In New York
Samsung said it listened to its users across the globe to find out what they wanted from their smartphones and the result is the new Samsung Galaxy S4.The latest star in the Samsung Galaxy series was unveiled on Thursday night at a grand presentation on Broadway, New York City, at the iconic Radio City Music Hall.
Inside, before a full house of media from across the world as well as Samsung representatives and partners, JK Shin, President and head of IT and mobile Communications Division, showed the world what they were waiting for."We are always listening to learn from people around the world what they really want. We have taken technology and innovation to help us get closer to what matters in life," he said."For each of us, life is a journey and we want a phone to help us on that journey," he said.
With Life Companion as its tagline, the new phone aims to do just that, provide users with an aid to make popular activities easier. While the physical infrastructure does not differ much from the S III–there is a new 5 inch, HD, Super Amoled screen, it is slimmer in size and comes in two colours: White Frost and Black Mist–the real changes are in the new and improved features.
As a nod to its theatrical setting, the features were presented in a series of short skits, each designed to illustrate how the features can work. Ryan Bidan, head of Product Marketing, Samsung Telecommunications led the presentation. For persons who use their phones primarily to take pictures, the Samsung S4 has taken the picture taking experience to a new level.
The phone now boasts a 13 megapixel rear camera and users can use the dual cameras to include themselves in any photo they take and can even choose a template to design how they want to appear in the frame.This feature works with still photos and video. There is also a new automatic Story Album that allows you to organise your images in albums, which can then be shared and converted into hard copy via a partnership with Samsung and Blurb.
With the S Translator feature, travellers can converse with people in a foreign language by translating their speech to your language. The feature converts speech to text and vice versa.
The phone understands up to nine languages and has 3000 embedded sentences. The Group Play feature allows users to share games and music which they can enjoy at the same time, while the Chat On feature has been upgraded to allow dual video calls and shared screens.
The Smart Scroll feature will pause any video you are looking at when you look away from the phone and with Air View, you can navigate the phone without touching the screen. The new Samsung Galaxy S 4 is expected to be rolled out across 327 countries on April 26.