The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, Flagship Gone Rugged

In the long line of rumored things, today Samsung has finally revealed the Galaxy S4 Active in the midst where most of the attention is on Computex in Taipei. The Active has been rumored shortly after the S4 hit the market. Prior to this the device has also been spotted out in the wild and even with some short hands on video. For starters the Galaxy S4 Active (GT-I9295) has a 5" 1080P screen which translates into 443PPI, but here's the catch the screen is not an AMOLED one, its a IPS display TFT display which is ok given the high pixel density. The hardware inside this adventurous phone is similar to the GT-I9505 and yes the device supports LTE. The main attraction of the device however is its ruggedized body which is IP67 certified and is water (up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes) and dust resistant. For additional specification of the device check out the chart below. Samsung's CEO J.K. Shin had this to say about the device:

"The Galaxy S4 Active is the newest addition to the GALAXY series and is purposefully designed for active users who love the outdoors. Samsung has taken the innovative features of the Galaxy S4 and added breakthrough protective design elements to create a device that thrives in an active environment and is built for a lifestyle of travel and exploration"

Moving on, i was reading through the press release and it seems that the Active is not only more rugged but it also has some added features. Samsung still retained most of the Galaxy S4 hardware and software features like airview, super sensitive screen, air gesture, group play, etc. What is missing is the support for the dual camera mode but the device is still capable of recording underwater. Given its ruggedness, Samsung has added a feature in the camera app called 'Aqua Mode' which will make pictures and videos more clearer. The overall footprint of the device has been increased (139.7mm X 71.3mm X 9.1mm VS 136.6mm X 69.8mm X 7.9mm), the device also weighs 21g heavier than the original S4. Well these dimensions can be justified with the waterproofability and overall ruggedness of the device. But one thing i am skeptical about is wheter the device can live up to its rugged name by fairing in a drop test, only time will answer that. Talking about rugged, i think this is the first time i've seen a rugged flagship phone because other than the Xperia Z no other flagship device have been IP certified. Personally i would choose the Active over the original S4 any day of the week because the Active has a better and more solid design plus its rugged. I can close my eyes with the 8MP camera and the thicker body. Oh yeah not forgetting the Active also comes in 3 magnificent colors which are Urban Grey, Dive Blue and Orange Flare. Availability of this device is still unknown but it'll make an appearance at Samsung's London event later this month. 

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My First Hands On With The Samsung Galaxy S4

This weekend was the global launch of the Galaxy S4 and pretty surprisingly the device came to my country on the first wave, i was actually expecting it to come on the second week. But nonetheless, today i had my first hands on look at the device. After weeks of reading and watching Youtube videos about the device i finally had my hands on of the device an my overall word in this first hands on is that i am really disappointed with the device. Well there is quite a story to this encounter, so without further ado. I went out to the shopping mall in the evening to both buy some groceries and ate dinner and most importantly taking my first hands on look with the device.

After eating dinner i rushed to the nearest electronics store; i did not first choose to go the the official Samsung shop because in the past i went there first and it was crowded to the roof. So i went to three electronic shops which had Samsung tables showcasing Galaxy devices but they all did not have the S4 there. So then i quickly went to the official Samsung shop and from a distant i saw a big crowd outside the store and i knew they wanted to test out the Galaxy S4. Upon reaching there i found out that there were only 2 Galaxy S4's and everybody was crowding on that table just to take a look at the device. So i waited along with the people and handily let everybody try out the device first as i am going to take quite some time due to taking photos. While waiting i notice on the opposite of the table there was a device which looked like the Galaxy S4 but it wasn't it was the Ativ S, i actually very excited to have seen the device because it was only recently announced in my country and prior to the launch of the S4 i was looking up and down for it. In the next article i will be talking about my thoughts of the device so stay tuned. Jumping back to the story i waited for about 15 mins and in that time i took pictures of the Ativ S for about 5 mins. In that other 10 minutes i stared into the thin air waiting was looking at people using the two Galaxy S4's and one of the user was using the device beside of me and as usual while waiting i'm listening to what they talk. So while the user was using the device i did pop in to tell about the new features as the user was pretty clueless about the new features and just frantically tapping the screen; pretty weird is that all of the salesperson was on the other tables and were not here to attend the customers. Time passed pretty fast and it was my turn to play with the device, so first i started scrolling thorough the device and then i took out my camera to take all of the pictures of the key aspects of the device. While taking photos of the device i noticed a small square box on the side of the screen, so i decided to click it and it turns out to be something like the assistive touch on the iPhone. So i asked the salesperson what does that box do and he replied 'its like the iPhone touch thing', i gave him the stun face. After completing the picture taking process which took about 10 minutes i played the device for about another 10 minutes and there were quite a lot of people waiting to play with the device at that time, and at one point the user using the second Galaxy S4 in the shop asked me about the new features of the device so i was holding up the device and started talking about the device and also simultaneously everybody began crowding around me as i was doing a short speech about the device. Then after that short speech i continued playing with the device and all of the sudden the device started freezing and lagging i was really quite angry at that time that the device was lagging and i even wanted to make a short video but i did not bring my tripod stand along so i shun the thought away. After that as i was going to leave i took a few more photos comparing the Galaxy S III with the S4. I jumped into the conversation of the person which was asking the salesperson about the S4 and said a mouthful and after that the person said 'how come you know so much one ?' the i replied 'i write a blog about tech news' then he sarcastically replied 'i know la you are a spy from other companies surveying the device'. Continuing to taking my last shots comparing the S3 with the S4 i finally understand TheVerge's review of the S4 in which they said about the plastic. While i was holding both device in my hand while my other hand was holding the camera, i took quite a number of shots because the devices were hot and they kept on slipping of my hand and the hot slippery plastic did not feel good at all. Overall this first look at the device has been pretty bad, i also came to know that the device also went out of stock and a new stock will only come in 2 weeks time. That was pretty dire to hear. I will try again 1 month from now to have another look at the device, maybe at that time things will turn out better. Here are some images of the Galaxy S4 i took but to see all the images click here.

The Dual Camera mode is really the best feature on the S4

One handed operation on the Galaxy S4 for me is no problem

Pretty surprisingly the stock keyboard on the Galaxy S4 feels very nice to type on

A hands on with the Galaxy S4 (left) wouldn't be complete without comparing it with its predecessor, the Galaxy S III (right)

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The Samsung Galaxy Is The Best Smartphones In The World

About 3 years ago Samsung announced their first ever Samsung Galaxy phone which was the original Galaxy S and that time android was still not at the masses and Samsung was still proudly showcasing their Wave lineup of phones. Turning back time to the present date, Samsung has built up its name with the rapidly increasing popularity of the Samsung Galaxy lineup. Recently they also sold more phones compared to Nokia for the first time ever and they still hold the top spot for selling the most smartphones ever. Additionally they hold the crown in the android community being one of the only android manufacturers to be even successful. 

Reaching to this day in present it was pretty tough for Samsung as they had to do some extensive battling with Apple. The success of Samsung Galaxy devices are basically due to the high amount of advertising they put on their products as well as some keywords which they introduced along the way. Putting advertising at the frontier, Samsung also never fail with their Galaxy lineup of android devices which has some killer features. But time after time we all still complain about the quality of Samsung devices which has been the same ever since they announced the first Galaxy smartphone. Take the Galaxy S III for instance it sold more than 40 million units in about a year and the features it comes in is really solid. To be frank the features which Samsung puts into their Galaxy devices are really one of a kind and these features will come first to high end devices and will soon throttle down to lower class devices which is a big plus for Samsung. So here are some reasons why i think Samsung's Galaxy lineup of devices are the best. First as notably mentioned is the features which is comes with. Smart Stay, Smart Rotate, Smart Scroll, S Translator are just a few of the examples of what Samsung innovated with their software. These features might sound a little gimmicky but in real life they do work and in my experiences they work really good. Next up is also related to the software and for me TouchWiz is really the most refined android manufacturer skin. I know that there is a small piece of the android community which still prefer the stock android look and feel but the problem with the stock android experience is that somehow it has a dark and gloomy interface but opposed to Samsung's launcher, which gives a more vibrant and bright look to your phone which i believe most people prefer. Another thing which is truly like about Samsung Galaxy smartphones is the physical home button which in this era is beginning to diminish. For me a physical home button is better than both capacitive and even on screen keys. The thing is that in times your phone is bound to lag or completely freeze and the presence of a physical home button gives you the tactile feeling that capacitive buttons can't give. Alongside the software enhancements Samsung also brought in some hardware enhancements to the table on their Galaxy smartphones. Take for instance the S Pen which is equivalent to a stylus which can do a lot more. Another addition which i would like to add specifically is multi window which is really a very good feature. It basically enables you to run two app at once. That is a pretty solid feature as time passes the screen size of devices increase and multi window allows you to harness that extra space. Also choosing to buy a Galaxy smartphone you are not locked down to one price point and evidently you can get a Galaxy smartphone in every price point. These are some of the points which i would like to point out and additionally if you're planning to buy a Galaxy smartphone remember to ask around your friends or family about the device because chances are they are already using one. 

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Samsung Galaxy S4 mini Leaked, Looks Like A Miniature Galaxy S4

Its been a week since Samsung showed off the Galaxy S4 and we've pretty much seen everything about it. Today, Sammobile has received some images which look to be the Galaxy S4 mini. At first when i saw the image on the front page i thought it was the Galaxy S4 but the title said S4 mini. So there are some resemblances there. The device is said to have a qHD (960 X 540) Super AMOLED screen, a 1.6GHz dual core CPU, and Android 4.2.2. It is expected to launch in 2 months time and will go on sale in early Q3. More follow up content on this coming soon, you can see the size comparison between the two devices below.

Source: Sammobile 

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Infographic On Samsung's Galaxy S Lineup Of Devices

Samsung has came a long way and what drove them to what they are today is their Galaxy S series of flagship device which the original Galaxy S launched in 2010. Since then till today, Samsung has released 4 flagship devices in the series and each new version is better and sells faster than ever. Below here are some fun facts about each device.

Source: Sammobile

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Samsung Expected To Sell 61.5 Million Smartphones In Q4 2012

In 2010 Samsung announced the Galaxy S which turned out to be one of the most popular Samsung device back then. Fast forward to about 2 years down the road and Samsung has released the 3rd iteration of their flagship device and the 4th iteration is coming in the following months. In this two years time they have managed to bring up the Samsung Galaxy name and they have since then introduced many models like the ace, mini, note and many more. Also a few weeks back Samsung sold more smartphones in one quarter than Apple for the first time ever. Their achievement did not stop there this year as they sold over 30 million Galaxy S III's in a 3-4 month period making it one of the fastest selling smartphone out there besides the iPhone. They are expected to sell over 61.5 million smartphones in Q4 and Apple is expected to sell over 45.5 iPhone 5's. With that said Q4 results are something to watch out for early next year. 

Source: Phonearena 
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Samsung Device With 3GB Of RAM Leaked, Overkill Much ?

Samsung has always been putting some very powerful hardware in their phones and sometimes even a bit overkill. This video below shows 2 devices which have stickers above stating 3GB RAM. These devices are prototype devices and SamMobile's source confirmed that these are indeed phones with 3GB of RAM. The source also said that Samsung is finally getting ready to be all buttonless and following the stock android experience which has no physical home button. These devices are still prototypes and will be possible 2013 Galaxy models. My guess is that Samsung will introduce 3GB of RAM either on the Galaxy Nexus II of the Samsung Galaxy S IV. Currently the standard of high end android phones is 2GB of RAM and that 2GB is pretty much enough

Source: Pocketnow And SamMobile
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Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, Samsung Galaxy S II Plus And Samsung Galaxy S Premier Detailed

The Samsung Galaxy S III is currently the flagship android device and has a massive 4.8" display. Most of the smartphones now are having a 4" plus screen but not all people like massive screens. A new report by SamMobile said that Samsung is working on a smaller version of the Galaxy S III and it will be called the Galaxy S III Mini. The screen on this device has been made smaller to 4 inches and the camera has also been downgraded to a 5MP camera. The processor will be swapped with a dual core processor. There is a pretty logical explanation why Samsung is doing this, it is because Samsung wants this phone to compete with the iPhone 5. Although the device will not have such a premium feel compared to the iPhone 5, the price  will catch the eyes of users. The Galaxy S III Mini is expected to be priced at 250 Euros ($314.50 USD) and is 400 Euros ($503.20 USD) cheaper than the iPhone 5 which is priced at 650 Euros ($817.70 USD). The iPhone 5 is also expected to have a 4" screen. 
Other than that Samsung is also expected to release a subsidized Samsung Galaxy S II called the Samsung Galaxy S Plus. The device will have a 4.3" screen, a single core CPU, an 8MP camera and will come with ICS. Lastly another source said that a new Samsung phone called the Samsung Galaxy S Premier (GT-i9260). This phone will be similar in terms of specs if compared to the Galaxy S II Plus, but this device will feature a 4.65" Super HD Amoled screen and is allegedly running Android 4.1 Jellybean out of the box

Source: Phonearena
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

This is Samsung's first android 4.0 ice cream sandwich tablet, this is the successor to the original Galaxy Tab and it is expected to be cheaper than the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. It comes with a 7 inch multi-touch display  with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels,this tablet also packs a dual core 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. This tablet come with a 3 megapixel rear facing camera and a 1.3 front facing camera. Other features include WiFi, Bluetooth 3.-, A-GPS and a choice of either 16GB or 32GB of built in storage plus a microSD card slot, and it will feature Android 4.0 ICS plus Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. 


Source: Geeky Gadgets via Slashgear