Samsung Galaxy S4 Release Date Nears; Global Online Retailers Open Pre-Orders

When South Korean electronics giant Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S4 smartphone in a glitzy event at New York City on 14 March, the device's innovative and state-of-art smartcamera and touch-free feature left many spell bound.

To cash in on Samsung smartphone's popularity, UK based online stores and network carriers have already begun taking pre-orders for the unlocked Galaxy S4 variant for hefty prices ranging from £529.98 (around ₹43,750) to £629.95 (around ₹52,000). The prices are much costlier than rivals HTC One and Sony Xperia Z, even though the handset shipments are expected to reach only in late April.

But on the bright side, telecom operators are offering Galaxy S4 at much lower prices with data plan contracts.

Popular UK Online shopping portals offering Galaxy S4 include:

As per recent reports, Galaxy S4 pre-orders in US are expected begin by mid-April whereas in India, the Samsung's flagship smartphone is expected to hit stores as early as May first week.

Brief description of Samsung Galaxy S4:

Display:

Samsung claims that Galaxy S4 is the world's first 5.0-inch smartphone to sport a Full HD Super AMOLED display with 441 ppi (pixels per inch) screen resolution which gives crisp visual viewing experience while watching picture, video or playing games.

Processor:

According to reports, UK and North America bound Galaxy S4 shipments will pack a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series processor, whereas the Indian market is expected to get the international Galaxy S4 variant which packs the company's in-house built Exynos 5 Octa-core processor.

Camera:

Samsung's new smartphone sports an impressive 13.0-megapixel rear camera, but the main attraction of Galaxy S4 is its front camera with smart face recognition technology.

Thanks to Samsung's exclusive camera software such 'Smart Scroll' and 'Smart Pause', users' viewing experience has been enhanced.

Galaxy S4's 2.0-megapixel front camera will track facial movements to scroll through an email text or browse internet and if the user look away while watching a video, the smartphone automatically pauses the video and continues the paused video when user turns their attention to the phone.

Mobile Operating System: Galaxy S4 runs Android's latest mobile OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box.

Here is a breakdown of specification of Samsung Galaxy S4: