Key Difference: Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The Samsung Galaxy Note II is a smartphone manufactured by Samsung and is an Android based device. The Note II is known for its large display of 5.5 inches (141 mm), as well as its integral use of a stylus, called the S pen. The beauty of a Galaxy Note II is that it falls between the categories of a smartphone and a tablet. It is hence marketed as a ‘phablet’, a phone and a tablet, a hybrid or sorts.

Smartphones have taken over the world! It has become a trend, a necessity and a way of life. They have made it easier to do everything on the go, from e-mailing, video conferencing, to writing up a report or a project. There isn’t anything you cannot do these days with a smartphone. But alas, similar to all technological devices, the software and features start to become outdated as new features and software are developed and released. That is how we end up with new variants of older models including Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Note II.

After building anticipation for almost three months, Samsung has officially released the newest variant of its flagship phone. To many the time spend waiting has not been wasted, while others seem to believe that the phone is not that intriguing to make them upgrade from their current S3s and iPhones to the S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The weight of the phone has also been reduced to 130 g and the width of the phone has been reduced by 1mm. The phone has sharper and straighter lines with just curved edges. In terms of design it is quite similar to the S3. The chassis is made up of polycarbonate plastic and the display is highly sensitive that accepts touch through gloves. The phone is available with either the 1.6 GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 5 processor or the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon Fusion Pro quad-core processor, depending on the market. It is available with 16/32/64 GB internal capacity options and if that is not enough it can be upgraded by another 64 GB using the SD slot. The S4 comes with 2 GB RAM, which has become a norm for smartphones these days.

The phone comes with a stunning 13 MP primary camera, a 2 MP secondary camera and HD video recording capability. The S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but it has yet to be seen if it will offer an upgrade to the new Key Lime Pie version when it is available in mid-2013. The phone is available in two colors Black Mist and White Frost, though there may be chances for other colors once the phone is available for purchasing. Now for the fun part! The phone offers brand new features that are sure to pull in some big spenders. The S4 offers hovering capabilities known as Air Wave, which allows users to swipe between screens, videos, photos without actually touching the screen. Another fun feature is the Smart Scroll and Smart Pause; Smart Scroll uses a sensor and the front camera to automatically scroll when a person is done reading a certain paragraph. The scrolling can also be controlled using tilt. Smart Pause uses the sensor to pause videos automatically when the phone senses that the person is no longer looking at the screen and then resumes when the person looks back at the screen.

Group Play is a feature that allows users to use NFC or Bluetooth to tap and transfer videos, photos, music and even engage in multiplayer games with other S4 users. There are many new camera features as well including dual camera, sound & shot, drama shot, story album, cinema photo and eraser mode. Dual camera allows users to use both the cameras at the same time including when trying to take a photo. The person taking the photo can place their face to the photo taken using the secondary camera or vice-versa. Sound & Shot feature takes 9 seconds of audio when capturing a photo. Drama Shot combines all the actions from a Burst shot into one screen. Story album enables the users to create an album using their shots and audio. Cinema photo feature allows the users to animate one portion of an image, while keeping the rest simple. Eraser Mode allows users to erase objects from the image that they do not wish to include. Other features also include S Health (users can track their diet, steps, exercises, etc.), S Translator, S Voice assistant, Galaxy S Voice Drive and Integrated Optical Reader. Samsung has yet to announce the release date and the price of the S4.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is a smartphone manufactured by Samsung and is an Android based device. The Note II is the successor of the Galaxy Note I. The Note II is known for its large display of 5.5 inches (141 mm), as well as its integral use of a stylus, called the S pen. The beauty of a Galaxy Note II is that it falls between the categories of a smartphone and a tablet. It is hence marketed as a ‘phablet’, a phone and a tablet, a hybrid or sorts.

In terms of hardware, the Note II features a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 720p resolution display, and 2 GB of RAM. The Note II is available in a variety of colors and in storage capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. The phone also has an external expandable memory of up to 64 GB. The Galaxy Note II was launched with Android 4.1 (also called Jelly Bean) and at the time of its launch was the first phone to feature Android 4.1. Now, the phone is upgradeable to Android 4.1.2. The Note II also has easy usability because of the pen, which the users can use to write or draw on the phablet like it was paper.

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Samsung website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk, and GSMArena.com.

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