Monday 22 April 2013

Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 is accessible for people


Eventually the page of Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 is accessible for people. It provides American largest wireless carrier with possibility to know more about the most expected phone of the year. A week ago Verizon Wireless has announced the GS4 to be hitting the 4G LTE network soon in May, they have promised more interesting details to be covered soon. But despite of users’ expectations the new sign up page opened this week on the site of Verizon Wireless contains no any interesting details about the phone.
Galaxy S IV
This page is just intended for users to enter their e-mail addresses if they agree to receive a lot of spam from the famous carrier concerning all Samsung goods. It is known that Verizon Wireless is a popular company, may be this is a reason why it does not worry about being first with all that concerns this new amazing phone. Such companies as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile have already troubled to have this new Samsung Galaxy model in their stores this month, and AT&T has already begun to take pre-orders of this phones. But there is not any information from Verizon. It must be in the same price range that is proposed by the major competitors. For example, Sprint Nextel offers a 149$ promotion for those new customers who change their old number to the carrier, so the full price will be 639$.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Comparisons with Others


Talk time


  • Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)21:18
  • Oppo Find 514:17
  • Google Nexus 414:17
  • Samsung Galaxy S413:53
  • HTC One13:38
  • HTC One X+13:31
  • Pantech Burst4:46
The Galaxy S4 posted an impressive time in the web browsing test, the usual Achilles heel of AMOLED-based phones. It outlasted an Android 4.1.2-running Galaxy S III by just over two hours.The HTC One managed an hour more with a smaller battery (2,330mAh), but the slightly smaller LCD sure helped.

Web browsing



  • HTC One9:58
  • Apple iPad mini9:05
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II N71008:48
  • Samsung Galaxy S48:42
  • Nokia Lumia 8108:20
  • Asus Padfone 28:20
  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus3:01
Video playback is typically a strong suit for AMOLED screens, but the Galaxy S4 doesn’t really improve much over the Galaxy S III. Still, for a 5” 1080p screen that offers brilliant colors and contrast, over 10 hours is a pretty impressive score.

Video playback



  • Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)16:35
  • Samsung Galaxy Premier12:51
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II N710011:27
  • Samsung Galaxy S410:16
  • Apple iPhone 510:12
  • HTC One10:02
  • Nokia Lumia 7103:27
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a good performer in the individual categories and thanks to efficient standby, it scored a very respectable endurance rating of 63 hours. That’s how long it will last between charges if you do an hour each of calling, web browsing and watching videos every day. You can learn more about how we do the batter test here.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 should get even the heaviest users through a single day, while most can expect two, three work days out of it. The battery life is pretty well balanced, with the Galaxy S4 getting near the top of the chart in every test, so it doesn’t matter if your personal usage patterns involve more talking or more web browsing, the Samsung flagship has excellent battery life.
While we’re here, we should mention that Samsung will be selling accessories for the Galaxy S4 to help with the battery life – one is a special back cover that enables wireless charging and the other is a dedicated charger for a second battery.

Samsung Galaxy S4 review - hands on, specs, release date


Just over a month after the New York launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung brought the new flagship handset to London, and we’ve had another play with it. It has a larger screen and faster processor than the previous model, as well as some innovative new features, so could well be the ultimate smartphone when it's launched on April 27th.
The phone has more power and more up-to-date features than the iPhone 5 and pre-empts the upcoming iPhone 5S.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first thing to note is that the Galaxy S4 looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy S3, and builds on that phone's looks. The Galaxy S4 is a little bigger, thanks to its 4.99in screen, but not as much as you might think: at 136.6x69.8x7.9mm, it's roughly as wide as the S3, but around 5mm longer, and around 1mm slimmer. The phone is also 10g lighter than the Galaxy S3.
Samsung Galaxy S4
The result is the Galaxy S4 feels good in the hand and every bit as comfortable to hold as the S3. It's certainly not us unwieldy as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
We love the thin screen bezel, which makes it look as if the screen is pouring off the edge of the phone. The air gap between the screen and the touch digitiser is absolutely tiny, too, which makes it feel almost as if you're touching the colourful interface rather than the glass on top of it.
Samsung Galaxy S4
It's even slimmer than the old model, and lighter too
The overall effect, helped by the phone's squarer edges, is of a more modern Galaxy S3. Clearly, Samsung felt the need not to mess too much with a winning formula, but we would have personally loved to have seen an aluminium chassis, as on the HTC One, rather than the plastic used here.

SCREEN

The 4.99in Super AMOLED display is gorgeous. It has a Full HD, 1,920x1,080 resolution with a high pixel density of 441ppi. While that's certainly impressive, theHTC One has the same resolution but a smaller screen, so a higher pixel density of 468ppi and the Sony Xperia Z has the same size screen and resolution, so has a matching 441ppi. What's important is that on all three phones everything looks pin-sharp and there's no danger of spotting individual pixels.
It’s worth noting that you can't directly compare the Galaxy S4 to LCD-based Full HD handsets, such as the HTC One. This is because Samsung continues to use a Super AMOLED display with a PenTile pixel arrangement. Simply put, this means there are only two coloured sub-pixels per pixel instead of three. The reduced colour resolution is made up for by the excellent contrast and blacks that AMOLED provides (as well as lower power usage), but it’s a matter of taste which screen type you prefer. When we saw the phone we found its screen bright and colourful, but we'll save a full opinion for when we can do a proper side-by-side comparison.
As expected, the screen can be operated just by hovering your finger over it, giving rise to two new features. Air View lets you hover over content, such as an email or photo, to preview it without having to open it. Air Gesture lets you change tracks, scroll through a web page or answer a call with a wave of your hand. We haven't had chance to try the system out yet, but this should make fine-control of the touchscreen operating system that little bit easier.
Samsung Galaxy S4
Air View and Air Gesture let you operate the touchscreen without touching it
Gorilla Glass 3 helps make the phone durable, although we'd still recommend a screen protector or case if you're going to keep your phone in a pocket with sharp items, such as keys.

PROCESSOR

The phones at the US event were kitted out with Exynos octo-core processors running at 1.6GHz. It's not strictly an eight-core phone, though, as it uses ARM's big.LITTLE architecture. The eight cores are divided in two, with four high-power, complex cores to do the heavy lifting and four smaller, power-efficient cores for more mundane tasks. The S4's architecture is designed so that the phone can switch seamlessly between the different types of core.
However, UK versions of the Galaxy S4 will only have four-core chips. The good news is that the UK S4's Snapdragon 600 chipset will run at a faster 1.9GHz, which should help to make up for the cores shortfall.
We had no qualms about the Galaxy S4's performance at the event. We can't really imagine how Android 4.2 could run any more smoothly. Everything is lightning fast and apps open and shut with a snap, and web pages glide around under your finger.
Samsung Galaxy S4
3DMark looks amazing on the screen, and runs smoothly, too
We ran our Sunspider JavaScript benchmark on the S4, and it completed the test in 933ms. This is one of the fastest scores we've seen, and bodes well for snappy web browsing. To really test the phone's up-to-the-minute processor we ran the Android version of 3DMark. This performs a number of intensive graphics and physics tests to stress all aspects of the phone's chip.
3DMark's space battles ran incredibly smoothly, and resulted in a score of 10101 - the fastest score we've seen. The benchmark also looked beautiful on the S4's display, showing this is definitely a phone for the latest graphics-intensive Android games.

BATTERY

The battery on the S4 is an impressive 2,600mAh. That's around 500mAh bigger than the S3's battery and bigger than the vast majority of batteries used in smartphones today. With such a big battery it shouldn't have any problems providing all-day power.

CAMERA

The camera has been upgraded to a 13-megapixel model. It has a Backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor for better low-light sensitivity, although there's also a flash for when it's really dark. We took a few test shots in the dark demo hall and they looked fine on-screen, but actual quality tests need to wait until we have a test handset.
At the front is a 2-megapixel BSI camera. While it can be used for video calling, it can also be used with Samsung's Dual Camera mode, which lets you superimpose a shot from the front camera on the footage from the rear camera. In practice, this means that you can have your floating head, bordered by a postage-stamp frame imposed on the picture taken by the main camera. It feels a little gimmicky.
Samsung Galaxy S4
You can superimpose yourself as a floating stamp in videos, if you like that kind of thing
The front camera also serves a purpose in controlling the phone with Smart Pause. This technology knows when you're looking at the screen so it can, for example, pause a video when you turn your head and look away. As soon as you look back, the video continues. It's a neat way of using the cameras for more than just still images and video.

STORAGE

The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available in versions with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage, although it's expandable by up to 64GB via the microSD card slot. Prices for the models haven't been announced yet, but it may well work out much better value to buy the 16B or 32GB models, then upgrade storage as and when you need it.

TRACKING

Samsung has said that the Galaxy S4 will get security tracking built in. This works in a similar way to Find My iPhone, letting you track a stolen handset online.
However, while Apple's implementation can be wiped out by resetting the phone, Samsung has got something more secure up its sleeves. By partnering with Absolute, which makes the Computrace laptop-tracking software, Samsung has got firmware persistence technology built into the Galaxy S4. In other words, the tracking software sits in main firmware and so it can survive a full hardware reset.
Security tracking is part of the Knox security suite, which is designed to make the platform more secure. It's aimed at business users, where it will also provide a business and personal side of the phone, so that you only have to carry one device. The work mode can be locked down and managed by your company, while the personal side is yours to do with as you will; importantly, both sides are completely independent.
We're in the process of finding out if the security tracking feature will be available to consumers, or if it will only be available to business users.

ACCESSORIES

As well as what comes with the phone, Samsung is also pushing the phone's lifestyle aspect with a selection of Galaxy S4 accessories. These range from health accessories that can monitor how active you are and your weight and heart rate, to a gamepad that you clip the phone into. There's also a wireless charging dock, so you can charge your phone simply by laying it on the charging pad.

RELEASE DATE

Samsung has now firmed up the release date for the Galaxy S4, and it's a day later than initially expected; you can now buy an S4 from 10am on the 27th April. Pre-orders for the handset have been open since 28th March.

PRICE ON CONTRACT WITH UK NETWORKS

You’re not going to be short of networks carrying the Galaxy S4, as all the major UK networks have signed up to stock the handset.
The S4 is a 4G handset, but in the UK only EE currently has a 4G network. It's expensive, though - if you want the S4 on a £31-per-month contract, which includes 500MB of data and unlimited calls and texts, you'll still pay £270 upfront for the phone. If you're willing to pay £41 a month for the 1GB 4G contract the phone will still cost £80, and even if you fork out £76 a month for 20GB of data, you'll still have to pony up £20 for your Galaxy S4.
Samsung Galaxy S4 price
Want 4G for your Galaxy S4? It's EE or nothing for now
A cheaper way to get the S4 on a 4G network is to go with Three. The network has a 4G-ready network called Ultrafast, which will change over automatically from HSPA+ to 4G once Three's new 4G LTE network is turned on. You also won’t have to pay any extra for the switch, and should be able to keep your current SIM. The Galaxy S4 will be free on a £35-per-month contract, with 500 minutes talktime, 5,000 texts and all the data you can handle.
Vodafone describes the Galaxy S4 as "4G-ready", and there's a 4G Vodafone network on the way. However, it looks like 4G access on Vodafone will come at a premium; Vodafone's website states that once 4G arrives, "we can talk about adding Vodafone 4G to your monthly plan".
Currently, to get the Galaxy S4 on Vodafone 3G, you'll need to sign up to a £42-per-month contract, which gets you unlimited minutes and texts along with 2GB data.
Samsung Galaxy S4 price
You can buy a "4G-ready" Galaxy S4 on Vodafone, but it will cost you to upgrade to a 4G contract when Vodafone launches its high-speed network
O2 hasn’t released any details about 4G, but if you're happy with a 3G contract you can pre-order the Galaxy S4 for £99 upfront on a £37-per-month contract, which will get you unlimited texts, calls and 2GB data. Raising this to £47 a month will get you the phone for free.

SIM-FREE PRICES

If you'd like your Galaxy S3 without a contract, a couple of online retailers now have put up holding pages with the phone, and it's looking pretty steep. Expansys has the phone listed for £580, while Clove simply shows "coming soon" - but we doubt it will be much less than Expansys' price.

CONCLUSION

We've only had a little time to play with the Galaxy S4, but early indications are that this is going to be a superb handset. It faces stiff competition from its Android rivals and whatever Apple plans to release next, but interest and demand for the phone remain high. As soon as we have a finished model, we'll bring you an up-to-date review.
For more hands-on coverage of the Galaxy S4, have a look at our sister site PC Pro's hands-on review.

MINI VERSION

Recently leaked is a smaller version of the S4, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. This device will have a smaller screen and a cut-down specification, compared to the full phone.
So far there are few details on the handset, but we know it will have a 4.3in Super AMOLED screen with a screen resolution of 960x540. We also know that it will have a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, although the exact model and details have yet to be confirmed.
As for storage, an 8GB and a 16GB model seem the most likely. Given that Samsung has a Micro SD card slot on the Galaxy S4, we'd expect the little brother to have the same option for expanding storage.
With the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini launching for £300 SIM-free, it's hard not to expect the S4 variation to launch at the same price. It would be a shame if it did, as this is quite clearly a more budget handset that needs to compete with similarly-specified phones from companies, such as Huawei. As it stands, for the best power and fastest handset, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the best choice, but the Mini may tempt those on a tighter budget that want a slightly smaller handset.

Samsung Galaxy S4 review - hands on, specs, release date


Just over a month after the New York launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung brought the new flagship handset to London, and we’ve had another play with it. It has a larger screen and faster processor than the previous model, as well as some innovative new features, so could well be the ultimate smartphone when it's launched on April 27th.
The phone has more power and more up-to-date features than the iPhone 5 and pre-empts the upcoming iPhone 5S.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first thing to note is that the Galaxy S4 looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy S3, and builds on that phone's looks. The Galaxy S4 is a little bigger, thanks to its 4.99in screen, but not as much as you might think: at 136.6x69.8x7.9mm, it's roughly as wide as the S3, but around 5mm longer, and around 1mm slimmer. The phone is also 10g lighter than the Galaxy S3.
Samsung Galaxy S4
The result is the Galaxy S4 feels good in the hand and every bit as comfortable to hold as the S3. It's certainly not us unwieldy as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
We love the thin screen bezel, which makes it look as if the screen is pouring off the edge of the phone. The air gap between the screen and the touch digitiser is absolutely tiny, too, which makes it feel almost as if you're touching the colourful interface rather than the glass on top of it.
Samsung Galaxy S4
It's even slimmer than the old model, and lighter too
The overall effect, helped by the phone's squarer edges, is of a more modern Galaxy S3. Clearly, Samsung felt the need not to mess too much with a winning formula, but we would have personally loved to have seen an aluminium chassis, as on the HTC One, rather than the plastic used here.

SCREEN

The 4.99in Super AMOLED display is gorgeous. It has a Full HD, 1,920x1,080 resolution with a high pixel density of 441ppi. While that's certainly impressive, theHTC One has the same resolution but a smaller screen, so a higher pixel density of 468ppi and the Sony Xperia Z has the same size screen and resolution, so has a matching 441ppi. What's important is that on all three phones everything looks pin-sharp and there's no danger of spotting individual pixels.
It’s worth noting that you can't directly compare the Galaxy S4 to LCD-based Full HD handsets, such as the HTC One. This is because Samsung continues to use a Super AMOLED display with a PenTile pixel arrangement. Simply put, this means there are only two coloured sub-pixels per pixel instead of three. The reduced colour resolution is made up for by the excellent contrast and blacks that AMOLED provides (as well as lower power usage), but it’s a matter of taste which screen type you prefer. When we saw the phone we found its screen bright and colourful, but we'll save a full opinion for when we can do a proper side-by-side comparison.
As expected, the screen can be operated just by hovering your finger over it, giving rise to two new features. Air View lets you hover over content, such as an email or photo, to preview it without having to open it. Air Gesture lets you change tracks, scroll through a web page or answer a call with a wave of your hand. We haven't had chance to try the system out yet, but this should make fine-control of the touchscreen operating system that little bit easier.
Samsung Galaxy S4
Air View and Air Gesture let you operate the touchscreen without touching it
Gorilla Glass 3 helps make the phone durable, although we'd still recommend a screen protector or case if you're going to keep your phone in a pocket with sharp items, such as keys.

PROCESSOR

The phones at the US event were kitted out with Exynos octo-core processors running at 1.6GHz. It's not strictly an eight-core phone, though, as it uses ARM's big.LITTLE architecture. The eight cores are divided in two, with four high-power, complex cores to do the heavy lifting and four smaller, power-efficient cores for more mundane tasks. The S4's architecture is designed so that the phone can switch seamlessly between the different types of core.
However, UK versions of the Galaxy S4 will only have four-core chips. The good news is that the UK S4's Snapdragon 600 chipset will run at a faster 1.9GHz, which should help to make up for the cores shortfall.
We had no qualms about the Galaxy S4's performance at the event. We can't really imagine how Android 4.2 could run any more smoothly. Everything is lightning fast and apps open and shut with a snap, and web pages glide around under your finger.
Samsung Galaxy S4
3DMark looks amazing on the screen, and runs smoothly, too
We ran our Sunspider JavaScript benchmark on the S4, and it completed the test in 933ms. This is one of the fastest scores we've seen, and bodes well for snappy web browsing. To really test the phone's up-to-the-minute processor we ran the Android version of 3DMark. This performs a number of intensive graphics and physics tests to stress all aspects of the phone's chip.
3DMark's space battles ran incredibly smoothly, and resulted in a score of 10101 - the fastest score we've seen. The benchmark also looked beautiful on the S4's display, showing this is definitely a phone for the latest graphics-intensive Android games.

BATTERY

The battery on the S4 is an impressive 2,600mAh. That's around 500mAh bigger than the S3's battery and bigger than the vast majority of batteries used in smartphones today. With such a big battery it shouldn't have any problems providing all-day power.

CAMERA

The camera has been upgraded to a 13-megapixel model. It has a Backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor for better low-light sensitivity, although there's also a flash for when it's really dark. We took a few test shots in the dark demo hall and they looked fine on-screen, but actual quality tests need to wait until we have a test handset.
At the front is a 2-megapixel BSI camera. While it can be used for video calling, it can also be used with Samsung's Dual Camera mode, which lets you superimpose a shot from the front camera on the footage from the rear camera. In practice, this means that you can have your floating head, bordered by a postage-stamp frame imposed on the picture taken by the main camera. It feels a little gimmicky.
Samsung Galaxy S4
You can superimpose yourself as a floating stamp in videos, if you like that kind of thing
The front camera also serves a purpose in controlling the phone with Smart Pause. This technology knows when you're looking at the screen so it can, for example, pause a video when you turn your head and look away. As soon as you look back, the video continues. It's a neat way of using the cameras for more than just still images and video.

STORAGE

The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available in versions with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage, although it's expandable by up to 64GB via the microSD card slot. Prices for the models haven't been announced yet, but it may well work out much better value to buy the 16B or 32GB models, then upgrade storage as and when you need it.

TRACKING

Samsung has said that the Galaxy S4 will get security tracking built in. This works in a similar way to Find My iPhone, letting you track a stolen handset online.
However, while Apple's implementation can be wiped out by resetting the phone, Samsung has got something more secure up its sleeves. By partnering with Absolute, which makes the Computrace laptop-tracking software, Samsung has got firmware persistence technology built into the Galaxy S4. In other words, the tracking software sits in main firmware and so it can survive a full hardware reset.
Security tracking is part of the Knox security suite, which is designed to make the platform more secure. It's aimed at business users, where it will also provide a business and personal side of the phone, so that you only have to carry one device. The work mode can be locked down and managed by your company, while the personal side is yours to do with as you will; importantly, both sides are completely independent.
We're in the process of finding out if the security tracking feature will be available to consumers, or if it will only be available to business users.

ACCESSORIES

As well as what comes with the phone, Samsung is also pushing the phone's lifestyle aspect with a selection of Galaxy S4 accessories. These range from health accessories that can monitor how active you are and your weight and heart rate, to a gamepad that you clip the phone into. There's also a wireless charging dock, so you can charge your phone simply by laying it on the charging pad.

RELEASE DATE

Samsung has now firmed up the release date for the Galaxy S4, and it's a day later than initially expected; you can now buy an S4 from 10am on the 27th April. Pre-orders for the handset have been open since 28th March.

PRICE ON CONTRACT WITH UK NETWORKS

You’re not going to be short of networks carrying the Galaxy S4, as all the major UK networks have signed up to stock the handset.
The S4 is a 4G handset, but in the UK only EE currently has a 4G network. It's expensive, though - if you want the S4 on a £31-per-month contract, which includes 500MB of data and unlimited calls and texts, you'll still pay £270 upfront for the phone. If you're willing to pay £41 a month for the 1GB 4G contract the phone will still cost £80, and even if you fork out £76 a month for 20GB of data, you'll still have to pony up £20 for your Galaxy S4.
Samsung Galaxy S4 price
Want 4G for your Galaxy S4? It's EE or nothing for now
A cheaper way to get the S4 on a 4G network is to go with Three. The network has a 4G-ready network called Ultrafast, which will change over automatically from HSPA+ to 4G once Three's new 4G LTE network is turned on. You also won’t have to pay any extra for the switch, and should be able to keep your current SIM. The Galaxy S4 will be free on a £35-per-month contract, with 500 minutes talktime, 5,000 texts and all the data you can handle.
Vodafone describes the Galaxy S4 as "4G-ready", and there's a 4G Vodafone network on the way. However, it looks like 4G access on Vodafone will come at a premium; Vodafone's website states that once 4G arrives, "we can talk about adding Vodafone 4G to your monthly plan".
Currently, to get the Galaxy S4 on Vodafone 3G, you'll need to sign up to a £42-per-month contract, which gets you unlimited minutes and texts along with 2GB data.
Samsung Galaxy S4 price
You can buy a "4G-ready" Galaxy S4 on Vodafone, but it will cost you to upgrade to a 4G contract when Vodafone launches its high-speed network
O2 hasn’t released any details about 4G, but if you're happy with a 3G contract you can pre-order the Galaxy S4 for £99 upfront on a £37-per-month contract, which will get you unlimited texts, calls and 2GB data. Raising this to £47 a month will get you the phone for free.

SIM-FREE PRICES

If you'd like your Galaxy S3 without a contract, a couple of online retailers now have put up holding pages with the phone, and it's looking pretty steep. Expansys has the phone listed for £580, while Clove simply shows "coming soon" - but we doubt it will be much less than Expansys' price.

CONCLUSION

We've only had a little time to play with the Galaxy S4, but early indications are that this is going to be a superb handset. It faces stiff competition from its Android rivals and whatever Apple plans to release next, but interest and demand for the phone remain high. As soon as we have a finished model, we'll bring you an up-to-date review.
For more hands-on coverage of the Galaxy S4, have a look at our sister site PC Pro's hands-on review.

MINI VERSION

Recently leaked is a smaller version of the S4, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. This device will have a smaller screen and a cut-down specification, compared to the full phone.
So far there are few details on the handset, but we know it will have a 4.3in Super AMOLED screen with a screen resolution of 960x540. We also know that it will have a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, although the exact model and details have yet to be confirmed.
As for storage, an 8GB and a 16GB model seem the most likely. Given that Samsung has a Micro SD card slot on the Galaxy S4, we'd expect the little brother to have the same option for expanding storage.
With the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini launching for £300 SIM-free, it's hard not to expect the S4 variation to launch at the same price. It would be a shame if it did, as this is quite clearly a more budget handset that needs to compete with similarly-specified phones from companies, such as Huawei. As it stands, for the best power and fastest handset, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the best choice, but the Mini may tempt those on a tighter budget that want a slightly smaller handset.

Sunday 21 April 2013

5 Reasons to Buy the Samsung Galaxy S4 Instead of a Cheap Galaxy S3


The Samsung Galaxy S4 release is still weeks away, and carriers are already cutting the prices on the Samsung Galaxy S3 to clear out inventory and lock customers into two-year contracts.
While the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a good phone and continually makes our Best Phone of the Month list on most major carriers, it is soon to be replaced by the Samsung Galaxy S4.
As the release date approaches, carriers and retailers are already offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 for as little as $10. This is a great price for a phone, but it’s one that many users should skip considering the two-year contract and relatively cheap price to upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The Galaxy S3 is thought to be getting Galaxy S4 features. But will U.S. carriers oblige?
The Galaxy S3 is thought to be getting Galaxy S4 features. But will U.S. carriers oblige?
$190 to $150 isn’t cheap for most people, but compared to the overall cost of a cell phone contract over two years, it is a drop in the bucket. Even if it means waiting out one or two more months to get the Samsung Galaxy S4, we think it’s worth the wait and the price.

5 Reasons to Skip Cheap Samsung Galaxy S3 Deals

While some of the Samsung Galaxy S4 software features may come to the Samsung Galaxy S3 in a future update, there are a number of reasons to skip these deals and buy a Samsung Galaxy S4.

Bigger, Better 1080P Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a much improved display, one that is slightly larger than the Samsung Galaxy S3, and with a much higher resolution. The Galaxy S4 features a 1080P HD resolution on a 5-inch display. This is the same resolution as most HDTVs, but in a smaller package.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a bigger, better display with a 1080P HD resolution.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a bigger, better display with a 1080P HD resolution.
In addition to allowing users to watch HD movies at full resolution this high-res screen delivers sharp-looking text and photos that look as good, if not better than the iPhone 5′s Retina Display. Check out this Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 5 screen showdown to see how the two compare.
In short, the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen is bigger and better than the Samsung Galaxy S3, and there are other features that help set the two phones apart, covered under sensors and software.

Better Design and Build

The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a plastic design, similar to the Galaxy S3, but Samsung improved the build quality and materials to make the Galaxy S4 stronger. The plastic also feels less like a low-end plastic and the overall design is more solid without the typical weak spots a plastic back cover can come with.

Despite the larger screen size, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is about the same size as the Galaxy S3, which means users don’t need to worry about carrying a larger phone around to get the benefits of a larger screen.

More Sensors and Software Features

Samsung includes a number of sensors in the Samsung Galaxy S4 that offer up features not found in the Galaxy S3, and features that software updates can’t add. One of the most impressive is Air View, which allows users to hover their finger over the phone to see a message or larger preview of and image. This is similar to the Galaxy Note 2, but doesn’t require the S Pen.

Users can also use the built-in IR support to control an HDTV with Samsung TV software, something that cannot come to the Galaxy S3.
Samsung offers up new software features like Smart Scroll, which lets users combine eye-tracking technology and motion to scroll without touching the screen and an auto pause feature that will pause a video when it detects the user looked away.
Samsung also includes Multi-View, a way to use two Android apps at once on the screen. This is another Galaxy Note 2 feature, one we expected to arrive on the Galaxy S3 earlier this year, but it remains missing in action.

Faster and Longer Software Support

Some Galaxy S4 features will come to the Samsung Galaxy S3, and there are rumors of Android 5.0 for the Galaxy S3, but the Samsung Galaxy S4 is destined for faster, longer lasting software support.
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The Galaxy S3 will likely be much slower to Android 5.0.

As we saw with the Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.1.2 update, U.S. versions of the device did not get the Premium Suite, which means no Multi-View support and a lack of other popular Samsung features.
In addition, the Galaxy S4 will likely see a faster update to Android 5 and comes with a better chance of getting future Android versions that may not arrive on older hardware.

Battery Life and Wireless Charging

The Samsung Galaxy S4 ships with a larger battery and what should be a more efficient battery than the Galaxy S3, which should translate into better overall battery life for the Samsung Galaxy S4. The early Samsung Galaxy S4 battery life tests show promise of good overall battery life.

In addition to the bigger battery users should see Samsung Galaxy S4 wireless charging support at or near launch with a replacement back and Qi compatible charger. The kit is thought to cost around $50, making it an affordable way to upgrade the Galaxy S4.
The Galaxy S4 will come with a removable back to handle wireless charging.
The Galaxy S4 will come with a removable back to handle wireless charging.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is headed to AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. AT&T starts Galaxy S4 pre-orders on April 16th and T-Mobile is planning for a Galaxy S4 release date on May 1st. U.S. Cellular is also taking Galaxy S4 pre-orders on April 16th, with no official release date yet. The Sprint and Verizon Galaxy S4 release and pre-order details are still up in the air.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 should start at $199 on contract, but like many Samsung smartphones we could see price cuts on third-party sites like Amazon or Radio Shack within weeks of the release, dropping the price down $50 or more.

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