Samsung Galaxy S IV UNVEILED!

[Aadi]

Hey guys, what do you think of the brand-new SAMSUNG GALAXY S IV!!!!!!!!!! I'm literally jumping up and down...what do you guys think about this phone and how it stacks up to the rest of the market (iPhone :(, Sony XPERIA Z, and HTC One)

[EChondo]

Meh, not excited. It's another phone added to the bundle of other great phones out there. Would love to have one don't get me wrong, but I'm perfectly content with my HTC DNA, hell I would still be happy with my HTC HD2 if it didn't die on me...

[eshbop]

For such a high end device to be all plastic is just wrong. Software features seem pretty useless/gimmicky to me. Sure the specs look good, but having things like a 13mp camera & 8 core processor are only there to look good on paper, there's no real world benefit. We've got to a point where every smartphone on the market is powerful enough for any real world usage, there needs to be innovation in other areas. Didn't happen with this phone. Apple are so far behind now, interested what they'll do to catch up, but hope they don't lol.

[Gomenasai]

I actually went to the event and had some hands on time with it. This phone just feels outright amazing. Here are a few photos I took of the device.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69767576@N08/sets/72157632999718306/with/8559067148/

The phone was ridiculously light and the OS was extremely snappy. It almost felt like I wasn't on an Android phone.

[eshbop]

I actually went to the event and had some hands on time with it. This phone just feels outright amazing. Here are a few photos I took of the device.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69767576@N08/sets/72157632999718306/with/8559067148/

The phone was ridiculously light and the OS was extremely snappy. It almost felt like I wasn't on an Android phone.

Snappy OS? The OS on the S2 is extremely snappy. Any mid-high end phone released in the past 2 years has enough processing power & RAM to have a snappy OS. Hardly a selling point anymore. I'd much rather a battery that can last me 16hours of solid use than an overpowered 8 core processor.

[Gomenasai]

I actually went to the event and had some hands on time with it. This phone just feels outright amazing. Here are a few photos I took of the device.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69767576@N08/sets/72157632999718306/with/8559067148/

The phone was ridiculously light and the OS was extremely snappy. It almost felt like I wasn't on an Android phone.

Perhaps snappy wasn't what I was trying to get across. Maybe fluid is a bit more of an accurate definition. It just felt different. My current phone runs on a Snapdragon S4, so yes, I have a pretty snappy phone, but the way the S IV felt was, a bit more natural I suppose. Really don't know how to explain it.

[bradscoolio]

I just bought a s3... for $300 unlocked and outright! don't care at that price

[Nit3Rid3R]

I like the phone and all, but I think I'm going to be sticking with my iPhone for a while longer. I like the weight of the phone, you can feel your money spent in it. If you get what I mean.

[MdX MaxX]

It's a winner in my book. The specs are impressive obviously, but what I love most is that Samsung remains committed to removable storage, removable batteries, hardware buttons for menu, back, and home, and (presumably) unlocked bootloaders.

Plastic construction has never bothered me; it's not like I plan on tossing my phone down a staircase. If it stays in one piece with normal use, it's good build quality in my eyes.

Alas, I'll be sticking with my SIII for a while. Which isn't a problem; I love my SIII.

[Salmiakbal]

IMHO the last good phone sammy made was the S2. Design went downhill after that as well as build quality. Why can't they just make a nice looking phone?

The HTC One seems like a better phone in almost every aspect, except maybe Sense

[JaeDee884]

Not interested in this phone.

Will be getting either an Xperia Z or HTC One, haven't decided yet.

[Salmiakbal]

Not interested in this phone.

Will be getting either an Xperia Z or HTC One, haven't decided yet.

I'd take the HTC One any day. The Xperia Z is a nice phone but viewing angles are very bad, it has gloss all round (which I personally dislike) and do you feel like unplugging every hole before you can use it? I think it's very obnoxious.

[JaeDee884]

Not interested in this phone.

Will be getting either an Xperia Z or HTC One, haven't decided yet.

The HTC is the first choice, but really it comes down to availability when my contract turns over next month.

i don't mind the covers, using the Xperia S and I've had a great user experience with it.

[Scia]

Ahh, my contract will be running out in a few months, and when I refresh it I can get that phone close to free :) And my S2 can go into retirement ^^

[Aadi]

Here's my take. I really like the screen size and resolution and I think its sharp. Perhaps they could go with some premium materials into the design, but things like aluminium can be scratched more easily and attracts fingerprints like nobody's business. The Touchwiz UI used to be gimmicky, but I have somewhat grown to like it, and they've made some improvements over the previous version. It also includes a number of software features which is good. Like Apple said, it's not just enough to have good hardware, the hardware must work well with the software.They also took many features from the Note II and added it to the S IV line. Yes, some features are gimmicky and don't save much time, but there are also some features (such as dualview camera) which should have been implemented in phones for years. (Whenever I took video on my iPhone 4, I got so pissed because I couldn't change the video to the front camera while recording.) The hardware is very good too, but that is not really what makes the Galaxy line shine. IT is the combination of hardware and software features that make it stand out from most phones. This is just my opinion, nothing more

[Aadi]

Also, if you remember, the Galaxy S III plastic build was actually very rugged and survived numerous fall and water tests with just some scratches. That said I also want to mention that this phone is still very user customizable, having a microSD card for storage using a STANDARD Micro-USB for charging (Silly Apple :P) and a removable battery. It also has 4gLTE connectivity, and is going to be the biggest Samsung launch, launching in 155 countries with support for 327 carriers

[Aadi]

Personally, I would buy an HTC One or a Samsung Galaxy s4...I would have to wait for launch and see exactly which one trumps the other

[vanwazltoff]

the S3 already felt a bit gimmicky, the S4 just takes that further. The phone I still personally want is a Nexus 4 though I wouldn't mind having an HTC One. My favorite phone manufacturer is LG, every phone that I have owned that was made by LG lasted quite a long time without problems, I had two Samsung phones and both of them were really buggy, also had a Motorola and I pretty much returned it the next day. It seems like HTC hasn't had a good selling phone since the Evo 4g

[vanwazltoff]

i can already tell you what all the major carriers in the US are going to have and its going to be the version with the snapdragon processor, so 95% of the country wont have the 8 core version. the same thing happened with the S3, the dual core version with the snapdragon processor was only sold by carriers and the international unlocked version that you cant get with a contract had the exynos 4 in it. its going to be the same thing this time around too

[Mysticode]

Meh, not excited. It's another phone added to the bundle of other great phones out there. Would love to have one don't get me wrong, but I'm perfectly content with my HTC DNA, hell I would still be happy with my HTC HD2 if it didn't die on me...

+1 for Meh

[Mysticode]

I really was against getting an LG phone (not sure why, tbh), but after I got my Nexus 4, I was so very very pleased. Just wish I didn't have to put a screen protector on this thing, touch on glass was a much better experience :(

[mgsstar]

13 MP rear camera is awesome. And I love the dual camera function and the hover function to scroll pages so you don't have to touch your screen if you hands are dirty.

[Mysticode]

13 MP rear camera is awesome. And I love the dual camera function and the hover function to scroll pages so you don't have to touch your screen if you hands are dirty.

More mega pixels isn't really doing much if the sensor hasn't been improved. Also, you're going to have to first unlock your phone to use it, which means picking it up with those dirty fingers :p

[eshbop]

13 MP rear camera is awesome. And I love the dual camera function and the hover function to scroll pages so you don't have to touch your screen if you hands are dirty.

Personally I think all these things are absolutely useless.

[STKS]

I'm using the iPhone 4 atm, 3ish years ago it was hands down the best choice. Over the last month or so I've been gearing up for a new phone, so I decided to wait for the S4 and iPhone 5s / 6. I'd already decided what would make my mind up;

I'd stay with apple if they update their UI in the next release.

I'd swap to Samsung if they improve battery life abd don't focus on a gimmick feature.

Well, Samsung dissapointed me, the ball is in apple's court, if they can't bring UI updates then I don't know what I'll do, maybe jailbreak and iPhone or go for WP8. But I'm certainly not buying and ugly phone with half a day's battery if it means abandoning the music & apps I've bought.