Impressions
Overall, our initial impressions of the GS4 were very positive. While it doesn’t look drastically different to the GS3, Samsung has given the GS4 ‘more screen with less phone’, meaning that the 5 inch display hasn’t impacted much on the size of the phone itself. It also feels a bit heavier in the hand, and more ‘premium’.
When asked how it compares to Apple’s iPhone 5, it certainly does have a number of exciting and fresh features that will undoubtedly entice customers. Hardware wise, it lacks for very little and the battery life should be improved over the GS3. How some of the features translate into real-world use, or how often the full 8 cores of processing power are utilised, are yet to be seen. However, there are a lot of background tasks going on with features like Smart Scroll, Smart Stay, Smart pause, etc., so it’s good that there is quite a bit of computing grunt.
One thing that’s still not yet clear is how Samsung will compete with the foothold Apple devices have with iTunes and its App Store, but there will likely be some content-related announcements coming from Samsung soon. Ultimately, Samsung has once again raised the bar by producing a phone that’s packed full of technological innovation and rich in features, and certainly looks to take its place as a top seller around the world.
[UPDATE] While no official launch date or pricing for Australia have been confirmed, we expect the Galaxy S4 to go on sale at the end of April, or very early in May, and will probably be priced just under the $1000 mark for an outright purchase. Australian telcos have yet to confirm their pricing, or if they will be selling the phone.
Valens Quinn attended the Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch in New York as a guest of Samsung Australia.
