The
Galaxy S4
is a terrific phone. And it's a decent upgrade to the Galaxy 3. But
Samsung has not revolutionized the smartphone with this new device. In
fact, side by side the Galaxy S4 looks very similar to the
Galaxy S3.
Samsung has used the same sturdy plastic for the S4 that it used in the
S3. The home screen button and other buttons are in the same place on
the S4 as they are on the S3.
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 (left) and its predecessor, the GS3
(Credit:
CNET/Sarah Tew)
That said, there are some hardware differences between the devices.
While the devices look the same, the S4 is actually a tad lighter and
thinner than the S3. And the guts of the phone are different as well. As
my CNET Reviews colleague Jessica Dolcourt said in her first-take
review of the product, Samsung seems to have taken every feature to an
extreme on the S4.
"The screen is larger (5 inches vs. 4.8 inches), the
resolution greater (1,080p vs. 720p), the battery capacity higher
(2,600mAh vs. 2100mAH), the processor faster (1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz
octa-core vs.1.5GHz, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (U.S. version);
proprietary 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos), and the rear-facing camera stuffed
with more megapixels (13 megapixels vs. 8 megapixels.) But, once you've
gone through the features checklist (which also includes lots of
internal and external storage space and RAM), it's the software extras
that Samsung continues to lean on to keep its phones one step ahead of
the competition."