A Samsung for Every Size (part 3) Ask anyone to name a smartphone that's not an iPhone, and most people will give a response resembling the Galaxy S4. Depending on where you look, the S4 is the highest selling android smartphone those year, and if you take into account all of the S4 variants, there's no competition. While at first glance the S4 just seems like the previous model had a growth spurt, all you need to do is power up the screen to see a huge improvement. And that's not to mention the improvements under the hood.
The GS4 was released with much well-deserved fanfare and excitement and made a huge splash in the market. Offering a 1.9 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2 GB of RAM, it wasn't lacking in speed or multitasking power. The three storage sizes (16, 32, and 64 GB) offer more than enough space, and all three of them have expandable storage capabilities. The Super AMOLED HD screen takes full advantage of the processing power by showing beautiful, intense colors on its 5" screen, and with screen mirroring capabilities you can share the fun with your TV or other wifi capable screens. The camera is a beautiful 13 MP with software to enhance your picture-taking experience along with a 2 MP front facing camera to take HD front video.
The S4 is running Android 4.2.2 with a Touchwiz skin and is soon to be updated to 4.3. However, most top devices have a quick processor and a great camera. What separates the GS4 from its competition are the SmartFeatures. Airview, Smartscroll, Smartstay, and other useful features that let you use your device to its full extent. Also, if you don't want all the flash-bang touchwiz features, there is the Google Play edition available with stock Android 4.3 and almost immediate updates. The GS4 can be bought for as little as $400 used and $600 new.
There are some S4 variants like the GS4 Active, which is waterproof, dustproof, and offers an underwater camera experience. The screen size and resolution, processor, storage, and RAM are all the same as the GS4, but the rear camera is only 8MP. The Touchwiz and other fun features are included, and it costs $5 less than the original GS4. The device is a little heavier that the original, but it's not too much.
The GS4 mini is a lot like the S3 mini: a miniature version of its original device. It offers a 4.3" qHD screen and half the base storage, but with expandable storage, that's hardly an issue. The 1.7 GHz dual core Snapdragon 400 processor and 2 GB of RAM cause the phone to work quickly despite being a step down from the S4. The camera is 8 MP, and the battery is a bit of a step down, but at $350, you can hardly complain.
The GS4 Zoom is a device you should really only be looking for if you want a superb camera. It shares a lot of specs with the mini, like the screen and storage, but has a slower 1.5 GHz processor and only 1.5 GB RAM. The battery sits somewhere between the mini and the original and the weight is by far the heaviest; however, the 16 MP camera with optical zoom is beautiful and incredible. Skeptics need only head to their local electronics store to test it for themselves. There are a lot of great smartphones with top-notch cameras, but none of them have the sweet $450 price tag that the Zoom has.
There is also a 4G LTE-A version, but that won't be of any benefit to anyone living in the United States until at least 2014.
All of these options give the consumer plenty of choices and offer a device for every niche. Samsung has done a great job this year giving the consumer the power to decide which device is best, instead of offering one phone for everyone like some companies. With all of these choices,t here truly is a Samsung for every size.
