Who is the Giant..? Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5...?

Samsung Galaxy S IV, or Galaxy S4 as Samsung has been calling it so far, was officially unveiled Thursday at an event accompanied by a live orchestra while an audience of thousands watched the theatrics unfold on a four-level stage.

The Galaxy S4, which crams a 5-inch screen into body slightly smaller than the S III's, will go sale starting April. Samsung didn't say what the phone will cost, but it can be expected to start at $200 with a two-year contract in the U.S. That's comparable to the iPhone 5.

JK Shin, the executive in charge of Samsung's mobile communications division, promised the money would be well spent for a "life companion" that will "improve the way most people live every day."

That bold promise set the tone for the kind of flashy presentation associated with the showmanship of Apple, the company that Samsung has been trying to upstage. Apple contends Samsung has been trying to do it by stealing its ideas - an allegation has triggered bitter courtroom battles around the world.

One way Samsung and other makers of Android phone have been one-upping Apple is by increasing the screen size. Every successive generation of the Galaxy line has been bigger than the one before. The S III sported a screen that measures 4.8 inches on the diagonal, already substantially larger than the iPhone 5's 4-inch screen. The S4's screen is 56 percent larger than the iPhone's.

Apart from the larger screen and upgraded processor, the S4 has a battery that's 20 percent larger than that of the S III. Samsung didn't say if that translates into a longer battery life - the added capacity might be gobbled up by the bigger screen or other internal changes.

The S4 comes with a built-in infra-red diode, so it can control an entertainment center as a universal remote. This is a feature that has showed up in Android tablets before.

The S4 comes with several new technologies intended to help users interact with the phone. For instance, the screen now senses fingers hovering just above the screen, and some applications react. The Mail application shows the first few lines of an email when a finger hovers above it in the list, and the Gallery application shows an expanded thumbnail.

Users can control some other applications by making gestures in the air above the phone. In the browser, you can command the screen to scroll up by swiping from top to bottom a few inches from the phone.

The Camera application can now use both the front and rear cameras simultaneously, inserting a small picture of the user even as he's capturing the scene in front of him.

When several S4s are in close proximity, they can link up to play the same music, simultaneously - perfect for headphone dance parties.

The Galaxy S4 also will include a tool that enables users to create a dividing line so part of the phone is devoted exclusively to work while the other part is filled with personal information and photos. The feature is similar to a function on the latest BlackBerry - an indication that Samsung is going after other smartphone makers besides Apple with its latest model.

Let's take a look at how Samsung Galaxy S4's specifications compare to Apple's iPhone 5 and the rest of its competition.


Galaxy S IV launch in pictures

(Source)

May 3 is the D Day for Samsung to reveal “The Next Galaxy”

After months and months of speculation, to say nothing of a truly unprecedented amount of rumor and fakery, Samsung has finally set an announcement date for what will almost certainly be the Galaxy S III. The Samsung-only event will be held in London on Thursday, May 3rd, fulfilling their commitment to announce the Galaxy S II’s successor outside of the usual trade show venues like Mobile World Congress. Naturally there’s no other official details to be had at the moment, but the event is being christened “Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012″, setting up months before last year’s October event.

The Galaxy S III (if indeed that ends up being the smartphone’s final moniker) is hands-down the most rumored and least leaked Android phone we’ve ever seen here at Android Community. What seems like dozens of fake renders and blurry Photoshop jobs have passed across our desks, each less convincing that the last. The only compelling evidence we’ve seen thus far is the OLED Association’s assertions that the screen will be a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED panel with a non-Pentile layout, almost certainly with a 720p resolution.  An unnamed Samsung executive was also quoted as saying that the phone would be powered by a quad-core Exynos chip.

There was considerable speculation after Mobile World Congress that Samsung had delayed the Galaxy S III to better position it against the inevitable iPhone 5 – if sales trends from the GSII and iPhone 4S continue, the two devices may become the best-selling hardware on their respective platforms. While recent evidence that the phone was still in the concept stage just weeks ago would indicate that the delay was more practical than strategic, there’s no denying that Apple and Samsung are setting up for an epic retail showdown. Release and price are up in the air at the moment, but given Samsung’s past patterns, expect the international version of the Galaxy S III to be available the following month.