Gadgetory

are you happy with your Samsung Galaxy s4 and even if you are did you still wish it had a let's say stronger form and feel well the new s4 variant is here and we're here to tell you what's what between these two versions age Joshua regard from Android I thought of what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s4 versus the galaxy s4 active to be honest you wouldn't be far off saying that the galaxy s4 active is highly similar to its original counterpart the best way of putting it is that the original plastic body of the s4 has been beefed up let's look at the s4 real quick it is the plastic clad tried-and-true design with a removable back cover that is pretty flimsy a silver spine connects the front and back there is the home button on the front flanked by soft keys for back and menu the buttons on the sides are classic Samsung and overall it is a safe design that plenty of people either love or hate by now the main feat of the s4 was taking a five inch screen and making it as easy to handle as possible after all the general size is the same as this previous Galaxy s3 okay so now we have the s4 active at a glance back to back you can see that this phone is just a little bit longer a little bit thicker and it's actually heavier in the hand it's available in a few different colors and instead of having a silver spine this color comes from the back to the front and is visible in the very rim or on the phone all of the buttons are in the same place but now have harder shells for a definitely better feel perhaps they aren't as elegant especially the new tactile back and menu buttons but they feel great and bring no question to their quality the port on the bottom has a small cover now so over time it could break off the real action is on the back four screws on each rubberized corner surround a smaller plastic cover that is slightly textured for feel but definitely seems sturdier than the one found in the original you can tell it is meant to really seal the phone shut because of all the loud snaps you hear putting it back in plenty of people are sick of Samsung's plastic choices now and while it can be argued that the active didn't really rewrite the script it definitely improved on it it's meteor in the hand gives a more reassuring feel as opposed to the nimbleness of the original that's what it comes down to as far as feel goes for looks it depends on your hate or love for the tried-and-true Samsung plastic design personally the only thing I didn't like about the s4 active I got was the color but with a gray variant out there that probably doesn't matter as much I do believe however that the active can better attract the eyes than the all-too-familiar original s4 the display story actually does differ as the s4 active point with a different route rather than the usual Samsung fare the original s4 sports the Super AMOLED screen popularized by Samsung and is capable of 1080p resolution at 441 PPI it is well known for having a high saturation that does help contrast but otherwise makes colors pop out and punch you in the face it's a great performer that makes a great example of how good 5-inch screens can be but in the s4 active the LCD display was on the menu but it does perform very well it has the same capabilities of 1080p resolution and 441 PPI so sharpness and high resolution media are easy the LCD screen has its advantages like being somewhat brighter however the active screen is covered in Gorilla Glass 2 making it arguably not as protective as the version found on the s4 but its main disadvantage is the lack of saturation more specifically the lowered saturation does also lower overall contrast dark hues have a lighter profile to them and you can just tell that the colors on the s4 seem to have just a little bit more dimension the LCD on the active is still great and sits among the best LCDs out there if you really want your colors as vibrant and accented as possible the galaxy s4 Super AMOLED does get the job done really these points feel somewhat like nitpicking though as general users will still have a great time with the similarly performing LCD on the s4 active what's really great about the s4 active is that it comes with the same processing package as the original both of these phones support the Snapdragon 600 clocked in at 1.9 gigahertz and they are backed by the audrina 320 and two gigabytes of ram performance and practice yields no real differences the score is an n2 to tell a slightly different story but perhaps a lack of optimization or even the LCD screen aren't to blame for the lower score in the active but don't worry performance is comparable and you should have no issues either way the active also took from the s4 pretty much every bit of hardware that the original had with the exception of the meters for measuring temperature and humidity and s-health otherwise every sensor for hand-eye and air gestures makes a return along with the IR blaster and the usual bevy of bits like Bluetooth and NFC for sbeam the active only comes in a 16 gigabyte version but you can still expand the memory with microSD cards either way so the obvious difference here is the water and dust resistance indeed the s4 active is made for the klutz and all of us who spills drinks or god forbid is prone to dropping phones in the toilet it is not idiot-proof though as the instructions clearly state that the active can handle half an hour in one meter depths any more than that and it might sustain damage what I did notice about the water resistance was that the uncovered headphone jack at the top did work a little weird with a little bit of water slowly drying in it the headphone sensor kept firing off as the phone told me I had headphones in it when I didn't it eventually stopped so water probably eventually either dried up or filtered out obviously if you really want that extra layer of safety the s4 active is the phone for you don't think it's a super rugged phone as the screen could still crack and enough water can still make a break it's got you covered on accidents and maybe just a little bit more than that both phones port 2600 milliamp power units and provide similar performance power saving features are the same across the board and standby times remain very long perhaps because of the LCD screen though the active loses some time in full endurance tests but it still rivals the general day's life of the original s4 the last part that the active cut back on was the camera but it wasn't all that big a change the original s4 has the 13 megapixel shooter that yields great results with high vibrancy and good detail there are a ton of modes that you should all know about already by now but if you don't you can check out my full s4 review 8 megapixels were given to the s4 active and the only other cut was the dual recording function as far as quality goes the smaller resolution does knock back the quality a tad but it's not very noticeable the performance is still on par with the s4 with great detail in well-lit environments low-light performance either way is only decent but that was not surprising of course the main attraction of the actives camera is the aqua mode with the light water resistance you won't really go diving with it but you can capture pool party memories just fine the mode kills touch screen functions when water making the volume rock or your shutter button if underwater shooting is a big part of your summer plans the s4 active can get all that done for you otherwise the speck hungry would probably end up going for the higher performing original there really isn't much comparison to be had in the software department what the very same version of TouchWiz as the s4 the active brings you the same general experience that you might already be familiar with if you do need a rundown of all the software features you can check out my original s4 review and finally we have price the s4 active is only currently available on AT&T for the price of 199 on a contract the same still goes for the s4 though discounts are starting the surface unlocked they remain around the same price at seven hundred dollars give or take and so there you have it the first s4 variant is a version of the original that can withstand some punishment otherwise both are so similar that general users will probably find the same experience either way if you wanted a better feeling s4 the active is what you've been waiting for and if for whatever reason your lifestyle requires a phone that can take some bumps and splashes same story the s4 is the bleeding edge in this comparison so that would be your trade off in the end it's nice that if you felt like you were settling for the s4 there's a new version out there to pique your interest if you want to see the full reviews for both of these devices I'll have some links down below in the description and also over on the side in those previews remember to stay tuned to Android Authority for all of the best android news and coverage because we are your source for all things Android