Tech Swellness: Samsung Galaxy S4

January 16, 2014

So this blog post is many, many, many months overdue. One goal for this year is to be more organized and on top of things, and to kick that off, I’m crossing things off of my to-do list that just need to get done, finally.

Back in the early summer (late spring? Yikes, this is way overdue!), I was invited to learn about and try the Samsung Galaxy S4. The focus was on the way the S4 can improve your health by using apps like Map My Run/Ride, Strava, Fitness Buddy, Office Yoga and Nike+ Training Club (I’ve been using this btw the past few weeks to supplement my running with some overall conditioning and strength training). It also has a built-in S Health  software where you can keep a food and exercise diary and a sleep monitor.

These apps are great–but you can essentially use these apps on just about any smartphone, right? So now that I’ve had a chance to test it out for many months here are a few things I like about it:

• the large five-inch screen size
• it’s lightweight
• it supports HSPA+42 Mbps and 4G LTE — so this means that wherever you are in the world, you can rely on “perfect connectivity” (their wording); I can attest to the fact that when I’ve been traveling with it in  Europe and in the Caribbean, I have been able to connect to wifi on my S4 and not with my iPhone 4 (and people I’ve been traveling with have been unable to connect to wifi with whatever their devices were — when you’re the only one with wifi, you sure get some jealousy directed at you, haha!)

But my most favourite things about this phone?

The full HD Super AMOLED display, 441 ppi and the 13 megapixel rear camera — the photos it takes are phenomenal. I have been at concerts and have had people behind me at the show full-on freaking out at how good my photos are compared to the blurry blobs whens napped on their phones.

Here is a little comparison for you, here is a photo snapped with my iPhone 4 at the Package Tour (hello, NKOTB, 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men, what!) last year:

And here is a photo snapped at this amazing concert  with my Samsung Galaxy S4:

(yes, it’s a bit blurry, but I have a feeling that’s because I was excited at the concert and unable to hold the phone steady You can at least make out which one’s Jordan. That’s what matters, right?)

Sure, there are a handful of things I’m not fond of when it comes to this phone:

• I can’t easily copy and paste direct messages (I discovered this when I was campaigning for the Inner Champion contest and contacting just about everyone I’d ever met).
• I can’t seem to search for older emails, and I haven’t figured out why this is (I’m often on my way to a media event and need to check the address, and on the S4 I’ve been unable to locate emails).

But come on now, those factors are small potatoes when you can take boyband photos that are as good as this, amirite?

Filed under: Random Swellness

Tags: cell phone, cell phone review, Galaxy S4, iPhone, S4, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy, smartphone, smartphone review