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Samsung Galaxy S4 SPH-L720

 

Samsung Galaxy S4 SPH-L720

Time for an upgrade!  There's a bunch of great new phones out there so after doing some research and getting some hands on at the store, I decided on a new toy. Released online on April 27th and in stores on May 1, 2013, the all new Samsung Galaxy S4!

I waited about a month to get this after it was released to make sure it was something I would be happy with.  I've been a fan of HTC products the past 2 years but Samsung has been producing some wonderful products.  So Samsung it is!

On to the unboxing:

The Samsung Galaxy S4 SPH-L720 (with the 1.9Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor):

Let's open it up and see what we have underneath the smartphone:

In the box are the instruction/warranty manual, battery, charger, micro USB cable, earphones, and extra earbuds:

Rechargeable battery:

Wall quick charger (USB cable installs on the side):

There is a spot on the side of the case that allows you to open the plastic back to expose the battery, SIM, and SD card slot:

The back is very slim and pops off with a bit of prying and pulling.  It's a world phone so you can unlock and activate the UICC and use it in various countries.

The battery is a 3.8V 2,600mAh Lithium -Ion with NFC (Near Field Communication) capabilities:

13mp rear camera and built-in flash:

Takes the 64GB microSD cards:

On the right side of the phone, the Power Button:

AT the bottom of the device is the micro USB connector.  You can see the HOME button on the front just bellow the screen:




Speaker at the bottom left on the back of the S4:

They used a lot of stickers to protect the device from scratches during shipping.  Nice but it was kinda of a pain to remove them all as some are very tiny.  There's even one on the camera that a lot of people don't take off because they don't realize it's there.  Initial reports about the camera not taking good pics is because the clear plastic is still on the camera lens!  Default is also not set to the highest megapixel resolution so if you have the S4, make sure you go into settings and select 13mp to get the best results.

Top portion of the phone:  3.5mm earphone jack (pictured on the right) and the IR sensor (Left port).  On the top of the face is the phone speaker and LED light:

Include are a set of earphones for the Galaxy S4:

It also comes with 3 extra pairs of earbuds to accommodate different eat sizes.  These are soft and comfortable, no complaints.  A play/pause button and volume controls:

Definitely not as good as my Etymotics ( timeout.watchprosite.com ) or Monster iSport ( timeout.watchprosite.com )  but as a freebie included with the phone, it's fine for what it is.

Los Angeles has LTE coverage so let's see how much faster it is over 4G Wimax:

Wow, this thing is pretty fast!  I was getting good speeds with my old EVO 3D on Wimax but LTE blows it away.  Signal strength in the areas I travel to most have been consistent.  My carrier is still building out their network but it gets better each day.  Reception is also better on this phone than my previous one. 

One of the many cool and unique features found on the Samsung Galaxy S4. When the top left LED flashes blue, it indicates that you have a notification.  You can enable hand gestures over the phone to do certain functions. Here you can wave your hand over the phone and it opens the screen to display missed calls, emails, and texts. Battery power indicator, Time, and Date are also shown. Comes in real handy if your hands are dirty and you need to check your phone. You can also set it so that the phone vibrates when you pick up the phone and have a notification pending.




I've also set it to answer calls with a swipe over the phone using the air gesture.  I need to get used to air swiping while browsing the internet before I make that feature set on the phone. 

The display is a large 5" Super AMOLED screen, the colors are amazing and sharp while watching movies and videos. 

After spending a few hours getting accustomed to Touchwiz and figuring things out, I'm extremely happy with the Galaxy S4.  I did consider the HTC One but a little worried about being able to S-Off the device (Revolutionary that unlocked my EVO 3D and EVO View 4G has just announced they have a way to get into the ONE).  The HTC does have a better build, it's unibody construction and overall design aesthetics is gorgeous but the lack of removable battery and external memory card slot was a deal breaker for me.  Since I have Samsung tablet it was not that difficult to switch over to the Galaxy S4.  They've done some really cool things with this that works really well and smooth.  I'm liking the Multi-Window feature too.  For those of you who are upgrading or looking at having the latest and greatest, check out the S4!


-MW






This message has been edited by DRMW on 2013-06-13 00:04:51