Samsung Galaxy S4: “second look. Samsung Galaxy S4 I9500 vs Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505: what to choose for yourself? Conclusions from comparison of screens

The next flagship phone of the South Korean company has appeared – Galaxy S4. It offers a chance to further establish itself in the smartphone market, confirming its dominance among Android devices.

The new Samsung improves on almost every aspect of the previous model, pairing more powerful hardware with a suite of new software features. The gadget received a bunch of new sensors, aiming to become an all-in-one tool.

Let us immediately note the main disadvantages that the device has in our opinion:

• the design began to gradually become outdated;
• externally, the smartphone looks worse than the aluminum One or glass Xperia Z;
• no FM radio;
• Video recording is slightly worse than in the Galaxy S3;
• The overall camera interface makes framing quite difficult.

Now let's move on to more detailed review the main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the new smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with the standard set of accessories you'd expect in a box. This is an A/C adapter that needs to be used using the included microUSB cable, headphones that are incomparably better than the ones that came with the Galaxy S3. This time all accessories are painted white.

The new HS330 headphones are equipped with dual drivers that allow you to better reproduce high and low frequencies sound.

The headphones have also changed the shape, material and size of the tip, making them more comfortable. The control buttons on the headset have also been improved compared to the Galaxy S3.

Now let's move on to the appearance. The dimensions of the Galaxy S4 are likely to be one of the biggest advancements, as the smartphone is the same height as its predecessor, but is 0.8mm narrower, 0.7mm thinner and 3 grams lighter. And this is all despite the screen increased by 0.2 inches, a more capacious battery, which remains removable. So, the dimensions of the phone are 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm, and the weight is 130 grams.

The gadget's screen is covered with new Gorilla Glass 3. This glass has a new composition and provides increased scratch resistance. And in fact, early tests showed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is more difficult to scratch than the Galaxy S3.

The design has changed little when comparing the new product with its predecessor. The phone uses the same Hyperglazed finish, which, in our opinion, is a minus for the gadget, since when you hold the smartphone in your hands, you feel not a flagship device, but a plastic toy. In this it loses to HTC One and Sony Xperia Z.

This, however, does not mean that the Galaxy S4 looks worse than its predecessor. The new texture gives it a more serious and stylish appearance, and back panel now looks different depending on the viewing angle.

Thin bezels left more space for the shiny screen, but more on that later. A thin body has a higher vibration level. We also note that now black color will be available from the very beginning of sales.

Note that the new product is easier to use than the Samsung Galaxy S3. It's also more comfortable to hold than the HTC One.

The Samsung smartphone has a lot of sensors scattered throughout the body, but the basic controls and their layout remain largely unchanged.

Under the display you will find the same three buttons as in the Galaxy S3 - touch-sensitive “Menu” and “Back”, as well as a mechanical “Home”.

There is additional functionality: a long press of the Menu button handles Google Now, while the Home button brings up the task switcher, and there are other options that are described in more detail in the instructions.

Above the display there is a speaker, a bunch of sensors and a 2.1-megapixel front camera. There is an LED indicator, a traditional ambient light sensor, and an IR gesture sensor that allows you to control some applications such as the web browser and music player.

On the left side of the Samsung Galaxy S4 there is a dual volume rocker, while the power/lock button is on the right. Unfortunately, although the camera has received a significant update, the control button is still missing. You can use the volume key to take a photo, but it won't completely replace the two-stage (point and shutter) button.

At the top end you can see a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an IR sensor that allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control remote control for household appliances. There is a pre-installed application that will allow you to control some devices.

The microUSB port on the bottom is used for data transfer and charging. It not only supports USB host, but also MHL 2.0, which makes it possible to output 3D Full HD video to TV without an external power source. Previously, it was necessary to connect, but now they got rid of it.

Also at the bottom is the main microphone.

On the back of the Samsung Galaxy S4 there is a 13-megapixel Full HD camera. Like the Galaxy S3, the LED flash is located nearby, but the speaker grille has been moved to the bottom left edge of the device.

Performance and Software

The Samsung Galaxy S4 that we have in our hands is equipped with a Snapdragon 600 chipset. We, of course, know that there will be a modification with an 8-core Exynos 5 Octa, but for now we will test the available version of the smartphone.

A gadget with 4 Krait cores clocked at 1.9 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and Adreno 320 should show excellent performance, in our opinion. Built-in memory - from 16 to 64 GB depending on the version, there is a card slot. operating system- Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

The South Korean company's device outperformed HTC One and Optimus G Pro in single-threaded (Benchmark Pi) and multi-threaded (LinPack) performance tests. Both of these phones use the same chipset, but only at 1.7 GHz.

Geekbench 2 is a cross-platform test that allows you to compare the Galaxy S4 with the 5, which showed twice as bad results. HTC One and LG Optimus G Pro also lagged behind the test device, although we should note that they use more old version OS Android 4.1.2. Let us remind you that the new Samsung flagship has an operating system – Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Now let's move on to compound tests. In AnTuTu, our gadget was again at the top, and in Quadrant the difference between it and Optimus G Pro is very small. Although HTC One lagged behind significantly here.

Now let's test the graphics. In GLBenchmark 2.5 in 1080p off-screen mode, our smartphone confidently won. The Galaxy S4 also topped the Epic Citadel test, although the 60 frames per second limitation played a role here. Without this, there might have been a big difference with the HTC One. However, this benchmark uses the Unreal Engine, which is sometimes found in high-end 3D games for mobile phones and shows real performance.

Finally, JavaScript and HTML 5 performance testing. The smartphone performed well in these benchmarks, but fell behind the Galaxy Note II. We used Android Browser for the test, not Google Chrome, which is also pre-installed.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 with the Snapdragon 600 chipset delivered excellent performance even in areas like heavy animated galleries and video players.

There is support for Wi-Fi, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, 3G and LTE (optional), Bluetooth 4.0.

Screen

One of the most important updates that the Samsung Galaxy S4 brought was a new 5-inch Super screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The gadget has a PenTile matrix with a pixel density of 441 ppi.

The PenTile design has also been changed so that there are now twice as many green subpixels as blue and red subpixels, and their placement has also changed. However, this is naturally not noticeable without a microscope.

The image quality is excellent. The smartphone has impressive contrast and almost perfect viewing angles. Rich colors transform even the most boring image into a surprisingly vibrant image and are beyond the reach of any LCD display. If you're not a fan of oversaturated AMOLED displays, Samsung gives you the option to change the saturation to a more natural level.

The brightness levels of the Samsung Galaxy S4 are about on par with the company's other AMOLED panels, meaning it's not very high. However, due to low reflectivity, it does not affect the image in sunlight. Keep in mind that turning on the auto settings on-screen option limits the maximum brightness value to 300 nits, so if this matters to you, it's best to keep it.

Of course, it turned out to be brighter than the AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, but the difference is not so dramatic. South Korean smartphone showed good quality image in sunlight, although it is surprising that it did not outperform the Galaxy S3 in this indicator, despite its higher brightness. Perhaps the new Gorilla glass brought additional reflections and thus offset the benefits.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13-megapixel camera capable of taking pictures of 4128x3096 pixels. There is also a 2-megapixel front camera that is capable of taking photos and recording video simultaneously with the main one.

It is possible to enable various effects. They can be previewed so you can see how a particular scene will look when the effect is applied.

Let's look at the different modes. There are standard ones such as Rich Tone (), Panorama, Night and Sports. Panoramic shots are quite impressive, they can be 360 ​​degrees or more, and can be larger than 60 MP (note that if you hold the phone vertically, the panoramic image will have almost twice the resolution). Here is an example of a panorama.

The gadget has many shooting modes, which are described in the instructions. All of them are good and useful, but we need to answer the question, does the Galaxy S4 camera take good pictures? The answer is yes, yes, very good. The South Korean company has done a lot of work to maintain good image quality while increasing the resolution.

In the photo you can distinguish many small details, but there is little noise. Colors are accurate, if slightly oversaturated, and the white balance is somewhere between neutral and cool (typical of Samsung phone cameras). The smartphone retains the details of the image in the dark area, although sometimes at the expense of detail in the light. To fix this, you can use HDR mode.

Samsung Galaxy S4 records video in MP4 with bitrate 17 Mbps on average. Stereo sound is saved at 128 bitrate Kbps and sampling rate 48 kHz.

It doesn’t provide users with as many shooting modes, but there are some effects here too. For example, you can do slow movements, double shooting. Slow-motion video can reach up to 8x slow motion, but the resolution drops to 800x450 pixels and the frame rate to 15 per second. The usual parameters for video are a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a frame rate of 30 frames per second.

Touch focusing is available before and during video recording, and you can switch back to continuous autofocus if you prefer. You can take 9.6 MP (16:9) photos while recording.

On video, taken by phone, you can see a lot of small details and little noise. Colors and white balance are similar to those in photographs, generally accurate but slightly oversaturated and with a cool white balance shift. One thing that can be considered a disadvantage is the narrowed brim. It is smaller than the Galaxy S III and HTC One. The difference is quite noticeable; the Galaxy S4 captures much less of the frame than its competitors.

The video quality itself isn't much better than the Galaxy S III. You can check this yourself by comparing the records. An example shot on a Galaxy S4 is shown below.

When we turned on digital video stabilization, it became more detailed and the contrast improved. Below is an example in which stabilization is enabled.

Battery

If you remove the cover that covers the battery compartment, you can see the microSIM slot, an updated removable battery with a capacity of 2600 mAh and a microSD card slot. The slot is hot-swappable.

As it turned out during our battery testing, the additional 500 mAh is easily eaten up by the high screen resolution and more energy-intensive chipsets. As a result, there is no significant superiority over its predecessor. Endurance during video playback and web browsing has been improved only slightly, but standby performance has been a huge step forward. This is, of course, understandable: after all, the chipset does not process any applications, and the screen is turned off.

The gadget can work autonomously for 13 hours 53 minutes when talking using 3G networks, 8 hours 42 minutes when surfing the Internet and 10 hours 16 minutes when playing high-definition video.

Testing has shown that the smartphone can last an average of 63 hours if used for an hour a day for web browsing, video and telephony.

Price

The cost of Samsung Galaxy S4 on the Russian market will depend on the modification:

- 16 GB/3G - 29,990 rubles;

— 64 GB/3G — 36,990 rubles;

- 16 GB/LTE - 29,990 rubles;

- 64 GB/LTE - 36,990 rubles.

Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9500, I9505) is the fourth and most anticipated flagship of Samsung. The smartphone was announced on March 14, 2013 and this event caused an unprecedented stir. When developing this device, the company took into account all the developments of previous years and created something simply amazing. software with a lot of functions and useful tricks.

Like previous devices, the Galaxy S4 has a plastic body. For many, this fact causes indignation and criticism, but let's find out - is it so bad? The Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone used stylish, glossy plastic with an interesting texture, and no matter how long the device was carried in a pocket or dropped on the asphalt, the damage was always minor. And you try to drop the Nexus 4 on the asphalt, with its glass cover, and see what happens.

The smartphone body is only 7.9 mm thick, with dimensions of 136.6 x 69.8 and a weight of 130 grams. It is assembled with very high quality and, even if one tries, one cannot find any creaks or backlashes.

Video: Samsung Galaxy S4 appearance

The smartphone fits a little tighter in the hand than its predecessor, the Galaxy S3, but nevertheless, holding the device is quite comfortable. Although, in order to reach the top, I personally have to move it in my hand.

The plastic feels very pleasant to the touch, although it seems more slippery than that of its predecessor, the Galaxy S3.

Screen.

The display in the Samsung Galaxy S IV is beyond praise. This is a full-fledged Super Amoled matrix with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080). This results in almost ideal viewing angles and rich colors. The pixel density is 441 ppi, which is, of course, much higher than the sensitivity limit of the human eye.

Video: screen in Galaxy S4

Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is installed on top of the matrix.

You can sing odes of praise for a long time, but this cannot be taken away - the display here is the best to date.

Camera.

The smartphone has a 13 megapixel Exmor RS matrix manufactured by Sony. This is one of the best cameras on mobile devices, and even in Sony's own flagship Xperia Z, the manufacturer uses a weaker sensor. As a result, the quality of photos on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is at a very high level. True, at the start of sales the software was somewhat crude and some users encountered involuntary reboots of the smartphone, but this is already a thing of the past. Below are a few pictures.

Photos from the camera

The camera interface is very convenient and now you don’t have to scour the settings to select shooting modes. Just press the button under the “shutter” icon and you will see a convenient wheel with scrolling modes.

There are 12 of them in total, and if you click on the icon in the lower left corner of the screen, they will all appear in the form of a grid.

List of camera modes:

1. Automatic (full automatic)
2. Retouching (photographing faces with retouching)
3. Best photo (several shots and choice)
4. Best face (choose from several faces - great for self-portraits)
5. Sounds and photos (photo with background sound for 9 seconds)
6. Series (continuous shooting)
7. Animated Snapshot (creates an editable animation from frames)
8. Rich Tones (aka HDR)
9. Corrector (removing strangers from the picture)
10. Panorama (great tool you can make 35 megapixel panoramas, example)
11. Sports (filming sporting events)
12. Night (shooting at night and in low light)

There are also a lot of settings here, but for video there are only two.

The smartphone is capable of recording video in Full HD resolution and does it just fine. Of particular note is the video stabilization system, which works much better than its competitors.

Video from samsung cameras Galaxy S IV

Iron and other characteristics.

The 2013 flagship is initially available in two versions with the indexes I9500 and I9505. Both smartphones differ in the presence of LTE and, as a result, in the processor. The eight-core Exynos 5 Octa 5410 cannot work on LTE networks and is used in the Galaxy S4 GT-I9500. It has 4 cores with a frequency of 1.6 GHz and 4 with a frequency of 1.2 GHz and it is worth noting that they cannot work simultaneously. We found out how productive this solution is in tests.

In the second version (GT-I9505), LTE is present, and the processor is an equally powerful Snapdragon 600 chip. The PowerVR SGX 544MP3 chip is used as a video accelerator. The amount of RAM is 2 GB. As for the built-in one, here we have 3 options: 16, 32 and 64 GB. True, the system in the Galaxy S4 takes up quite a lot and in the “youngest” version of the smartphone, out of 16 users, a little less than 9 GB is left. You can read why this is so at the link below.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the smartphone’s battery, because now its capacity is 2600 mAh, which is enough for a day of work under full load.

Software.

The device runs Android 4.2.2 with the proprietary Nature UX shell. As was already mentioned at the beginning of the article, Samsung has done a tremendous job and introduced a large number of various applications and utilities. In this review, I will not analyze each program, but rather I will dwell in detail on each application in the following articles.

Contents of delivery.

Actually, nothing much has changed here and the equipment of the S IV is quite standard and no different from previous flagships. In addition to a bunch of all kinds of “waste paper”, the smartphone comes with a battery, Charger for 5 V 2 A, USB cable and headphones with earbuds of different sizes.

Comparison with others.

If you are the owner of previous devices in the Samsung Galaxy line and are thinking about buying this “monster”, you will probably want to know its dimensions in comparison with your smartphone. A few photos taken together with the devices I currently have will help you with this.

From Nexus 4

Comparison with S3 and “firstborn” I9000

And with the “giant” Galaxy Note

Comparison of two flagships

And finally the thickness

That's all for now. This review is far from complete and is constantly being improved. If you have anything to add, please write in the comments.

Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.

Design

Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.

Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	69.8 mm (millimeters) 6.98 cm (centimeters) 0.23 ft (feet) 2.75 in (inches)
Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use.	136.6 mm (millimeters) 13.66 cm (centimeters) 0.45 ft (feet) 5.38 in (inches)
Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement.	7.9 mm (millimeters) 0.79 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft (feet) 0.31 in (inches)
Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement.	130 g (grams) 0.29 lbs 4.59 oz (ounces)
Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.	75.32 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 4.57 in³ (cubic inches)
Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale.	Black White Blue

SIM card

The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.

Mobile networks

A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.

Mobile communication technologies and data transfer speeds

Communication between devices on mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.

Operating system

An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.

SoC (System on Chip)

A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.

SoC (System on Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation.	Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5410
Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor.	28 nm (nanometers)
Processor (CPU) Primary function of the processor (CPU) mobile device is the interpretation and execution of instructions contained in software applications.	4x 1.6 GHz ARM Cortex-A15, 4x 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A7
Processor size The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance compared to 32-bit processors, which in turn are more powerful than 16-bit processors.	32 bit
Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute.	ARMv7
Level 1 cache (L1) Cache memory is used by the processor to reduce access time to more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (level 1) cache is small in size and works much faster as system memory, and other levels of cache memory. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2.	32 kB + 32 kB (kilobytes)
Level 2 cache (L2) L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1 cache, but in return it has a higher capacity, allowing it to cache more data. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for it in the L3 cache (if available) or in RAM memory.	2048 kB (kilobytes) 2 MB (megabytes)
Number of processor cores The processor core performs program instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel.	8
CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	1600 MHz (megahertz)
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Graphics processing unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphic applications. In mobile devices, it is most often used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, etc.	PowerVR SGX544 MP3
Number of GPU cores Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications.	3
GPU clock speed Running speed is the clock speed of the GPU, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).	480 MHz (megahertz)
Amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted.	2 GB (gigabytes)
Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device.	LPDDR3
Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels mean higher data rates.	Dual channel
RAM frequency The frequency of RAM determines its operating speed, more specifically, the speed of reading/writing data.	800 MHz (megahertz)

Built-in memory

Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.

Memory cards

Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.

Screen

The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends.	Super AMOLED
Diagonal For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches.	5 in (inches) 127 mm (millimeters) 12.7 cm (centimeters)
Width Approximate screen width	2.45 in (inches) 62.26 mm (millimeters) 6.23 cm (centimeters)
Height Approximate screen height	4.36 in (inches) 110.69 mm (millimeters) 11.07 cm (centimeters)
Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side	1.778:1 16:9
Permission Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means clearer image detail.	1080 x 1920 pixels
Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail.	441 ppi (pixels per inch) 173 ppcm (pixels per centimeter)
Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors that the screen can display.	24 bit 16777216 flowers
Screen area Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device.	72.52% (percent)
Other characteristics Information about other screen features and characteristics.	Capacitive Multi-touch Scratch resistance
	Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Sensors

Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.

Rear camera

The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.

Sensor model	Sony IMX135 Exmor RS
Sensor type Information about the camera sensor type. Some of the most widely used types of sensors in mobile device cameras are CMOS, BSI, ISOCELL, etc.	CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)
Sensor size	4.69 x 3.52 mm (millimeters) 0.23 in (inches)
Pixel size	1.136 µm (micrometers) 0.001136 mm (millimeters)
Crop factor	7.38
ISO (light sensitivity) The ISO value/number indicates the sensitivity of the sensor to light. Digital camera sensors operate within a specific ISO range. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.	50 - 1000
Svetlosila	f/2.2
Shutter speed (shutter speed) Shutter speed reflects the exposure time. Indicates how long the optical shutter remains open during shooting and thus the amount of time the camera sensor is exposed to light. The longer this time, the more light reaches the sensor. Shutter speed is measured in seconds (eg 5, 2, 1 second) or fractions of a second (eg ½, 1/8, 1/8000). Unlike DSLR cameras, which use a mechanical shutter, mobile devices have an electronic shutter.	1/14 - 1/10000
Focal length	4.2 mm (millimeters) 30.99 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame)
Flash type The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use LED flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape.	LED
Image Resolution	4128 x 3096 pixels 12.78 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
	30fps (frames per second)
Characteristics Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera.	Autofocus Continuous shooting Digital zoom Digital image stabilization Geographical tags Panoramic photography HDR shooting Touch Focus Face recognition
	Largan Precision Optics

Front-camera

Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - a pop-up camera, a rotating camera, a cutout or hole in the display, an under-display camera.

Sensor model Information about the manufacturer and model of the sensor used by the camera.	Samsung S5K6B2YX03
Sensor size Information about the dimensions of the photosensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with larger sensors and lower pixel densities offer higher image quality despite the lower resolution.	3 x 2.4 mm (millimeters) 0.15 in (inches)
Pixel size Pixels are usually measured in microns. Larger pixels are able to capture more light and therefore provide better low-light photography and wider dynamic range than smaller pixels. On the other hand, smaller pixels allow for higher resolution while maintaining the same sensor size.	1.563 µm (micrometers) 0.001563 mm (millimeters)
Crop factor The crop factor is the ratio between the dimensions of the full-frame sensor (36 x 24 mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35 mm film) and the dimensions of the device's photosensor. The indicated number represents the ratio of the diagonals of the full-frame sensor (43.3 mm) and the photosensor specific device.	11.26
Svetlosila F-stop (also known as aperture, aperture, or f-number) is a measure of the size of a lens's aperture, which determines the amount of light entering the sensor. The lower the f-number, the larger the aperture and the more light reaches the sensor. Typically the f-number is specified to correspond to the maximum possible aperture of the aperture.	f/2.4
Focal length Focal length indicates the distance in millimeters from the sensor to the optical center of the lens. Equivalent focal length (35mm) is the focal length of a mobile device camera equal to the focal length of a 35mm full-frame sensor, which will achieve the same viewing angle. It is calculated by multiplying the actual focal length of a mobile device's camera by the crop factor of its sensor. Crop factor can be defined as the ratio between the diagonals of a 35 mm full-frame sensor and the sensor of a mobile device.	1.85 mm (millimeters) 20.83 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame)
Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record.	1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video recording speed (frame rate) Information about the maximum recording speed (frames per second, fps) supported by the camera at maximum resolution. Some of the most basic video recording speeds are 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps.	30fps (frames per second)

Audio

Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.

Radio

The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.

Location determination

Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device.

WiFi

Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for transmitting data over close distances between various devices.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between various devices of different types over short distances.

Version There are several versions of Bluetooth, with each subsequent one improving communication speed, coverage, and making devices easier to discover and connect. Information about the Bluetooth version of the device.

4.0

Characteristics Bluetooth uses different profiles and protocols that provide faster data transfer, energy savings, improved device discovery, etc. Some of these profiles and protocols that the device supports are shown here.

A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) AVCTP (Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol) AVDTP (Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol) AVRCP (Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile) BNEP (Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol) DIP (Device ID Profile) EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) GAVDP (Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile) GAP (Generic Access Profile) GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) HFP (Hands-Free Profile) HID (Human Interface Profile) HSP (Headset Profile) LE (Low Energy) MAP (Message Access Profile) PAN (Personal Area Networking Profile) SPP (Serial Port Protocol) SDP (Service Discovery Protocol) SAP/SIM/rSAP (SIM Access Profile)

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.

HDMI

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a digital audio/video interface that replaces older analog audio/video standards.

Headphone jack

This is an audio connector, also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Connecting devices

Information about other important connection technologies supported by your device.

Browser

A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.

Video file formats/codecs

Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital video data.

Battery

Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.

Capacity A battery's capacity indicates the maximum charge it can hold, measured in milliamp-hours.	2600 mAh (milliamp-hours)
Type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more precisely, the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries being the most commonly used batteries in mobile devices.	Li-Ion (Lithium-ion)
2G talk time 2G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 2G network.	17 h (hours) 1020 min (minutes) 0.7 days
2G latency 2G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 2G network.	370 h (hours) 22200 min (minutes) 15.4 days
3G talk time 3G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 3G network.	17 h (hours) 1020 min (minutes) 0.7 days
3G latency 3G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network.	370 h (hours) 22200 min (minutes) 15.4 days
4G latency 4G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 4G network.	320 h (hours) 19200 min (minutes) 13.3 days
Characteristics Information about some additional characteristics of the device's battery.	Wireless charger Removable

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)

The SAR level refers to the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device.

Head SAR level (EU) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device close to the ear in a conversation position. In Europe, the maximum permissible SAR value for mobile devices is limited to 2 W/kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard established by the CENELEC Committee in accordance with IEC standards, subject to the ICNIRP guidelines of 1998.	0.421 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Body SAR level (EU) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device at hip level. The maximum permissible SAR value for mobile devices in Europe is 2 W/kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard has been established by the CENELEC Committee in compliance with the ICNIRP 1998 guidelines and IEC standards.	0.543 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Head SAR level (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device near the ear. The maximum value used in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. Mobile devices in the US are regulated by the CTIA, and the FCC conducts tests and sets their SAR values.	0.85 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Body SAR level (US) The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device at hip level. The highest permissible SAR value in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. This value is set by the FCC, and the CTIA monitors mobile devices' compliance with this standard.	1.55 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)

Test Review Reviews Articles

Description of Samsung Galaxy S 4 GT-I9500

Galaxy S 4 has a 5-inch display with Full HD resolution. The Galaxy S 4 also has an increase in battery capacity - from 2100 to 2600 mAh. Despite the increase in display and battery capacity, the size of the smartphone has decreased slightly - it has become thinner and narrower. Samsung Galaxy S 4 received an 8-core Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5410 processor with a frequency of 1.6 GHz. The amount of RAM is 2 GB. Pre-installed OS - Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Main technical characteristics

Peculiarities
Type	smartphone
operating system	Android
Version	4.2.2
CPU	Exynos 5 Octa 5410
Frequency	1600 MHz
RAM	2048 MB
Flash memory	65536 MB
Screen
Diagonal	5 "
Permission	1920 x 1080
Color rendition	16 million colors
Digital camera
Camera	13 million pixels
Dimensions and weight
Width	69.8 mm
Height	136.6 mm
Depth	7.9 mm
Weight	130 gr.

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Brave new world: first look at the Samsung Galaxy S4

The long-awaited presentation the new Galaxy S series smartphone from Samsung took place on the night of March 15, at 3 a.m. Moscow time. The new product basically met expectations, and moreover, it offered a lot of new interesting “tricks” for the user, some of them even frightening with the high level of their almost artificial intelligence.

Detailed testing of screen, performance, time battery life

At one time, even when the timing of the start of sales of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was not finally determined, we used our chance to spend a very short time with this new product, expected by many, in order to then summarize all the data received into a kind of mini-review, as they say, “first look” . In it, we used only those results that we were able to obtain in the short time allotted to us to get acquainted with the device. They, of course, were not complete - we were physically unable to carry out those tests and tests that take a lot of time and which must be carried out in laboratory conditions.

But today, when the day and hour of the start of sales of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has already been predetermined, we decided to return to this issue. Before such a serious purchase, it is necessary to weigh all the pros and cons, and we, in turn, have the opportunity to provide users with the necessary additional information about the new device, which was not included in the first part of our review.

Therefore, this review will not contain a description appearance device and ease of use with controls - you can read about this in the first part of the description of our acquaintance with the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Here we will talk, first of all, about the data we obtained after detailed testing of the screen of the new smartphone using measuring instruments in our laboratory. We will also provide you with the results of all our tests of the performance of the smartphone hardware, as well as the duration of its battery life. And finally, we will spend a little more time on the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera and its operating modes. Our specialist Anton Soloviev will comment on the test photographs obtained during the study of the new product.

But first, let’s present our traditional comparison table, which has been expanded since the first acquaintance with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and now already contains information about almost all the main top new products of the new season that we have tested. All the most popular flagship smartphones are compiled into a single table for easy selection, and those that are not included here (for example, LG Optimus G Pro) will be added to it very soon. Although, we must note with regret, according to the Russian office of LG, this particular device will not be officially supplied to our market.

	Samsung Galaxy S4	HTC One	Sony Xperia Z	Oppo Find 5	Google Nexus 4	LG Optimus G
Screen	4.99″, SuperAMOLED	4.7″, S-LCD3 (IPS)	5″, IPS?	5″, IPS	4.7″, IPS Plus	4.7″, IPS Plus
Permission	1920×1080, 441 ppi	1920×1080, 469 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi
SoC	Exynos 5410 @1.8 GHz (8 cores)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 @1.7 GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)		Qualcomm APQ8064 @1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)	Qualcomm APQ8064 @1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)	Qualcomm APQ8064 @1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16/32/64 GB	32/64 GB	16 GB	16/32 GB	8/16 GB	32 GB
Memory card support	microSD	No	microSD	No	No	No
operating system	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1
SIM format*	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM
Battery	removable, 2600 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh	non-removable, 2330 mAh	non-removable, 2500 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh
Cameras		rear (4 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.9 MP)	rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)
Dimensions	137×70×7.9 mm, 130 g	137×68×9.3 mm, 143 g	139×71×7.9 mm, 146 g	142×69×8.9 mm, 165 g	134×69×9.1 mm, 139 g	132×69×8.5 mm, 145 g

* The most common SIM card formats are described in a separate material.

Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9500)

• SoC Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, 8 cores, combined according to the ARM big.LITTLE principle: 4 high-performance ARM Cortex-A15 at 1.8 GHz and 4 energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A7 at 1.2 GHz
• GPU PowerVR SGX544MP3
• Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• SuperAMOLED display with Pentile, 4.99″, 1920×1080
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, inner memory 16—64 GB
• MicroSD card slot up to 64 GB
• Communication GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication 3G UMTS HSPA+ 850, 900, 2100 MHz
• 4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50 Mbps) - only in the GT-I9505 version based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC
• HSPA+ 42 Mbps
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
• Support MHL 2.0, OTG
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• GPS/Glonass
• Cameras 13 MP and 2 MP (front)
• Accelerometer, photometer, digital compass, proximity sensors, gyroscope, barometer, thermometer, hygrometer and IR sensor
• Can be used with gloves
• Li-ion battery 2600 mAh
• Dimensions 136.6×69.8×7.9 mm
• Weight 130 g

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a very high-quality touch display made using Super AMOLED technology. In numbers, the physical parameters of the new product’s screen are as follows: diagonal - 126 mm (4.99 inches), resolution - Full HD 1080p (1920×1080 pixels), PPI pixel density is 441 ppi, although with Pentile this figure looks dubious . Yes, Pentile technology hasn't gone away, although the Samsung Galaxy S4's screen is significantly different from its predecessors. The display has both manual and automatic brightness adjustment, which is based on the operation of the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to simultaneously process up to ten touches, and the new screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 allows you to operate it while wearing gloves.

A detailed examination of the display using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion about the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, has a very effective anti-glare filter. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen, so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness, its maximum value was about 230 cd/m², the minimum was 10 cd/m². Despite the not-so-high brightness value, the smartphone can be used even in bright daylight, since OLED screens have less reflection from dark areas compared to a typical LCD screen. You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. Low brightness mode allows you to use your smartphone even in complete darkness without any problems. Automatic brightness adjustment works based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the adjustment slider from −5 to +5 units. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for three values ​​of this setting - for −5, 0 and +5. In complete darkness, in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 15, 20 and 30 cd/m², respectively; in an office illuminated by artificial light, the brightness is set to 48, 94 and 113 cd/m², in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to daytime lighting outdoors, but without direct sunlight) - increases to 280 cd/m² for all three correction values. In principle, the result of this function is as expected. When brightness decreases, modulation appears at a frequency of 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness versus time for three brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum brightness there is virtually no modulation, at minimum brightness the modulation amplitude is low, so in these extreme cases the flickering of the backlight cannot be seen. At half brightness, the modulation has a larger amplitude, so at medium brightness values, flicker can be seen - hardly just by looking at the screen, but if you quickly wave, for example, a pencil in front of a white field on the screen, then flicker can be determined by the repeating mark of the pencil.

This smartphone uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix based on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

In this square you can count 9 green subpixels, 4.5 blue and 4.5 red subpixels. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. However, the location and shape of the subpixels in this variant differ from the PenTile RGBG variants implemented in the Galaxy S3, ATIV S, Motorola XT925, etc. screens:

In the Galaxy S4 version, the green subpixels no longer form horizontal lines; as a result, horizontal and vertical worlds are displayed equally on the S4 screen, and not in the same way as in the case of, for example, the Samsung ATIV S.

Note that luminance is primarily determined by the green component, so luminance clarity actually corresponds to the density of the green subpixels. The fact that color clarity is lower (because the density of red and blue subpixels is lower) does not actually affect image quality, since the color clarity of human vision is also lower than luminance clarity. However, this does not mean that the image on such a screen looks exactly the same as on a screen with the same resolution, but with the same number of subpixels of different colors. Let's compare, for example, how it is displayed home page our website on the screen of the Galaxy S4 and on the LCD screen of the Oppo Find 5. Both screens have approximately the same size and resolution (if you count by the green subpixels), but in the case of the Oppo Find 5 there are as many red and blue subpixels as there are green ones. Below are fragments of photographs of screens obtained when displaying the specified page in the same (original) scale.

The readability of small text on the Galaxy S4 screen is probably even better than on the Oppo Find 5 screen. However, two circumstances need to be taken into account: firstly, this text is so small that its readability is already very low simply due to its physical dimensions (the height of the letter "o" is 7 pixels, or approximately 0.4 mm); secondly, the quality of small text output in Android (and in the browser in particular) is very low in itself, but this PenTile option slightly blurs the lines that fall on the rows of pixels, and slightly increases the clarity of the lines that do not fall on the rows of pixels, because making very small text on the Galaxy S4 screen look smoother. And two more photographs taken at higher magnification of the above fragments:

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has very good viewing angles: the white color noticeably changes hue only at large angles, and the black color simply remains black at any angle - it is so black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is very good. Switching the state of the matrix elements is actually carried out instantly, so the response time can be equated to 0. The gamma curve constructed using 32 points did not reveal a significant blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is from 2.28 to 2.32 V depending on the selected profile, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2 (in the captions, the number in brackets is the indicator of the approximating power function):

In case of profile Dynamic The gamma curve has a slightly S-shaped character; for the three remaining profiles it practically does not deviate from the power law dependence. The color correction profile is selected on a separate page in the screen settings section.

There are only four profiles, plus a special “Optimize display” mode, in which manual profile selection is blocked, and the phone apparently selects the profile itself by analyzing the current image. Note that the brightness of image fragments changes dynamically in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images and increases for dark ones. When selecting a profile Dynamic this effect is slightly more pronounced, and when the mode is turned on Auto tuning screen brightness The dependence of brightness on the lightness of the image becomes even stronger. Therefore, the dependences of brightness on hue (gamma curves) we obtained may not correspond to the gamma curves of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on the entire screen.

Color gamut for profiles Dynamic And Standard very wide:

When selecting a profile Adobe RGB The coverage is slightly tightened in the blue and yellow areas (here the black line is the Adobe RGB space coverage, the white line is the measured coverage):

When selecting a profile Movie The coverage is tightened even more, but still remains wider than sRGB:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Movie with maximum correction, the color components are already slightly mixed together:

Note that on wide-gamut screens, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. However, a visual assessment showed that when choosing a profile Movie saturation is noticeably reduced, and colors become close to natural. Without correction, in profiles Dynamic And Standard, the colors are unnatural: for example, the faces of white-skinned people have a pronounced carrot tint. The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, but, in general, acceptable. The color temperature is above 6500 K, but in the area of ​​the gray scale from white to dark gray this parameter changes slightly. The deviation from the spectrum of an absolutely black body (delta E), if it exceeds 10 units, is not very much, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, while the variation in delta E is not very large (the dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there is a color balance does not matter much, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large):

Therefore, according to visual assessment, there are no special complaints about the transmission of shades of gray.

In general, in terms of consumer characteristics, the screen of this smartphone has every right to take first place in the competition with the screens of other top-end smartphones of the same class, at least at the time of writing this article.

Camera

Photo evaluation and quality conclusions were made by Anton Solovyov.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped, like most modern smartphones, with two digital camera modules. The main rear camera module has a 13-megapixel resolution. The Samsung Galaxy S4 uses Sony's Exmor R sensor, based on BSI back-illumination technology. The camera shoots in a maximum resolution of 13 megapixels, and the pictures are 4128x3096 in size with an aspect ratio of 4:3. You can manually switch the camera to shooting mode with a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9 - then the pictures will be taken in size 4128 × 2322 (10 megapixels). You can evaluate the quality with which the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera shoots by clicking on the thumbnails below.

Conclusion on the photographic capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera. Among the advantages of the camera, we can note very good sharpness in most photographs. I would like to hope that the rather large areas of blur at the edges are caused by not very good calibration of the lens, and not by the design features of the camera, because in general the lens is made decently and fully utilizes the 10 megapixels of the matrix. It’s not often that such a successful combination of matrix and optics is found on smartphones. One cannot but rejoice at the almost complete absence of chromatic aberrations and sharpening contours. In any case, they are hardly noticeable. The camera selects exposure well, but very conservatively, and the camera's color rendition is also conservative. It seemed that due to the aperture, the camera would lose depth of field, however, as can be seen from the macro photographs, the depth of field is sufficient, which is, admittedly, bad for artistic photography, but very good for documentary photography. Overall, we can conclude that Samsung is quite a successful camera, more than suitable for everyday documentary shooting. Considering that this is the camera quality that most smartphone users demand, we can note that Samsung is moving in the right direction.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 camera can shoot video in Full HD resolution (1080p). Autofocus is fixed quickly enough, there are no slowdowns or sticking when shooting. Also in the settings there are shooting modes with slow and fast motion effects. Below are test videos shot in various modes. Video is saved in MP4 (video - MPEG-4 AVC ( [email protected]), sound - AAC LC, 128 Kbps, 48 ​​kHz, 2 channels).

• Video No. 1 (27.4 MB, 1920×1080)
• Video #2 (11.4 MB, 800×450, slow motion)
• Movie #3 (15.4 MB, 1920×1080, fast motion)

There are a lot of settings for controlling the camera, everything in the menu is arranged almost the same as in the previous top ones Samsung smartphones. It is possible to attach geotags to a photo, add graphic effects, enable smile detection, panoramic shooting, and, of course, software enhancement can be used here using HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology. There is image stabilization and the ability to display a grid on the screen.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S4 hardware platform is based on a powerful SoC, which includes a 4-core processor with ARM Cortex-A15 cores running at 1.8 GHz, and another 4-core processor with ARM Cortex-A7 cores running at lower frequencies 1.2 GHz. This hybrid technology of combining high-performance and economical cores in one chip was created by ARM, this concept is called big.LITTLE, and its implementation is licensed to third-party processor manufacturers in the same way as the ARM cores themselves. A quite obvious use case is expected: under heavy load, the system uses high-performance ARM Cortex-A15 cores at high frequencies, and when performing tasks that do not require significant computing power, the top cores fall asleep, and they are replaced by energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A7. Let us add that similar (in principle, not in implementation) hybrid technologies are also used in the NVIDIA SoC.

The Exynos 5410 Octa processor cores are supported in graphics processing by the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 graphics core. However, there is another modification of the smartphone, equipped with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor operating at a frequency of 1.9 GHz, where Adreno 320 is used as a graphics coprocessor. In our case, the device was presented in an eight-core configuration - this is the so-called. "international version".

Now we already have the opportunity to compare the performance of the Samsung Galaxy S4 with all the other top flagship new products this season. Most of them, by the way, are built on the previous top-end platform Snapdragon S4 Pro. Quite expectedly, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was on the first step in the ranking of devices we tested earlier, and only the HTC One was a worthy competitor to it, demonstrating similar performance results. At the same time, smartphones such as Google Nexus 4, LG Optimus G, HTC One X+ and Samsung Galaxy Note II remained behind the leader in this race. Let us present the results we obtained using popular tests, which we have collected in tables for convenience, adding the results of other devices we have previously tested.

Below are the results of testing the Samsung Galaxy S4 in the new version of GLBenchmark - 2.7.0, where a new T-Rex HD scene of increased complexity was added. As we remember, even such a powerful system as the Oppo Find 5 produced only 13 fps in this test. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 platform in HTC One handled this difficult test better, but only slightly - 15 fps. For some reason, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was unable to play these scenes from the new test at all, so the final results were incomplete, which left us a little disappointed.

Since the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the first smartphones to support 802.11ac, we separately tested the new Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac. Testing was carried out with the ASUS RT-AC66U router - one of two models supporting the 802.11ac standard present on the local market. Let us remind you that this a new version The standard only operates in the 5 GHz band and provides more than twice the speed of 802.11n. In the case of smartphones, most often only one antenna is used, so connection speeds in this case can be a maximum of 150 Mbps for 802.11n and 433 Mbps for 802.11ac. Actual performance is usually about half that. In addition, many mobile devices do not even support dual-channel operation, resulting in a 72 Mbps limitation for 802.11n.

Samsung Galaxy S4 has one antenna, which gives it a maximum connection speed of 433 Mbps. When operating in the 2.4 GHz band with one channel, this model shows real performance of about 50 Mbit/s, which can be considered an excellent result. However, we note that the tests were carried out in a relatively empty airwave. Switching to 5 GHz in 802.11n mode allows you to more than double the speed of information exchange with your smartphone - we were able to get 133 Mbps for downloading data to the smartphone and 117 Mbps for sending from the smartphone to the router. Of course, such high performance allows us to talk not only about comfortable viewing of high-definition videos, but also about fast synchronization and downloading of files to the device. At the same time, we were unable to connect in the “802.11ac only” mode. The reason is most likely that a device sample was used for the test. In any case, if you plan to actively use this model, we highly recommend purchasing a modern dual-band router.

Play video and connect to an external screen

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used an LG IPS237L monitor that supports direct MHL connection using a passive adapter cable from Micro-USB to HDMI. Samsung, for some reason known only to it, has implemented its own version of this interface in its devices that supposedly support MHL. As a result, to connect external device for MHL you need to use special adapters or connect standard MHL adapters through simple passive adapters. By luck, we found such an adapter.

As a result, we connected the LG IPS237L monitor and the MHL adapter via this adapter. When using the LG IPS237L monitor, MHL output was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at a frequency of 30 frames/s. When the smartphone is landscape-oriented, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor fits within the boundaries of the screen and exactly matches the image on the smartphone screen. When the smartphone is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and black fields are displayed on the right and left. In this case, the actual resolution on the monitor screen is, of course, lower than the resolution on the smartphone screen.

Sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and is of good quality. At the same time, at least multimedia sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is controlled by buttons on the smartphone body. The smartphone connected via MHL is charging.

Video output using the standard player deserves a special description. To begin with, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). The results of this (block entitled " Screen") and subsequent tests are summarized in the table:

File	Uniformity	Passes
Screen
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Great	No
MHL (monitor)
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Great	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Great	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Great	a lot of
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Great	a lot of
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Fine	No
MHL (adapter)
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Great	No
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Badly	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Badly	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Badly	No

Note: If both the Uniformity and Dropout columns are rated green, this means that when watching movies, there will most likely be no or no amount of artifacts caused by frame spacing or dropouts visible. will not affect viewing comfort. "Red" marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very high, since frames (or groups of frames) are output with uniform alternation of intervals and there are no skipping frames. However, in any case, uniform alternation of frames is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct alternation of intervals between frames. During testing, an interesting feature was discovered: it seems that in the case of files with frame rates of 30 and below, the screen refresh rate is 40 Hz, and for files of 50 and 60 fps, the refresh rate increases to 60 Hz. As a result, for a file with 30 fps we got the following image:

And for a file with 60 fps - like this:

When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one, exactly along the border of the screen in true Full HD resolution. Considering that the color resolution in a video file is two times lower than the brightness one, the features of the PenTile matrix actually do not affect the quality of the output of video files. The brightness range displayed on the screen slightly does not correspond to the original one: in the shadows, a couple of shades of gray are indistinguishable from black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed (for video in the range 16-235).

With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing video with a standard player, the image is displayed only in landscape orientation, while only the image of the video file is displayed on the monitor, and only information elements and virtual controls are displayed on the smartphone screen. When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the monitor screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed one-on-one, exactly along the border of the screen in true Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the monitor corresponds to the standard range of 16-235, that is, all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights. The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the “MHL (monitor)” block. The output quality is good, but, of course, in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some frames are skipped, since the output is in 1080p mode at 30 fps.

Additionally, video output (with a standard player) via MHL using an MHL adapter was tested. When using this adapter, output to the monitor was carried out in 720p mode at 60 fps, which determined the maximum actual image resolution. With the exception of resolution and frame rate, everything else - the nature of the interface output, charging, audio output and gray scale - did not differ from a direct connection via MHL. The test results are shown in the table above in the “MHL (adapter)” block.

When using an adapter, the intervals between frames in the case of files with frame rates up to 30 fps inclusive can vary by three times (from 1/60 to 3/60) and alternate unevenly, while 720p files are output at 50 and 60 fps Fine.

In general, an MHL connection can be used for gaming, watching movies, surfing the web, and other activities that benefit from multiplying the screen size. True, you will have to purchase an adapter specifically for Samsung or find an appropriate adapter.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S4 is 2600 mAh. The battery here, as mentioned earlier, is replaceable, which can save you in the case of a swollen battery, for example (and such cases with Samsung batteries users had). And you can stock up on a second battery in case of a long trip, which can also be convenient.

The smartphone demonstrated very good performance in terms of battery life, leaving a little behind many of the top new products that we have tested recently. Only, again, HTC One was able to match the results, and even beat its opponent in some ways. Here are the results of testing the test subject in several battery modes.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to approximately 100 cd/m²) for 2 hours consumed 17% of the full battery charge, and watching a video from YouTube for two hours high quality(HQ) via home Wi-Fi network The device has used up 24% of its battery capacity. Under maximum load in continuous 3D game mode (100% brightness, 60 fps), which we usually test using GLBenchmark, the smartphone, as mentioned above, refused to pass testing and constantly dropped out of the program. Therefore, unfortunately, we were unable to obtain data on this test. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is fully charged in 2 hours.

Prices

The average retail price of the device in rubles in Moscow at the time of reading the article can be found by moving the mouse to the price tag.