Smooth sailing: Samsung’s water-resistant Galaxy S4 Active reviewed

Interestingly, none of this work to the body has changed Samsung’s desire to make the back removable, because it still is. In fact, it’s not just easy to take off, but also interchangeable, with a different colour found in the box for the S4 Active. Neat, especially if you like being able to change colours.

This removable back does include some rubberisation, something not seen on the back of the regular S4, which helps to keep water from leaking into the bits and pieces inside.

From what we know, this is one of the parts used to make sure the phone reaches IP67 certification, which is another way of saying dust and water-resistant, with that liquid-proofing capable of diving down to 1 metre for up to 30 minutes.

Switching on and controlling the S4 Active is exactly what it’s like on the regular S4, so Samsung isn’t skipping any familiarity here.

The power button sits on the right edge, while the volume rocker is on the left, with three Android driving buttons down below. In a first for the S4 range, all the front-facing buttons are proper physical tactile buttons, no doubt because this is designed to take more of a beating, and real buttons will be easier to feel for than flat soft ones.

Regardless of the reason, this is just as comfortable a phone to use as the regular S4, even though there’s a bit more length, height, thickness, and 20 grams more weight.

Samsung’s version of Android still sports the Samsung developed “TouchWiz” overlay, which sits atop Android 4.2 “Jelly Bean.” Overall, TouchWiz is clean, supports multiple homescreens with widgets, lockscreens with specific widgets, and even a better defined category-based settings menu, which helps to make setting up the phone’s functions clearer.

TouchWiz isn’t perfect, though, and Samsung’s problematic gallery is still here, breaking whenever you don’t want it to (and you actually want to look at your photos), and forcing you to find an external app solution.

Another bug present in the S4 – and other Galaxy handsets, for that matter – is the locked shortcut dock, which is still just as locked as it was before, and forces you to have phone, contacts, messaging, internet, and apps online. Tough luck if you want to change it to something more familiar, because Samsung just won’t let you in the Australian Galaxy S4 Active.

Sadly, they’re some of the bad traits from the original S4, but fortunately, much of what made the original S4 great is in this body, too.

One of these things is the 4G, which is just as strong a performer as it ever was.

Testing the handset over a period of days found speeds ranging from 25 to 76Mbps down and as much as 30 going back up. Excellent 4G as per usual, and that’s just as solid as what we experienced in the lazy S4.

Battery life is great too, with a day and a half of life before the handset needed a charge. Most people will want to take care of this daily, and sticking this phone on charge does mean pulling out the microUSB port cover, something that is normally exposed on handsets, but it’s not hard and is easily replaced.

That day and a bit of life we found was while making phone calls, sending messages, surfing the web, checking email, taking photos, listening to music, and more. Not bad, to say the least, and probably partly due to the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active relies on the same 2600mAh battery used in the regular S4.

Overall operating speed is still quite snappy, with a benchmark of 12197, a couple hundred points below our Galaxy S4 speed of 12407, making it excellent and very capable.

Actual hands-on performance shows a bit of lag between operations, which will slow you down by a second or two when you’re opening and switching between apps, but it’s nothing that bugs us tremendously.

Infrared is also supported, so you can use the water-resistant S4 Active as a remote control for your TV, with the WatchOn app included, while S Voice’s speech controlled search is still present, as is the S Translator which lets you go from your language into another and visa versa.

The camera has been dropped from a 13 megapixel shooter down to an 8 megapixel module, but it’s not a dramatic loss, with clear shots still possible in daylight, and some of that excellent Galaxy camera interface also brought over.

In fact, while the dual front-facing and rear-camera mode is now absent, Samsung has left the animated photo and eraser mode in for people who want to use it.

Really, the star of this show is the resistance, and that’s where the S4 Active does quite well from its redesign.

The phone feels more substantial thanks to its rubber bumpers, and it can even survive a dip in water. We filmed a small video under water, and while the touchscreen isn’t terrible effective when water surrounds it – nor are the speakers, for that matter – the handset survives without any problems.

That is, simply put, awesome.

Conclusion

With the S4 Active, Samsung has proven that it’s good at taking an already solid concept and pushing it in a different direction.

Water and dust resistance isn’t going to be a must have feature for everyone, but those who felt it was important will definitely find something to love about the S4 Active, as will anyone who has ever taken their smartphone to get repaired after falling in water. Recommended.