Samsung announced the Galaxy S 4 in March 2013, as its new flagship Android. The smartphone features a five-inch 1080p display, and (at least in some markets) will run Samsung's brand new Exynos 5 Octa SoC with two sets of four CPU cores. Sales begin in late April globally, though the US won't see the GS4 land until early May. The phone is able to detect fingers hovering over its display, and new software allows the front-facing camera to control document scrolling based on user eye position.
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by Stephen Schenck | May 23, 2013 3:23 PMRead OnWe've still got over a month to go until Google starts selling its own special edition of the Samsung Galaxy S 4, ditching the familiar TouchWiz and Samsung software touches for a stock Android experience. While nothing new is happening with the phone's hardware, we've nevertheless been curious to learn about just how it will arrive, and a new listing over at the Bluetooth SIG site looks like it's ready to help clue us in. The model in question is Samsung's GT-I9505G. Now, the regular old GS4 is the GT-I9500, and the international version with LTE support (and dropping the Exynos 5 Octa ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 23, 2013 3:26 AMRead On10 million Samsung Galaxy S 4 units was the number we expected officially from the company after reading reports concerning the success of this year's flagship coming from South Korea. Right on schedule, the phone-maker officially announced global channel sales for the Samsung Galaxy S 4 exceeding 10 million devices. As a quick reminder, it took the original Galaxy S seven months, the Galaxy S II five months , and the Galaxy S III 50 days to reach the same number and we can't say we're surprised as we predicted the Galaxy S 4 will be the best selling Samsung phone ever. Furthermore, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2013 11:38 AMRead OnThe Galaxy S 4 is all about software. Some of us are less taken with Samsung's effort than others, but it's nonetheless clear that the company focused on creating a feature-packed experience for its users. It looks like Samsung is just as interested at keeping the flow of software coming that really highlights the GS4's capabilities, and to that end Samsung has announced its Smart App Challenge 2013, with $800,000 in prize money to be distributed. For this competition, Samsung wants apps to really show off its Samsung Chord SDK. Chord lets devices that are in close proximity discover each ...
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by Jaime Rivera | May 21, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Sony's launch of the Xperia Tablet Z, price points and the reason why it's worth your money. We then move into Apple territory as reports call the next-generation iPad ready for trial production. Later it's HTC in the news as we talk about a Google HTC One in the works and when we assume it might be launched. Then we talk about Nokia and their LiveSight technology reaching their Here Maps application for almost every other device that supports it. We end today's show talking about Samsung's possible project to bring Galaxy fingerprint scanning ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2013 3:42 PMRead OnMillions of shoppers turn to Consumer Reports for unbiased, in-depth comparisons to help them shop for anything from cars to chainsaws. That includes smartphones, and we've looked at the company's ratings a number of times in the past. CR recently reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S 4, and found itself so enamored with the smartphone that it gave the handset its ranking top-spot. Previously, that first place smartphone slot was inhabited by the LG Optimus G. Despite being a solid phone, it's not a particularly popular model, so it's really almost surprising to see it hold on to "best smartphone" ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2013 11:39 AMRead OnMuch of the Galaxy S 4 talk over the past week has been about this Google AOSP edition of the phone, but we're also still waiting for it to hit one more carrier in the US: Verizon. Last week we got word that Verizon would no longer wait until the very end of the month to get things started with the GS4, and instead was pushing-up its plans for the handset. As we get ready for the handset to come to the carrier this Thursday, May 23, we're learning of some promotions Verizon is running to usher-in the Android. This may be a tad specific, so apologizes to those of you who are unable to take ...
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by Joe Levi | May 21, 2013 10:45 AMRead OnOne of the announcements at Google I/O this year was somewhat unexpected. We'd heard a few scattered rumors of another Samsung-made Nexus based on their new Galaxy S 4 platform, but I don't think anyone was ready for what we actually got: an unlocked, cross-carrier version of the Galaxy S4 -- the Galaxy S4 Google Edition. Earlier today Pocketnow's Stephen Schenck wrote about this new but "not quite-a-Nexus" phone, and why it's a "slightly" bad deal. His points are fair and accurate, and I can't say that I disagree with any of them. Why is the "Google Edition" of Samsung's latest flagship ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2013 7:05 AM
Read OnThose of you who watched along with the Google I/O keynote last week got to witness the debut of what's essentially a Nexus Galaxy S 4. Everything was going great at the time: "it's Google's take on Android – on the Galaxy S 4" *cheers* "it's bootloader unlocked" *cheers* "it will get prompt updates with every Android platform update" *big cheers* "it will go up for sale on June 26 in Google Play for $649" … … *silence*. We're talking pin-drop, cricket-chirping stuff here. Yup, there are no two ways about it: that's a very un-Google, un-Nexus price tag. At the time, I wasn't too ...
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by Taylor Martin | May 20, 2013 3:19 PMRead OnWhen Samsung announced the Galaxy S 4, it unveiled a horde of new software features, features that many existing Galaxy device owners hoped would someday trickle down to their older devices. Quickly, Samsung confirmed many of the features would, in fact, find their way to other Galaxy-branded devices. But it was still unclear which would make the cut. Today, we got our hands on some leaked Galaxy S III 4.2 firmware. The update, while not totally complete, includes many new features and interface upgrades found on the Galaxy S 4. Unfortunately, this update may foretell a bleak update ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 12:47 PMRead OnIt's sure seemed like Samsung was planning a whole series of Galaxy S 4 models, from the original smartphone to variants like the GS4 Mini, Zoom, and the Active we just got a chance to look at. Over the weekend, some new evidence arrived that just might point to another GS4 family member, taking its name from the manufacturer's new Mega line. A screenshot purporting to show the update details for the latest version of the Samsung WatchON app, arriving yesterday, notes that it "added support for upcoming S4 Mega, S4 mini, and S4 Active." That same line is missing from the "what's new" text ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 19, 2013 10:02 AMRead OnSamsung Galaxy S 4 vs HTC One vs Apple iPhone 5 vs Nokia 808 PureView; that's the comparison we've been waiting to do ever since this year's flagship Android models came out. That also happens to be the camera comparison most requested by you. So, here it is! We've reviewed all of these phones and, at that time, we compared them against other competitors; this time it's them playing against each-other. While we know that the Apple iPhone 5 is the oldest amongst the best-sellers -- with a refresh due soon -- and the Nokia 808 PureView is more than a year old now, but still regarded by many ...
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by Jaime Rivera | May 17, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the new BlackBerry Messenger to come in July and why tablets shouldn't be waiting for it. We later go through the leaks of the Nokia EOS, which is claimed that has already been spotted in the public. Then we go through the Samsung Galaxy S4 and how it's dwarfed the results of the Galaxy S III in these last couple of weeks. We later talk about the HTC One and how the company plans to increase production to meet demand. We end today's show talking about Apple and the possible delay of the iRadio music streaming service. All this and more after ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 11:29 AMRead OnLate last month we brought you the bad news about Samsung, the Galaxy S 4, and its NFC TecTiles. Users who picked up some TecTiles to use with their GS3 last year could scan the NFC stickers in order to trigger certain actions on their phone. Problem was, the GS4 uses a new NFC controller that doesn't work with those old TecTiles, rendering them pretty useless. We were understandably miffed at Samsung for that bad decision, but at least it wasn't killing-off TecTiles altogether: we'd get new, modern TecTiles 2 stickers that would work with the GS4 and future Samsung phones. Today that ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 10:51 AMRead OnSamsung's Galaxy S III was a runaway success. Last year's flagship has delivered sales numbers adding up to something like fifty million. With the Galaxy S 4 now here to take its place, we're sure a lot of you have been wondering if Samsung will be able to re-capture that lightning in a bottle, meeting, if not exceeding GS3 sales. We're only one month into the GS4's release, but at the moment, chances are looking pretty good. From the time the Galaxy S III was first released, it took Samsung fifty days to sell ten million units. The way GS4 sales are going this year, it's going to cross ...
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by Michael Fisher | May 17, 2013 7:01 AMRead OnIt's been a pretty crazy week of news since Nokia unveiled its new Lumia 925 on Tuesday, and before we break for the weekend I'd like to briefly return to that Lumia 920-refresh to give some overdue kudos - and maybe stir up a bit of discussion. I love our community, fellow geeks, but it needs to be said: we can be a fickle bunch of puling, pompous jerks. And these past few months have borne that out, with fanboys of the Android persuasion more riled up than ever before. All across the internet, formerly complacent Samsung fans have risen up to counter the assault of suddenly emboldened ...