The day the Samsung Galaxy S3 was released in May 2012, it was just a few hours before everyone was talking about the Galaxy S4. It’s not that the S3 wasn’t a remarkable phone or anything, it’s just that Samsung has placed the release of both these phones too close to each other. But, with the kind of competition in the market today, we can’t blame them. So, what’s different about the Galaxy S4 and what improvements have been made by Samsung in their Galaxy S series. Read on to find out.
1. Size – Not much of a difference between both these phones in terms of size. The Galaxy S3 measured 136.6×70.6×8.6 mm and the Galaxy S4 measures 136.6×69.8×7.9 mm. You will notice that they have made the phone thinner which was definitely required since the S3 did seem a little too big. They have also reduced the weight of the phone a little with the Galaxy S4 weighing in at 130 grams while the S3 weighed 133 grams. No complaints here either.
2. Display – The screen size too has been increased from 4.8 inches to 5.0 inches which means that the highest resolution too has increased from 720×1280 pixels to 1080×1920 pixels. Another remarkable improvement is on the pixel density. The Galaxy S3 had a measly 306 ppi while the Galaxy S4 has an amazing 441 ppi which is outstanding for such a large screen.
3. Memory & Storage – Not much could have done here. Both phones offer 16, 32 and 64 GB versions with microSD expansion up to an additional 64 GB (Pretty much standard nowadays). The RAM though has been increased from 1 GB in the S3 to 2 GB in the S4. So we can expect to see an improvement in the performance of the phone.
4. Camera – The Galaxy S4 has really taken a huge leap with the camera. The Galaxy S3 ran an 8MP camera with a maximum resolution of 3264×2448 pixels, auto focus and LED flash among some other neat features. The Galaxy S4 on the other hand features a whopping 13MP camera on the back with a maximum resolution of 4128×3096 pixels and all the other features available on the S3 plus 2 new features, dual shot and HDR. The front camera too has been tweaked slightly with the S4 offering a 2MP camera as compared to the S3’s 1.9MP camera. Another cool feature on the S4 is the ability to have dual video calls. Now that’s one feature we are looking forward to.
5. OS & Performance – This is the major difference between both handsets. While the Galaxy S3 comes with Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and is upgradeable to Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) the Galaxy S4 is being released with Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) which is supposed to be a remarkable improvement on past versions of Android. Only time will tell if this is true or not. In terms of performance the S4 has a remarkable advantage over the S3 with the 1.4 GHz Quad Core processor being replaced with a 1.6 GHz Quad Core processor plus a 1.2 GHz Quad Core processor. The devil here though is in the details, as even though the Galaxy S4 has 8 cores (outstanding) only 4 of them will run at a time making it similar to any other phone out there with a Quad core processor.
6. Battery – We have never had a complaint about the battery life on most of Samsung’s phones. With the Galaxy S3 too, battery was never really an issue. But being good just isn’t enough anymore is it? The Galaxy S4 has a huge 2600 mAh battery as compared to the Galaxy S3’s 2100 mAh battery. And considering the Galaxy S3 gave us a standby time of close to 800 hours on 3G, the S4 should be able to at least match that even though it has eight cores.
7. Price – The price is something that always determines how well a phone is going to do in the market, no matter how good it is. Considering the price of the Galaxy S3 has fallen drastically and you could look at getting one for just INR 30,000 it seems Samsung wants to prove the S4’s worth over its predecessor by pricing it at INR 45,000.
Verdict
By pricing a smart phone at INR 45,000 Samsung is trying to increase its value in the market. This is probably the most expensive Smartphone that Samsung has ever released. The pricing has now come more in line with Apple’s. But is it going to match up to the standard that Apple has set at the top? Only time will tell. Considering the Galaxy S4 comes with NFC support though, it seems that the phone has everything you could ever want from a smart phone. If you ask me, it is going to sweep the floor with the competition.
Samsung Galaxy S4 vs S3 (Pictures)
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S3
