Samsung Galaxy S4 Review - Design and feel

Hello and welcome to another VGJFelix video. This is the Samsung Galaxy S4 and today we're are going to look at the design and feel of the device. Let's get straight into things and broadly describe the phone as pebble shaped: a large flat surface with curved corners. It's quite similar to the Galaxy S3, something that did raise one or two eyebrows and accuse Samsung of a somewhat lazy attitude. But with the S3 being such a success why would you make such a departure from a shape the Galaxy range of phones is starting to become synonymous with? And a chrome trim boarders the side of the phone which does distinguish the device. And on the top and bottom sides of the phone you'll find the micro USB port, 3.5milimetre headphone and an IR sensor that you can use to control your television and set top boxes - something well worth exploring in a later video. The back of the phone sports the insane 13mp camera and flash with a single speaker towards the bottom of the phone. But let's briefly pause to whinge once again about the power and volume buttons that are far too shallow and feel too similar to the rest of the trim of the phone. This makes them both tricky to find and press as there isn't much tactile feedback. I have already done a review on this and the solution is to get a decent case but we've been making buttons for decades now so these crappy ones are almost unforgivable. And here's another strange button: The home button on the front of the phone. It's long and thin which doesn't really match your thumbprint which is fat and square. It's not really a problem, it just doesn't make any sense other than to make as much of the phone's surface the actual touchscreen (which sounds great in theory but in practice causes a compromise like this). Take the Samsung Galaxy S2 home button as a comparison. This was perfect. You might have noticed a pattern in my tone here. Samsung have made some odd choices with the design of the phone and nothing compounds this more than the back of the phone which comprises of a plastic case which does have an attractive mesh appearance to it. However, it seems to attract moisture and grease like a magnet making it unnecessarily slippy in my hands. Making a back case for a mobile phone is not a new design headache for Samsung to get their heads around. It's almost as if they're going out of their way to slightly annoy users. But to add some positivity to the cause, the back case is easily removed by getting one of your nails into this little slit and then prising the case away from the phone. It's useful to be able to do this very quickly and easily whilst the phone is still on. But if you've just bought a $500 dollar phone do you really want such a wafer thin, tacky, plastic case protecting the rear of your phone. This almost seems like the most premium of compromises. But again, in saying that it's very easy to click the backcase back onto the phone. To be perfectly honest a decent phone case is an absolute must for the Galaxy S4 because it's gives you the added insurance of solid phone protection and, if you get a good case with decent buttons (like the official protective case) it negates the problem of the shallow power and volume buttons. OK, the next big thing is the footprint of the phone which I also have concerns about but I don't really have anyone to blame but myself. What I'm showing you here is the full extent of my thumb coverage of the screen. I can't reach the top left portion of the screen and I find difficult to reach the botton of the screen where the back button is. So if I am reading a news article and want to go back a page it's going to require some pretty fancy thumb gymnastics. Unless I'm prepared to shuffle the entire phone in my hand so that my little finger props up the bottom of the phone. Now I can reach the back button quite comfortably, but now I can only cover the bottom half of the screen so to get back to the top I need to readjust the phone again. It's all a bit awkward and it makes a mobile phone less mobile than what it should be. If you need to use two hands to use it, it's a tablet. But here's the thing. The Samsung Galaxy S4 does come in a few shapes and sizes so it would be wrong of me to labour this point too much. I guess I've just been caught up in the idea of more is always better. In this case, and for my preferences, more is too much. I want to be able to touch the whole screen with my thumb which suggests the Galaxy S4 Mini would be better suited to my needs. But it's not as powerful as the Galaxy S4 and I want the most powerful phone available. In summary the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a strange dichotomy of compromises. I've spent most of this video criticising the design and feel of the device, but in summary none of these things are real deal breakers and after a few weeks of day-to-day use I've simply adapted and rarely think about any of these niggles. What do you think? Are my comments valid or does the Samsung Galaxy S4 have the best design and feel in its class? I look forward to you views. Thanks for watching, please give me a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video and subscribe for much more Samsung Galaxy S4 coverage,