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"Samsung's Galaxy S III was one of the most successful Android smartphones of all time, but is the Galaxy S4 a worthy successor?\nIn a word: yes. The Galaxy S4 manages to build on the framework that helped Samsung sell over 40 million Galaxy S III devices in the first seven months, and it packs in new features and better specs to keep it competitive with the likes of the HTC One and other high-end Android devices.\nReviewing the Galaxy S4 isn't an easy task. That isn't because the phone is bad \u2014 far from it \u2014 but there are so many new features in both software and hardware, it's hard to know where to start and when to stop talking.\nAfter spending about a week with the Galaxy S4, I feel it is not only the best Galaxy product to date \u2014 it's one of my favorite Android smartphones ever. \nCheck out what makes the Galaxy S4 really tick.\nSame Size Body, Bigger Screen\nFrom afar, the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy S4 are hard to discern. The fundamental design is the same, and the two devices retain the same physical size. The difference is that the Galaxy S4 has a larger screen and is a bit more refined.\nWhile still primarily made of plastic, the Galaxy S4 somehow feels more substantial than the Galaxy S III, despite being both thinner and lighter.\nThe screen is also bigger. It's now 5 inches instead of 4.7. In practice, I'm not sure if the added screen real-estate makes a difference, but it's certainly nice to get such a big screen into a device that doesn't take up any more physical space.\nSpeaking of the screen \u2014 it's gorgeous. It's 1920x1080 \u2014 that's full HD \u2014 AMOLED and backlit. Text is crisp, colors are vibrant and blacks are deep.\nI've long been a proponent of smaller handsets. The iPhone 5 \u2014 or maybe even the BlackBerry Z10 \u2014 fit the sweet spot for my personal needs. That makes sense. I'm a petite woman with small hands, tiny wrists and pant pockets that can't easily include anything bigger or wider than an iPhone.\nStill, after spending a week with the Galaxy S4, I have to admit to not being turned off by the size. I still feel a bit silly holding it up to my ear \u2014 but who really uses their smartphone to make phone calls?\nIn any event, the Galaxy S4 helps hit that sweet spot for users that want a big-screen phone,  but don't want to step into phablet territory with a Galaxy Note II.\nThe Benchmarks Are Slamming\nOn the surface, the specs for the Galaxy S4 don't look diametrically different from the Galaxy S III. Both have quad-core processors and 2GB of RAM.\nSamsung actually sells two different variants of the Galaxy S4. In North America, the phone has a quad-core 1.9Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. The European and non-LTE variant of the Galaxy S4, meanwhile, uses Samsung's own Exynos processor, which is a whopping eight cores (ocotocore, baby!). While early benchmarks show that in terms of raw speed, the octocore model is a bit faster, no one should feel slighted by the performance of the U.S. variant of the Galaxy S4.\nI ran benchmarks In Geekbench 2, a popular tool for comparing different device benchmarks across platforms, and the Galaxy S4 performed extremely well. In my tests, the Galaxy S4 managed a score of 3259. To put that in perspective, our Galaxy S III (running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean) \u2014 one of the best performers of 2012 \u2014 scored a 1343. This is despite having a bigger, higher-resolution screen.\n\nIt also puts the Galaxy S4 slightly ahead of the excellent HTC One.\nI imagine that a lot of the performance has to do with the graphics chip Samsung is putting in the phone. Even a mid-range smartphone such as the HTC First is fast enough to run the latest apps and games. For power users and for future developer targets, many of the biggest innovations are happening with graphics. Having more graphical horsepower means that the Galaxy S4 can drive a full HD screen while also interacting with lots of secondary devices.\nOf course, benchmarks are only part of the equation. The real test comes to how a device performs. In this case, most actions are quick and fluid. Some apps \u2014 especially the Samsung Hub \u2014 had some wait time, but by and large, the device is snappy. Graphical elements load without pause, and web pages and other elements can be manipulated with ease.\nA Picture's Worth 1000 Words\nThe camera on the Galaxy S4 is now 13 megapixels (up from 8 on the Galaxy S III) on the rear and 2 megapixels on the front. The bigger story, however, is with the camera software.\nTaking cues from the Galaxy Camera, Samsung has redesigned the entire user interface. That's a good thing, as the old software was clunky and hard to use.\n\nThe new software mimics the interface of the Galaxy Camera, and adds in some new features,  as well. One new feature, dubbed \"Dual Camera,\" allows the front and rear cameras to be used at the same time.\nThis works in photo and video mode, and users can choose from a number of presets, including shaped vignettes, side-by-side mode and a postage-stamp look.\nI'm not sure how useful this feature will be in photos, but in video, it could be really helpful as a way to dictate something and show something else off. Plus, the dual cameras work on video calls, which could also come in handy.\nIn addition to dual camera, Samsung has a ton of camera options and features.\nSamsung introduced its \"Best Face\" and \"Best Photo\" features with the Galaxy Note II,  and the features are a bit more refined with the Galaxy S4. This essentially takes five images in rapid succession, and lets you choose the best photo from the list \u2014 or manipulate aspects of the image to create one \"best\" photo \u2014 no Photoshop needed.\nIn addition to those modes, the Galaxy S4 has some other cool modes too, including:\n\nSound and Shot: appends up to nine seconds of sound to your photo if you want to dictate a moment or share a message\n.\nDrama: This is great for movement, as it shows a moving figure in all phases of a shot, as if it was done with long exposure\n.\nEraser Shot: This lets you remove objects and photos from your photos. It's similar to Photoshop's Content Aware masks, but simpler and in-camera.\nAnimation Shot: This is basically Cinemgram, but built into the stock camera software. You record a piece of animation, isolate what part you want to animate, edit the length of the animation and export the resulting file as a GIF.\nLive Filters: Users get real-time effects and previews for photo and video before even pressing the capture button\n.\n\nWe'll do more through tests with the Galaxy S4 camera in the coming days, pitting it against the HTC One, the Galaxy S III, the Lumia 920 and the iPhone 5. Without a more controlled setting, I can't really say if the photos are substantially better than any other camera phone on the market, but the extra features really do pack a punch.\nSensors, Gestures and Remote Controls\nBuilding off of some of the features it introduced with the Galaxy Note II and the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung has integrated some new sensor technologies into the Galaxy S4.\nThe first feature is Air View, which acts similarly to how the S-pen on the Galaxy Note 8 works. Simply hover your finger a few millimeters above the screen of the device and in supported apps, you'll see a preview of content. This works with many of Samsung's built-in apps,  including the photo gallery, the dialer, Samsung's browser and email client. It also works with Flipboard, and Samsung says it will have an SDK so developers can integrate the feature into their app.\nAir View works by cranking up the capacitive sensor on the screen so that it is more sensitive and can detect interaction without your finger having to touch the device. While finding the right way to use the feature can take time, once you figure out the sweet spot, it works reliably.\nAir View is handy, especially in apps that support it. Unfortunately, right now, the only apps that support Air View are either built by Samsung or are Flipboard. If you use Chrome and Gmail \u2014 as opposed to Samsung's mail app and browser \u2014 you won't be able to take advantage of these cool features.\nAnother new feature is Air Gestures. This uses the built-in IR sensor on the top of the phone to detect movement by your hand or finger. Using Air Gestures, you can flip between open tabs in Samsung's browser app, skip to a new song in the music player, answer a call or even scroll through a web page.\nIn my tests, Air Gestures were much more difficult to reliably activate than Air View. Still, when they do work, the experience is kind of awesome. It's like taking the best elements of Xbox Kinect, but putting it on a smaller screen. My favorite is the ability to answer a phone call by waving your hand and having it go straight to speaker phone. That's a feature I could see lots of regular people using.\nSamsung also has some new features, including Smart Scroll and Smart Pause. These features don't include eye-tracking per se, but do monitor your facial movements \u2014 and in the case of Smart Scroll, the position of your wrist \u2014 to help better deliver content. Smart Pause can pause videos when your attention is turned away, and resume once you turn back, while Smart Scroll will automatically advance a webpage you're reading as your eyes get closer to the bottom of the screen.\nWhile they certainly sound cool, in practice, I think the Smart Pause and Smart Scroll features are a bit gimmicky \u2014 and I can't see many people actively using them. It makes for a great demo, but the experience isn't as fluid or seamless as it needs to be to be something that regular people will actually use.\nOne feature that is genuinely useful is the built-in universal remote control. Samsung has built IR ports into its tablets since the Galaxy Tab Plus back in 2011. The Galaxy S4 marks the first time we're seeing the IR tech come to the phone itself. By putting an IR port on the phone, the Galaxy S4 becomes a really nice universal remote control.\nUsing Samsung's revamped WatchOn software (which is still powered by Peel), users can configure different rooms of their home or office with different device types. Even better, the remote control functionality is not limited to Samsung products.\n\nGetting the software to recognize the Sony TV in our office was a snap, as was the Scientific America cable box. That's actually a big deal because the biggest barrier to most universal remote controls is the process of actually getting it to interact with your equipment.\nUsing Peel's TV listing info, WatchOn even made it easy to create and access a good-looking electronic programming guide within the app.\nWhat's really nice about the remote control is that it can be configured as a notifications-screen widget on the lockscreen. This is awesome because it means you can continue to do your thing with the phone, leave it on the table and then pick it up to change a channel or turn the volume up or down.\nTo be clear: The remote capabilities with the Galaxy S4 aren't going to match what you can get from the Logitech Harmony Touch, but it's a solid offering with good design.\nAs for the WatchOn software, its new design is greatly improved, and the recommendations that can come from WatchOn or Netflix are both great.\nFor users with 2013 Samsung TVs: You can actually transfer live video from the TV to your Galaxy S4. We don't have one of those to test, but the demos I've seen are very slick.\nCall Quality, Data Speeds, Battery Life\nMy Galaxy S4 review unit was on Sprint's network. Because I work in the Flatiron district of New York and live in Brooklyn, that means I'm virtually out of bounds of any of Sprint's rumored 4G LTE coverage in the city. As a result, I couldn't test LTE data speeds. Still, I have every reason to expect them to be on-par with what you can find on the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II.\nLikewise, Sprint doesn't have the best call quality in my testing areas, but when I was able to find good pockets of coverage, calls were crisp and clear on both sides.\n\nWhen it comes to battery life, I walked away impressed by what the S4 had to offer. The phone packs a huge 2600 mAh battery; but keep in mind, this phone has a 5-inch full HD display and enough sensors and gizmos to drain anything quickly.\nThe good news is that when the phone isn't in use \u2014 and is idle \u2014 it drains very little power. I found I was able to leave the phone on overnight in my laptop bag and it retained most of its juice the next morning. This was without running any sort of memory-management apps in Android and without enabling the handy Battery Saver mode.\nOnce you're actually using the phone, battery life becomes a different story. When using some of the Air Gesture, Air View and Smart Scroll features, I noticed battery life disappearing at a hefty clip.\nAs with all smartphones, battery life can also get run down tremendously in areas with low or poor signal. Because I was testing a Sprint phone in New York City, that certainly had an impact on my usage.\nI can't give a qualitative battery figure, but I'd feel comfortable saying that the Galaxy S4 can last at least eight hours of normal usage. If you're a heavy user, playing lots of games or have all the sensors enabled, that time can be cut back.\nSoftware Modifications and the Samsung Hub\nAlthough the Galaxy S4 ships with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean \u2014 also known as the latest and greatest version of Android \u2014 Samsung has put their own imprint on the look and feel. The latest version of TouchWiz (Samsung's name for their special skin) is its most cohesive yet. \nI like some of the design changes, especially to the layout of the settings menu and app. I also like how the drop-down notification area can be customized and ordered for easy access to sensors and features.\n\nStill, having extensively used Android 4.2.2 on a Galaxy Nexus \u2014 and thus getting the \"pure\" Android experience \u2014 not all of the changes are for the better. Controlling running applications works the same as on the Galaxy S III \u2014 long hold the home button \u2014 rather than using a dedicated soft-button as is standard in the pure Google experience.\nSamsung has modified its keyboard. It looks and feels more like the stock Jelly Bean keyboard,  and includes the number row on the top. It also includes SwiftKey predictive technology built-in. While this is great, for my use, I still prefer the stock Jelly Bean keyboard that Google ships with the Nexus 4.\nStill, those are niggles and for most users, TouchWiz and the implementation of the Galaxy S4 will be both easy to recognize and use.\nFor new users, Samsung even has an Easy Mode that can be turned on or off. This is great for first-time smartphone users who don't want to have to shuffle through lots of screens and options, and just want a more simplified experience.\nFor the last several years, Samsung has started to build out its own content ecosystem for music, movies, TV shows and books, as well as specific or highlighted apps. In the past, these apps all lived in different places and didn't have a homogenous design.\nThat changes with the Galaxy S4 and the new Samsung Hub. The Samsung Hub is basically Samsung's version of what Sony does with its Music and Video Unlimited apps. It's also a competitor of sorts with Google Play.\nWith the Samsung Hub, it's clear Samsung wants to try to create its own branded content ecosystem the same way Apple has with iTunes and the App Store.\n\nMy first impressions of the music, books and video store is that the selection is decent \u2014 if not overly stellar. While music and video prices are in line with what you'd find at other mobile stores, eBooks are more expensive. A copy of The Great Gatsby that is about $8 for the Amazon Kindle is $15 via the Samsung Hub.\nStill, I mention the Samsung Hub because it now has a single sign-on and payment portal for content. Samsung has sold over 100 million Galaxy S devices \u2014 if the company can convert even a fraction of that audience into Samsung Hub users, it could be disruptive for Google. Moreover, I'd like to see what Samsung does with Hub integration on its consumer electronic devices such as TVs and Blu-ray players.\nWrapping Up: Everything and the Kitchen Sink\nAs I said at the start of my review, it's hard to be concise when it comes to the Galaxy S4 because Samsung packed so much \u2014 both in software and hardware \u2014 into the device.\nThat's both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it means that this is the most realized Samsung smartphone or tablet to date, and one of the first Android devices that ships with built-in apps, features and an ecosystem that can come close to matching what Apple has with iTunes and iOS.\nIt's a curse because wading through the features and figuring out what is useful and what is a one-time gimmick is difficult. I've written nearly 3,000 words thus far, and I haven't even mentioned every feature on the phone \u2014 including stuff such as the optical reader, Group Play for sharing music and games, the cloud backup and restore service or KNOX security.\nIf I have one criticism of the phone, it's that there is too much here, and the execution isn't even throughout. I would have almost preferred if Samsung focused on half of the features it put into the phone and really made sure they were awesome, rather than throwing everything into the mix. \nIt's great to have a huge feature list for ads or for spec comparisons, but none of that matters if you aren't actually going to use the features in day-to-day life.\nStill, I can't find many hard issues with the Galaxy S4. It's undoubtedly the best Android phone on the market right now (unless you are absolutely reliant on a pure Google experience). Part of what makes it the best is that it's from Samsung \u2014 the runaway leader in Android phone sales. Buying a Galaxy S4 \u2014 much like buying an iPhone \u2014 means buying into an ecosystem of accessories, supported apps and lots of fellow apps.\nThe Galaxy S III was a great phone. The Galaxy S4 is even better. If you have a Galaxy S III, fear not \u2014 many of the software features will come to that device and the Galaxy Note II in the future.\nFor new smartphone buyers seeking a high-end Android handset: The Galaxy S4 is easily one of the strongest phones on the market. \nAre you interested in buying the Galaxy S4? Let us know in the comments.\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Review\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Lockscreen\nThe Galaxy S4 features a stunning 5-inch 1920x1080 display. That's ful HD. The best part? The phone is the same physical size as the Galaxy S III.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Home Screen\nSamsung's TouchWiz overlay is more refined and polished. Underneath the Galaxy S4, it runs the latest version of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 View Cover\nOne our favorite early accessories for the Galaxy S4 is the Galaxy View Cover. The window on the front display time and date, call info and music playback. Plus, when you open the cover, it goes straight to the home screen -- just like Apple's Smart Cover.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Rear\nThe back of the Galaxy S4 features its 13-megapixel camera front and center. The rest of the back is fairly flat and very, very thin.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Left Side\nVolume buttons are on the left side of the Galaxy S4.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Right Side\nThe right side of the Galaxy S4 contains a single power button.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Top\nThe top of the Galaxy S4 contains an earphone jack and an IR port.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy S4 Bottom\nThe bottom of the Galaxy S4 has a mini-USB connector. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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