AT&T and U.S. Cellular are the first two U.S. carriers to offer Samsung’s new flagship, the Galaxy S4. Pre-orders start today, with the handsets shipping at the end of the month. The 16GB version of the phone starts at $199 with a contract. T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless are both expected to get the S4 within the next few weeks.
Walmart Wireless is also taking pre-orders today for the AT&T version of the Galaxy S4. The retailer is offering the phone for $189 to customers who open a new AT&T account. An internal Walmart memo reportedly called the Galaxy S4 “the biggest launch this year for wireless.”
The S4 features a 5-inch Super-AMOLED screen and an industry-first octo-core processor running at 1.6 GHz. The octo-core processor leverages ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture, using four ARM A15 processors running at 1.8 GHz and four smaller ARM A7 processors running at 1.2 GHz. The A15 chips do the heavy lifting, like processing video, and the A7 chips kick in for less demanding tasks in order to preserve battery life.
Camera capabilities include a 13-megapixel sensor on the rear and 2-megapixel sensor on the front, with the ability to take a picture or video using both at the same time. The S4 also ships with Google’s latest Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system.
Samsung ships more mobile phones and more smartphones than any other company in the world, but it has yet to release a handset that can generate the excitement created by a new iPhone. The Galaxy S4 could come close, but this spring it must compete for the Android buzz with the HTC One. HTC has invested heavily in the fit and finish, camera, and user interface for the HTC One, clearly hoping to create a smartphone status symbol on par with the iPhone. Initially the 16GB version of the HTC One will only be available through AT&T in the U.S.
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