Samsung Galaxy S4: Ultra Thin, Long Battery Life and Awesome WiFi

 

Following on from the success of the Samsung Galaxy S3, its successor, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is set be released in April 2013.

Reports earlier this week from a well trusted source indicated that our friends in Europe will have the first opportunity to grab the Galaxy S4 smartphone. While Europe and Asia will receive the smart phone in April, the likes of Australia and the United States will realistically receive them in May or June at the latest.

 

Key Features on the Samsung Galaxy S4

The Structure and Battery

The Broadcom chip in the iPhone 5 gave Apple the opportunity to reduce the size of the device to 7.6mm. If this is anything to go by, Samsung is looking to reduce the size of the Galaxy S4 but at the same time increase the screen size to 5in with Full HD display at 1920 x 1080 resolution, similar to the HTC Butterfly handset.  This level of display will offer a crisp pixel density in the range of 440 pixels per inch (PPI), which is slightly better than Apple’s Retina display.

The Galaxy S4 is also rumoured to be the first smartphone on the market with a flexible display! According to one Samsung spokesperson “The Galaxy S4 will be foldable, rollable, wearable” and apparently more durable given the plastic substrate will be thinner and weigh less than the standard LCD technology.

Improved 4G LTE Performance

Having the Broadcom is a great luxury to have as this new chip will decrease any interference generated from WiFi and Bluetooth with LTE. While Broadcom hasn’t elaborated too much on this concept, I would assume that having this chip will allow the switch from WiFi to 4G LTE (both ways) to be a smoother experience for users.

Long Range Improved WiFi

The rumours are intensifying but it looks like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Apple iPhone 5s could be equipped with 5G connectivity for WiFi and Bluetooth. From what I know, 5G WiFi is a lot faster than normal WiFi routers which will make video streaming from your Galaxy S4 to another smart phone or tablet  a whole lot quicker (not to mention improved syncing)

Another benefit of having 5G connectivity is that you will have better range as the signal is strong enough to go through house walls without reducing the overall signal. I’m sure a number of you would welcome this with open arms as current WiFi signals tend to degrade in similar circumstances.

5G WiFi is Intelligent

The Broadcom chip is also well equipped to support the following features:

• PassPoint
• Miracast
• WiFi Direct

The great thing with Miracast (which is built in to Android 4.2)is that a number of devices already have it and it makes it very easy to mirror their device with a HDTV, similar to AirPlay with the iPhone.

Before I wrap up WiFi, I’d like to make mention of Passpoint which is a great feature in this chip allowing potential Galaxy S4 users to automatically save data on the go when connected to a public WiFi hotspot and it also happens to be secure. This feature will depend on the mobile phone carrier as it will depend on how many hotspot installation points they have across the country.

So to summarise, here are what we believe will be the key features for the Samsung Galaxy S4:

• 5-inch FHD Super AMOLED 1980 x 1080 Display
• 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
• 4G LTE Connectivity
• 2GB RAM
• Exynos 5 Octa processor (the latest 8-core processor)
• 2600 mAh battery with optional wireless charging kit

Samsung Galaxy S4 Expected Release Date & Price

• April 15 – 22^nd 2013 in the UK (and Europe) and Asia
• While we can only speculate on price, it will be in excess of the £499 which was quoted for the S3 back in May 2012.