SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 RELEASE DATE
Samsung has released a teaser video hinting at the company's plans for the upcoming
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in January, promising 'something new' for fans of its products.
Sadly, the company's short video - available on
YouTube
- is somewhat short on details and heavy on marketing, but it seems
likely that the company is planning to use the event to unveil a
next-generation Android device - most probably the Galaxy S4.
Although the S3 was released just over half a year ago, it faces some stiff competition in the market from the likes of the Google Nexus 4 and have some great accessories like
Survivor Case for Galaxy S3.
Sharing much of the specification of the Galaxy S3, the Nexus 4 is
significantly cheaper - at least, if you can wait the five to six weeks
required by Google's back-ordering process due to unexpected demand -
and comes with the latest Android 4.2 'Jelly Bean' software with
numerous improvements and bug fixes, including a clever 360-degree
panoramic photo mode.
As a result, it seems likely that Samsung has seen sales of its
Galaxy S3 handset grind to a halt - something it will be keen to address
soon. It's possible that an announcement will come at CES next week,
but given the lagging nature of the US mobile market, it's far more
likely that Samsung will hold off at least until MWC in late February at
least, and our money would be on a standalone launch event nearer to
the middle of the year.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 PRICE
As expected, leaks surrounding the S4's suspected price tag have been
thin on the ground, although we can expect it to cost as much as the S3
when it launched back in May - a wallet-busting £499. Once again though
the tough competition from Google's own Nexus 4 device may force
Samsung to lower its price in order to compete - unless of course the
hardware specification is a big step forward.
On contract you're likely to be looking at £30-40 a month minimum, and considerably more with a 4G service such as EE. This will be an expensive handset, though probably still a little less than the
iPhone 5 costs.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 SPECS
According to sources speaking to Taiwanese industry rumour site DigiTimes,
the S4 will include a 5in Full HD display with an impressive 1920x1080
resolution, following a trend starting with rival HTC's Butterfly
handset. Such a display would boast an impressive pixel density of
around 440 pixels per inch (PPI) - significantly above the resolution of
Apple's Retina display technology. Such a big display, however, would
certainly blur the line between the S4 and Samsung's own tablet-phone
hybrid
Galaxy Note 2 device.
Another seperate rumour supports this ever-increasing screen size mania, including a report from The Korea Times
suggesting that a new entry in the Galaxy Note family, imaginatively
dubbed the Galaxy Note 3, will include an impressively large 6.3in Full
HD display - which would maintain the gap between the devices.
Another rumour has pointed to the use of a flexible display
technology, previously demonstrated as a stand-alone product by Samsung,
to give the Galaxy S4 an unbreakable screen. Sadly, this may not come
to pass - at least, not until the Galaxy S5 is ready - with The Verge
quoting an anonymous source as stating that commercial implementation
of Samsung's flexible display technology in smartphone devices is "still
a while off."(from trustedreviews.com)
