Samsung has given us a lot of stuff with Galaxy S IV, which we believe is an awesome new smartphone. There are a number of features that we mentioned in that review, but there are a lot more. Samsung has its own software applications bundled on the device, to make it unique in the industry of highly competitive products. It definitely seems like Samsung has done an awesome job with this smartphone, and it could unsettle other manufacturers—HTC with One, LG with Optimus G Pro, and Sony with Xperia Z, which are Samsung’s immediate competitors in high-end smartphone market.
In this article, let me talk about a few features on Galaxy S IV that ‘sort of’ resembles products and technologies from other OEMs and companies in the current smartphone market.
Take a look at this specific gaming accessory that Samsung is introducing with Galaxy S IV, known as Game Pad.
This particular device will transform your Galaxy S IV into a gaming console almost like this:
Another recent gaming console that has been released to the industry is from NVidia, along with its release of the Tegra 4 SoC, a gaming device known as Project Shield, pictured here.
S Band is an accessory to Galaxy S IV, to use with its S Health app. S Band can track a lot of information, such as calories burned, distance, etc.
Doesn’t the S Band look slightly familiar? It’s probably because you have seen these Jawbone Up and Nike FuelBand.
With a new camera software improvement known as Drama Shot, Samsung Galaxy S IV can take a number of pictures within a frame and make a collage from them. This could be an action being performed. Take a look at this:
But on HTC One, we have a similar feature. That smartphone is capable of taking up to 20 photos and a three-second video with a click. HTC markets this particular feature as “you capture a story every time you click a picture”.
The most uncanny thing is Samsung Galaxy S IV has another feature, known as Sound and Shot that captures a little bit of audio with an image, so that you can actually listen to what happened at the time the photo was taken.
This is a new feature that Samsung has introduced, through which your Galaxy S IV’s display adjusts according to what you are viewing. We already know about the auto-brightness feature available in all smartphones. Adapt Display is an improvement to that, in order to provide the best viewing experience. For instance, if you are watching a movie, you could go with normal contrast and slightly better brightness, while if you are reading an ebook, you probably need the display to be sharper.
This kind of software-based display adjustment is a thing of Sony’s. Sony’s Xperia Z tablet has the mobile BRAVIA engine automatically turned on, which gives much better color, brightness, and contrast levels on anything you view. You can see a few images that show the difference in that review of Xperia Tablet Z.
We are not yet certain how similar Adapt Display is to mobile BRAVIA.
‘Hi Galaxy’ is a starting command to turn on S Voice Drive commands; S Voice Drive gives you hands-free operation of various phone functions while you are driving.
Google Glass has the command ‘OK Glass’ to initiate a command. Eerily similar, would you agree?
Samsung’s Adapt Sound technology is just a glorified equalizer. It simply is a software enhancement that improves the level of hearing by changing the pitch based on the music played. Also, it is said to correctly balance the right and left speakers in order to provide good listening experience.
If you remember, HTC has an audio subsidiary in the form of Beats Audio that promises the exact same thing. It is also a software-based sound enhancement system.
The point of this article is only this much. A lot of new technologies are being introduced by smartphone companies into our world. We have to understand that most of them are for better sales rather than better user experience. There are people who will love these features, but in another handset, you may find some other features to entice you. It is difficult to really choose the right kind of device without proper analysis.
[Image: TechCrunch]
In this article, let me talk about a few features on Galaxy S IV that ‘sort of’ resembles products and technologies from other OEMs and companies in the current smartphone market.
1. A Gaming Accessory, Game Pad
Take a look at this specific gaming accessory that Samsung is introducing with Galaxy S IV, known as Game Pad.
This particular device will transform your Galaxy S IV into a gaming console almost like this:
Another recent gaming console that has been released to the industry is from NVidia, along with its release of the Tegra 4 SoC, a gaming device known as Project Shield, pictured here.
2. S Band
S Band is an accessory to Galaxy S IV, to use with its S Health app. S Band can track a lot of information, such as calories burned, distance, etc.
Doesn’t the S Band look slightly familiar? It’s probably because you have seen these Jawbone Up and Nike FuelBand.
3. Two Camera Features
With a new camera software improvement known as Drama Shot, Samsung Galaxy S IV can take a number of pictures within a frame and make a collage from them. This could be an action being performed. Take a look at this:
But on HTC One, we have a similar feature. That smartphone is capable of taking up to 20 photos and a three-second video with a click. HTC markets this particular feature as “you capture a story every time you click a picture”.
The most uncanny thing is Samsung Galaxy S IV has another feature, known as Sound and Shot that captures a little bit of audio with an image, so that you can actually listen to what happened at the time the photo was taken.
4. Adapt Display
This is a new feature that Samsung has introduced, through which your Galaxy S IV’s display adjusts according to what you are viewing. We already know about the auto-brightness feature available in all smartphones. Adapt Display is an improvement to that, in order to provide the best viewing experience. For instance, if you are watching a movie, you could go with normal contrast and slightly better brightness, while if you are reading an ebook, you probably need the display to be sharper.
This kind of software-based display adjustment is a thing of Sony’s. Sony’s Xperia Z tablet has the mobile BRAVIA engine automatically turned on, which gives much better color, brightness, and contrast levels on anything you view. You can see a few images that show the difference in that review of Xperia Tablet Z.
We are not yet certain how similar Adapt Display is to mobile BRAVIA.
5. S Voice Drive
‘Hi Galaxy’ is a starting command to turn on S Voice Drive commands; S Voice Drive gives you hands-free operation of various phone functions while you are driving.
Google Glass has the command ‘OK Glass’ to initiate a command. Eerily similar, would you agree?
6. Samsung Adapt Sound
Samsung’s Adapt Sound technology is just a glorified equalizer. It simply is a software enhancement that improves the level of hearing by changing the pitch based on the music played. Also, it is said to correctly balance the right and left speakers in order to provide good listening experience.If you remember, HTC has an audio subsidiary in the form of Beats Audio that promises the exact same thing. It is also a software-based sound enhancement system.
In Conclusion
The point of this article is only this much. A lot of new technologies are being introduced by smartphone companies into our world. We have to understand that most of them are for better sales rather than better user experience. There are people who will love these features, but in another handset, you may find some other features to entice you. It is difficult to really choose the right kind of device without proper analysis.
[Image: TechCrunch]