The Samsung Galaxy S4 is coming. Soon the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be consigned to the past, trodden underfoot like a Gizmondo with a broken screen. But will 2013’s Android king-in-waiting be that much better than its predecessor?
We’ve collated all the information we can find on the Samsung Galaxy S4, discarded the rubbish and drawn a picture of what this next Galaxy flagship will be like. We’ll be updating this article as more information is released.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 Release Date
At the time of writing, it has been seven months since the Samsung Galaxy S3 was released. In that time the phone has sold more than 30 million units. It has a few months more to rack-up those sales too, because the Samsung Galaxy S4 is likely to be released in April, following a March “Unpacked” event.These Samsung Unpacked events are the Samsung norm for big new releases, and reports online suggest plans are already underfoot to hold one in late March.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 Design
However, the phone appears to be returning to the more angular lines of the Samsung Galaxy S2, probably in order to make slimming-down the screen bezel easier. This will let the Samsung Galaxy S4 incorporate a larger screen than the Samsung Galaxy S3 without having a significantly larger body.
The leaked image above looks remarkably similar to a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, one with a slightly different select button. This picture was published by BGR, which found the image on photo sharing site Picasa. As far as leaks go, it’s far from concrete. We’ll be back with more up-do-date pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S4 as soon as they’re available.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 CPU
The Samsung Galaxy S4 processor is a, Exynos 5800 series chip, a generation on from the Exynos 4412 of the Galaxy S3. Its design is quite different too, designed for long battery life as well as top performance.
Four of the Samsung Galaxy S4’s cores are "performance" engines clocked at 1.8GHz and use the Cortex-A15 system architecture. The other four are lower-powered Cortex-A7 cores running at a clock speed of 1.2GHz. These will handle low-demand every-day tasks, while the faster bruiser cores will step in for the good stuff.
AnTuTu benchmark scores for the Samsung Galaxy S4’s Exynos 5800 have already appeared online. It scored 27,617, while the Galaxy S3 tends to score around 12,060.
The GPU of the Exynos 5800 SoC is the Mali-T658, which offers up to ten times the performance of the Mali-400 seen in the Samsung Galaxy S3 according to its maker. The Galaxy S4's iteration is likely to have eight cores of its own.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 Screen
Other than that, though, it’s all change. Screen size is to increase from 4.8 inches to 4.99 inches, which is likely the largest Samsung could afford without making the phone itself much larger.
The Samsung Galaxy S4’s screen will also benefit from significantly improved resolution. It’ll have a 1080p panel instead of a 720p one, offering 2.25 times the number of pixels as the Samsung Galaxy S3.
There should be a noticeable difference in screen detail in spite of the S3's impressive display too, as the Galaxy S3 used a sharpness-reducing arrangement of sub-pixels known as PenTile. That’s why its screen looked significantly less sharp than an iPhone 4S’s – it wasn’t just down to pure pixel density,
The pixels-per-inch figure of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smashes the iPhone 5’s, 441dpi against 326 dpi, so even if it does use a PenTile array (currently TBC) it should look pin-sharp. The Samsung Galaxy S3 had pixel density of 305dpi.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 Software
Recent leaked benchmarks of the Samsung Galaxy S4 show that, in prototype form at least, the phone runs Android 4.2.1. The Samsung Galaxy S3 currently runs Android 4.1.2. After the significant overhaul of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, version 4.2 wasn’t a big upgrade, and some of its tweaks focused on tablets alone. No big upgrade, then?Not quite. What will bring new features to the Samsung Galaxy S4 is TouchWiz 6.0. Samsung is highly likely to introduce a new version of its TouchWiz interface to complement the new flagship phone. Exactly what it’ll bring is anyone’s guess at this point – the Samsung Galaxy S3 already had more trimmings a street’s worth of Xmas day roast dinners. Drop your best guesses in the comments below. We'll be back once we know more.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3 Camera
Samsung has given the Galaxy S4 a solid camera upgrade. Rumours from the web agree that it’ll use a 13-megapixel sensor. This is in-line with the Sony Xperia Z’s snapper, but represents a big upgrade from the 8MP sensor of the Samsung Galaxy S3.It’s too early to decide whether this upgrade will really result in a jump in image quality, though. We don’t know whether the Samsung Galaxy S4 will offer a larger-than-normal sensor or what the aperture of its lens is. These factors are just as important, if not more important, than the megapixel count.
We do know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will almost certainly feature a live HDR video mode, though. HDR involves merging two exposures, taking the image detail from both to create a slightly larger-than-life looking image. It’s a fantastic way to mitigate the limited photo capabilities of a phone camera when shooting stills, and should hopefully have the same effect with video.
Samsung Galaxy S4 - Should You Upgrade?
It’s a little too early to tell if the Samsung Galaxy S4 will become the no. 1 phone to own in 2013, but the early signs are promising. It offers serious spec advantages over not just the Samsung Galaxy S3 but also its 2013 rivals like the Sony Xperia Z and Huawei Ascend D2.We’ll be back with a clearer picture on exactly what the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be like as soon as more information is available. For now, let us know in the comments which Galaxy S4 features you want to see.
Source : trustedreviews
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