An Unboxing and Quick Look at the Samsung Galaxy S4
We take a peek at the GS4!
The follow-up to the most successful Android phone ever, the Galaxy SIII, has only been out for a couple of weeks now, and has already sold over 5 million units, according to Samsung. When it was announced in NYC on March 14, many people were a little disappointed that the Galaxy S4 was more of an iterative upgrade to the SIII. Still, it is an impressive piece of mobile hardware, and we were lucky enough to secure one of the Canadian Telus models in white as well as one from Rogers in Black.
The Galaxy S4 sports a gorgeous full HD 5-inch 1080p (441 ppi) Super AMOLED screen, and it is powered by the new quad-score Snapdragon 600 processor, running at an impressive 1.9 GHz. It also has a 13 MP camera, a removable 2,600 mAh battery, 16GB of storage (expandable with an open microSD slot), and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. This last fact is pretty significant, since the S4 is currently the only device outside of the Nexus phones that officially runs Android 4.2, which brings some nice features like lock-screen widgets to the table.
The Galaxy S4 is available now in Canada for $200 on a 3-year term from every carrier under the sun (not been exclusive to any one carrier seems to be part of Samsung’s recipe for success), including Bell, Rogers, Telus and Virgin Mobile. In the United States the S4 is currently available from AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, and should be launching on Verizon next week. In the US the S4 starts at $200 on a 2-year term (though if you switch to Sprint you can get the S4 for a low as $150).
In the video below you can see us unbox the phone, and also do a quick comparison of the white model to the black Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTI_8ahqYJE
Some stupid manufacturer like Nokia should take note. In Canada, Nokia's flagship 920 is only exclusively available from Rogers (aka Robbers).
Samsung did add a lot of gimmicks to the GS4, but Air View is actually really cool and works very well. Some of the others, such as eye and hand tracking, still need work.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.
As for Canada... Aren't you guys still using cans with string?
Thankfully in Canada our choices aren't as restricted as the US - both the HTC One and GS4 are available on all three major carriers (Bell, Rogers, Telus) & their sub-brands, and they all have great 4G coverage across the country in most urban areas.
Also all the Canadian GS4's are bootloader unlocked, so you can easily install CM10.1, or the official 'stock' ROM from the Nexus GS4 when it comes out in June.
I personally love my Z10. And I've played with the Q10 getting it once it's released in the states. And before you say I'm a fan boy , I'm actually coming from an iPhone. I think BB10 gestures based OS is the best out there. After playing with HTC one, Galaxy S4 as well. It seems a little antiquated by comparison as does iOS. In terms of apps no comparison as of yet. I can say BBerry certainly got it right with BB10. And hands down best touch keyboard out there.