Samsung Unpacked Ep1 2013

Samsung held their first release event for 2013. After much success with the amazing Galaxy SIII (which I rated #1 Smartphone of 2012) they release the next generation Galaxy - The Samsung Galaxy S4. The Event had an interesting twist with a broadway feeling because of the location and I thought it was smart given the idea of the S4 and it helped potential consumers to have a look at what they could use the array of gestures for.

DESIGN

The S4 Keeps the amazing curved edges of the nature inspired design of the SIII however the new design incoporates the new 5' display. The device is infact smaller than its predecessor its exactly the same height and is much thinner (which is amazing when you understand the new features and Specs). As with most Samsung devices the S4 is unfortunately made of plastic (a fact that I hated with the SIII) The reason why I didn't like it is because plastic doesn't feel as premium as Metal used in the iPhone for example, which is important to have when the iPhone is its #1 rival. Colour-wise it comes in "White Frost" and "Black Mist" with a promise of more color options in due course. The sides of this phone has a metal finish similar to that of the iPhone 4S and the Blackberry Bold 9900. Something that i'm really happy about is the textured back, since when I had the SIII I found that the  backing of the phone was to slippery and I couldn't grasp the phone properly. Overall I think the design is wonderful - its simply yet bold , extravagant yet elegant, its simply beautiful but personally after having used the Galaxy SIII for a while , I feel that the design is too similar to its predecessor as well as the Galaxy Note II. 

DISPLAY

Something that Samsung always gets right is the screen. The S4 is no exception with a 5' Super HD AmOLED screen that has a stunning 441ppi (compared to the iPhone 5 which has 326ppi.) The screen makes for a crisp and flowing display. Another thing Samsung has done is that the screen automatically adjusts to the type of App you using in order for the display to be more pleasant to your eyes.

 OS

GROUP PLAY

If you have a song you want your friends to listen to you can use Group play with allows you to play the exact song on up to 8 S4s without using wireless or 3G. 

SOUND&SHOT

With the Sound & Shot feature you can add sound to a picture, you can hence hear what was said during that moment.

DRAMA SHOT

Drama Shot allows you to take series of pictures of a moving moment and then puts them into one picture. The feature allows you to see the detailed actions of the action. 

DUAL CAMERA

Most smart phones on the market have two cameras - a front facing and a back facing camera , Samsung decided to make use of both of the cameras at once using the Dual camera feature. I think this feature is amazing as I always find that when I take pictures I end up with none of myself, when with this feature you can take a picture and add yourself into the picture. You can use this feature on ChatON video. 

S TRANSLATOR

If you are traveling the world and meet someone who speaks a different language to you , you can simply use this feature. You type out your desired sentence and it says it in one of the 9 built-in languages (including French, Chinese, Portuguese and Korean.) It then waits for a reply and translates that into text.

SMAT PAUSE & SMART SCROLL

The S4 tracks your eyes to see what you are looking at so that when you are watching a video , it pauses when you look away and resumes when you look at it again. 

S VOICE DRIVE

S Voice Drive is a samsung designed voice assistant that takes in account safety when driving using bigger fonts and a simpler interface. You can now make calls , answer them and ask for directions.

S HEALTH

The S4 helps you stay healthy and fit as it tracks your workouts and your daily intakes.

STATS

• Network 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz, 3G (HSPA+ 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz, 4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50Mbps): up to six different band sets (Dependent on market)
• Display 5 inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display, 441 ppi
• Processor 1.6 GHz Octa-Core Processor
• OS Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Camera Main (Rear): 13 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BIS, Sub (Front): 2 Mega pixel camera, Full HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BIS
• Video Codec MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark, HEVC
• Recording & Playback Full HD (1080p)
• Audio Codec MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X
• Dual Camera Dual Shot / Dual Recording/ Dual Video Call, Drama Shot, Sound & Shot, 360 Photo, Cinema Photo, Eraser, Night, Best Photo, Best Face, Beauty Face, HDR (High Dynamic Range), Panorama, Sports
• Additional Features Group Play: Share Music, Share Picture, Share Document, Play Games, Story Album, S Translator, Optical Reader, Samsung Smart Scroll, Samsung Smart Pause, Air Gesture, Air View, Samsung Hub, ChatON (Voice/Video Call, Share screen, 3-way calling), Samsung WatchON, S Travel (Trip Advisor), S Voice™ Drive, S Health, Samsung Adapt Display, Samsung Adapt Sound, Auto adjust touch sensitivity (Glove friendly), Safety Assistance, Samsung Link, Screen Mirroring, Samsung KNOX (B2B only), Google Mobile Services Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Latitude, Google Play Store, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Places, Google Navigation, Google Downloads, Voice Search
• Connectivity WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80), GPS / GLONASS, NFC, Bluetooth® 4.0 (LE), IR LED (Remote Control), MHL 2.0, Sensor Accelerometer, RGB light, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer, Temperature & Humidity, Gesture
• Memory 16/ 32/ 64 GB User memory + microSD slot (up to 64GB)
• RAM 2GB
• Dimensions 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g
  • Battery 2,600 mAh
• 

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Samsung Posts SIV Teaser!

Earlier today The korean based company Samsung post the above picture of the alleged Galaxy SIV smartphone (which is set to release on the 14th May 2013 at the Samsung Unpacked event in New York) on their Twitter and Facebook feeds. The image shows the upper half of the smartphone, Curved edges (suggesting Samsung is using the same 'Nature Inspired' design and most importantly or should i say most awkwardly the phone is missing its headset speaker, so the question lingers ...

 Did they do that on purpose? 

Follow my twitter feed @iblogunscripted and subscribe to read more SIV news leading up to the event and definitely a breakdown of the event and my thoughts on the device. 

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