Samsung S4: So cool, so loaded

MANILA, Philippines - It was love at first sight for many in New York two months ago. I was there with hundreds of people from all over the world to attend the launch of Samsung’s S4 Smart phone at Radio City Music Hall. It was a big, impressive presentation where they pulled out all the stops. Every prominent techie blog and site was there to witness the debut of the smartphone that was hyped to be “The Big One for Samsung for 2013,” and was touted to be the newest, best, smartest mobile phone to date.

After watching the presentation, I went to one of the demo kiosks and had about 15 minutes holding the phone in my hands and trying some of the functions and getting the general feel of it. But too many people were in line and wanting to have their turn. Alas, I had to give way.

Right now as I write this, I am holding the S4 once more in my hands and using it the way it was intended to be used — as a phone, camera, online device, video and music player, and all the other functions modern smart phones should be capable of doing. 

And more! Much more!

I’ve had the S3 for a few months now and I have been very impressed with it. So when I heard that Samsung was coming out with the S4 barely nine months after S3’s launch, I was quite skeptical. What could Samsung possibly offer that would top it?  Is the S4 much better than the S3? After having a hands-on experience with it however short, I would have to answer the last question with a big solid “yes!”

The basic features alone are really impressive. The phone is the same size as the S3, but it has a bigger five-inch screen with 1920 x 1080 full HD AMOLED. The screen is clear in every detail. It runs on the latest 4.2.2 Android software. It has a quad-core processor and is LTE capable. It means it is really fast in all ways. The back camera has 13 megapixels and the front has 5 meg. The phone has a much bigger 2600 mAh battery that will certainly outperform the S3 and much of the competition.

There are just too many things to like with the S4. For its camera, Samsung borrowed heavily the features of its winning Galaxy Camera and added a lot  more which makes the S4 camera experience a squealing delight. Here are some:

• You can have front and back cameras on at the same time. This means you don’t have to be the photographer who doesn’t have any pics of himself in the event. You can now include yourself in the photo.

• Sound and shot: This allows you to attach nine seconds of sound to your photo. Imagine sending a photo with a short voice greeting, or having the ambient sounds of the moment included. Imagine sending a concert pic? What a delight.

• Drama: Imagine capturing a series of various shots during one sweeping movement. Great for showing or analyzing action.

• Eraser Shot: This is THE photo bomb solution. You can now remove unwanted elements from your photos by simply touching it and replacing it with another shot taken while on this mode.

• Cinema photo or animation shot: You can shoot a photo with a still image but with moving objects around it. Simply select which objects you want animated or frozen. Send it as a GIF file.

• Live Filters: You now get a get real-time preview of the effects for photo/video before capture.

There are a whole lot more goodies to crow about with the camera both for photos and videos.

Samsung has been adding newer kinetic features on its latest products. The S4 has Air View, which allows you to peek into certain apps without your finger touching the screen. You merely hover over the screen and, voila, texts and gallery pics pop out for a sneak view. It also has Air Gestures where you literally just wave a finger or hand over the S4 to change or advance to the next screen. This is useful if your hands are dirty for example. You can actually take a phone call by simply waving your hand and diverting it to speakerphone, or change the music playing by advancing to the next tune.

Did I mention that you can use the S4 as a remote control? That’s because it has IR (infrared) capability. It’s called Samsung Watch On. The only problem is, the Philippines is not one of the countries listed when you set it up. But you can use it to control various Samsung products like speakers, cameras, etc. It is among the arsenal of interconnectivity apps such as All-Share, or Wi-Fi Direct, etc., which you can use with your laptop, printers, tab, camera, other Samsung phones and devices

The S-Translator is a very useful feature that will help travelers navigate a foreign country since it translates eight languages easily. You can use both the spoken and written word to communicate.

One of the unique features Samsung has integrated into its recent products is eye-detection capability which means the S4 can be enabled to pause a playing video if you move your eyes away from it, and resume it when you look again. It is called Smart Pause. This is true innovation.

There is just so much more to experience and get wowed about with the Samsung S4. That could be a problem for some since it will take time for you to master everything the S4 can do. It’s a problem many would not mind, I suppose.

I have yet to talk about Group Play, Knox, Story Album, S-Travel, S-Health and so many other apps and features that will surprise and delight you. But I will leave all that for you to discover.

It is not a perfect phone. Some apps work easier than others. The gesture apps take some effort to learn but not much. Despite that, Samsung S4 deserves all the respect and admiration it is getting. It is the phone that everyone has been waiting for with bated breath, and as the unofficial hype goes, it is the smartest phone today that surpasses the iPhone and all other rivals.

A Samsung executive in NYC told me that in today’s  world, smart companies like Samsung are learning  that more than responding to the market, the market is becoming more eager to respond to technological breakthroughs. That must be the reason why they didn’t wait to too long to come up with the S4.

Neither should you. You will not be disappointed.