Net10 Samsung Galaxy S4
Specifications
Galaxy S4 is an incredible phone. I have been using this Net10 S4 for past week. I was a previous S2 Galaxy user for +3 years.
I have tested the Galaxy S2, The Note 2 :) If you have a Galaxy S2, the S4 is definitely has a lot of good upgrades compared to the S2. The new features are pretty sweet upgrades for me.
The battery life is amazing! With substantial use I reached almost half of battery use at the end of a day.The video playback was crisp and my friend was amazed at the customization options. It is heaven for a iphone user to come out of shackles and explores the wonderful world of Android. It sure sounds like it is for geeks, but Samsung has created lot of ways to simplify and make it less intimidating. The EASY mode is for one such reason. Samsung's addition of all those apps (commonly referred as crapware) is not as bad as HTC or LG. Android experience is classified as pure vanilla in phones like Nexus. Vendors like Samsung have added a whole lot of extra programs.
5" HD Super AMOLED 1920 x 1080 display (441 ppi) is just plain gorgeous. 13 MP camera takes ginormous image sizes. I put a 64 GB microSDXC card SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC Class 6 Memory Card with SD Adapter - Retail Packaging as my friend wants to take lot of movies (built-in 2 GB RAM, 16 GB ROM). No stuttering, and very smooth playback of videos captured in varying light conditions (HD Playback; HD Recording). Compatible video types are AVI/DIVX, WMV/ASF, FLV, MKV, MP4/3GP, WEBM. HDR and Panaromic photos were incredibly sharp. Compatible audio types are: AAC, AMR, MP3, OGG, WMA/ASF, 3GA/M4A, FLAC, WAV. Google Music, PlayerPro Music player are producing excellent music. Audio/Video is one section where S4 has nudged S3. For a normal user, if you are not into lot of video processing this does not matter.
S4's infrared sensor is the same technology as TV remote control, so with WatchON you can change the TV channel from your phone. My friend was shocked to see this feature. Having used Android for a long time, I explored all new features one by one.
Games were very buttery, this phones runs ARM®-based octa-core mobile CPU. This is apparently world's first! Inside this chip is Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU. I tried several car racing games and performance was phenomenal. People on the XDA-Developers forum report seeing smearing and ghosting when scrolling on the phone. This especially occurs to people when scrolling among darker colors, which begin showing up as purple. I tried hard to see if I could on the S4 I was testing with my friend and I could not see it. I am sure these can be upgraded with software over due course.
Air View and Air Gestures - are they worth it? Air view is similar to how the S-pen on the Galaxy Note 8 works. Simply hover finger a few millimeters above the screen and in supported apps, you'll see a preview of content. This works with many of Samsung's built-in apps, including the photo gallery, the dialer, Samsung's browser and email client. It also works with Flipboard. Air View works by cranking up the capacitive sensor on the screen. Another new feature is Air Gestures. This uses the IR sensor on the top of the phone to detect movement by your palm or finger. One can flip between open tabs in Samsung's browser app, skip to a new song in the music player and do many other things. I say these are still in works and sometimes not very efficient.
GPS was spot on and I tried multiple GPS apps. It was bright outdoors (had to crank the brightness all the way up). I tried multiple apps to demonstrate to my friend. In the end, my friend was impressed with what all Android and in particular S4 had to offer. Smooth and Stunning display!
Net10 in general in my area is such a good company. I get service almost everywhere. I applaud the company for the service and I'm just blown away by the Galaxy S4.
For more information on this phone visit Net10: http://www.net10.com/phone_details.jsp?model=UCMTST_010134
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FTC: I was sent this phone in consideration for my honest opinion and review.
