What is the difference betwen the Galaxy s4 and the Galaxy s4 active.



There is not a whole lot of things that sets the two phones apart. A few things are different though, and in this article we will go through them so you can make an informed decision if you are looking to buy one of them.

The similarities far outnumbers the differences with these titans in the cell phone market.

The Screens

The Samsung Galaxy s4 has an amazingly vivid Full HD AMOLED screen. For some reason Samsung has decided to replace the screen with a similarly specced TFT LCD screen. This should not make to much of a difference apart from the fact that AMOLED displays use less power than it’s LCD equivalent.

This is made possible by the fact that AMOLED screens does not use energy to display black pixels. When a pixel is black it is actually turned off. Where the LCD pixels is always lit up by a back light.

Apart from that they are the same 5 inch 1080P full HD we have now become so accustomed to.

Size and weight

The Galaxy s4 active is slightly heavier and a bit bigger than the Standard Galaxy s4. This is likely due to the extra padding required to make it dust and waterproof.

Galaxy s4 130 grams.

Galaxy s4 active 153 grams.

Galaxy s4 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm.

Galaxy s4 active 139.7 x 71.3 x 9.1 mm

So as you can see the Active is both bigger and heavier. But if you are looking for a dust and waterproof phone that’s the price you have to pay. The Samsung Galaxy Active is still a pretty good looking phone.

Buttons

If you are one of the people who do not like the software buttons Samsung put on the S4 you might like the Active a little bit more. The buttons on the S4 Active is of the physical kind. I do suspect that this was not done to accommodate those who did not like the software buttons. Rather I suspect that this was done so that you can actually use your phone even as it is submerged in water.

One of the drawbacks of waterproof phones without physical buttons is that they simply wont work under water. So if you are a big fan of taking pictures of fish and such the S4 Active is the phone for you. If you buy a waterproof phone without hardware buttons you will have to push that shutter button before you put it in water.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active has been fitted with a 8 mega pixel camera which sets it apart from the 13 mega pixel camera in the ordinary S4. Hopefully this is done to make the phone more rugged, not to get an even higher profit margin new phone. The new camera even has a aqua mode. When the Active is put in aqua mode the volume controls is converted into camera buttons. Press to take a picture and if you long press the LED lights will turn on.

Sensors

The Samsung Galaxy s4 Active lacks the temprature and the humidity sensors. Most likely these sensors can not cope with water and has been removed out of necessity. All the other sensors is stil in place.

Wireless charging

The ability to wireless charge your phone is something that on paper seems like an excellent idea. However the limitations behind this technology makes the idea better left as an idea. Likely the number of people who have bought wireless chargers are to few to make it sustainable to include this feature in this cell phone.

Thats it folks. This concludes the comparrison between the Galaxy s4 and the Galaxy s4 active. On all other points the Active matches the Galaxy s4 to the door.

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