There's a lot of good and bad about the S4. As a phone, it's a contender in the iPhone versus Android battle. As a standalone, it needs work. But for those who can't find the $400USD for the new S5 when it comes out this spring, it's a phone that has the power of a tablet and the features one could only dream of only a few years back.
The Best of It
The S4 offers a lot of power for social media users. The camera is high caliber, with 8MP in the first generation, and 13MP in the latest generation. The shutter lag leaves a lot to be desired for capturing motion, a fully loaded phone will make this lag worse as it is tied to the RAM available. The images in bright light are astonishing from a phone. I've taken images comparable in quality to my PAS. The night time is where the problem lies. It looks more like you're at a rave party than taking a picture. The saturation and gain make the image so noisy that it's atrocious to the eyes. There might be a setting somewhere to fix this. I have yet to find it.
The keyboard, even though I'm a fan of a tactile keyboard that slides out, is no slouch. No need for Swype here. Teaching the words you use works in a similar fashion. It's highly accurate and responsive. I've been using my phone to type posts for here.
The menu style and layout Samsung has been known for since their first touchscreen phone with the stylus is alive and well. The redesign of this style is more function than form. The settings have been grouped into four distinctions for ease of finding settings you need.
Call quality is superb and will not let you down even with low signal. I've made crystal clear calls with one bar. The Internet OTA is faster than comparable phones. The average 4G speed test in my area is 6 up/3 down.
How this phone makes the best of that is the 1900mhz Snapdragon processor. The quad-core power makes this phone a tank going up against the iPhone. The design of this processor actually cuts the amount power needed, significantly boosting battery life over the S3.
The Worst of It
This phone has its quirks. The most annoying of which are the "convenience features" that are touted in the commercials as the best thing since sliced bread. Smart stay, scroll, pause all are lackluster in their functioning. I've only played with this a bit. And prepare for battery life to take a dive when using them. 40% in one hour of having all of these features enabled.
Samsung has been terrible with the "escalating ringtone" issue. This device is no different. No one can tell if the KitKat update will fix this or if youhave to get an S5 to alleviate this.
The case is so flimsy. The plastic case is so thin that it feels like a child's plaything. I have an otter box on mine for some heft and protection in my line of work.
More will come as I get acquainted with this phone.
