The cameras in the Samsung Galaxy S4 were very pleasing. The front 2 MP can shoot video in 1080p format, and the main Sony camera Exmor RS received 13 megapixels, although the sensor size did not increase. Photography has always been one of the trump cards of the Galaxy S smartphones and new flagship did not disappoint, the quality of photos and videos is excellent.

Technical characteristics, performance

The smartphone is available in two configurations: with eight-core processor Samsung Exynos 5 Octa and PowerVR SGX 544MP3 graphics, and quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 with Adreno 320 graphics.

For those who don’t know, 5 Octa is Samsung’s own chip, built using big.LITTLE technology - 4 Cortex-A15 cores, 1.6 GHz and 4 Cortex-A7 cores, 1.2 GHz. Depending on the complexity of the tasks performed, the smartphone uses either powerful cores (for games and benchmarks) or weak ones (browsing and other simple work). This version supports LTE (4G).

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 has four Cortex-A15 cores and games have been optimized much better for it. A lot of time has passed since the announcement, Samsung has corrected all the software shortcomings, and the developers have managed to optimize their applications, so at the moment There are no problems with gaming in both modifications of the smartphone. In benchmarks, both versions score almost the same, so it’s up to you to choose which modification of the Galaxy S4 to buy.

In both cases, we have 2 GB of RAM, from 16 to 64 GB of internal memory, expandable via microSD cards.

Battery

Samsung Galaxy S4 equipped Li-Pol battery capacity 2600 mAh. The smartphone heats up a little when performing complex tasks, but not critically. The S4 lasts as long as its predecessor SGS3 - although the battery capacity has increased, the diagonal and screen resolution have also increased. In general, with very active use the device will last a day, and with moderate use you can stay away from the outlet for 2-3 days.

Software

Here Samsung worked hard, equipping an already excellent phone with cool software features. In addition to the usual Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with the proprietary TouchWiz Nature UX shell, the Samsung Galaxy S4 received S Health, S Translator and S Voice applications.

• S Health tracks your activity and monitors your health
• S Translator - translator
• S Voice - analogue of Siri for Android, voice assistant

A cool feature was the ability to scroll through pages by nodding your head or simply tilting your smartphone. You can also take incoming call hover your hand over the motion sensor and do many different things without touching the screen.

Conclusions

Again, the device turned out to be very cool, as was the case with the previous representatives of the Galaxy S line. For some reason, I don’t experience such a “wow effect” - it’s all because of my acquaintance with the best smartphone at the moment, LG G2 (purely my opinion), so Galaxy S4 doesn't seem so cool to me anymore. However, it is what it is - SGS4 has one of best displays, one of best cameras, excellent technical characteristics and at the same time costs $100 dollars less than the LG G2. Of course, the price for the latter is still exorbitant and in general the Galaxy S4 needs to be compared with the LG Optimus G Pro, and the G2’s competitor is the Samsung flagship Galaxy Note 3. But the Note 3 is a fairly niche solution and if you are going to buy cool smartphone, and not a shovel (which is the Note 3), then the LG G2 and Galaxy S4 are direct competitors.

It's up to you to decide, the smartphone is undoubtedly excellent - everything about it is good, I didn't find any flaws, but for some reason it doesn't catch my attention. It feels like we've seen this before. When using the same G2 or HTC One, you don’t experience this and this is not good. Competitors were able to surprise, they came up with completely new, truly revolutionary products that attracted interest, but I can’t count the Galaxy S4 among them.

Today we are visiting the Laboratory site with two flagship smartphones Samsung Galaxy S4 16Gb, differing in the color design of the body. Paired testing is not accidental; a number of new device functionality is designed to improve the interaction of smartphones with each other. Video report from the presentation Samsung Galaxy S4 in Russia you may have already seen it with us earlier.

We are pleased to present to you full review and a smartphone test a week before the start of official sales.
Samsung managed to sell 20 million units of Galaxy S3 in the first months, and the total circulation is 60 million. Galaxy S2, in turn, sold 10 million units in the first months. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4, the company expects to sell 40 million units, and this is quite feasible. In general, when analyzing the 2012 market, only two flagships can be seriously considered - Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Of course, one cannot fail to note the efforts of HTC, Sony and LG, but they are all in the position of catching up. Samsung Galaxy gap in sales volume in Google market Android devices It is serious, and it is unlikely to decrease in the near future.

I think sales will start in 2013 Samsung Galaxy S4 will finish off the already precarious position of the leader in the person of Apple iPhone. The situation is aggravated by delays in iPhone release 5s, explained primarily by engineering problems on innovation for the new Apple smartphone. For end buyers, the current market situation is favorable; manufacturers are in constant voltage, for sales success now it is not enough just a logo with a brand on the body. Needless to say, the race itself for performance and display quality, camera megapixels are gradually fading into the background, and the interface, usability, functionality and interaction with the outside world are becoming no less important.

Availability of Samsung Galaxy S4

• Samsung Galaxy S4 16Gb - 29,990 rubles.
• Samsung Galaxy S4 64Gb - 36,990 rubles.

For comparison, let me remind you of the average cost of flagship devices according to Yandex.Market: Samsung Galaxy SIII 16Gb (RUB 16,400), Samsung Galaxy Note II 16Gb (RUB 19,900), Sony Xperia Z (RUB 22,340), HTC One 32Gb (RUB 29,990), LG Optimus G (RUB 18,100), HTC Butterfly (RUB 25,108), Nokia Lumia 920 (RUB 20,180), Apple iPhone 5 16Gb (RUB 23,300).

Separately, I will note the cost of two more May new products: Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 for 16,990 rubles and Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 for 16,990 rubles. As you can see, the choice when purchasing is now difficult; there is a whole range of devices available. Chinese manufacturers, which are still little known in Russia, are not asleep; on April 24, OPPO Find 5 will be presented, which, judging by the characteristics, can displace flagship smartphones on the market. We'll take a closer look at the OPPO Find 5 next week.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S4 16Gb

Equipment Samsung Galaxy S4

Unfortunately, in this particular test, I won’t be able to tell you exactly about the design of the packaging and its contents. Tandem Samsung Galaxy S4 I have in my hands - these are pre-sale samples; at the moment there is no information on the configuration in Russia.

Based on an analysis of the information available from the New York presentation, inside the compact box there will be a charger, a USB cable, original headphones and instructions.

Appearance of Samsung Galaxy S4

Such unification may also be associated with the desire to reach the maximum range of customers; the smartphone will look harmonious in the hands of both a schoolchild and an elderly person. Each of them will be able to add uniqueness with the help of a set of accessories, programs and screen settings. The smartphone has a lot of potential. The result is a constructor that can be customized as much as possible to suit your wishes. And this, of course, is the merit not only of Samsung, but also of the platform Google Android.

By increasing the screen diagonal to 4.99 inches, it was possible to maintain the overall dimensions of the smartphone 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm and even slightly reduce the thickness (-0.7mm) and weight (130 grams). At the same time, the battery capacity has increased. Commendable.

One of the massive online disputes between Apple and Samsung fans is related to case materials. It just so happens that we associate plastic with something cheap and of poor quality. Although how much time has passed since the first use of plastic, technology is moving forward by leaps and bounds. Modern composite materials are superior to traditional metals, and they do not have the shielding problems of aluminum. However, apparently, Samsung still made some concessions; the case material has changed; now it is polycarbonate. The end result is the same plastic, but with a different sauce.

The coating has also changed; due to the fine grain, scratches and abrasions will not be visible.

On the side there is an edging designed to look like metal, but again it is plastic. Externally, it is almost impossible to distinguish it from aluminum.

The case is available in two colors – white and dark grey. I have both options in my hands during the test; outwardly, the dark gray one looks more solid. In the future, closer to the New Year holidays, about 6 more color options will appear, including the La Fleur collection.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is assembled well, all parts fit tightly together. The back cover is removable. Thanks to the composite, it can be deformed without fear of cracks, within reason, of course.

On the front side above the screen there is a row of sensors, a camera and a blue LED. It may flash during activity. You can configure work and activity yourself, up to complete shutdown.

Below the screen there is one mechanical central key and two on the edges touch buttons with white backlight. You can also customize the key backlighting yourself.

The volume control key is located on the left side.

On the opposite side is the on/off button.

An infrared port and a 3.5 audio jack are located on the top end. There is a micro USB port at the bottom end. Here it has changed in functionality, MHL has appeared - the ability to connect it via special cable to the HDMI input of your monitor or TV.

Samsung Galaxy S4 display

IN Samsung Galaxy S4 PenTile is used, as in S3 (a pixel built from subpixels). This technology causes widespread controversy among experts; a number of “supermen” and “spider-men” manage to discern these subpixels. Although, how is this possible, if it is beyond the capabilities of the human eye, can only be explained by the presence of superpowers.

Another subject of controversy is Super AMOLED; it is often criticized for its unnaturalness, oversaturation and brightness of light. I can assume that this is a problem for those who do not actually use devices with this type of screen. In the settings you can change the color rendering and make the screen dimmer and more natural. But, unfortunately, it is no longer possible to make colors brighter, more contrast and more saturated on other types of screens. Flexibility Samsung Galaxy S4 manifests itself in this as well.

Appeared new feature display optimization. The contrast and brightness of the screen is adjusted depending on the lighting.

The display of information and under sunlight, no problems, everything is like the Galaxy S3.

The advantages in terms of the screen are not surprising; Samsung produces and develops displays independently. If in the case of Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S3, at first glance the difference is faintly noticeable, but when compared with competitors it is obvious. I can compare objectively with a number of flagship devices; it was possible to use these devices.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhone 5– the iPhone 5 has a noticeably higher brightness of the matrix backlight, the colors are calmer and softer. Viewing angles do not differ externally. Gray more natural on S4, and green on iPhone 5.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC Butterfly– the screens of these smartphones look similar. HTC experiences a large loss of brightness when tilted.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z– Sony has noticeably higher brightness of the display backlight. The Xperia Z has oversaturated warm colors, yellow is closer to red in appearance, blue is more purple, gray is closer to yellow. But the Sony displays white better. When the Xperia Z is tilted, the contrast decreases significantly and the screen fades.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and S3- the brightness of the matrix backlight is the same. The colors on the S4 are more pleasant and natural. Improved white color. The loss of brightness at angles has been reduced, and color distortion at large angles has disappeared. Green tones look better on the S3.

Battery Samsung Galaxy S4

In theory, an increase in volume should affect an increase in duration battery life. In reality, the needs have also increased: a more power-hungry Exynos 5410 Octa processor (or Snapdragon 600), plus a number of additional functions.

The power saving mode allows you to increase the battery charging time by about 20%, just like the S3. But by turning off the sensors, you can approximately double the operating time without recharging.

The result is the same design; you can get a productive smartphone, packed with sensors and capabilities (at the expense of autonomy), or a fast device that can work for a long time at the expense of functionality.

Camera Samsung Galaxy S4

There is no camera to activate separate button, startup and settings are carried out using the screen; if desired, you can reconfigure the volume button; it can be used both for zoom and for activating shooting/video.

I was pleased with the autofocus, it is very fast here. Shooting is almost instantaneous; the Exynos 5410 Octa processor allows you to shoot dozens of frames per second.

Externally, the camera interface remains the same. You can configure basic settings.

There are fewer configuration functions, or to be more precise, they are hidden deeper in the menu. It has become more difficult to access exposure and white balance.

An LED flash is installed to assist the camera. It is not very powerful; when used, a zone of overexposure and a shadow zone around the edges appear in photographs. There is also a noticeable blue tint in photographs taken with the camera.

Improved performance in low light conditions. Appeared automatic detection poor lighting. In general, the display of colors has improved, the loss of details has decreased, but it’s difficult to call it ideal. All the same problems that are typical for mobile phone cameras.

The new modes that deserve the most attention are: retouch, night, sports, panorama, eraser, rich tones, live photo, series, sound and photo, best face, best photo, retouching.

Eraser mode allows you to remove moving objects from a photo. It could be people or cars in the background. A series of 5 pictures is taken, after which all objects in motion are highlighted with a pink area. As a result, all these objects are cut out from the image as if they were not there. There will be fewer spoiled frames.

Another mode that deserves special attention is live photo. A series of frames is taken in the selected direction of movement. The output is a GIF file with a resolution of 800x450 pixels.

Finally, regarding the photo modes, you can note sound and photo. After taking a photo, you are asked to write down sound file with a comment on the photo. This may make it easier to edit photos in the future or make viewing more interactive. Such files can be transmitted along with the audio component.

The only thing worth considering is viewing photos directly on the screen Samsung Galaxy S4, they look better than in reality. When viewed on a computer, the difference between mobile cameras flagship devices are almost indistinguishable.

There is also the possibility of shooting video. The maximum video resolution is 1980x1020 pixels (30 frames per second). For example, a series of videos in good and bad conditions (both videos were recorded while the car was moving):

More and more now popular applications, one way or another involving the publication of photographs. One of the most popular, of course, is Instagram, new settings and modes will allow you to share really bright and lively pictures, the same iPhone has only one function - shooting without the possibility of detailed settings.

Communication Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung Galaxy S4 hardware

This chip is built on the big.LITTLE architecture, using two quad-core processors, one Cortex-A7 processor and a Cortex-A15 processor. Power VR SGX 544MP3 533 MHz is responsible for graphics.

Closer to autumn, the Exynos 5410 Octa chip will support LTE. Snapdragon 600, in turn, already has such support, but smartphones based on this chip are inferior in performance.

Samsung Galaxy S4 software

The keyboard has been improved by an order of magnitude: a new algorithm for predicting words, T9 mode. Typing texts has become easier. I’ll briefly tell you about the main features of the new smartphone:

Gesture control – allows you to scroll through pictures and text without touching the screen. In reality, from the outside, such control looks “wonderful”. Using this device, it remained exotic for me, although the children quickly got used to it, and it gave them a “WoW” effect.

SMS and E-Mail – profile icons have appeared in the list of messages. It has become easier to understand a large volume of messages. A scheduled sending function has appeared; you can, for example, schedule important congratulations or messages without fear of oversleeping or forgetting. The client has been redesigned to work with by email. Filters and new message display are a nice addition.

Calendar – stickers and icons have appeared, the number of fields and calendar display have increased. For me personally, this function is not in great demand, but when compared with previous solutions, the advantages are obvious.

Albums – improved display of the photo gallery. Images are now sorted depending on the shooting modes applied. When you place your finger on the album icon, a pop-up window appears with photos inside. A function has been added to detect text in photographs. There is also functionality for commenting on photos; you can do it both in text and voice.

Story Album – the application allows you to create a thematic album in a couple of clicks. You can select the necessary photos, and they will be formatted as pages. This method is convenient for organizing trips or important events in your life. It is possible to post comments and inscriptions. If desired, such albums can even be printed as a classic album.

S-Health is one of the most striking applications. It combines functionality for athletes and people who care about their health. There is a temperature and humidity sensor, you can monitor the dynamics of changes in these indicators indoors. Another feature is a pedometer, you can count how many steps you have taken per day and calories burned, and you can also enter the consumption data obtained during fitness classes.

And of course, the calories eaten are kept track of. Additionally, you can purchase sensors - scales, bracelet, glucometer and tonometer.

Player – now you can listen to podcasts, tools for changing playback speed.

The My Sound feature allows you to analyze volume and equalizers, customizing the next song in the list to suit the device owner's preferences. A serious disadvantage was the refusal of FM radio.

Video player - gaze control has appeared, moving your head to the side, video playback stops. This feature can be disabled.

Samsung Hub - analogue Google Play. You can download music, videos and books. The usefulness is questionable.

Knox - this functionality is unlikely to be needed ordinary users, it is more likely for corporate use. When enabled, you can restrict access to files.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Settings

Settings menu Samsung Galaxy S4 has undergone changes.

Tabs appeared - connections, device, accounts, other.

The best Samsung smartphone of the 2013 model year. The first 8-core solution in this segment. The fastest, most equipped device today with an attractive design and functionality that no one else has yet. Samsung is confident that this will be the best-selling smartphone in the world. But is this so, let's look further.

Materials and build quality

Of course, now, having become acquainted with the flagship and the new product discussed in this review, you understand that the Samsung Galaxy S4 in an aluminum case would look more interesting. No, this is not at all a “stone in the garden” for the South Korean manufacturer, but rather an exclusively user opinion.

In the S4 case, as in the case of last year’s flagship smartphone, the manufacturer uses plastic. There is no need to look for any trick in this - Samsung representatives themselves have spoken about this material more than once. And from a production point of view, making several tens of millions of aluminum frames to begin with is not an easy task even for such a giant as Samsung.

Even at the presentation of the Samsung Galaxy S4 in Kyiv, it was noted that initially the handset will be available in white and blue colors with a mirror border around the perimeter. The latter, by the way, is slightly raised above the display in hardware, by about half a millimeter.

Although we were testing a non-commercial version of the device, we nevertheless had the opportunity to clearly evaluate the build quality. Neither the elements themselves nor their fit even hint at the cheapness of the work - excellent liner, minimal seams or gaps.

The workmanship of the functional elements on the ends and panels of the tube is also good.

The battery cover is attached very easily and simply. It can be removed just as easily. However, I recommend doing the second procedure by first prying it off at the end micro port. This seemed more convenient to me than resorting to the mediation of a gap specially designated for these purposes.

Design

Although the appearance of the smartphone is definitely made “in the footsteps” of the previous flagship, the device, nevertheless, looks “more mature” not only because of the number in the name: a thin rim around the display, wide and straight, although somewhat rounded edges, mirrored edging around the perimeter, and extremely compact. Agree, for a 5-inch smartphone 137x70x8 mm is not much.

By the way, I noted for myself that, looking at the style of the body edging, I can’t help but compare it with the edging of the iPhone 4S. Of course, the similarity is rather tactical, but common features can nevertheless be traced.

As for the pattern on the plastic part, the impressions are as follows. By itself, it looks good, it brings its own individual innovations to the design, but at the same time, I can’t say that it’s particularly catchy.

Ergonomics of functional elements

Under the screen of the Samsung Galaxy SIV there is a standard trinity - two touch buttons and one hardware button. Hardware, if anyone is interested, the user can unlock the smartphone. However, for the same purposes there is also a traditional one on the right side.

In addition, all three buttons have received other functionality. So, by pressing and holding the hardware button for a few seconds, the system will “transfer” you to the submenu of the latest open applications. Everything is very simple here - three submenu icons. By clicking on the one depicted as a trash can, the user will stop all running applications with one touch. The button marked “g” takes you to the search line, and the last button will allow you to quickly go to the memory manager.

But if you press and hold the context key, you can “quickly” call up the Google search line.

The last key from this “trio” is responsible for calling the editor of several windows,” but this is if it was initially activated in the “Display” submenu.

As with any other Samsung smartphone, the S4 user also has the ability to configure the button backlight timeout for the device in standby mode.

There is a peephole above the display front camera, light and proximity sensors, event indicator and much more.

On the left side there is a paired volume control button. By the way, there is a nice little thing here - next to the volume slider there is a small touch wheel, by “pointing” on it with a finger, the user will immediately have access to a small menu in which you can adjust the volume of the melody, media, notifications, etc. All this is done, however, manually, but, nevertheless, even this is still easier than searching in the submenu.

Inspecting the right side edge, you can’t help but notice the device’s power on/off key. With the same button you can disable data transfer, activate offline mode and much more.

At the lower end there is a micro USB port, as well as the main conversation microphone, and on the top there is an output for classic headphones, another microphone and a window infrared port. Through the latter, a Samsung Galaxy S4 user can control various household appliances.

The body of the battery cover contains leads for the main 13 megapixel camera, as well as flash plus speakers. speakerphone. The manufacturer's logo is also engraved here.

Brief technical specifications

Display

The display on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is very good. Judge for yourself - Super matrix, the diagonal of which is 5 inches, and the resolution is 1080x1920 pixels.

Pixel density is 441 per inch. Even taking into account the fact that the display received an arrangement of subpixels according to the PenTile scheme, the output screen “produces” a smooth picture with features characteristic of AMOLED in the form rich colors.

The settings submenu, which is simply called “Display,” is also rich.

Let’s go here and see that the manufacturer has divided it into several sub-items: “general”, “screen”, as well as “font”, “ additional settings" In essence, what maneuvers this or that submenu is responsible for is clear from the names.

The Galaxy SIV would not be without the “Home Screen Mode” submenu, where the ability to select a shell is implemented in software. There are two options - "Basic Mode" or "Simple Mode". Depending on which of them is activated, the user receives a more “loaded” shell (with various widgets and shortcuts) or a simpler one.

But in the “Lock Screen” submenu you can lock your smartphone – there are several options to choose from. In addition, you can customize shortcuts, widgets and much more here.

And one more feature that we saw earlier in the Galaxy Note II is the “Multiple Window” mode. Its essence is that the screen can be divided in half between two applications and work with them without switching. The solution, of course, is not new, but I personally liked it back in Note review II.

Memory

In short, one 100% charge for a day under moderate loads is quite enough.

The settings menu has a submenu “Power Saving Mode”. Its features do not require additional comments.

Equipment

Out of the box, the user will receive a Samsung Galaxy S4 running the Android 4.2.2 operating system, which, of course, will be updated to the release of Android 5.0.

A modification of the new product, aimed at the Ukrainian user, is equipped with an Exynos 5 Octa chipset with an 8-core processor - four ARM Cortex-A15 cores (1.6 GHz) and 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores (1.2 GHz). In addition, there is an integrated PowerVR SGX544MP3 video accelerator and 2 GB of RAM on board.

Performance and shell

We conducted performance testing through a series of special programs. Below are the results.

In addition to today's newest version of the Android operating system, the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone also received an updated TouchWiz shell, which takes full advantage of Android features 4.2.2.

IN new version TouchWiz, a Korean manufacturer, among other things, has quite well redesigned the settings submenu, dividing them into different tabs. Quite a lot of new ones have appeared, for example, for working with accessories, including a docking station. In addition, the menu has quite a lot of display color settings, etc.

Communications

Regarding communications, it is worth noting standard browsers Chrome and Android, Dropbox client, email apps and more.

Connection via a USB cable can be made using micro-USB, MHL, USB On-the-go, USB Host protocols. Edition – 4.0 with profile. In addition, “on board” 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, etc.

Camera Features

Main samsung camera Galaxy S4 received a 13 megapixel Sony Exmor RS matrix.

I suggest that you do not go into listing the settings, but look at them yourself further.

The video camera records with a maximum resolution of 1080p.

- test photo

- test video

Gestures and touchless controls

Contactless smartphone control works from the “Input and Control” submenu.

By going here, the user gets the opportunity to work with the menu sub-items “Movements and Gestures”, “Smart Screen”, “Hover” and “Voice Control”.

“Movements and Gestures” provides the ability to control your smartphone with your palm, using gestures, as well as movement. Frankly speaking, I found the palm control option least practical. Still, whatever one may say, touch navigation with a finger is much more convenient.

But motion control “moved” here from SIII. By going to the Smart Screen, the user will be able to activate sub-menu, smart wait, smart rotation, as well as smart pause and smart scroll. Frankly speaking, at first it is not particularly clear how exactly the last function works. But in practice, everything is extremely simple - you just need to activate it, then go to some site and “fix” your gaze on the page. When the small green arrow, this will mean that you can start working.

The remaining features implemented in this subclause do not need explanation.

A curious one is the “Hover” submenu. Here you can set options for displaying information when you place your finger on different parts of the screen.

Conclusions and impressions

If you are looking for cons in this device, then the only thing you can blame the handset for is the lack of an FM receiver. Samsung representatives once said themselves why there is no receiver. By the way, everything is very simple. According to the manufacturer's representatives, the user simply does not need this application.

Otherwise everything is great. The device turned out to be not just cosmetically redesigned, it is truly a radically new solution for the market that will be successful. And, by the way, the first colossal sales are partly proof of this.

Today, the Galaxy S4 is truly the most equipped and productive smartphone model. Yes, even if the design does not “meet” the definition of “bomb exploding effect”, the handset still looks great, and in combination with a lot of possibilities “on board”, even the cost of six thousand hryvnia does not seem overpriced.

Pros

Excellent case materials and build quality;
High-quality display;
Good equipment and performance/new axle;
Autonomy;
USB Host;
Memory card slot;
Ability to control gestures;
IR port;
Multi-window mode

Cons

No FM receiver

Estimated price: 6000 hryvnia
Product provided by Samsung press service
Sergey Reshodko

Somehow, gradually and unnoticed by everyone, Samsung turned into the same iconic player in the smartphone market as Apple. Other companies are now looking at it, trying to match the announcements of the Korean giant not only to the characteristics, but also to the timing of the release of their top products to the market. And the Galaxy S4, in my opinion, will once again become a kind of steamroller that will simply sweep away its main competitors from the market - LG Optimus G, Sony Xperia Z and HTC One. Why do I think this? Reply to this question I will try to give in this review.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S4

Video review of Samsung Galaxy S4

Appearance and design

Samsung Galaxy S4 looks very similar to Galaxy S III. Apparently, Samsung decided to follow the path of Apple and not touch once again what is already selling well. However, it's worth noting that the SGS4 overall feels more comfortable in the hand than the SGS III due to the fact that its edges aren't as chamfered. By the way, due to this, the manufacturer managed to reduce the width of the smartphone, although not by much. The result is the best phone on the market in terms of screen to bezel area ratio. Just for fun, I put the Galaxy S4 next to the Galaxy Grand Duos and for a long time could not believe that these two devices have screens of the same diagonal - the Grand Duos is so massive.

It is worth noting that the thin frame is very well perceived psychologically: as you get used to the phone, it (the phone) seems to “dissolve” and the user is left alone with the most important thing - the screen.

Among the minor differences, we note the changed texture of the side edging (now it looks more like real metal, although it is still made of painted plastic), as well as an unobtrusive pattern on the front and rear panels, which is best seen when viewed from an angle. This pattern reminds me of a cross between the very first Samsung Galaxy S and the LG Nexus 4.

The location of controls and other elements on the smartphone body has not changed compared to the Galaxy S III. As usual, below the screen is the hardware Home button(which can be used to unlock the phone), on the sides of it there are touch keys context menu and return. On the left side of the device there is a double volume button, on the right there is a power/unlock button (by the way, these buttons are made of metal). At the bottom end, as usual, is located micro-USB connector and the main conversation microphone. On the top there is a headphone output, another microphone (auxiliary) and infrared transmitter, with the help of which SGS4 can control household appliances: TVs, Blu-ray players and other air conditioners.

Under back cover there is a battery with a built-in NFC antenna, slots for micro-SIM cards and micro-SD, as well as contacts for connecting an optional cover with support for wireless induction charging. The cover itself is made of very thin (but durable) plastic and fits snugly to the phone body.

Screen

One of the most attractive Samsung features Galaxy S4 is Super screen AMOLED with a diagonal of 5 inches and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (pixel density 441 ppi).

If desired, you can see PenTile on the Galaxy S4 screen... if you arm yourself with a magnifying glass

Despite the PenTile arrangement of subpixels, the screen produces an extremely smooth picture with typical AMOLED features in the form of rich colors, high contrast and a shift in color balance to the cold side. It is worth noting that in the Galaxy S4 you can select the AdobeRGB profile for the screen, which largely tidies up the image. So, if in the “Standard” mode color temperature for a white field is 7800K, then in AdobeRGB mode it is 6900K, which is much closer to the standard value of 6500K. Unfortunately, in all modes, color temperature is highly dependent on brightness - in other words, light and dark areas of the image on the Galaxy S4 screen will have different shades.

Color gamut Galaxy screen S4 goes beyond the sRGB color space and is roughly equivalent to AdobeRGB.

The main disadvantage of the Galaxy S4 screen is its very low brightness. With the brightness set to 100% in the menu, the actual brightness of the white field was only 282 cd/m2, which is significantly lower than all other phones we had at hand (see table). On the other hand, due to the fact that black pixels on AMOLED screens are completely turned off, contrast (which is defined as the ratio of the brightness of the white and black fields) tends to infinity. Due to the infinitely high contrast, all AMOLED screens look very advantageous when viewing videos and photos.

Below you can evaluate the maximum screen brightness of the Galaxy S4 compared to the Sony Xperia T and Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos:

Oddly enough, outdoors the difference in brightness is much less noticeable. By the standards of AMOLED screens, the Galaxy S4 shows excellent results:

How can you explain such a low screen brightness? I have one theory about this. The fact is that each next generation of AMOLED screens in Samsung phones has a lower brightness compared to the previous one, that is, the screen in the Galaxy S III is less bright than in the Galaxy S II, and the Galaxy S II is less bright compared to first Galaxy S. I believe that as pixel densities increase and the size of individual OLEDs decreases, Samsung is forced to lower the maximum brightness to avoid premature screen degradation. In any case, I will try to get a commercial copy of the Galaxy S4 and take repeated measurements to exclude the possibility of abnormal behavior of a particular sample.

The capacitive touch matrix in the Galaxy S4 can automatically change its sensitivity and should theoretically adapt to gloves or, say, wet hands. In practice, the smartphone works poorly with gloves (worse than the Nokia Lumia 820), but with wet hands it works great. Traditionally for flagship smartphones Samsung, 10-finger multi-touch supported.

Sound

Headphone output volume was one of my main complaints with the Galaxy S III. Last year's Samsung flagship had no power reserve, moreover, when using the Etymotic hf5 armature headphones maximum volume was not enough for comfortable listening to classical music (which, as a rule, has a wider dynamic range than music of other genres). Fortunately, the Galaxy S4 solves this problem: using the same headphones and listening to the same recordings, I never had to turn the volume up to maximum. Additionally, while the Galaxy S III was a bass-heavy phone that made it sound dull, the Galaxy S4 boasts a smoother tonal balance. In general, a complete improvement, no matter how you look at it.

But the speaker of the Galaxy S4 remained exactly the same as the Galaxy S3. Due to its unfortunate location, when carrying the phone in a jeans pocket, the sound is greatly muffled, so that in a noisy environment you may even miss a call. Unless, of course, you use the vibration alert.

Software and functionality

Galaxy S4 runs the latest software at the moment Android versions Jelly Bean (4.2.2), on top of which the proprietary TouchWiz shell is installed. It is worth noting that the new version of TouchWiz looks somewhat nicer than the old one, while the basic methods of working with it have not changed - that is, users who change old phone Samsung on the new one, will not feel lost. For example, there is the ability to work with two applications at once, familiar to other devices in the Galaxy line, by placing them on the screen at the same time.

The new shell takes full advantage of the features of Android 4.2 - such as widgets on the lock screen and the ability to swipe down with two fingers to display all switches in the notification area (by default, only top line; The order of the switches is configured in the menu).

Personally, I would like to especially note music player, which understands almost all formats (including FLAC, Monkey's Audio, OGG Vorbis and AAC) and has very advanced navigation and configuration capabilities. Perhaps its only major drawback is the lack of support for playing music without noticeable “joints” between songs (i.e. e. gapless). If this is not critical for you, you can easily do without installing third-party players.

It was an unpleasant surprise lack of FM radio. Personally, I don’t listen to the radio (there are no stations in Ukraine that suit my musical tastes), but this feature is still in demand by many.

The video player in the Galaxy S4 is combined with a branded movie store. I didn’t test the magazine part (don’t blame me), but I really liked the player itself. Out of the box it perfectly “eats” all formats and understands subtitles (both external and built-in). In addition, the player allows you to literally, with one click of a button, display video over the network on TVs that support the AllShare Play function (this is Samsung’s proprietary name for the open Miracast standard). As in the Galaxy S III, the player allows you to display a small “window” on top of the desktop.

The built-in gallery, traditionally for Samsung, is not much different from standard gallery Android.

Other interesting things I remember were alarm clocks with the Location Alarm function (triggered only in a certain place), a good timer/stopwatch, and sports functions (which can work with both built-in phone and external sensors).

Contacts, dialer, SMS - everything is standard for Samsung. By the way, you will laugh, but in Galaxy S4 again There is no Russian T9 when dialing a number.

A good application "Dictaphone" with a large number settings:

Dual mode calculator:

In the new version of TouchWiz, Samsung has “combed” the settings in a very interesting way, logically sorting them into different tabs. Of the unique settings, characteristic only for Samsung phones in general and the Galaxy S4 in particular, you can note the font settings (both typeface and size); working with external accessories, including docks and HDMI cables; operating modes LED indicator; screen color settings. I would also like to highlight the control of gestures and movements. For example, you can move your hand over a “sleeping” phone, which will wake up and display its status. In the same way, with hand movements you can scroll through images in the gallery, pages in the browser, etc. In my opinion, all this is more likely to interfere with life than to help - random movements in front of the phone lead to various unpredictable actions. In addition, these functions consume battery power: with gesture control turned on, the phone was discharged from 100 to 83% in 8 hours in standby mode, and with gesture control turned off - from 100 to 95%. The same applies to eye scrolling. By the way, if you wear glasses, this function will not work for you personally.

Like the Galaxy Note II, the SGS4 has a "lock mode" that allows you to turn off all notifications except events from contacts from " whitelist" In terms of implementation, this function is very close to the “Do Not Disturb” mode in iOS.

Camera

The camera quality in the Samsung Galaxy S4 was perhaps the biggest intrigue for me personally. The fact is that in all other Android smartphones with a 13-megapixel camera (LG Optimus G, Sony Xperia T/TX/V/Z/ZL), the photo quality leaves much to be desired and is inferior to the best 8-megapixel camera phones.

The technical characteristics of the camera in the Galaxy S4 are as follows: matrix diagonal 1/3", lens focal length 4 mm (28 mm EGF), aperture f/2.2. I don’t know who exactly is the manufacturer of the camera module: these technical characteristics fall under both Sony IU135F3-Z (better known in the world as Exmor RS) and Samsung’s own S5K3L2 It is likely that the Galaxy S4, like previous smartphones in the Galaxy S line, will be supplied in different batches. different modules cameras.

The camera interface in the Galaxy S4 has been significantly redesigned compared to the Galaxy S III. Now the user can immediately take photos or record videos without switching modes. Supported continuous shooting (maximum length series - 20 frames). If desired, the volume up button can be assigned to the shutter key, video recording key, or digital zoom key. By the way, the volume up button on the headset begins to perform the same function, which allows you to use the headset as an electronic shutter release cable. Generally on home screen The camera displays only the most necessary things, everything else is hidden in the settings menu. The phone supports a lot of different shooting modes (including regular and spherical panoramas) and can take pictures with the main and front cameras simultaneously. In this case, the frame from the front camera is “pasted” into the main photo.

Separate gallery on Torba.com.

Galaxy Video The S4 also shoots quite well. The maximum video resolution is 1920x1080 pixels with a refresh rate of 30 fps. Audio is recorded in AAC format with a sampling rate of 48 kHz and a bit rate of 128 kbps.

Performance and autonomy

Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped with an 8-core Exynos 5 Octa processor. Or rather, not 8-core, but twice 4-core, since all eight cores never work at the same time. Four fast ARM Cortex-A15 cores work when you need them high performance, and four economical ARM Cortex-A7 cores - when you don’t need to do anything supernatural, but it would be nice to save battery power. The smartphone uses fast PowerVR SGX544 graphics in a 3-core configuration (similar graphics, only in a 4-core configuration, are used in Apple iPad 4). Due to 2 GB of RAM, the Galaxy S4 does not have problems with forced reboot applications and web pages, which so bothered Galaxy S3 owners.

As you can see from the screenshots, today the Galaxy S4 is the most fast smartphone in the world (I wonder, though, for how long). In terms of pure performance, it is about 40% faster than the Galaxy S III.

The smartphone is powered by a battery with a capacity of 2600 mAh (9.88 Wh). Autonomy is at a level somewhere between the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, that is, it is very good by the standards of modern Android smartphones. At least the device managed to work on battery power for almost 20 hours, including 4 hours and 20 minutes of screen time at maximum brightness, 40 minutes of watching videos and about half an hour of playing Temple Run 2.

Bottom line

Summarize this review in just one short phrase: Samsung Galaxy S4 is an excellent smartphone. It is equipped with a very decent screen, great camera, powerful hardware, capacious battery and loud headphone output. What more could you want? Oh yes, design... However, this is a matter of taste. Personally, I like SGS4 precisely because of its neutrality; it does not distract the user’s attention from the most important thing - the content displayed on the screen.

Does the Galaxy S4 have any disadvantages other than appearance and body materials? Of course there is. Its screen is very lacking in brightness, and the gesture and movement controls, which clearly have a lot of effort and resources invested in it, are completely inapplicable in real life. In addition, it is completely unclear who was bothered by the FM receiver. Can these shortcomings be tolerated? In my opinion, it is possible, since the advantages outweigh them by a wide margin.

So ultimately, the Galaxy S4 earns our highest editorial award, Editors' Choice.

6 reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy S4:

• record (at the time of writing this review) performance;
• AMOLED screen with FullHD resolution produces a smooth, contrasting and rich picture;
• high-quality 13-megapixel camera with a user-friendly interface;
• convenient video player with support for all common containers and codecs out of the box;
• good autonomy;
• the presence of temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure sensors.

2 reasons not to buy Samsung Galaxy S4:

• low maximum screen brightness;
• lack of FM receiver.