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Samsung Galaxy S4 The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone
produced by Samsung Electronics. First unveiled on March 13, 2013 at Samsung Mobile Unpacked
in New York City, it is a successor to the Galaxy S III which maintains a similar design,
but with upgraded hardware and an increased focus on software features that take advantage
of its hardware capabilities—such as the ability to detect when a finger is hovered
over the screen, and expanded eye tracking functionality . A hardware variant of the
S4 also became the first smartphone to support the emerging LTE Advanced mobile network standard.
The S4 was made available in late April 2013 on 327 carriers in 155 countries. Upon its
release, it became the fastest selling smartphone in Samsung's history; the company sold 20
million S4 units worldwide in the two months following the device's launch. Samsung has
since sold more than 40 million units. Specifications
Hardware The S4 uses a refined version of the hardware
design introduced by the S III, with a rounded, polycarbonate chassis and a removable rear
cover. It is slightly lighter and narrower than the S III, with a length of 136.6 mm
(5.38 in), a width of 69.8 mm (2.75 in), and a thickness of 7.9 mm (0.31 in). At
the bottom of the device is a microphone and a microUSB port for data connections and charging;
it also supports USB-OTG and MHL 2.0. Near the top of the device are a front-facing camera,
along with infrared, proximity, and ambient light sensors, and a notification LED. In
particular, the infrared sensor is used for the device's "Air View" features. A headphone
jack, secondary microphone, and infrared blaster are located at the top. The S4 is widely available
in black and white color finishes; in selected regions, Samsung also introduced versions
in red, purple, pink, brown with gold trim, and light pink with gold trim. In late-January
2014, Samsung's Russian website briefly listed a new black model with a plastic leather backing,
similar to the Galaxy Note 3. The S4's display is larger than its predecessor, with a 5-inch
(130 mm), 1080p PenTile RGBG Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 441 PPI, and
Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Unlike previous models, the S4 does not contain FM radio support,
citing the increased use of online media outlets for content consumption on mobile devices.
Galaxy S4 models use of one of two processors, depending on the region and network compatibility.
The S4 version for North America, most of Europe, parts of Asia, and other countries
contains Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 system-on-chip, containing a quad-core 1.9 GHz Krait 300
CPU and an Adreno 320 GPU. The chip also contains a modem which supports LTE. Other models include
Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa system-on-chip with a heterogeneous CPU. The octa-core CPU comprises
a 1.6 GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 cluster and a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 cluster. The
chip can dynamically switch between the two clusters of cores based on CPU usage; the
chip switches to the A15 cores when more processing power is needed, and stays on the A7 cores
to conserve energy on lighter loads. Only one of the clusters is used at any particular
moment, and software sees the processor as a single quad-core CPU. The SoC also contains
an IT tri-core PowerVR SGX 544 graphics processing unit (GPU). Regional models of the S4 vary
in support for LTE; for Exynos 5-based models, while the E300K/L/S versions support LTE,
with the Cortex-A15 also clocked at 1.6 GHz. the GT-I9500 model does not. The S4 GT-I9505
includes a multiband LTE transceiver. On 24 June 2013, a variant supporting LTE
Advanced, the first commercially-available device to do so, was announced for South Korea.
The S4 comes with either 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage, which can be supplemented
with up to an additional 64 GB with a microSD card slot. The S4 contains a 2600 mAh, NFC-enabled
battery. Software
The S4 ships with Android 4.2.2 and Samsung's TouchWiz Nature user experience. Eye tracking
features have been extended on the S4; the new "Smart Scroll" feature can be used to
scroll while looking at the screen by slightly tilting the phone, and "Smart Pause" allows
the video player to pause videos if the user is not looking at the screen. "Air View" and
"Air Gestures" implement gestures and other functionality (such as previewing images or
messages) by holding or swiping a hand or finger slightly above the screen, similarly
to Samsung's Galaxy Note series, and adds a feature known as "Quick Glance", which uses
the proximity sensor to wake the phone so it can display notifications. The "Group Play"
feature allows ad hoc sharing of files between Galaxy phones, along with multiplayer games
and music streaming between S4 phones. The S4 also introduces Knox, a suite of features
which implements a sandbox for enterprise environments that can co-exist with a user's
"personal" data. Knox incorporates use of the ARM TrustZone extensions and security
enhancements to the Android platform. The camera app implements numerous new features
(some of which were first seen on the Galaxy Camera), including an updated interface, and
new modes such as "Drama" (which composes a moving element from multiple shots into
a single photo), "Eraser" (which takes multiple shots and allows the user to remove unnecessary
elements from a picture), "Dual Shot" (which uses the front-facing camera for a picture-in-picture
effect), "Sound and Shot" (which allows the user to record a voice clip alongside a photo),
"Animated Photo", and "Story Album" among others. The S4 also supports High Efficiency
Video Coding (HEVC), a next-generation video codec. Other new pre-loaded apps include WatchOn
(an electronic program guide that can utilize the S4's infrared transmitter to be a remote
control), S Translator, the workout tracker S Health, S Voice Drive, S Memo, TripAdvisor,
and an optical character recognition app. The previous "Hub" apps from past Samsung
devices were replaced by a single Samsung Hub app, with access to music, e-books, and
games that can be purchased by users. Updates
A minor update was released in June 2013, restoring the ability to move apps to the
SD card, and adding HDR video support among other tweaks.
In November 2013, Samsung began rolling out an update to Android 4.3 for the S4, notably
adding the Bluetooth low energy support needed for compatibility with the recently-released
Galaxy Gear smartwatch. However, Samsung halted the rollout following reports from users that
on the Galaxy S III, the update caused instability and increased battery usage. The rollout was
resumed in December 2013. Model variants
Several different model variants of the S4 are sold, with most variants differing only
in support for regional network types and bands. To prevent grey market reselling, models
of the S4 manufactured after July 2013 implement a regional lockout system in certain regions,
requiring that the first SIM card used on a European and North American model be from
a carrier in that region. Samsung stated that the lock would be removed once a local SIM
card is used. Google Play Edition
At the Google I/O 2013 keynote, Samsung and Google revealed that an edition of the U.S.
S4 would be released on June 26, 2013 through Google Play, initially featuring stock Android
4.2.2, later updated to 4.4.2, with Samsung provided updates; it has an unlockable bootloader
(similar to Nexus devices) and supports LTE on AT&T and T-Mobile's networks. The model
number is GT-I9505G. Accessories
At retail, the S4 is bundled with a USB cable, AC adapter, and in-ear headphones. The "S-View
Cover" accessory, utilizes a hall effect sensor in the phone which detects when the cover
is closed and displays battery status, time, and other phone statuses in an area of the
screen visible through a window on the cover. Reception
Critical reception The S4 received mostly positive reviews. GigaOM's
Tofel says he would recommend the S4 "without hesitation" and says that it's "Samsung's
defining phone". ReadWrite's Rowinski described the phone as a "solid smartphone," but criticised
Samsung's use of "bloatware, pre-loaded apps and features that you will likely never use,"
but called the S4 "a first-rate smartphone." Time's McCraken says the S4 is a smartphone
with everything, it has the biggest screen and the most built-in features. He wishes
the S4 marks the end of Samsung's plan to add too many new features with its flagship
smartphones. Technology journalist Walt Mossberg described
the S4 as "a good phone, just not a great one". Mossberg wrote "while I admire some
of its features, overall, it isn’t a game-changer." Mossberg criticized the software as "especially
weak" and "often gimmicky, duplicative of standard Android apps, or, in some cases,
only intermittently functional." He urged readers to "consider the more polished-looking,
and quite capable, HTC One, rather than defaulting to the latest Samsung."
Consumer Reports named the S4 as the top smartphone as of May 2013 due to its screen quality,
multitasking support, and built-in IR blaster. Despite only using about 1 GB more than the
S III, critics noted that about half of the internal storage on the S4's 16 GB model was
taken up by its system software; leaving only 8.5 to 9.15 GB for the storage of downloaded
apps (some of which cannot be moved to the SD card) and other data. Samsung initially
stated that the space was required for the S4's new features, but following a report
regarding the issue on the BBC series Watchdog, Samsung stated that it would review the possibility
of optimising the S4's operating system to use less local drive space in a future update.
Storage optimizations were brought in an update first released in June 2013, which frees 80
MB of internal storage, and restores the ability to move apps to the device's SD card.
Commercial reception The S4 reached 10 million pre-orders from
retailers in the first two weeks after its announcement. In the United States, this prompted
Samsung to announce that due to larger than expected demand, the roll out of devices on
U.S. carriers Sprint and T-Mobile would be slower than expected.
The S4 sold 4 million in 4 days and 10 million in 27 days making it the fastest selling smartphone
in Samsung's history and the fastest selling Android device in history. The Samsung Galaxy
S III sold 4 million units in 21 days, the Samsung Galaxy S II took 55 days and the Samsung
Galaxy S took 85 days. Samsung shipped more than 20 million S4 smartphones
by June 30, which is around 1.7 times faster than the Galaxy S III. As of October 23, 2013,
Samsung has sold over 40 million S4 units six months after release.
Battery problems and safety issues A house in Hong Kong is alleged to have been
set on fire by an S4 in July 2013, followed by a minor burnt S4 in Pakistan. A minor fire
was also reported in Newbury, United Kingdom in October 2013. Some users of the phone have
also reported swelling batteries and overheating; Samsung has offered affected customers new
batteries free of charge. On December 2, 2013, Canadian Richard Wygand
uploaded a YouTube video describing his phone combusting. The phone was plugged into AC
power overnight; he woke up to the smell of smoke and burning matter. In the video, the
power cord was shown to be severely burnt and showed warped damage to the power plug.
Later in the video, Wygand describes how he attempted to get a replacement:
In his second video, uploaded a few days after the first one, Wygand states that in order
to receive a replacement phone, Samsung allegedly asked him to sign a legal document requiring
him to remove the video, remain silent about the agreement, and surrender any future claims
against the company. It is unknown whether or not he signed the document, but his frustrations
has been expressed in his video. In an interview with Mashable, Wygand said that since he posted
the second video, no further response from Samsung was received. However, an official
spokesman from Samsung told Mashable, "Samsung takes the safety and security of our customers
very seriously. Our Samsung Canada team is in touch with the customer, and is investigating
the issue." Wygand was sent a Nokia Lumia 1020 by Nokia.
There were a few more reported S4 explosions in India. The S4 battery exploded and triggered
a fire alarm in the company. The phone was not getting charged nor was it plugged into
an electrical outlet. The owner Praveen M had a narrow escape. There was a case also
in the UAE.