Ostensibly, Samsung has one brand name for all of its Android-powered smartphones: Galaxy. As the company finds more success, that brand has branched out into several sub-brands. There's the "S" line (usually reserved for flagship smartphones), the "Tab" line (for mid-end tablets), and the "Note" line (which applies to stylus-equipped phones and tablets). As Samsung produces more and more devices for more and more niches, some of these sub-brands are even beginning to branch off into their own sub-brands. This is where the Galaxy S 4 Active comes in.

The Active is one of several offshoots of the Galaxy S 4, which was released back in the spring. Each of these S 4 variants gives up some of the S 4's high-end features in favor of serving a particular niche—the Galaxy S 4 Mini is slower but smaller and lighter, for example, while the S 4 Zoom integrates a point-and-shoot camera with optical zoom. The Active's claim to fame is that it's both sturdier than the standard S 4, and it's also water- and dust-proof. But unlike the other off-shoots, it actually retains most of the features that make the standard S 4 a high-end smartphone. Our review will let you know what the two phones share, where they're different, and which one you should pick if you're in the market for a new handset.

What's the same?

Specs at a glance: Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active Screen 1920×1080 4.99" (441 PPI) TFT LCD OS Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz skin CPU Quad-core 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 RAM 2GB GPU Qualcomm Adreno 320 Storage 16GB, expandable via microSD Networking 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, LTE bands 2, 4, 5 and 17, UMTS 850/1900/2100MHz, GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz Ports MicroUSB, headphones Camera 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera Size 5.50" × 2.81" × 0.36" (139.7 × 71.37 × 9.1 mm) Weight 5.29 oz. (149.97 g) Battery 2600 mAh Starting price $594.99 standard, $199.99 with a two-year AT&T contract Sensor Ambient light sensor, GPS, thermometer, barometer, proximity sensor, gesture sensor, RGB light sensor

Unlike the other S 4 variants, the internal specs of the S 4 Active actually match the standard S 4, so it benchmarks just like its less-active cousin. It's got the same 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, the same 2GB of RAM, and the same Adreno 320 GPU to drive a screen with the same 1080p resolution (though the screen itself is a bit different, as we'll discuss in a moment).

Most of the phone's other specifications are also the same as the standard S 4. The phone supports single-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi, meaning that it can connect to an 802.11ac router at theoretical speeds of up to 433Mbps (real-world Wi-Fi performance as tested by iPerf was identical on both phones). Our AT&T model supports LTE bands 2, 4, 5, and 17, as well as AT&T's "4G" HSPA+ and standard 3G speeds (the full details can be found on the specs page here). It supports Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC, has the same 16GB of internal storage, and keeps a removable battery, SD card slot, and SIM card slot underneath its removable plastic back.

Additionally, the software on the S 4 Active is identical to that found on the vanilla S 4: we're looking at Android 4.2.2 with Samsung's TouchWiz interface laid over the top of it. Our review of Android 4.2 and of the original S 4 should tell you all you need to know about the phone's software experience. If you want the short version, know that TouchWiz doesn't deviate as far from standard Android as HTC's Sense 5 (along with its BlinkFeed feature). However, it does add big, cartoonish icons and sound effects that may not be to everyone's taste.

Samsung is also known to stuff its phones to the brim with features, some of which can be genuinely useful (the multi-window mode that lets you run a couple of apps at once) and others that seem mostly superfluous (a whole bunch of features related to eye-tracking and waving your hand over the screen). It's an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach that can be detrimental to the user experience. If these things bother you on the standard S 4 (or, really, most of Samsung's recent phones and tablets), they'll continue to bother you here. If you don't mind them, then the S 4 Active doesn't do anything that's different that you have to worry about.

What's different?

Set an S 4 Active next to a vanilla S 4, and the first thing you'll notice is that the Active is slightly bigger and bulkier. It has larger bezels around the screen, and it's physically thicker and heavier as well (0.36 inches thick and 5.29 ounces, compared to 0.31 inches and 4.59 ounces for the standard S 4). The extra heft doesn't make a ton of difference, but if the S 4 is already a bit on the large side for you, the S 4 Active is only going to make it worse.

What you get in exchange is a phone that feels more solid than basically any recent Samsung phone or tablet I've used (the Nexus 10 notwithstanding). It's still made of plastic on the outside, but it lacks that cheap, creaky feeling that's usually part-and-parcel of using a Galaxy- or Note-branded smartphone. The removable plastic back has a nice matte finish rather than the glossy, slippery finish on the back of the normal S 4. And a couple of harder plastic bits cover the top and bottom of the phone, which ought to help protect it a bit if it's accidentally dropped. Since the backs are different, you also give up compatibility with S 4 accessories, like the Flip Cover, that replace the phone's standard back. Instead, you get a phone that feels better to hold than other Samsung devices.

The button and port placement on the S 4 Active is the same as in its non-active cousin, but the buttons on the front face of the phone go all-physical rather than retaining the physical home button and capacitive back and menu buttons of the original. One minor annoyance is that none of these buttons light up. If you're in a dark room and not used to the fact that Samsung's back button is backward compared to pretty much every other Android phone on Earth, this will only compound your woes.

One of the main draws of the S 4 Active is that it's both water- and dust-resistant. The inside of the phone's plastic back has a small rubber rim that helps keep water away from the inside. There's a small cover for the micro USB port on the bottom, and the headphone jack has also been waterproofed (though there's no need for a cover there). The phone is IP67 certified, meaning that it is completely protected from dust and water-resistant at depths of up to one meter (a little more than three feet) for up to 30 minutes. So, you can drop this in the toilet or bathtub but not into a swimming pool.

Finally, unlike most Samsung phones, the S 4 Active eschews a PenTile AMOLED display in favor of a 1080p TFT LCD panel. To be fair, even as someone who doesn't love PenTile, I can say that most of the things I don't like about it (too-saturated colors, fuzzy text) aren't present on the standard S 4. The resolution is high enough that you simply can't see the fuzzy text anymore, and using the "Professional Photo" or "Movie" presets as recommended by this study takes the edge off of AMOLED's harsh colors.

However, the whites on an AMOLED display still tend toward a yellow or green hue, and the display's outdoor visibility isn't as good as it could be. That last concern alone probably justifies an LCD panel in a phone that is ostensibly targeted toward people who spend a lot of time outside. You trade in AMOLED's deep blacks, but otherwise this display is excellent, and it holds up better than the standard S 4 in direct sunlight. The specific LCD technology used for the display isn't named in any of Samsung's marketing materials (they say it's TFT, but that's as specific as they get), but whatever they're using, the colors and viewing angles are comparable to the IPS displays used by phones like the HTC One and Nexus 4.

Finally, there's one additional software feature in the S 4 Active's settings that isn't in the S 4's: a "Torch Light mode," which, when enabled, allows you to press and hold the volume up button with the screen off to use the camera's LED flash as an impromptu flashlight. Samsung's promotional materials for the feature indicate that it is targeted primarily toward, um, spelunkers, I guess, but we're sure that it will work just as well when used indoors for more mundane tasks.