LA Gadgets Examiner Rating: C+
Yesterday, the Samsung Galaxy S4 arrived in both Sprint and AT&T stores. Sprint wasn't supposed to stock the Galaxy S4 until next week, but stores such as the one in Brea, CA had a full stock of them and you could have easily walked out with the Galaxy S4 if you told them you were a new customer or adding a line to your existing account. If you were a longtime customer who wanted to pay full price, you were out of luck.
At first, this might upset dedicated Sprint customers. However, from using the phone for hours yesterday, I can safely tell you to stop waiting for Samsung's overrated and over-hyped plastic toy and purchase the HTC One instead. Actually, no matter what carrier you subscribe to, the HTC One (and even the iPhone 5) are better options.
Build and design
The Samsung Galaxy S4 looks like a slightly distorted Galaxy S3. At 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches, it is easy to carry. The plastic might have felt decent in 2012, but feels cheap in 2013. You have to give Samsung credit for making this unit so light at 4.5 oz. However, I would have preferred a stronger casing that weighs a little more.
The Galaxy S4, however, feels slightly more sturdy than the Galaxy S3 since the corners are more square than rounded. However, the slimy feel of the phone is still a turnoff.
Display
The Galaxy S4 houses a 5-inch Super AMOLED screen that is great, not super. The colors on some settings are way too over-saturated and on others, they aren't saturated enough. The great thing about Super AMOLED screens is that they display dark colors perfectly, but lighter colors don't look natural. Still, unlike many devices that have LCD screens, you won't find dead pixels on the Galaxy S4.
