 Samsung seems hell-bent on producing a phone for everyone under the sun—and even those under the sea. The most intrepid member of the company's growing Galaxy family, the Galaxy S4 Active packs nearly all of the same features as the original S 4, but in a rugged and waterproof exterior. The phone has already been announced for release on AT&T, but we had a chance to go hands on and see the Active in action. If you've ever handled a rugged phone before, you know these things can be bulky, bricks of a phone. Not so with the Galaxy S4 Active, which is every bit as impressive as the original S 4. It's marginally larger, but only by tenths and hundredths of an inch—5.5 by 2.81 by 0.36 versus 5.4 by 2.75 by 0.31 inches. It is noticeably heavier, at 5.4 ounces versus 4.6 ounces, but the phone feels substantial and not unwieldy. You won't find any garish rubber accents here either, like with Samsung's ruggedized Rugby Pro. It's still the same, oft-criticized plastic used in the normal S 4. Maybe it's the extra weight or sealed components, but this phone feels like a solid and premium device, even more so than the original. We've covered this already, but as a recap, the S4 Active shares the same 5-inch full HD display, quad-core 1.9-GHz processor, and Android 4.2.2 software as the S 4. It's safe to say that the Active will likely garner as much praise as its Editors' Choice award winning sibling in the performance department. But there is a key difference here—the 13-megapixel camera has been nixed in favor of an 8-megapixel unit. We didn't have a chance to really get a good gauge of the Active's camera, but it's likely on par with the Galaxy S III, which is to say pretty darn good. The Active is IP67 certified, which means it's dustproof and waterproof to 1 meter for 30 minutes. Samsung's booth had a fishbowl on hand to demonstrate, and I can confirm that the Active sat comfortably in the aquarium gravel with aplomb. Rounding out some of the physical differences are rivets on the back panel that give it an industrial look, while the capacitive buttons on the front have been replaced by physical buttons. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active will land on AT&T starting June 21 for your standard $199.99 with a two-year contract. Pre-orders are available now, and you can choose between urban gray or dive blue colorways. For more, see PCMag's hands on with two other Galaxy S 4 variants, the Galaxy S4 Zoom and S4 Mini.  via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEf2yux8TjHBGwZx45c6NAOF9g_Kg&url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420799,00.asp | |||
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