First glimpse of what could be the Samsung Galaxy S4

Another imaginative design from Samsung

Well their handsets have nice ergonomics

No doubt it'll sell and their software is great but something more imaginative Sammy please

Ugly or not this handset will still sell like hotcakes, unless I'm very much mistaken

Looks like their built hasn't improved..hmm

Nothing here screams out buy me
It looks like the last phone with a few
Improvements
Saying that I'm sure The Samsung following
Will be happy with it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?[....]=player_embedded&v=YzkfC7--jog
A video teaser here

Ha, quite a fun video there Sean, but it doesn't leave me wanting more lol

like Apple, Samsung are going down that lazy design path, like I mentioned before about the note, these so called designers are simply cheating! Sony and LG are the best this year with their designs!

Yeah, Sony with their new Z which looks like an overgrown 4s and the LG Optimus G Pro which looks like the Note II. . . ..

The Z looks like an overgrown ip4 because it is a black rectangle with a centered screen. Nice comment.
The reality is that the attention to detail is unparalleled in the Z. Test this statement and you'll realise it's a fact.
The g pro does look like a fake Samsung. You know LG are on something if they choose to copy the previously most ugly flagship.
Unless this is a fake, Samsung will continue to win the ugly phone of the year award, and they are still battling it out with Apple for the most recycled design over a period of a few years award.

And the whole Iphone design looks like Sony prototype design from Sony, so what is your point?

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if this turns out to be legit.
Why? Because Samsung have already stated that the S4 will be plastic build and will feature a physical button.
Samsung can't really do much more with their designs - they've already said that due to volume they can't mass produce beautiful handsets like the new HTC One. If they make it square it will look like the Z.
As Bono said, the main thing is the ergonomics, 5" is large for a phone and the Z didn't work very well imo with a square slab design. They could go down the route of HTC but as I explained above this would take longer and create delays. I also think the One works well with a smaller size.

The last decent desgin from Samsung was the Wave I & II all metal solid build. Why can't they do that for Android?? With Samsung's profits am sure they can mass produce a better or metal/aluminium design. Or go down Nokia route with full unibody polycarbonate design. I don't know, I just think Samsung can do more with designs. Looking at their handsets on GSM Arena they all nearly look similar. Despite saying this we all know it'll sell & that I do think Samsung's software & chips is the best!!

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung-phones-9.php

Totally agree Bono - Samsung hardware and touchwiz plus HTC One design would be amazing. But as well know that would be too easy.
If this turns out to be true then the One for me wins the award of best android build to date. Just a shame about that camera at the moment.

I doubt this would be the next Galaxy! But also it won't be all surprising to turn out to be the one..
Samsung are simply relying on other factors than design and hardware innovations in general to sell. But they may be taking it too far with the GSIV! Same as Apple did before them with the latest iPhones.
Even if they cooked some new feature in that phone, I doubt it would be big enough to make it up for lack of any true hardware innovations. Like if they are really expecting eye scrolling to be the next big thing, they might be dead wrong this time over!
I guess the whole world is waiting. So let's wait and see..

I do think that Samsung, HTC, et al are getting to a saturation point with what they can do with a phone. Realistically we can't go any bigger screen size.
HTC have tried to be bold with the camera but haven't really pulled it off.
Camera and battery would be the next big thing for me albeit those aren't that exciting.

Precisely.
As much as I would like for Samsung to blow us away with a brand new, jaw dropping, Metal and Polycarbonate bodied smartphone with a mind-blowing design, I'm more than happy to get something that is well designed for heavy use, is highly functional and gets updates fast and regularly.
Ergonomics is just so important these days, the one phone that really had me irritated in this department is the iPhone4/4S, with its sharp edges, I simply can't stand using one of these without a cover.
Samsung seem to understand the importance of ergonomics, the GS3 feels great in hand, smooth, rounded and very lite, if the GS4 is similar but with better CPU/GPU, more memory, larger display, lite weight and good battery then I'm sold. I prefer to have a phone that's powerful with great ergonomics, than to have a pretty phone that is just average or subpar at everything else and is uncomfortable to hold, see many already mentioning the design letdowns in the Xperia Z, owning a phone that size with that design does seem like a bit of a nightmare for me at least, the only phone that seems to get away
With sharp edges despite being large screened is the Nokia Lumia920 thanks to the materials used, Nokia are another one who totally understand the importance of ergonomics.

The mistakes HTC keep making is making phones too thin with small batteries. Samsung make their phones thin too but still put in a large battery. Why can't HTC??

I think maybe the difference is the amount Samsung spend on crucial things like R&D and the fact that Samsung develop a lot of their own components in house, while an OEM like Htc or Sony have to 1st secure deals with all kinds of component manufacturers and so on, this could also explain why some OEMs take longer to release SW updates.
Samsung have a lot of resources at their disposal, so they do have quite an upper hand, even compared to Nokia in their best day, it's actually quite scary when you see how much of the industry Samsung runs even when it comes to components.
I do wish Htc would sort out their Battery situation though, it's pretty annoying, they always lag behind competition when it comes to Battery tech. Not only do Samsung make big batteries they even fit NFC chips into their batteries.

Yeah I know Samung are now he biggest mirco chip maker. They been doing that for a long time. I always thought Sony were more like Samsung with their own in house stuff but they seem to be not quite as they used to be imo. @Tsepz-GP I always think you always make some of the best points on Esato

It's a real testament to how far Samsung have come and how they've totally embraced android.
3 years ago I wouldn't have touched Samsung with a barge pole.
The three main things that have impressed me coming from Sony to Samsung;
1. Hardware
2. Updates (best of all manufacturers)
3. Camera (Samsung seem to have nailed it here (bar 808/N8))
Even touchwiz has grown on me and I think it's more intuitive that it appears.

Confirmed it's the final GS4 design
http://www.phonearena.com/new[....]Galaxy-S-4-picture-yet_id40729
All I have to say is - YUCKKKKKKKKK
This is what you call PIG UGLY

Thanks Sean many of these things I've learnt from all the past debates on this forum and some others, must say a part of me misses the days of Dogmann, Boinng, Whybe, Synn etc...How much they used to argue and yet how full of knowledge they were about this crazy industry.
Yep, Sony don't seem to be the powerhouse they used to be.
When ST-Microelectronics and Ericsson got together I thought we would see Sony gaining the most benefit out of their NovaThor chipsets, and see a true challanger to Samsung Exynos in the Android arena, but that didnt happen.
Rickster2kuk
+1, same here! I remember looking at TouchWiz and not taking it seriously until I got a GS2 and I was simply blown away at how fast, fluid and ridiculously functional it is, one of the many functions being the multi item clipboard feature, allowing us to copy/paste multiple things without worrying that anything will be overwritten, seems no other OEM has this to this day, also the built-in capability to Blacklist certain numbers, and now their focus on multitasking with multi view amongst other things.

Exynos was beaten by the S4 pro in the time of the Note 2, and afaik, Samsung still haven't got integrated LTE. Qualcomm 's s800 should be the best chip this year for a phone.
Sony are becoming the powerhouse they used to be once again. The 2h flagships will make that undeniable. And 2014 should be the time when Sony will bring all their technologies - audio, display, camera (as well as what they already have such as amazing designs and build quality, and being the leaders in promoting and using NFC).
The s4, if these pics ARE real, which, like last year, I couldn't believe (due to how ugly they were), then sure the S4 will still sell, but other manufacturers will be able to compete with on design alone as they have really stepped it up.
The Z with all its intricacies, the One will its overall style, and maybe a few more.
Of the ones that will be able to stay relevant on design alone let alone everything else, I've so far only seen the Z advertised.

Looks like I was bang on with the leak being legit, looks more an more like it now.
Yes, the design is conservative but so long as it's comfy in the hand it will win for me (take note Xperia Z).
Looks the sides may be aluminium, camera also looks like it protrudes slightly. LED notification remains (hurrah).
Nature UX 2.0 (new version) looks very much like the current one on the S3 but they seem to have now moved from black backgrounds to white (on the phone function and settings) (aka more like stock android). Not sure if this is a good thing as I understand AMOLED uses more power for white pixels (correct me if I'm wrong).

Stock android settings have a dark background.
Interesting, this may actually be aluminium. I never thought of that.
Quite understandably, bearing in mind the manufacturer.
They might as well outsource the design. Would look better that way.

Exactly, in the end I'd rather have a phone that is great to hold so I can be more productive with it.
I'm also looking forward to seeing what the Nature UX 2.0 brings I like the fact that they use white, I'm sick of all the dark looking UIs, Android was starting to look a little dull and depressing with all the matte black, but I also question if its a good idea if the S4 has a AMOLED display....maybe the new FullHD Super AMOLED display has some interesting power saving technique when displaying white?
Anyway more details released, the GS4 will be rocking a PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU:
http://www.gsmarena.com/confi[....]sxg_544_graphics-news-5681.php
Would've liked to have seen another Mali GPU though, simply due to how ridiculously powerful the GPUs in the S2 and S3 were, but I know PowerVR GPUs are apparently what the Devs prefer, and they do make the most powerful GPU found in a mobile device, the PowerVR SGX554MP4 found in the iPad4, and having owned one I can say up to this day not a single HD film or game has managed to fully utilize the monster GPU in it.
Now I wonder what audio chip Samsung will grace the GS4 with? The Wolfson DACs in the GS1 and GS3 were incredible, I hope they don't do like what they did with the GS2 and go with Yamaha or some other weird company.
This is what I like about this OEM, they look at the best component manufacturers for their flagships for all the components that they need to outsource.

Maybe it's the size of my hands, but I didn't have an issue using the Z when I used it a couple times at work. Each to their own... (in Sony's case, there is also the ZL for purchase which should be more comfortable)
Im having a damn hard time choosing a new phone. My trusty old (and temporary) BB 9700 is driving me nuts. Sony, HTC or Moto/Nexus will get my $ next though I think.