The Galaxy’s Bigger Screen

There’s simply no comparison when it comes to the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S 4. The former comes with a 4-inch screen—which is nice in its own right—but is much, much smaller than the 5-inch display in the Galaxy S 4. Extra screen real estate matters, and Samsung knows it.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 truly shines when it comes to its processor. The chip is a 1.9GHz quad-core option that’s head-and-shoulders above the 1.3GHz dual-core A6 processor in the iPhone 5. If speed is what a user is after, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 delivers.

One of the nicest things about the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is that it has all kinds of hands-free features built-in. Users don’t need to actually touch the display to control certain features and can scroll down a page with their eyes, rather than their fingers. Take that, iPhone 5.

Near-field communication is the feature that Android vendors commonly overlook in their product unveilings because, well, it’s become so commonplace that it makes no sense to spend time on it. However, the iPhone 5 doesn’t support near-field communication, meaning the wireless transfer of data between devices is impossible. It’s an unfortunate omission in the iPhone 5.

The amount of RAM in Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 is double that of the Apple iPhone 5. Samsung’s device comes with 2GB of RAM, while the iPhone 5 has 1GB. More RAM enables applications to open faster and promotes overall better performance for the device. Extra RAM is always a major selling point for mobile devices.

When Apple unveiled the Retina display, the company made a fuss about its 326 pixels per inch. At that time, the Retina display was the best option available. However, these days, the iPhone’s display is looking second-rate. The Samsung Galaxy S 4 comes with 441 pixels per inch. That’s a huge difference, and should make for a nice visual experience when watching movies on the handset.

The 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 5 is certainly a nice addition to the device, but let’s face it, that feature can’t compare with the 13-megapixel lens in the Galaxy S 4. More megapixels don’t necessarily mean better picture quality, but they do enable the printing of larger higher-resolution images.

Both the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S 4 come with data storage options of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. However, unlike the iPhone 5, Samsung’s handset has a Secure Digital (SD) card slot, allowing for more storage on the device. The future might be in cloud storage, but until then, having a hard drive and a storage device like an SD card is awfully nice.

Although the Galaxy S 4 supports the Google Play marketplace, the important thing to keep in mind is that Samsung Apps are running on the platform, too. As noted, the Galaxy S 4 is the Android market’s best smartphone. However, developers need to build apps that accommodate devices of all shapes and sizes. The Samsung Apps marketplace eliminates that problem and allows developers to build apps that are designed to take advantage of Samsung’s best handset design yet. That should come in handy as Samsung takes on the iPhone 5.

The Galaxy S 4 is running Android 4.2.2. Jelly Bean. However, the device’s operating system is enhanced by Samsung’s own proprietary software skin. That Samsung user interface makes using the handset much easier to use and is actually more stylish than iOS on the iPhone 5. It’s a nice addition to an already high-end device.