The Verge - Galaxy S4: Samsung prepares to unveil its latest flagship smartphone

Samsung Galaxy S4 official: 5-inch 1080p screen, cutting-edge specs, coming in April

2013-03-14T23:19:38Z

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S4 at its Radio City Music Hall event in New York City. JK Shin, Samsung's head of mobile communications, teased a number of the leaked features that we expected to hear and then finally introduced the new handset, which looks just like what we saw in earlier leaks. The phone will launch on 327 mobile operators in 55 countries starting at the end of April, with 3G and 4G / LTE versions available, and its polycarbonate case will initially be available in two colors, white and black.

Read This: Samsung Galaxy S4 preview

The 5-inch screen features a 1080p resolution, as expected, is covered with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3, and it's known as a "full HD super AMOLED" screen with 441 pixels...

Samsung Galaxy S4 fully revealed in teardown minutes before announcement

2013-03-14T22:38:15Z

The Galaxy S4 appears to be making a run for the title of most-leaked device (other than the iPhone 5) in recent memory. Following multiple rumors and photos, a user has posed an entire teardown of what looks like a Chinese variant of Samsung's next Galaxy phone. The pictures appear to confirm a number of rumors — most notably, a picture of the processor shows the device is indeed powered by the company's new 8-core Exynos 5 Octa processor (model number 5410). There looks to be a 13-megapixel camera as well, and this particular variant has two SIM card slots — just like the Chinese variant of the Galaxy Note 2.

The source, which leaked the teardown pictures onto Chinese site IT168, looks to be the same as the one that revealed some...

As Galaxy S4 launch draws near, Apple plays a very different game

2013-03-14T22:00:03Z

It's a game all too familiar to technology journalists and anyone following the industry closely: Company X teases, announces, or releases a flagship product. Apple — purely by "coincidence" — makes big news within days or even hours of the event. That news can be in the form of an invitation to an event of Apple's own or, just as common, a rumor posted to a primary news source like The Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg.

Of course, it's not actually a coincidence at all. Apple is widely understood to feed interesting bits of information on future products to news outlets (mostly the Journal) when it feels the need to spin a message or move the spotlight off of a competitor. It's a PR tactic that's as brilliant as it is dirty,...

Phil Schiller knocks Galaxy S 4 for 'year-old software,' claims Apple does things better

2013-03-14T12:31:08Z

On the eve of Samsung's highly anticipated S 4 launch, Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller has been on the attack. After calling Android "a free replacement for a feature phone," in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Schiller has shifted his attention to Samsung directly. Speaking to Reuters, Schiller criticizes Samsung for rumors it plans to introduce its S 4 with an older version of Android.

"We are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," says Schiller. "Customers will have to wait to get an update," he adds, while pointing out that over 50 percent of iOS users are running the latest update. Reuters reports that Schiller also pointed to research data that...

Leaked videos show Galaxy S 4 SmartPause, eye tracking, and new lock screen

2013-03-14T11:31:10Z

By the time Samsung's Unpacked event rolls around tonight, we might already know everything about the new device. The latest round of leaks, now helpfully arriving in video form, details two highlight features: SmartPause eye tracking and floating touch control. SmartPause does exactly the same thing LG announced yesterday — pausing and resuming video on the handset in accordance with whether you're looking at it or not. The floating touch appears to be an implementation of Samsung's Air View S Pen functionality, made to work without the stylus. Its purpose is to open up previews of things (such as a thumbnail on a video timeline) without requiring you to tap the display, you just hover your finger over the desired item.

Finally, a...

Our Samsung Galaxy S 4 live blog starts today at 7PM ET

2013-03-14T11:06:39Z

HTC has its One, Sony has its Xperia Z, and soon enough, Samsung will show us what its new flagship Android smartphone will look like. We've already got a fair idea: multiple leaked images and videos have shown that — unless Samsung has been on an unprecedented campaign of misinformation — the Galaxy S 4 will be visually similar to its predecessor, the best-selling Galaxy S III.

What about internals? Based on the leaks, we're expecting a 5-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, and a Samsung-built Exynos Octa processor, which would make the Galaxy S 4 the world's first eight-core smartphone. No Samsung event is complete without several new software features, and it looks as though S-Fans won't be disappointed — we've heard reports of m...

LG tries to upstage Samsung ahead of Galaxy S 4 announcement

2013-03-14T07:18:47Z

Samsung has been using the "4" numeral a lot in its hype campaign for the next Galaxy smartphone, which makes sense when you consider the Galaxy S III's popularity. The only trouble, though, is that it's pretty easy to imitate, and LG has done exactly that — right above its competitor's Times Square billboards, in fact. Just hours before Samsung makes its most important product announcement of the year, LG has aped the teaser posters' style to promote its own Optimus G phone.

LG's own advertisements are undoubtedly higher and brighter than Samsung's, but with slogans like "LG Optimus G is here 4 you now" and "It'll take more than 4 to equal one LG Optimus G," we have to wonder if the company's feeling a little worried by what its...

Samsung Galaxy S 4 revealed in leaked images

2013-03-14T03:34:38Z

Less than 24 hours away from Samsung’s next Galaxy S unveiling, detailed images have leaked on Chinese site IT168 that look exactly like yesterday’s purported video of the device. The pictures show that the eight-core phone will measure 7.7 millimeters thick and weigh in at 138g, with a 4.99-inch 1080p display.