Bill Hughes - Samsung Galaxy S 4 For Dummies

Samsung Galaxy S 4 For Dummies

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013936337

ISBN 978-1-118-64222-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-64565-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-65052-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-65053-0 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Introduction

T he Samsung Galaxy S 4 is a powerful smartphone, perhaps the most powerful phone ever sold. As of the publication of this book, the Galaxy S 4 is the standard against which all other Android-based phones are measured.

Each cellular carrier offers a slightly customized version of the Galaxy S 4. Some cellular carriers phones come out of the box with preloaded applications, games, or files. Some come with accessories, like a corded headset, whereas others dont. This book doesnt dwell on these kinds of differences.

Although the name for each network is different, these phones are largely the same (at least one marketing person at each cellular carrier is cringing as you read this). This allows me to write this book in a way that covers the common capabilities.

At a core level, these phones are built for high-speed wireless communications. The cellular carriers have spent kajillions upgrading their networks to offer more coverage and better data speeds than their competition. Again, this book doesnt dwell on these differences in network technology because they dont really make much difference (again, at least one engineering person at each cellular carrier is cringing as you read this).

I assume that you already have a phone, and I just hope that you have good coverage where you spend more of your time with your phone. If so, you will be fine. If not, you need to switch to another network because the experience with your phone will be frustrating. I would advise you to return your phone to that carrier and buy another Galaxy S 4 at another cellular carrier. As long as you have good cellular data coverage, owning a Galaxy S 4 will be an exciting experience!

First, all Galaxy S phones use Googles Android platform. This is the equivalent of different brands of PCs all being based upon Microsofts Windows operating system. Although there are some differences in how the operating system appears when you turn on your PC for the first time, the experience is largely similar whether the PC comes from Dell or from HP. (Now at least two PC product managers, one at Dell and the other at HP, are cringing.) This is in contrast to the experience you have when you bring up a PC running Ubuntu Linux, which is noticeably different.

The good news is that the Android platform has proven to be widely popular, even more successful than Google originally expected when it first announced it in November of 2007. More people are using Android-based phones, and more third parties are writing applications. This is good news because it offers you more options for applications (more on this in on the Play Store, where you buy applications).

In addition, all Galaxy S 4 phones use a powerful graphics processor, employ Samsungs super-bright AMOLED touchscreen, and are covered in Cornings Gorilla Glass. The superior screen experience differentiates this product line from other Android phones. Because of these enhanced capabilities, you can navigate around the screen with multi-touch screens instead of hierarchical menus that are found on lesser Android phones. Plus, the videos look stunning from many angles.

Smartphones are getting smarter all the time, and the Galaxy S 4 is one of the smartest. However, just because youve used a smartphone in the past doesnt mean you should expect to use your new Galaxy S 4 without a bit of guidance.

You may not be familiar with using a multi-touch screen, and your new phone offers a lot of capabilities that you may or may not be familiar with. It would be unfortunate to find out from a kid in the neighborhood that the phone you have been carrying around for several months could solve a problem you have been having because you were never told that the solution was in your pocket the whole time.

In fact, Samsung is proud of the usability of its entire Galaxy S lineup. It is so proud that the users manual is really just a quickstart guide. You can find instructions on the web. However, you have to know what you dont know to get what you want unless you plan to view every tutorial.

Thats where this book comes in. This book is a hands-on guide to getting the most out of your Galaxy S 4.