The Tab 2 7.0 does what it says on the tin, but many rivals do it much better
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FOR
Inoffensive picture
Lively weighty audio
Expandable memory
AGAINST
Average build and finish
Lacks intuitiveness and reaction speed of cheaper rivals
Samsung’s success in the tablet arena hasn’t been helped by it seemingly confusing range of devices. ‘Tab’ and ‘Note’ run in parallel, offering similar and at the same time differing screen sizes, specifications and features.
The bottom line is if you want a 7in Samsung tablet, then the not-so-snappily-named Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is your only option. In the flesh, it’s as uninspiring to look at and hold as the Note 10.1. It certainly lacks the clean lines, sharp edges and wow factor of its closest rivals.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0: Tech specs Layout of controls (volume and power) and cameras (one front, one back) are similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, although you don’t get a stylus as part of the Tab package. The 3.5mm headphone jack sits just off-centre on the top when the tablet is held in portrait orientation.
Until an impending update, you have to make do with Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich operating system running behind Samsung’s Touchwiz user interface. This makes for a relatively pleasing user experience, although the Tab’s reaction times are a split second behind the top tabs in this screen size.
Part of the problem lies with the Samsung’s power, or rather lack of it. The 1GHz dual-core processor can’t match the speed achieved by the quad-core of the Google Nexus 7. The Tab doesn't react to swiping and pinching gestures as quickly or as smoothly as some rivals.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0: Media hubSamsung’s Hub is home for various widgets, including dedicated icons for music and movie players. Files can be transferred to the Tab using drag-and-drop, although there’s always Samsung’s own Kies software (for PC and Mac).
Kies is a decent way of organising and converting your music, video and photos for use on the Tab, but the integration and execution still lags behind Apple’s iTunes. File compatibility is good: the Tab can handle a wide range of audio and video codecs, including WAV, FLAC, MPEG4, H.264 and DivX among others.
There's an SD card slot to expand the memory if you wish, and the Tab hosts a 3MP camera on the back capable of recording 720p video at 30fps (frames per second). Picture quality is passable but fine details and textures don't shine through as clearly as they should.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0: Sound & video quality The Tab shares the same enjoyable sonic delivery as its Note compatriot. Listening to Leona Lewis’ Trouble, we’re impressed by the powerful delivery. There’s a sense of weight and authority to her vocal and bass notes, even if it isn’t the last word in subtlety or agility. This well-rounded sonic signature makes for a very listenable machine.
Switch to video playback and, again, the Samsung produces a mixed bag of results. Fire up the BBC iPlayer app and an episode of Later With Jools Holland, and the general level of detail and definition is decent.
There’s good depth to blacks but, once again, other tablets at this size produce a sharper, glossier image.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0: VerdictThe Tab 2 7.0 doesn’t do much wrong, but neither does it do enough to stand out. And, like the Note 10.1, it leaves us feeling just a little disappointed.
Apple launched the fourth-generation tablet just nine months after the iPad 3. The latest model in the popular range packs the same 9.7in Retina Display as its predecessor, but also includes key upgrades such a beefed up processor, lightning dock connector, support for 4G/LTE connectivity.
But is it worth splashing on a specific contract for this device alone?
Should you get an iPad 4 with LTE?
Currently only available via EE, 4G is in its infancy and coverage isn’t great. EE offers 4G in nine locations at present but promises to expand that figure to 27 by the summer. O2, Vodafone, and Three will all roll out their respective 4G services in later this year, with latest reports indicating these will arrive in Q3.
We found 4G speeds in central London to be excellent averaging around 21Mbps in our tests with the iPad. This was consistent with our 4G smartphone test. That's uber fast and you will notice the difference when streaming high-quality content from services such as the BBC iPlayer. When it’s working, 4G is impressive. You'll feel like you’re getting high-speed home broadband on your iPad, simply minus the wires. HD video loads instantly, it’s great for video-calling, and browsing is, well, just like it is on your desktop PC. Everything loads instantaneously.
Venture further out to the burbs and unsurprisingly it’s a different story. EE’s network isn’t quite as broad as the network would like to you believe. So much so that once you’re a few miles away from Central London you’re back using 3G. In West Finchley, London, for example, download speeds averaged around 1.00Mbps, with upload speeds at 2.31Mbps and a ping time of 77ms. Disappointing indeed - even by 2010 standards.
Having mobile data on your iPad does make a difference, especially if you’re coming from a Wi-Fi-only variant, allowing you to access emails and documents without having to tether your device. In this respect, mobile data is a must have for anyone that wants to use their iPad as a work tool.
The service isn't cheap. For a 16GB iPad and 3GB of data allowance - you'll be looking at paying a minimum of £25.99 per month for two years and £249 upfront for the device. That's a total cost of ownership of £872.76 and it's going to rise considerable if you want more data allowance or an iPad with bigger internal storage.
But should you pay extra for EE’s 4G services? The answer is a resounding no. Coverage is limited, even in designated 4G areas like London, and it costs way too much for the level of service that’s currently being offered. For this reason we cannot recommend EE’s iPad 4 with 4G over, say, Three’s iPad 4 with HSPA+ because you do not get consistent speeds and connectivity as you do with the latter - more-readily available - type of mobile data.
The advent of Vodafone, O2, and Three’s respective 4G services should have a positive impact on 4G prices and coverage but even then it will still take a great deal of time for 4G to achieve 3G-like levels of ubiquity in the UK.
For this reason we’d label 4G an ‘early-adopter-only’ technology and advise most of you to wait another six months to a year before taking the plunge. By then coverage will be vastly superior to what it is now and prices will no doubt be more affordable as more and more networks begin to roll out and tweak their respective 4G services.
So we’ve established that it would be better to get a Wi-Fi only iPad at present. So what does the rest of the device shape up like?
The Design
Place the iPad 4 next the iPad 3 and you’ll struggle to spot any difference between the devices. Both have 9.7-inch Retina Displays, identical button configurations, and are constructed from the same high-quality build materials. They also sport the same vital statistics, measuring 240 × 186 × 9.4 mm and weighing 660g (4G model), and even use the same 5-megapixel iSight camera.
The only physical difference between the two devices is the new 8-pin Lightning connector, now present on all new iDevices including the iPad Mini and iPhone 5, which takes up less room, looks tidier, and is more durable than its predecessor. But all that does come at a cost - peripherals that use the old 30-pin configuration will not work with this new setup, meaning you either have to get new peripherals (often the case with speakers/stereo systems) or a converter.
We get the decision to move to a smaller connector. But Apple’s insistence on making its mobile device’s connectors proprietary once again introduces a myriad of issues that could have been avoided had it simply adopted the micro USB standard. Case in point: if you run out of battery and don’t have a charger - something we did whilst testing the iPad 4 - you’re going to be in big trouble unless you can track down a fellow up-to-date Apple user that happens to have a new style charger on them. The chances of this are low at this moment in time.
Performance
The A6X processor features two custom-designed ARMv7 cores clocked at 1.39GHz, and while the iPad 4 features the same amount of RAM as the iPad 3 (988 MB), Apple’s new processor along with the many tweaks it’s made to GPU. This Apple claims helps to ensure the iPad 4 delivers twice the horsepower of its predecessor.
In Geekbench, which tests memory and processor performance, the iPad 3 scored 758 overall while the new iPad 4 got 1790. Apple’s A6X chipset features asynchronous core technology, like the iPhone 5, meaning it can switch up and down clock speed depending on what tasks it is performing. Comparatively, Google’s Tegra 3-powered Nexus 7 scored 1620.
With regards to memory performance, the iPad 4 scored an impressive 2058 - a huge improvement over the iPad 3's 828. Like the iPhone 5's A6 processor, Apple’s A6X SoC uses optimised memory architecture that allows it to send and receive data faster than the majority of ARM-based mobile processors like Nvidia’s Tegra 3. It also makes the device significantly more power efficient by intelligently leveraging workloads.
Battery life has always been a strong point with Apple's iPad range and the fourth generation device lasted 9 hours and 22 minutes in our battery tests with 4G.
Apple’s Safari browser, despite not looking or feeling any quicker, consistently outpaced Google’s Chrome in our SunSpider browser tests, scoring 866.4 to Chrome’s 3404.5 (here, lower is better). We saw similar results on the iPad 3 with Chrome scoring 5643.2 and Safari 1457.7.
So what’s the end result of all this new processing grunt? Overall you have a decidedly faster piece of kit on your hands with the iPad 4, one that runs rings around the competition - namely the Tegra 3-powered Surface RT and Nexus 7.
In this sense the iPad 4 cannot be beaten. In fact the only area the Nexus 7 comes even close to besting Apple’s iPad 4 is pricing and portability. Other than that the iPad 4 is way out in front, even more so when you factor in just how powerful Apple’s A6X chipset is.
The only downside to all that processing power is that most users won’t get a chance to really test it. At present there are very few applications and games that can truly put the iPad 4‘s drive-train under any real strain, save for intensive audio/video software like Apple’s iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband.
So unless you’re really into games like Infinity Blade II, Dead Space, and NOVA 3, you won’t notice the power. That said, it’s always preferable to have more when it comes to technology, particularly with a number of editing suites and console-like gaming titles coming to the App Store in 2013.
Overall
Physically, the iPad 4 is nearly identical to its predecessor. But why change the design when you're onto a winner? The iPad 4 is the best tablet that Apple has ever produced, and from the experience it provides, it's unsurprising that it's the most popular tablet on the planet.
Update
Apple has since released an the iOS 6.1.2 update which “fixes an Exchange calendar bug that could result in increased network activity and reduced battery life”, the firm said in a short statement.
We recommend that you check for this update and install this as soon as possible on your device. This can be done by going to Settings>General>Software Update.
What's more (update 22/3/13), there's also been speculation Microsoft is planning on making its popular Office suite of applications more iPad-friendly.
At the end of February, in a story published by Reuters a Microsoft executive played down such talk. However, it's clear there is great demand - from users and industry alike. Earlier in February, a Morgan Stanley analyst suggested software giant Microsoft missing out on some $2.5 billion a year in extra revenue by not offering apps for the iPad and iPhone.
“Office on iPad could be a several billion dollar opportunity,” analyst Adam Holt said in a research note. “While [Microsoft] has resisted offering a full version of Office for the iOS, the company may ultimately decide there is more upside with Office on iPads, particularly if Win tablets fall short of expectations.”
However, the reason Microsoft might not be so keen to offer up its wares for iOS users is because of its own tablet interests, namely the Surface.
Users can already get some Microsoft tools and apps for iOS devices, such as SkyDrive, Lync and OneNote, but they would like more than just the online-versions of tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
We have enhanced the web applications pretty substantially, in partnership with Apple," head of Microsoft Office Kurt DelBene said. "...I think we've done a great job on both the consumer side, particularly with the Web apps that we are building, and on the enterprise side as well."
For the time being, until such speculation becomes a reality, users are taking advantage of similar applications that do the job. It's clear though that greater compatibility with the same software already widely used in the corporate world would be a boon for businesses and business users alike.
Specifications:
OS: iOS 6.0
Display: 9.7in 2048x1536, 264ppi
Processor: A6X dual-core (1.39GHz)
RAM: 1GB
Internal storage: 16, 32 or 64GB. EE not offering 128GB subsidised.
Camera: 5-megapixel rear w/Flash, autofocus, 1080p HD recording, 1.2-megapixel front
Absolutely amazing machine. I've owned one other Alienware before (M17 laptop), three different Mac's, and the rest have been custom builds. This is by far my favorite and best performing computer yet.
With this configuration, I paid a good price too considering all it's got. And the performance is fantastic.
Running Half-Life 2 Lost Coast stress test - 1920x1080, completely Maxed settings I get 260FPS!
Battlefield 3 runs at 1080P on Ultra settings at a very comfortable FPS (around 30FPS - I noticed no slow downs at all).
General performance is good too - that's web surfing, homework, working in Unreal Development Kit. It's all smooth as silk.
I was aware of some issues people were having with the GTX660 but I haven't had any issues with the A07 bios and latest nVidia drivers.
Regardless, Dell's support is simply the best. I've already gotten a few calls from them checking up to make sure I'm happy with everything, that I'm satisfied, and all is functioning properly (and one call about buying a warranty... but.. that's alright).
And I'm confident if I have any issues, they'll be there to help and there's plenty of ways to reach out to them.
Design is awesome too. I love AlienFX!! The nice design touches like the rotating Alien and LED's in the eyes and on either are great. Slot loading DVD drive looks super slick as well.
It's a tiny PC for all that's packed into it and while I'm playing games it amazes me that it's coming from that small and gorgeous package.
So to summarize we've got; great price, great performance, great service, great design. This is all around one stellar machine.
The excitement of the rumour mill, the titillation of every leaked photo led to higher than ever levels of expectation over the iPhone 5 features, and while the announcement was greeted with some derision at the lack of perceived headline improvements, the record sales tell an entirely different story.
Given the underwhelming changes to the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 launch really needs to re-energise customers to prove Apple can repeat the game-changing trick it managed with the iPhone 4.
The iPhone 5 price is predictably high, so consumers will need to bear that in mind too when looking for their next smartphone.
So is the Apple iPhone 5 the greatest smartphone ever, and did it finally see Apple ascend to the top spot in our 20 best mobile phones chart? Or was it a case of too little, too late... and what about those darned Maps, eh?
Design
We'll begin in the traditional manner: how the thing actually feels in the hand. With the iPhone 5 there will be many types of prospective buyer: the upgrader from the 4 (or more-money-than-sense iPhone 4S upgraders), those tired of their Android handset and those taking their first steps in the smartphone market and want to get one of them iThingies their friend/child has.
Well, all of those picking up the iPhone 5 will have the same reaction: this thing is amazingly light. You've probably heard the numbers by now (20 per cent lighter than the predecessor, as well as beating most of the opposition too at 112g.)
It's an odd sensation, but it actually detracts from the experience when you first pick it up. We've praised the weighty feel of the iPhone in the past, lending it a premium feel in the face of toy-like phones, and it's almost disappointing that Apple decided to join that clan.
However, through extended use this problem quickly disappears, as the overall effect of the phone is still a chassis designed for strength, it just sits more anonymously in the pocket.
You'll obviously see the change in height too – the iPhone 5 stands 123.8mm tall to allow for the larger 4-inch screen. In truth, those not familiar with the iPhone 4S probably wouldn't notice the difference, which is why it's a good move from Apple to include the larger screen if it's not going put people off that hate larger phones.
The decision to stick at 4-inches is Apple's admission that while it recognises people are all over the idea of having more screen real estate to play with it doesn't want to move away from the thumb-friendly nature of the device.
Through a mixture of moving the centre of gravity slightly as well as repositioning the screen within the bezel, it's still possible to scroll your thumb mostly around the whole display one-handed, which Apple is clearly keen to keep hold of.
However, we're not convinced of that argument any more, and the power button was still a little out of reach when using the phone normally, as was anything in the top left-hand corner of the screen.
This was no issue in reality, as scooting the phone down a touch in the palm is a natural action. But if that's the case, then why not offer a 4.3-inch screen at least?
There's more to a phone than a screen these days (although increasingly less and less) and the general construction of the iPhone 5 is excellent to say the least.
We've tested both the ceramic white version and the anodised black, and the two tone effect on the back of the phone is stunning, both visually and under the finger.
It doesn't beat the sheer beauty of the HTC One S, with its micro-arc oxidised back and rounded lines, but it's well-set in second place.
The two sections of pigmented glass at the top and the bottom of the phone add a pleasant effect, and the sapphire glass is meant to be thoroughly durable, to complement the Gorilla Glass on the front.
Apple knows consumers get furious when they drop and iPhone, and is clearly seeking to stop the smashes before they happen with a tougher exterior - although it seems the anodised black version is pretty prone to scratching, with a number of users mentioning chipping on the darker hue.
Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Marketing, reportedly replied to an email from a user pointing out that aluminium will scratch and chip in natural use - and we're also hearing that white iPhone 5 models are being returned through flaking as well.
We kept our black iPhone 5 in a soft pocket in a bag for much of its life, yet saw the following chip with minimal key / coin contact in under a fortnight:
For a device of this premium quality, users will expect it to survive the pocket test, and especially do so for the first two weeks of life. It's a big fail for Apple to expect users to accept that a product can be damaged so easily.
The same industrial band around the outside is in effect again as on the iPhone 4 and 4S, with small sections removed where the antenna joins.
Apple has gone for a more advanced form of antenna here, meaning the days of lost signal are gone, and generally increasing the power of your call connection and GPS lock on too.
There are other big design changes here too: the headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, and the iconic 30-pin connector has been retired in favour of the new Lightning port, giving a headache to all those that have invested in chargers, docks and other accessories over their iPhone lives.
You can buy an adaptor, but it's pricey at £25. And unless you want to keep it permanently attached to the bottom of the iPhone 5 you'll need to buy a few, which is far from ideal.
However, let's not harangue Apple too much for this: a smaller connector is not only easier to use (you can plug the smaller cable in either way round, and the connection feels more solid), but you're rewarded with a thinner and more compact phone to boot.
There's also a small chink of light on the top right hand side of the iPhone 5 - when the screen is illuminated, you can see it under the band if you really, really look for it. It's been seen by a number of users, but is hard to actually replicate unless you mask the screen and hold it at the right angle.
It's again a sign of slightly under-par machining from Apple, but in day to day use it's almost completely invisible.
The decision to move the 3.5mm headphone jack to the bottom is an odd one, as while it allows you to slip the phone into the pocket head-first when listening to music, which is a more natural action, it's a real pain in the posterior for some apps that will only work in landscape a certain way up.
Using it this way means your headphones experience will be one of having to jiggle the jack around two fingers.
It's not the most comfortable way to hold a phone, and even when using the phone in portrait mode, the jack gets in the way somewhat. Plus it's miles away from the volume keys, which makes it hard to change the audio level in the pocket if you don't use the dedicated headphones.
There are other smaller design changes to the iPhone 5 too, such as the iSight front-facing camera moving to the middle and the home button being noticeably more robust to help reduce instances of a broken portal to your home screen.
But enough about what the phone looks like - the killer question is how the thing feels in hand. And we'll sum it up by saying: smooth. It's a little slippery, and we were always worried we would drop the darned thing.
But that's the only negative thing about the design (apart from the low weight initially and scratching aluminium) as it sits in the palm nicely and allows you to do it all with one hand, including hitting the top-mounted power/lock button with ease.
That lock button is actually still loose, as it was on the iPhone 4S, meaning when you shake the phone around you can hear it clicking away, which undoes a lot of the premium feel Apple is going for.
Make no mistake, the iPhone 5 is one of the most beautifully crafted phones out there - but when you're paying £529 up front for the thing, we'd hope this would be the very minimum Apple would be doing.
And while it looks nice, from the front it doesn't really add much to the design of the iPhone - it's certainly not the same as the jaw-dropping design of the iPhone 4 compared to the 3GS... it's another evolution in the iLine. It's not bad, but for those that hoped the iPhone 5 would be another step change there's a good chance they'll be disappointed about the look... until they feel the lovely back on offer.
There was a real chance here for Apple: remove the bezel and give the front of the screen a look that's similar to the OLED TVs from the likes of Samsung or LG… but instead we're treated to the same lines as before.
You always get the feeling that Apple saves what it can for the next iteration of the iPhone, and while there's nothing wrong with the current construction we can see the edge-to-edge screen becoming something amazing on the iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 launch saw the Korean brand claiming the phone is built on four foundations: an improved camera, better connections with others, health and wellbeing improvements and simply making life easier.
While this is all a little hyperbolic, the S4 at least brings an integrated feel to things while improving nearly every spec on offer. The outside is still plastic, but harks back to the mesh design, if not feel of the Galaxy S2.
Colour wise you've got a choice of 'White Frost' and 'Black Mist', which adorn the large device, which runs in with dimensions of 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm, despite still having to pack in a 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen.
That means it will have a larger screen, but smaller chassis than the Galaxy S3, which is a superbly impressive feat of engineering, especially when you consider the specs.
But like its predecessor, the plastic feeling of the Galaxy S3 won't appeal to all. It feels very lightweight (tipping the scales at 130g) in the hand, and while people have been conditioned against this feeling cheap, compare it to the HTC One and you'll see that it's a long way from premium feeling.
However, it's exactly the same sensation as we found on the Galaxy S3, and given the record numbers of sales that had Samsung is sticking with a winning formula, plus there's more than a market for a phone that you'll barely notice in your pocket most of the time.
Compared to rest of the Galaxy line, the S4 continues in the same vein as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the S3, (as well as myriad other devices) showing the Koreans are keen on creating a design heritage here.
The home button is roughly the same size and the same menu and back buttons remain from the prequel.
Overall, the effect is a much more well put together Galaxy S3 – so this means that when you take it out down the pub people won't notice you've got the latest phone, which is a bit of a shame.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 feels like much more of an iterative update than new design, and while it will probably sell well there's very little to wow you when it comes to the overall shape. Specs are important, but if there was such as thing as a Samsung Galaxy S3S, this would be it.
But away from all that negativity! We have a new phone to check over, so let's take a minute and talk about the screen: it's even more beautiful than before.
Display
We almost feel sad that this isn't the first Full HD screen we've seen on a mobile phone, as it's kind of lost its lustre since the likes of the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z have all managed the same trick – but it improves the sharpness a lot, even though you're not getting that much different from the S3.
Side by side you can see the difference close up, and the brightness and efficiency have been tweaked to make this a more compelling screen in a phone. Talk all you want about the benefits and colour saturation of LCD – the Samsung Galaxy S4 is leagues ahead when it comes to jaw-dropping screens.
The 441ppi pixel density doesn't match the HTC One, but is more than good enough for the average user.
We'll be mightily surprised if the combined popularity of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 don't prompt Apple into a re-tooling of the screen with the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, as the sharpness will definitely wow users on the shelves.
Aside from the initial impression of the design, in the hand the Samsung Galaxy S3 feels just dandy. The design contours well against the palm, and while the screen size may be a little big for some (you'll need a bit of shuffling to reach the upper section of the screen) it's definitely useable in the hand.
So in short: if you don't mind plastic and you like cutting-edge HD screens in your pocket, this is a phone definitely worth checking out.
Interface
Samsung hasn't really re-tooled the Touchwiz overlay for the Galaxy S4, but has added some clever upgrades that will have some users talking about innovation.
For instance, the lock screen doesn't have the water rippling any more, but does register your finger from up to two centimetres away, so a little beam of light will follow your digit as you unlock. It's something you'll definitely play with for ages.
It's clear with the Galaxy S4 that Samsung has worked out there's only so much it can do on the hardware side these days – not to say that we're pretty impressed with the spec list - and as such has tried to bring the unique flavour through the interface instead.
As before with Touchwiz, there's a definite sense the whole process has been simplified, as the phone has got a much easier feel to it when swiping around. That's not to say there aren't loads of widgets to be played with, but there is less clutter on the larger screen.
The dock at the bottom of the display pervades, and there are more widgets to play with. Thanks to the Galaxy S4 running Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 you've now got an addition in the notifications bar of a toggle in the top-right hand corner where you can turn on and off pretty much anything, from NFCto Group Cast to eye-tracking.
Swiping around the display was easy as pie – it's not exactly taxing on the processor, but we did note that there was a slight pause as we swiped through the menu screen on this pre-production model.
However, there is a worry that the octa-core (yes, you read that right) 1.6 GHz Exynos 5 CPU, with 2GB of RAM as well, could suck power a little too dramatically – but we've yet to hear the full details of how the CPU will work before we can pass any judgement on that.
Smart Stay, which tracks your eyes to tell if you're looking at the screen, has stablemates now. Smart Pause will note if your gaze leaves the screen and will pause the video, and Smart Scroll will check when you're reading a web page and scroll up and down as you tilt the device.
It's a novel idea for replacing things you do already but in practice we didn't find either that useful. Smart Pause takes a second to register your gaze has gone, which means you'll still miss part of the video, and Smart Scroll (again, pre-production model) was far from accurate when we tilted the phone.
That said, the internet browsing as a whole was sublimely fast (when our conference room Wi-Fi played nicely with the phone) and we were impressed with the clarity of web pages as we zoomed through them.
If Smart Scrolling was the way we'd always used our phones, and then someone invented scrolling with the finger, that would be amazing. It just seems that this is a way of doing things for the sake of it - we can't see the likes of Apple or HTC ever doing the same thing.
Smart Voice hasn't been upgraded beyond improving the accuracy of the voice recognition and Driving Mode, which will give you more voice-related feedback when you're in your motor.
Smart Alert has been upgraded: now it's joined by Air Gestures, which allow you to swipe the phone without touching the screen. So this means you can flip through pictures or music tracks ("good if you have messy fingers" says Samsung) flick to the top of a list by wiping upwards on the screen and Air Call Accept starts the camera… no, we're joking. It accepts a call without touching the screen.
On top of that there's Hover mode, which is the same as Air View on the Note 2 which used the S Pen and tracked when it was near the screen to give previews of emails, video scrolling without disturbing the action, and seeing who is on speed dial.
A quick test with this saw the preview being activated a little too easily, but it's definitely a neat feature and something we could get used to.
Any Android phone fans will be a little perplexed by some areas of the phone, unless of course you've spent some time working with Android 4.2 at any point. The first big change is the fact the notifications bar packs not just the standard icons for turning off Wi-Fi and the like, but a tile to tap that takes you to a whole host of other toggles, from things like AllShare Cast to NFC and more.
The settings menu has also been changed to split into four sections, making it easier to play around with connections, your device settings, accounts for social networks or syncing accounts and more, for the likes of device information.
It might confuse those used to the original way of TouchWiz working, but we think Samsung has worked out a decent way to stop things looking so disjointed.
But overall the good news is the large screen looks great, the improved CPU might not be needed but is welcomed and the little touches like the shining lock screen do actually feel like a real step forward.
NFC
There's a lot riding on NFC this year - what's it going to do in terms of making the beepy technology worth using in the day to day lives of many?
Well, with a tie-in with Visa looks like you'll be able to use your phone to pay for bits and pieces more easily by including the PayWave app within the Galaxy S4, meaning you won't have to get validation from the networks for the payment mechanism.
We're also waiting for Samsung's range of NFC-enabled docks to appear, in the same vein as Sony and it's NFC message, so we can get tapping our phones and make music appear in other places. Or you could just use something from another manufacturer and it will work as well, as it's all just Bluetooth connection really. It's your call.
Messaging
There's some good news for those that loathed the stock keyboard on the Galaxy S3, as it's now been replaced with Android's best keyboard around: Swiftkey.
We didn't get the chance to test out this new implementation on our pre-production unit, but it will be using Swiftkey 4, which brings Flow for swiping out your words on top of the frankly impossibly good prediction engine - the same algorithm that's been partly used for the all new BlackBerry 10 keyboard in the BB Z10.
Media
The Samsung Galaxy S4 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors in that it's designed for media – which is what you'd expect from a phone that's the sequel to the phone we dubbed the best out there for media on the go.
The video player is obviously taking centre stage here on the Galaxy S4, and combined with the improved Full HD Super AMOLED screen is just magnificent for watching movies.
The video hub now contains both personal and downloaded content in one place, and it looks really, really nice when viewing it on the 5-inch screen.
It's an understandably excellent experience, with the screen veritably shining with quality contrast ratios and decent colour reproduction.
The navigation experience is easy as well, and slipping up and down the timeline to move through a video seems very intuitive.
AllShare Cast is included as well, powering up the ability to stream to and from other devices. In addition to being able to send content from the phone to a TV and receive from a PC in your home network, you can also do this remotely now, as long as the device is turned on obviously.
Another feature is mirroring, where you can send whatever is on the screen of your Galaxy S4 and have it show on a larger display, either through connecting your phone using a MHL lead or an AllShare Cast dongle / compatible Samsung TV.
We've seen this on a number of devices, and while it's not going to allow big screen gaming on the go, as we've often noted that there's a lag between input and its realisation on the screen, it could be good for movies if it's less jumpy than found on the S3.
Samsung has managed to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to internal storage too – it will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB flavours plus up to 64GB through a microSD card as well. That's more storage than most will ever need on it's own, right?
This will be a killer feature for a lot of smartphone users, as while the internal storage is generally good enough for most things, many love the idea of having the choice to expand if they so wish – so combining this with an expandable battery is a great idea from Samsung once again.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S4 camera is a step up from its predecessor, with a 13MP sensor on the back, which now has to bulge slightly from the chassis.
Samsung promises excellent low-light snaps from the S4 as well, but we doubt it can take on the might of the HTC One when it comes to low light conditions, as the Galaxy S3 was decimated by the might of HTC'sUltrapixels - and that's before we even get onto the Nokia Lumia 920.
From a blindingly bright flash to a backside illuminated sensor, our quick snaps came out crisply and clearly – and when we say quick, we mean it.
The UI has changed a bit to mimic that found on the Samsung Galaxy Camera, with a special mode wheel to move between items like the Macro, Beauty shot and smile setting, and while it's a little slow it's definitely an easier to use interface.
Burst mode is predictably back, but it now comes with a 'Drama' setting, so you can take one shot and see all the pictures merge into one. It works really well as long as you don't have something that's just too close to the camera or too large – in our tests it showed you need a lot of space between each movement.
Eraser mode and Cinema mode also come straight from the Nokia Lumia phones we've seen recently – the former works extremely well though, noting an unwanted object moving in the background and erasing it by drawing a pink outline around the thing and letting you delete.
However, you have to have the mode enabled, which takes multiple pics, rather than the standard shot, so you probably won't be able to make good use of it most of the time.
Cinema mode lets you shoot a short video and choose the part to keep static – this means you can have a background moving while the person stays the same, and is created in a GIF to make things properly early noughties.
You also get a 2MP camera on the front of the phone for some decent personal snaps – plus you can also get HD video recording too.
This has been updated to allow you to record video and pictures with the front and back cameras simultaneously, which doesn't really make much sense in the grand scheme of things, but at least you can put some clever frames around your face to make it more relevant.
Battery
Samsung has managed to lower the thickness of the Galaxy S4 compared to the S3 but upgraded the battery from 2,100mAh to 2,600mAh, promising a much larger capacity and therefore longer life.
However, with all those extra pixels (1080 x 1920) to drive and more cores – we're not sure whether this will actually translate to better battery life or not. Samsung has promised that the power management will be more intelligent than ever before, but we're yet to play a good half hour of HD gaming and then watch a monster movie marathon on the S4 to really test it out.
It was excellent on the S3 for the most part, so here's hoping that that octa-core will inspire even better battery life.
Features and apps
There's a whole glut of new features on offer with the Samsung Galaxy S4, with elements like a more refined method of buying media to a dedicated S Health application.
The former of these two is pretty expansive, and a clear sign that Samsung is looking to take over even more of Google's efforts into monetising Android - Play Store is one of the big ways Google looks to cash in on Android use, and Samsung's ploy to create a unified hub that offers music, books, games and movies is going to get right in the way of that.
Irrespective of that, it's a much better of way of getting content onto your device, and the line up looks very strong. We haven't had a good root around yet to see the full limits, but here's hoping it's well connected with Samsung's Music Hub and the like to provide a fully-integrated system.
S Health is an interesting proposition too - it's clearly taking the idea of wearable technology from Nike+ and FitBit and rolling it into its own ecosystem.
The application is large and wide-ranging though - from a large database of food and drink you can tap into and note what kind of calorie intake you're rocking, to a an app that lets you note how many steps you've taken that day (using the phone's accelerometer / gyroscope as a pedometer) - and it can even tell when you're running and walking separately.
Anyone that's ever used Nike+ Fuelband and the iPhone app will think this seems very similar to that - add to that the fact Samsung is also releasing S Health accessories in the shape of an S Band and a set of wireless scales, and you can see why some people might see this as copying innovation.
In reality, it's just Samsung taking some popular ideas around fitness technology and embedding them more deeply within the phone - copyright aside - and presenting it in a way that's easy to digest and schedule.
It would be brilliant if this could interact with something like Adidas MiCoach to come up with tailored running and exercise plans, but as it stands it's a more fully-formed idea than anything we've seen from Samsung in the past.
