Samsung is set to unveil the successor to its wildly popular and very successful Galaxy S Android phone model. After the Galaxy S III got into the hands of millions and millions of users all over the world, the Korean phone maker will be revealing the latest iteration, Samsung Galaxy S IV, very soon. The event will actually be hours away from now so we will know what the new phone will look like and whether it has something better to offer compared the latest flagship phones from HTC and Sony. You know, of course, that I’m talking about the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z, both magnificent phones in their own right.
Right now, all we can do is look into the most popular rumors that have circulated online. There are all sorts of rumors covering the Galaxy S IV including of course its design, the hardware specs, and even some software features that are supposed to set the phone apart from other super phones in the market.
The Design
The strongest rumor is that the design of the Samsung Galaxy S IV will not be a big departure from the Samsung Galaxy S III. Though the display is supposed to be bigger at 5-inches, in terms of design, Samsung appears to be satisfied with how the Galaxy S III looks. Essentially, the current design is in line with a design philosophy that runs through Samsung’s newest handsets. Below are photos showing the rumored design of the Galaxy S IV.
From the photo, we can see that the phone is just a slightly larger version of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the only obvious difference is the thinner bezel around the sides. The back cover is also supposed to be plastic, and I for one will not be surprised if Samsung sticks to this kind of material for the back cover. There’s obviously still a physical home button in the photo and this is actually one point where much debate has been made. Some say Samsung will do away with the physical home button and some say it will stay. If Samsung will not change its TouchWiz skin much, I’d say it’s more probable that the home button will stay. We will know soon if the home button gets the boot. The silver trimming on the side appears to be a bit thicker but the overall thickness seems have been unchanged.
Here’s a video showing what supposedly is a Samsung Galaxy S IV handset.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfzom-RdrwI
The Hardware Specs
In this area, most sources agree on the main specs the Samsung Galaxy S IV will sport. Essentially, we should expect a 5-inch full 1080p HD display. Something less than full HD will be a disappointment since most of the new smartphones have 1080p display. Other rumored specs include an 8-core or octa-core Exynos 5410 processor clocked at 1.8GHz, a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU, 2GB of RAM 16GB of internal storage with microSD expansion slot, 13-megapixel camera and 2600mAh battery. For the processor, some sources say Samsung may use a Qualcomm chip like the Snapdragon 600 instead of its Exynos chip. It may also use a lower-specced camera or a lower RAM capacity. All this means, really, is that nothing is certain at this point.
This is a quite formidable set of specs if the rumors turn out to be true. With Samsung known for pushing the envelope when it comes to specs, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of these stuff turn out to be true.
The Software
Samsung is expected to use Android Jelly Bean for the Samsung Galaxy S IV. It’s almost certain that Samsung will use only the latest Android version for its flagship phone. What people will be watching out for are the software add-ons similar to the Smart Stay feature Samsung introduced in the Galaxy S III.
Rumors indicate that Samsung will be introducing features called Smart Scroll, something that would allow users to scroll pages as eyes reach the end of the screen, and Smart Pause, which is a feature that would stop videos when your eyes are no longer on the display. There’s another feature that is supposed to allow users to control the display by hovering a finger over the screen. These are fantastic additions to Samsung’s current software tricks. Samsung could change the TouchWiz UI but I wouldn’t count on a major overhaul.
Bear in mind that these are just rumors. The truth will just be hours away so we will know which of the supposed leaks are true.
