...and that's a wrap. We'll have some more coverage later when we've had a chance to properly digest our press materials and sift through our impressions. Stay tuned.
1:01PM
OK, some hard specs in the shot above... Much less of an overwhelming advantage over the competition this year on the hardware front, although if the Octa+POwerVR 544MP can really bring it there is still a strong chance for the S4 to differentiate over the sea of Snapdragon-powered flagships from basically evey other manufacturer.
12:58pm
Seems they're wrapping up, all in all a bit disappointing as announcement shows go - lots of services and features (whose uptake by users in the past hasn't necessarily been stellar). Very little on the hardware itself. Hopefully get some press materials from Samsung now with more concrete details...
12:56pm
The new S-Cover accessory announced. Upgraded flip cover with a display window and ability to answer calls without waking the phone or even opening the cover.
12:55pm
S-Health, taking advantage of all those new sensors - blood pressure and blood sugar monitoring possible with accessories.
12:53pm
Air gestures being discussed in some more detail. Hope they work better in practice than they did on the video from the pre-release S4.
12:52pm
OK, now that looks like a pretty good use for simultaneous capture from front and back cameras - awesome video conferencing from your mobile.
12:51pm
Cool, group play supports multiplayer games. Wonder if they will need to plug into an API for that?
12:49pm
Group play - lets you share music between as many as 8 Galaxy S4 devices without requiring an internet connection. Even lets you assign channels - centre channel, left channel etc - to the individual phones.
12:48pm
More on KNOX, the feature announced at MWC - separate user environments on the phone for work and play.
12:46pm
Samsung hubs now centralised, sporting a magazine interface...
12:45pm
S-Voice features becoming more advanced, now getting more into the personal assistant territory.
12:43pm
Transfer between almost any phone and the S4 to make switching simple, almost any OS they say. Odds on iOS being the missing OS?
12:42pm
S-Voice Drive - a car mode designed for safety whilst driving. Answer calls with your voice, extra large text and icons.
12:41pm
New device: Home Sync. Pairing to the S4 with NFC, will pair with most anything besides. Mirroring to FHD on your TV/external monitor.
12:40pm
Another skit, this time with extra tired humour!
12:39pm
Story Album feature - replete with partnership with Blurb for getting your stories printed.
12:36pm
So, S-Translate is mostly plugged into Samsung apps like S-Chat. Less useful.
12:35
Well, if the S-Translation works that well that is certainly something...
12:34pm
Dear lord, spare us. Another skit?
12:32pm
So we're seeing a lot of stuff about camera software here, but nothing about sensor advancements or improvements on the technological level here. Disappointing so far, such a densely pixel-packed sensor may not leverage the best image quality from those 13mp without some improvement to the sensor...
12:31pm
"Sound and shot", sound bites attached to your images. Sounds, ah, interesting.
12:29pm
Making a big deal of utilising front and back cameras together, for both videos and stills. More fanfare than this deserves?
12:29pm
Ah, wut?!
12:27pm
2600mA removable battery, best in class as the new 1080p panels go.
12:27pm
IR blaster is in toe, awesome! New sensors galore too including IR gesture sensor.
12:25pm
Somewhat disappointing it is a Category 3 LTE device, which means it won't take our new Vodafone 4G network to its maximum speeds.
12:24pm
Dull detail about the colour of the notification bar...
12:24pm
Finger hover actions as leaked are accurate.
12:23pm
Dimensions136mm long, 16.8mm wide, 7.7mm thick. Polycarbonate.
12:22pm
Experiencing issues with live feed - hit refresh/F5 to keep up!
12:21pm
Announcing availability, like last year this will simultaneously launch across many nations and carriers. 3G and 4G in tow, naturally.
12:20pm
The big reveal, design is consistent with what we've already seen
12:18pm
Big focus on software innovation so far.
12:16pm
Seems the leaks are accurate so far - smart pause and the other new TouchWiz features shown briefly.
12:13pm
J K Shin taking the stage to a flourish of orchestral music.
12:12pm
The secret messenger Jeremy s taking the stage, not sure about you guys but I'm not sold on that angle...
12:10pm
They're underway!
12:05pm
...predictably the show it not running to time.
11:59am
The announcer is calling for people to assume their positions for the start of the show...
11:56am
We're here at the venue, last minute set up well underway - back with your shortly with the beginning of the coverage!
Let's hope Sammy delivers on what are huge expectations. Apple's marketing honcho is bagging the S4 even before it's launched. Now that's fear. :-)
ReplyDeleteA lot of software innovation. Some significant performance gains. Slimmer, lighter, potentially superb screen, true 'world phone' - lots to like. If you're on an S3, the upgrade will be appreciated. If you're on an iPhone, nothing less than armageddon would shift you anyway. Keen to get the collective mitts on the hardware for a proper review. Roll on the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteAny questions we can answer for you, just comment here.
Cheers, R2
Forgot to mention that retaining virtually the same industrial design wasn't their smartest move. Feels too much like the iPhone 5 - 5s malarkey.
ReplyDeleteBoo!
Fix that for the next one Sammy.
For those who are on the edge of their seats about the version of Android that the S4 is running, be assured that despite Apple's best attempts to put the boot in, the Galaxy is running the brand spanking new 4.2.2 version of Jelly Bean.
ReplyDeleteFor those who are confused by such things, that translates as the very latest Android OS, and demonstrates the real fear that Apple's Phil Schiller and his fellow execs are feeling right now when they resort to outright lies about their opposition.
In case you missed the memo, here it is...
"And that extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S IV is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," said Schiller. "Customers will have to wait to get an update."
Desperate, Apple?
Thanks for the coverage : )
ReplyDeleteI don't think enough people are giving Samsung credit for squeezing a larger screen into a (slightly) smaller device compared to the Galaxy 3 AND they have managed to keep a removable battery and an SD card slot, so that those of us who like to have such options are kept happy : ) I love the narrow bezel either side of the screen too! And they've even managed to keep three buttons across the front (woohoo), unlike HTC who seem to have lost the plot completely! Both the SGS4 and the One are still overpriced in my book though, and it's starting to get a bit boring now that it's clear just how little Chinese manufacturers in their domestic market and Google can sell devices for.
Owning a Note 2 hasn't quite been the bed of roses I had expected either, so unless Samsung have 'fixed' the things that bother me about it, I won't be upgrading to the SGS4. These are, the lack of second symbols on the keyboard to allow one to enter punctuation without going to the symbol page; auto-complete on the keyboard to allow suggested words to be selected by pressing the space bar; the ability to send and receive MMS messages without having the data connection enabled (even basic feature phones can do this, not to mention other smartphones); the yellow tinge when viewing white pages that some handsets seem to be afflicted by; USB mass storage mode; the ability to store app data on the external SD card (so important on a device that just begs big kids like me to play pretty games on it). I know the above can be solved by rooting and installing CSC tweaks or new apps and so on, but I just don't want to HAVE to do this on a high end device any more. The older I get, the more I think rooting should be for those of us that want to add extra features, not simply to correct the basics.
In fact, after just three months using the Note 2 it parted company from my motorcycle at speed (ahem) and is currently waiting for its owner to treat it to a new screen. At the moment, while I use my trusty old fossil fuel burning steam powered Sensation as a backup, more than anything I miss the overall speed of the SoC and all that lovely RAM for multi-tasking that the Note 2 has, but very little else which has surprised me! Ramble over.
I look forward to seeing NZTechfreak connecting as many peripherals as possible to the SGS4 in due course, as well as testing out all the new features ; )
PS I truly think Apple ARE concerned, but I have a feeling that's because they don't understand the appeal of Samsung's devices and are frustrated, rather than because they feel the need to modify their own devices any time soon.
There are no superprecise info about the specs of the S4 because there are 2 S4.
ReplyDeleteSnapdragon S4 and
Exynos S4
Samsung does not want people to know to much about the differences...
If they could, they would even not tell us that there is a difference.
The name is the same "S4". Only the code is different. The average user does not even look at the code.