Samsung Galaxy S4 Review

It isn’t often that I get to play with a phone or review one. I am not a phone reviewer, but a games reviewer. However, Phones4U sent me a Samsung Galaxy S4 before Christmas to play with and I thought it would be worth writing a few words about it – concentrating on the gaming aspects.

First off, some basic specs. The S4 is a big phone. At around 13cm tall and 7cm wide, it is considerably larger than the iPhone 5. Whilst this makes it a little tougher on the pocket, it does give rise to a glorious screen. The AMOLED screen pushes out 1080 x 1920 pixels. In comparison the iPhone 5S only has 640 x 1136 pixels – 441 pixels per inch vs iPhone’s 326 PPI.

All of this leads to the screen looking fantastic – a real boon for gaming. In fact the size helps with gaming in general. When you consider that many games require you to use virtual joy-pads on screen, the more real estate you have, the less your thumbs can cover! All of the games I tried had crisp clear graphics and vibrant colours.

The S4 packs a lot of punch with its Quad core, 1900 MHz processor and Adreno 320 graphics chip. More than enough to handle any Android games I could throw at it – and all of them looked great.

The size of the phone has another advantage, it feels nice in your hand. As it is pretty light and thing, you never tire of holding it. This does have a downside though, it feels a little flimsy – not anywhere near as solid as the iPhone feels.

As a gamer, I love this phone. The screen is big and bright and I can hold it comfortable for hours. The battery life is really good as well, so you can actually play for a few hours! Great for watching films, reading, playing and of course making calls – if you are looking for an alternative to the iPhone, look no further than the Galaxy 4S

Games Tested

GTA: Vice City
GTA: III
Dead Trigger
Candy Crush
Angry Birds
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

Full Spec

(From www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/android/GT-I9505ZWABTU-spec)

Network/Bearer and Wireless Connectivity


Infra	LTE 4G
2G	EDGE / GPRS (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz)
4G	LTE Cat 3 (800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600MHz) * Dependent on market
3G	HSPA+ (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100MHz)
Wi-Fi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Wi-Fi Direct	Yes
Bluetooth Profiles	BT 4.0 (PBAP, A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SAP, HID, PAN, DI, MAP)
NFC	Yes
Connectivity Support	DLNA, MHL 2.0
PC Sync.	KIES, KIES Air

OS

Android

Display


Technology	FHD sAMOLED
Colour Depth	16M
Size	5″
Resolution	1920 x 1080

Chipset


CPU Type	Quad
CPU Speed	1.9GHz

Memory

16GB (User memory approximately 9GB)**

Camera


Camera Resolution(Rear)	CMOS, 13MP
Camera Resolution(Front)	CMOS, 2MP
Flash	Power LED (1EA)
Auto Focus	Yes

Sensors

Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Gyro, RGB light, Barometer, Proximity, Gesture, Temperature & Humid

Physical Specification


Dimension (HxWxD)	136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm
Weight	130g

Colour

White Frost / Black Mist

Connectors


USB	USB 2.0
Earjack	3.5mm
External Memory Slot	MicroSD Slot (up to 64GB)***
SIM Support	Micro SIM (3FF)
Connector	Micro USB (5V, 2A)
MHL	Yes

Battery


Standard Battery	2600mAh
Internet Usage Time(3G)	Up to 8 Hrs
Internet Usage Time(LTE)	Up to 8 Hrs
Internet Usage Time(WI-FI)	Up to 10 Hrs
Video Playback Time	Up to 11 Hrs
Audio Playback Time	Up to 62 Hrs
Talk Time(W-CDMA)	Up to 17 Hrs
Standby Time(W-CDMA)	Up to 370 Hrs
Standby Time(LTE)	Up to 320 Hrs

Location

AGPS, GLONASS

Services and Applications


Samsung Apps	Yes
Music Hub	Yes
Readers Hub	Yes
Game Hub	Yes
ChatON, mFluent IM	ChatON
ActiveSync	Yes

Audio and Video


Video Format	MPEG4, H.263, H.264, DivX, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, WMV7 / 8, Sorenson Spark, HEVC
Video Resolution	Full HD (1080p) Video Playback
Video Frame rate	30fps
Audio Format	MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB / WB, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X (Bluetooth)