The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the most hotly
anticipated smartphone ever from the Korean brand, and with a glut of
top end features, it's the most powerful and desirable device Samsung
has created yet.
One of the most
impressive things about the phone is the fact the size hasn't changed
from its predecessor - the Galaxy S4 comes in at 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm
(5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches), meaning there's no extra heft to try to
work with in your palm.

TechRadar rating
/5
For
- Stunning screen
- Superfast processor
- Great camera
Against
- Feels cheaper than similar-priced phones
- 'Innovation' makes things too complex
- Slight UI issues
Samsung Galaxy S4 review
The Galaxy SIV is here - but does it pack enough of a punch?
Recommended award
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the most hotly
anticipated smartphone ever from the Korean brand, and with a glut of
top end features, it's the most powerful and desirable device Samsung
has created yet.
One of the most
impressive things about the phone is the fact the size hasn't changed
from its predecessor - the Galaxy S4 comes in at 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm
(5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches), meaning there's no extra heft to try to
work with in your palm.
However,
despite this fact, the screen on the S4 has been increased once more,
to a whopping 5-inch display with Full HD resolution. This means the
same amount of pixels you'd have seen on a TV that cost well over £1,000
four years ago is now riding around in your pocket.
Let's
not pretend that Samsung is a pioneer in this area though: like a great
many features of the Galaxy S4, the phone borrows a lot from the other
top smartphones of the moment. Both the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC One
have screens that rock the same resolution, but neither of them have
the jaw-dropping clout of the Super AMOLED HD screen on offer here.
On
top of that, there's a much faster processor packed under the hood,
ample storage space for media thanks to an expandable memory card slot,
and the likes of 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and pretty much any other connection you care to mention on board.

Samsung
has tried to supplement this with a tranche of software upgrades too,
meaning a more powerful camera, a better way to communicate with your
friends and consume media, and interestingly a big push into health
through dedicated apps too.
The Samsung Galaxy S4
costs the same as the HTC One, give or take a pound or two, on
contract. This will still put it around £35 per month, which isn't too
bad for such a high design.

But
before we dissect all the possibilities the phone has to offer, let's
look at the design. As we mentioned, it's impressive in its form factor,
thanks to the sub-8mm thickness, and at 130g it manages to still be
light without shaving off so much heft that you feel like you've got a
flimsy piece of plastic.

That's
probably the biggest compliment we can pay the Samsung Galaxy S4 -
where its predecessor felt a little bit cheap in the hand, the S4
manages to bring a much more solid build and better construction to
boot.
So while the "faux metal" band
makes a comeback on this model, it looks a lot more premium. And there's
very little flex in the chassis when you hold it tightly, which was
another problem with the Galaxy S3
at times. It can get dented very easily though, and be careful not to
crack your screen if you do so - we've heard of a few instances where
this has happened to S4 users, although that can be said of many other
polycabonate smartphones.

That
doesn't mean that the phone is completely remodelled from the S3 - it's
very similar in appearance, so much so that a number of people asking
to see it during our review thought we were palming them off with our
old S3. The polycarbonate chassis remains, but that brings with it the
faithful battery cover, which conceals a removable battery and microSD
slot.

We're
not so fussed about the battery being able to drop out of the phone -
so few people carry around a spare battery, and nowadays portable
charging blocks are becoming so cheap and light that they make much more
sense too.
We'd almost prefer
something like the Sony Xperia Z, which has a refined and packaged
chassis but doesn't need a removable battery: it makes use of a slot
instead for the memory card. This integrated nature would make for a
slightly more premium feel to the phone.

However, it's a small gripe with the S4, as while the cover feels flimsy, it's better than it was on the S2 and the S3, and they both sold like hot cakes.
In
the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S4 feels much better than any other
Samsung phone we've held (apart from the gargantuan smartphones the
brand used to make - the i8910 Omnia HD
might have been built like a brick, but it felt wonderful to hold). The
screen's spread towards the sides of the phone means a much narrower
bezel, and the effect is certainly impressive.

It
might look very similar to the S3, but when you take the Samsung Galaxy
S4 up close, you really start to appreciate the nuances.
We'd say it feels a lot more like the LG Optimus G
range now - when we first picked it up, we were struck with how similar
it felt in terms of sturdiness and the polycarbonate construction to
the LG Optimus G Pro.
That's
no criticism, as the device was well built too, but it has a similar
rounded feel. This is intriguing given the history of the two companies,
and shows more of a leaning towards the plastic shell from the Asian
brands in general.

Buttonry
has barely changed from before - the power button has been shifted
slightly on the right-hand side, and is now much easier to hit. Samsung
has clearly taken some lessons from the Galaxy Note 2, which has a really well positioned power/lock button.
The
volume key is less easy to hit, and could be lower down in our eyes,
but the travel on both of these buttons is satisfying, and you'll always
know when you've hit them.
The plastic
used on the home key has been upgraded too, with a more solid feel
under the thumb when you press down to get back to the main home screen.
The two buttons flanking it give you access to menus or take you back
from whence you came, and while both are easily hidden, they light up
nicely with an even glow when called into action.
There
are loads of sensors on the front of the phone above the screen,
including cameras to track your eyes, a 2MP camera for HD video calling
and a proximity sensor for knowing where the phone is in relation to
your ear. On the white review unit we had, their presence looks rather
ugly either side of the generous earpiece, but on the darker models this
is less of an issue.

The other notable addition to the design of the Galaxy S4
is the infra red blaster on the top of the phone. This enables you to
control your TV, satellite box, DVD player, amp and even air
conditioner. Again, this isn't a new feature, but it works well in
practice, and despite being small is powerful enough indeed.
Other
than that, there's not a lot more to say about the design of the phone,
as it's just a little underwhelming. We know it's unfair to lambast a
brand for not overhauling the design every year, but in the One X and the One, HTC has proven that it is possible to offer up a new design each time around and still keep things attractive.
Looking
so similar to the Galaxy S3, you can't help but feel Samsung has gone a
little too Apple and created something more in keeping with the Samsung
Galaxy S3S - a minor update to a great phone to keep those coming out
of contract happy that they have a premium phone to upgrade to.
We
do implore you to get the phone in your hand before making a judgement
though - while it's not got the best design on the market when it comes
to materials, it's a big step forward compared to the Galaxy S3 and
allows for a grippy and easy-to-hold phone, with a whopping screen
inside.
To just dismiss it for being
plastic would be doing the S4 a disservice as it has so much more going
for it than that, but it's worth remembering that to a lot of people,
the way a phone looks is as important as how much RAM it's got on board
and how fast the CPU is - if not more so.
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