Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Is it worth the upgrade?

Samsung has been continuously innovating their products to improve the user experience for their patrons and the result has been a witness. Carrying the same trend, Samsung launched the Galaxy S4, the next iteration to their Galaxy S series and the latest flagship Android device on 14 March 2013 globally and on 6th May 2013 for the Indian sub-continent.

It has been just 2 months since the device launched, and it has already crossed 10 million sales worldwide. As expected, Samsung came up with brilliant hardware upgrades running the latest Android 4.2.2 with a bundle of software advancements. Obviously Samsung would have done something to improve its product, but not many people know about the upgrades. We did a side-by-side comparison with the predecessor Galaxy S3 and came to a conclusion which can be read further below.

Build:

Looking at complete Galaxy S series we have observed that Samsung does not focus that much on looks and even S4 is not an exception to this fact but this does not mean that it lacks in design. Yes the competition might and are having better looking devices but these Galaxies have a demon within considering the performance.

Samsung do make sure that their devices are at least ergonomic if not beautiful. Both the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S4 give a good feel in hands though the S3 has this better with the curved edges. Unlike the earlier variant, S4 has a metal finished edge which feels better than the plastic and obviously gives a premium look to the device.

We were surprised to see that S3 with the screen size of 4.7inches and S4 with 5 inches fits in the same height with just 0.8 mm wider, 0.7mm thinner and 3 grams lighter. This is what Samsung calls innovation. Amazing right?

Rest the placement of the hardware buttons remain exactly the same.

Hardware:

No doubt Galaxy S4 packs a better set of hardware chipset as compared to Galaxy S3 and it has to after all S4 is an upgrade to S3. So Galaxy S4 packs Exynos Octa 5410 chipset with octa core processor having Quad-core 1.2 GHz A7 CPU and Quad-core 1.6GHz A15 CPU with PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU, 2 GB RAM and 16GB internal memory whereas S3 packs Exynos 4412 Quad chipset which has Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU along with Mali-400MP, 1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory.

S4 has two more sensors giving a new use case for the device. On the connectivity side, S4 has improved network adapters to provide high speed internet access. Battery capacity has also increased up to 2600 mAh from 2100 mAh on S3 to keep up with added features.

Display:

It has been an immense pleasure to use the S4 especially because of the display. The screen has been a massive upgrade from the S3. Both of them being Super AMOLED the brightness and colors makes it a complete winner. 5 inches Super AMOLED full HD 1080p 441 ppi display with minimum bezel over 4.7 inch Super AMOLED HD 720p 306ppi display fit in the same height is worth spending.

Camera:

Samsung might have not spoken much about the 13 megapixel camera on the device but it indeed is very good. S3 has a 8 MP auto focus LED flash camera with some of the shooting modes like action shot, best photo, tag buddy etc. S4 not only got these camera shooting modes improved but some of the interesting additional inputs here as well which include the drama shot, sound and shoot etc.

We will take rest from this section concluding that 13 MP camera works up to the par and is definitely considered an advancement over the 8MP on SGS3.

Software:

Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on Android 4.2.1 operating system with a bundle of applications running on TouchWiz UI layering whereas S3 runs on Android 4.1.2 according to the recent update. S-heath, Samsung hub, S-translator and story album are some of the new applications with the os upgrade which can be made to use in daily routine. Though TouchWiz can’t be a decider for the upgrade but it does matter when it comes to user experience.

Conclusion:

Samsung Galaxy S4 is available for ₹40,500 from Samsung estore and for ₹38,500 from other online retail sites. One obviously thinks twice before spending this much amount and looks for the pros and cons. We did a small survey asking people which one will you prefer S3 or S4 and got mixed results. Small percent of people prefer the looks of S3 and say they are disappointed and will stick to S3 while a good number were interested in the upgrade leaving the rest looking for other competitive devices.

Concluding the comparison we came down to this suggestion that anyone is planning for the upgrading his/her Galaxy S3 to Galaxy S4 he/she can make the upgrade without a second thought because it will be worth your money. All those who own a Galaxy S3 already know what Samsung gives you for the price so for even those who don’t have S3 and are planning for a high end smartphone willing to spend their money can follow our suggestion, in the end its all up to you.

Pictures: #1 – Gizmag
#2 – Techdigest