JUST as teenAGE TECH co-ordinator Kristen Laing predicted, Samsung released the upgrade for their popular smartphone Galaxy S4 in May.

Its predecessor — Galaxy S3 — was such a success that it sold 100 million units in three months and went on to be named the best smartphone for 2012 (if not ever).

So what new can Samsung bring to the market?

Well, let’s just say it is a lot more than can hold on this page.

Features

As upgrades go, the best feature, so far, HAS to be the camera.

Moving from eight megapixels to 13, the camera offers a sharp, crisp quality that you would expect from (how do I put this?) a camera.

In fact, in showing this camera around, individuals have marvelled at the quality of the images and video that the camera captures. It has even been said that the S4 is a camera with a phone attached (pretty impressive).

The features of the camera have also been upgraded.

S4 users now have a Dual Camera feature, which allows you to take a self-portrait, while taking a picture of a landscape, that is, two photos at once.

The camera captures HD video quality (we used it to shoot our exclusive Press Record interview with Leftside).

Also, there’s the feature that allows up to eight seconds of sound to be embedded into a photograph.

The S4 has a Story Album feature that can automatically sorts photographs and turns them into an album. So, photos taken on the same day will be loaded as an album on the device.

Others amazing features include:

Air Gesture: Allows you to scroll through hundreds of photographs (or however many you have on your devise) without touching the screen. That means, just waving your hand your hand across the screen can flip through the albums.

Smart Scroll: Imagine scrolling down a webpage with just your eyes or nodding your head or tilting the devise up or down. The S4 can map where your eyes are on a page and rolls the page to your line of sight. It can also track the movements of your head to same effect.

That Smart Scroll feature also allows you to experience what Samsung calls Smart Pause. Look away from the video and it pauses — yes, automatically. That save much of the rewinding that’s down on other phones.

Ease of Use

Having already used the Galaxy S3, the S4 is quite easy to use. In fact, the interface runs so smoothly, it seemingly anticipates what you want to do.

Marketed as the Life Companion, the S4 can be integrated into all facets of your life — a pedometer (it tracks your steps), a calorie counter (self-explanatory), etc.

The price point might be a bit out of many teens’ pockets, but maybe if you are really good for the rest of the year, it will make its way to you as a gift.

With all the Samsung Galaxy S4 has to offer it seems the Minority Report life is not far away.

— MED