1 The S4 is too plasticky to break any hearts, but it’s thin, light and impressively pocketable thanks to the slim bezels flanking its huge 5in screen. Plus, it’s the only 2013 flagship with microSD expansion, a removable battery and an IR blaster; team that with its EPG widget and you’re in TV heaven.
2 If you’re a fan of crisp fonts and vivid colours, you’ll love the S4’s 1080p Super AMOLED screen. It’s dazzlingly bright, with excellent viewing angles, and the pixels look as if they’re sitting on the glass. That screen uses up plenty of juice, but its 2600mAh battery just about survives a day’s use.
3 Despite packing ‘only’ four cores, the UK S4 handles intensive tasks such as Multi-Window (which runs two apps on screen at once) with ease. Similarly, our 4GEE SIM made the browser fly. Oddly, prosaics such as the keyboard and gallery can lag – we’re hoping an imminent software update will fix that.
4 Launching with the latest version ofAndroid (4.2.2) is a boon, and this year’s TouchWiz interface skin has a much slicker Samsung Hub. All your info is front-andcentre, and although it’s not as fuss-free as stock Android, it has useful widgets such as the TripAdvisor-powered S Travel.
5 The 13MP rear and 2MP front cameras are among the best we’ve used. Colours are accurate and detail is phenomenal for a phone. It’s also up there with the best in low light, and packs in fun features such as Dual Shot, which mixes front and rear shots in one. It’s a gimmick, but a good one. Full HD video is great too: it’s silky and crisp.
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Source. Stuff UK June 2013
