How to get to Google Now on the Samsung Galaxy S4

On many Android phones with on-screen keys, getting to Google Now -- the excellent predictive/voice-controlled search app in Android 4.1 and above -- is simply a matter of swiping up from the bottom of the screen. It's not quite as simple as that on the new Samsung Galaxy S4, but fear not, there are still a few quick and easy ways to get to the new Google Search app.

How to get lock screen widgets on the Samsung Galaxy S4

When you first pick up the Samsung Galaxy S4, it might appear that lock screen widgets aren't available. After all, the default lock screen is just a big clock widget with "life companion" or some other message up top. But as an Android 4.2 device, the S4 includes full support for lock screen widgets, it's just a case of enabling them in the phone's lock screen settings.

Head to “Settings > My device > Lock screen” and check "Multiple widgets." Once you've done that, you're able to swipe to the right and add more lock screen panels. There's the standard list of Google widgets as well as some new stuff from Samsung, including a new WatchON widget. This ties into the WatchON app, which is the Peel-powered universal remote included on the Galaxy S4, giving you an expandable universal remote right from your lock screen. Third-party offerings like Dashclock Widget should work just fine, too.

Google confirmed Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S 4 with Stock Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS on Google I/O

No doubt, Google I/O conference would be the biggest focus these days. But simply from today’s 3-hour keynote of Google I/O, we have to say that this Google I/O conference is not a conference for hardware. Previously there’re reports and rumors that Google would announce X Phone or next Nexus 4, which now have been proved to be rumors only. The only hardware appearing on Google I/O is so called Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S 4, which is powered by stock Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS, while the current Samsung Galaxy S 4 of the phone which runs Samsung's TouchWiz UI over Android 4.2.2.

It’s reported that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition will be available next month and will support T-Mobile's bands. We do not know at this point if the phone will be sold in the Google Play Store and what the pricing will be. Previous speculation had a newer version of the Google Nexus 4 being unveiled at Google I/O with 32GB of native storage and 4G LTE connectivity. That phone still might be unwrapped on Wednesday.

How to stop notification vibrations on the Samsung Galaxy S4

If you've set your Android 4.2 phone to vibrate mode, notifications that would normally play a sound alert cause a vibration. On the Nexus 4 that's easily avoided by cranking the volume all the way down to the "mute" level, but on the Samsung Galaxy S4 (international version only, for some reason) the lowest level on the volume bar is 'vibrate,' not 'mute.' So how do you avoid being pestered by vibration alerts? Turns out there's a simple toggle for it, though it's tucked away in a less than obvious place.

To switch to mute mode on the Galaxy S4 and silence vibration alerts for notifications, long-press the power button and hit the "mute" button. Alternatively, "mute" is one of the options you can add to the quick settings bar in the notification shade. (Scroll to the right or expand the quick settings area if you don't see it.) 

How to change, reset and customize the Galaxy S4 lock screen message

Anyone who holds a Samsung Galaxy S 4 would be very familiar with the phone lock screen message of "Life companion" on Samsung Galaxy S 4. And that's a fine slogan originally designed by Samsung for its S4 owners. But out of customization, if you're a little tired of seeing it on your phone every time you turn it on, you are able to change, reset and customize the lock screen message of Galaxy S 4.

It’s very easy to change, reset and customize the lock screen message of Galaxy S 4. Samsung's taking advantage of the lock screen widgets in Android 4.2.2 to provide that custom greeting, clock and date as soon as you wake the phone. You can change the font, color and size, remove the clock and date if you want, or get rid of the widget altogether.

Samsung finally officially announced Galaxy S IV with bundle of new software features

The long rumored Samsung Galaxy S IV has been finally announced by Samsung on the New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. Just as reported, Samsung didn’t disappoint people by introducing a Galaxy S 4 smartphone with a bigger screen, better camera and faster processor than its predecessor Galaxy S phones.  The new LTE smartphone has brought a vast improvement over its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S 4 has a super AMOLED display with density of 441 pixels-per-inch, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera. The smartphone weighs 130 grams and is 7.9 millimeters thick. Depending on the market, the smartphone will come with a 1.9GHz quad-core processor or a 1.6GHz Samsung Exynos 5 eight-core processor. Other features include up to 64GB of storage, 2GB of low-power DDR3 RAM and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

The Galaxy S 4 is Samsung's shot at a number of competitors, including the Apple iPhone 5 and the HTC One. But while those competitors make their bones on proclaiming premium hardware, Samsung has tried to add more competence to Galaxy S 4 with bundle of new software features. The below are all the new software features you can experience on Galaxy S 4.

Rumored FHD Samsung Galaxy S 4 for US AT&T to be probably announced on March 22nd

With time passing by, the concern about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S 4 has gradually come to its summit. More and more reports rumored about the detailed specs of Samsung Galaxy S 4. Just after the leaked news of the GT-i9500X model number on Samsung global download center, a UAProf configuration file of a FHD Samsung model called SGH-i337 recently exposed online. As predicted, this newly exposed model might be the US AT&T version of Samsung Galaxy S 4.

From the leaked file, this new Samsung SGH-i337 would come with a FHD screen display with screen resolution up to 1080x19200 pixels on its 4.99" large screen display, which means that if you want to watch HD movies on Galaxy S 4, Galaxy S 4 would not disappoint you. Meanwhile, according to the description about the phone browser, this new smartphone might run on Android OS, not Tizen OS.

According to the report, this new smartphone is mostly to be the AT&T customized Galaxy S 4. On the hardware configuration, Samsung Galaxy S 4 is reported to come with a 4.99" FHD Super AMOLED touchscreen. The screen pixel density would be up to 440ppi. It would have a 2GB RAM and 13MP camera, based on the 2600mAh battery and wireless charging. It is still not sure whether Samsung would give Exynos 5 Octa 8-core processor to Samsung Galaxy S 4. But according to the South Korean reports, Samsung is quite confidential on Galaxy S 4.

Samsung might announce the Galaxy S 4 on March 22^nd in the Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2013 press release, in both white and black. The shipment is predicted to be around April 15^th. 

A CES 2013 picture leaked the 4.99 inch, 1080p panel Samsung Galaxy S IV to be released on Q1

The CES 2013 has been lasted for days. Samsung has no plan to release its next generation of Android smartphone flagship, the Galaxy S IV. But a picture taken of a wall display at the CES 2013 has showed people a brief introduction about the upcoming flagship.

The picture shows people quite a lot of information regarding on the Galaxy S IV, including: different Samsung smartphones and models, screen resolution, screen density and release date. As from the picture, Samsung's AMOLED screen starts with a 210ppi 3.97 inch WVGA screen from 2010 to today's 4.99 inch 1080p screen with a 440ppi pixel density. We could easily get that the Samsung Galaxy S IV would feature a 4.99" FHD (1920x1080 pixels) screen with 440ppi, which means watching HD movies on Galaxy S 4 would no doubt be a great leisure.

Some people may worry that such large screen display might consume more power. According to the reports from Korean manufacture, a new revision to the material used on AMOLED screens is supposed to result in 25% power savings. Also, a low power mode could ring up another 47% in power savings. With the FHD panel being the successor to the 5.5 inch screen on the Samsung GALAXY Note II, which itself uses an RGB matrix, the Samsung Galaxy S IV could do away with the PenTile display seen on the Samsung Galaxy S III. That would seem to contradict what Samsung's Samsung USA's Philip Berne said at CTIA last year when he stated that Samsung went with a PenTile display on the 4.8 inch Samsung Galaxy S III because AMOLED screens have better longevity with a PenTile display.

Samsung Galaxy S IV to be released on March 4th?

The internet has been overloaded with various rumors of advanced smartphones and tablets of various manufactures. Samsung Galaxy S 4 is one of the most rumored smartphone in the past days. Upon the previous reports and news, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 April release has been popular online. However, according to the news from SamMobile, the previous reports might be not correct. As several medias have received an official Galaxy S IV invitation from Samsung for an Galaxy S IV event on Pyeongchang on March 4^th. On the invitation, Samsung wrote “Samsung Galaxy S IV, March 4, 2013 Pyeongchang/You think it was the Galaxy/ Invites you to the Samsung Mobile unpacked 2013”. Viewing from the invitation, it is highly considered that Samsung would introduce the Samsung Galaxy S 4 on the March 4^th event.

Aside from the invitation news, you can also get a latest leaked official image of Samsung Galaxy S IV online. The leaked image shows us a front panel of the next generation of Samsung Galaxy S smartphone. From the image, we can know Samsung Galaxy S 4 abandoned the traditional Home button and navigation button on the front panel, which makes the phone edge seem to be thinner. As rumored, the Galaxy S 4 would come with a 4.99 inch Super AMOLED 1920X1080 pixels screen display to provide full HD movie enjoying experience. Meanwhile, it also features a 2GHz Exynos quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 13MP back camera.

Samsung Galaxy S IV Rumored to Be Out in April with S-Pen Support

We have heard so many rumors and reports about Samsung’s next flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S IV smartphone. And it is sure that in the near future until the official release of this new smartphone, people would never lose the interest to rumor about it. Well, the latest news is out there from South Korea: the Samsung Galaxy S IV would be officially released in the coming April with S-Pen function support for out-of-the-box use.  The smartphone would not come with other impressing features.

According to Korean website Enuri, Samsung Galaxy S 4 sports a 5-inch 1080P AMOLED display, a quad-core Exynos 5440 chip, 13-megapixel rear auto-focus camera and an S Pen, which previously was only made available for Samsung’s Galaxy Note line of smartphones and tablet.

According to previous reports, Samsung Galaxy S 4 is not on Samsung’s list of CES 2013, which makes the news mentioned above more reliable. Anyway, to know whether this is true or not, we still have to wait for the official announcement from Samsung. 

Update: The latest news shows a release date of Galaxy S IV in this May.

Samsung Flagship Galaxy S 4 Features Get Leaked Again: Quad-core Processor, 5-inch 1080P Screen and 3GB RAM

Right after the launching and selling of Galaxy S 3 and Note 2, Samsung has put its effort into the next smartphone flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S 4. After the leaked reports about Galaxy S 4 recently, another report in South Korea just again exposed the configuration of Galaxy S 4. According to the report, Galaxy S 4 will configure 28nm A15 quad-core processor, supposed to be the rumored Exynos 5450, which is going to be put into production in the first season of the coming year under the internal code Adonis. Though it might be more power consumed, it produces really excellent performance.

Compared with the Exynos 5250 (32nm process flow), the Exynos 5450 adopts 28nm processor flow, 4 Cortex-A15 cores and 8 GPU cores (Mali-T658). Aside from this, the source of the report also exposed that the Galaxy S 4 will come with a 5-inch 1080P touchscreen, built-in 13MP camera, and unbelievable 3GB RAM. For the release date, as reported, it is scheduled to be the coming May, while Samsung released Galaxy S 3 this May in Britain.