Samsung Galaxy S4 – What We Want

There’s no doubting the Samsung Galaxy S3
is a tour de force of the latest cutting edge mobile phone technology, as proven by the fact it has sold faster than hotcakes on the coldest day in January, or wettest day in July for that matter.
But, for some of us, it didn’t quite tick every box. We’re going to look
ahead at what we’d like to see from its follow up, which we can only suppose will be called the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
The
Galaxy S3 is a fairly elegant-looking phone from the front but its
boring glossy plastic back certainly didn’t set our hearts racing. For
the S4 we’d like to see a more ambitious design using exotic and premium
materials. Nevermind that the S3 is super light and thin – a few extra
grams due to a metal backplate wouldn’t bother us. It doesn’t have to be
metal either – just something with a bit more pizazz.

More
than the look, though, what really bothered us about the S3 was its
size. We know some people are all for phones getting bigger and bigger
but we’re not among them. Although Samsung made an effort to get around
the S3 having a whacking great 4.8in screen, it remains to our minds a
cumbersome handset that’s difficult to use one handed – the amount of
times we’ve dropped the S3 while holding a pint, and no it’s not just because of the preceding five pints.

We’d
like to see a move to a slightly smaller screen that retains the same
resolution. The 4.3in of the Galaxy S2 was manageable but frankly we’d
be even happier for it to drop to 4in. Yes, essentially we’re saying we
think Apple is on the right track (according to rumours) by only bumping
up the screen size slightly for its upcoming iPhone 5, from 3.5in on the iPhone 4S to 4in.

S4 Mini
Okay,
maybe a considerably smaller Galaxy S4 is unlikely. So if we can’t have
a big ol’ flagship S4 that’s smaller than the S3, how about a Galaxy S4
Mini that doesn’t miss out on any of the goodies? Mini versions of
phones tend to drop features and aim for a budget price but we want to
see an S4 that can kick it with the big guns but not require double
joints to get a grip on.

Camera
We’d also like to see
Samsung go to town on the camera of the Galaxy S4. The S3 only matched
camera tech that had been available for several months, rather then move
things forward. What we’d like is a proper shutter button to make it
easier to take snaps at awkward angles, and shoot self portraits in
particular. And, having now seen the magnificence that is the Nokia 808 Pureview‘s 41MP camera, we’d also really like to see a big bump in camera performance – optical zoom, Xenon flash, we want it all.

Big Battery
The
Samsung Galaxy S3 battery is among the largest in its class and the
stamina to match. But, there’s still room for improvement. Add a couple
of millimetres to the phone’s overall thickness and squeeze in an even
bigger battery and we’re well on our way to smartphone nirvana.

Stylus
The Samsung Galaxy Note
caught us all by surprise. Next to no-one thought a 5.3in phone with a
stylus would work in this day and age but it has proved hugely popular,
and we can see why. There is still something about having a fine-nibbed
pointing device that’s sensitive to pressure that makes doodling, gaming
and plenty of other tasks much more enjoyable. The stylus of the Note
wasn’t the best in the world but it was better than the dumb capacitive
touchscreen models that are the alternative. Heck, we’d not even mind if
it couldn’t fit in the body of the phone.

Waterproofing
Finally,
and we know this is a bit of a curveball, we’d like to see the Samsung
Galaxy S4 go a bit rugged. Panasonic proved that you can create an
ostensibly normal-looking mobile that’s fully waterproof, and if Samsung
can up the ante by making the S4 a but tough too, we’d be happier than
Andy Murray… oh wait, he didn’t win did he.

What would you like to see from the Samsung Galaxy S4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.