First Impressions of Samsung Galaxy S4

Two Galaxies: The Pebble Blue Galaxy S3 cozies up to the white Galaxy S4

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I've had a few days to try out the Samsung Galaxy S4 which is supposed to be coming to stores on April 27th. Here are my first impressions of Samsung's new flagship smartphone.

Anyone who sees a Samsung Galaxy S4  for the first time might easily mistake it for the Samsung Galaxy S3. To the naked eye, the two devices have almost identical dimensions and the general shape, placement of the home buttons, power on/off buttons and volume rocker are in similar positions.

The first indicator that you are looking at the Galaxy S4 is that radiant new 1080p HD screen. The Galaxy S3's screen was considered one of the brightest most saturated  AMOLED display on the market. The new 5-inch (1920 x 1080), 441 ppi Super AMOLED display is brighter, clearer and more striking. Images on the S4's display look like they were Photoshopped on, seriously. This is a superb display and one that complements the new 13 megapixel camera very nicely.

While they may look very much alike, the GS3 and GS4 feel quite different. While the GS3 is rounded and designed with a more organic and biomorphic contoured shape (to resemble nature), the GS4 has some definite edges to the design and there's a visual separation between the display, the middle section and the rear case. If I had to pin it down, I'd say the GS4 looks more executive, more professional and with build quality that's a notch above what we've bee used to from Samsung.

There's also a more tactile approach to the Galaxy S4's design, which is subtle but will be noticed by Galaxy S3 owners and users.

There are many small things  that catch you, like how the home button sticks out a bit more and is easier to feel. There's also a faux-metal bezel between the now-flat and unbeveled display and the rear case. This is similar to the metal band around the iPhone 4 or the BlackBerry 9900 but this isn't really metal but a brushed polycarbonate. 

Samsung's industrial designers and engineers basically found a way to increase the screen size, add a larger battery, improved cameras and additional sensors into a device that's basically the same size and weight as last year's model.

In terms of feel, the GS4 is more dense and solid than the Galaxy S3. It has more in common with the Galaxy Nexus, which was felt like a better put together smartphone, possibly because it had a metal frame.

In terms of performance, I ran some basic navigation and app opening, multitasking and web surfing tests to compare the Galaxy S4 with my LG Optimus G (currently the most powerful quad-core Android device I have at my disposal).

Both devices were pretty snappy, rendered complex websites at around the same pace although the Optimus G's smaller screen and lower pixel density gave it the appearance of being slightly faster.

What blew me away, was the discrepancy in display quality with the Galaxy S4's vibrant screen making the (it was just fine yesterday) Optimus G's display look faded and murky  by comparison even when both had similar brightness settings.

The Galaxy S4 really has one of the most remarkable displays on a mobile device today and more than the 5-inch size, it is the awesome quality, clarity and brightness that really separates this from the crowd.

The new camera software integrates functionality from Samsung's point-and-shoot line. And while this means the requisite cutesy frame effects, I found most of the controls to be intuitive. So much so that it is easy to forget you're using a smartphone since the settings can rival those of more advanced point and shoot cameras.

Stay tuned for my full review coming in a week or so.