The new feature-packed Samsung Galaxy S 4 was unveiled at Radio City Music Hall in New York today and will be available in Australia in late April.
It looks almost identical to the Galaxy S III but features a larger 5-inch screen full high definition Super AMOLED screen and an eight-core 1.6Ghz processor
It also has an impressive line-up of new features that were demonstrated in an over-the-top Broadway-style show.
The Galaxy S 4 is 136.6mm long, 69.8mm wide and just 7.9mm thick and weighs 130g. It will be available in Black Mist and White Frost and is made from a sturdy polycarbonate.
(THE ACTUAL PRESENTATION STARTS AT THE 41-MINUTE MARK)
On board the device is a 13-megapixel camera with 2GB RAM and 16/32/64GB memory capacity options along with a microSD card slot to expand the storage even further.
It will also be compatible with the latest and fastest wi-fi standard 802.11ac and will be powered by the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
The display is full high definition 1920 x 1080 and has 441ppi (pixels per inch) and the device will be compatible with Australia’s 4G networks.
But perhaps the most impressive thing about Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 is not the hardware but the list of features which make using the device even easier and also easier to integrate into our life.
These include Smart Scroll, Smart Pause, Air View, Air Gesture, Group Play, Dual Shot, Sound in Shot, S Translator, S Voice Drive and Samsung Knox.
SMART SCROLL
Taking the Smart Stay feature of the Galaxy S III, which could detect when your eye was on the screen, Smart Scroll can detect when your eye is at the bottom of the screen and scrolls automatically.
SMART PAUSE
When watching a video, the Galaxy S 4 can tell when your eye is on the screen but as soon as you look away it will automatically pause the video and resume when you look at the screen again.
AIR VIEW
Users can preview documents, emails, messages and photo albums simply by hovering their finger above the screen over the item instead of having to open the app or the actual item.
AIR GESTURE
The Galaxy S4 also has gesture control and will respond, through its front facing camera, to arm and hand movements to do things like navigate documents, control music and even answer calls.
GROUP PLAY
Even without an internet connection it is possible to connect up to five Galaxy S 4 devices and stream the same music on all of them to create an instant party.
DUAL SHOT
The device’s 13-megapixel camera also boasts some new features including Dual Shot which means you can take pictures and videos at the same time from the front and back cameras.
SOUND IN SHOT
People shooting still images with the Galaxy S 4 will also have the option of recording a few seconds of sound before or after the shot is taken to have audio to go with the image.
S TRANSLATOR
This is a powerful feature for travellers and allows spoken and text translations in real time with nine languages – French, Latin American, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese – at your disposal with the Galaxy S 4 as well as English, of course.
S VOICE DRIVE
When you’re driving you can still have complete control of the Galaxy S 4 just by using your voice. In driving mode the screen changes with larger icons and text. Apart making and answering calls, users can also have messages read out and can either dictate a written reply or call.
SAMSUNG KNOX
With the growing trend of BYOD (bring your own device) to the work place, the new Samsung Knox feature makes it possible to separate your work content and apps from your personal content to help provide that work/life balance.
Also revealed during the Samsung Galaxy S 4 launch was the Samsung Home Sync – a home cloud storage solution with a 1TB internal hard drive – to make it easy to store and access content from within the home or remotely from anywhere in the world.
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 will be available in late April.
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