Samsung Galaxy S4 first impressions

As we posted earlier, Samsung launched their latest flagship smartphone today in India for the MRP of 41,500. Bow down to Samsung for such an amazing launch event, definately the best I have ever attended. Thanks to Samsung for the invitation and glad that we could make it.

Below is the hands-on video of the newly launched smartphone from the experience zone:

Talking about the device now. Samsung Galaxy S4 is 7.9mm thick and 130 gms in weight, obviously slimmer than the SIII. Surprisingly, we found that Samsung did something different to make build of the device a little better to what we expected. The polycarbonate body doesn’t feel that plasticky which we have seen in the past. There is a cromium lining on the edges couldn’t really figure out what material is that due to time shortage but no worries we have already added to the to-do list as the pending tasks during the device testing period. The overall design is the same which we have seen with every Samsung Galaxy model from the last one year, nothing changed.

The Galaxy S4 runs on 4.2.2 Android operating system with typical Samsung custom layering called TouchWiz. Being on a octacore processor with 2 gigs of RAM the quite snappy. Samsung has built a whole new Samsung Hub which comprises of Reader’s Hub, Gamer’s Hub, Music Hub and Video Hub which were separate on previous versions.

The 5inch super AMOLED display maintains color saturation levels which gives a pleasent experience on usage. Unlike the Galaxy SIII, the S4 has 9 sensors that is two more from the former which includes IR sensor and barometer. AirView which has been here on Galaxy Note II with the stylus is now available on S4 with normal usage and this works for browsing photographs, videos, web, answering calls etc.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 packs a 13MP rear camera and a 2MP front-facing camera both of which are capable of recording full HD videos. With the new touchwiz Samsung has also included some new shooting modes which includes the shoot and sound, drama shot, animate picture along with the earlier panorama etc as well.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has been priced at an MRP of 41,500 INR which is already available for sale in the four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru with other regions coming up by the next week.We think that the pricing for the device is appropriate taking the specifications and features into consideration. After spending one hour with the device we thought it would have been better if Samsung worked on the build.

We shall do a detailed review very soon. Probably a one-on-one comparison with the competitors. Stay tuned!