Samsung’s roadshow of the GALAXY S4 finally arrived in Tokyo a month after kicking off in London and hitting several other cities and continents on the way.
The late timetable may have been through coordination with exclusive Japanese partner, mobile provider NTT Docomo, which announced its addition to its smartphone lineup yesterday. Or it may have been out of sensitivity to giving the product enough exposure around the world to raise its credibility in Japan.
But better late than never and we see a real buzz here for its roll-out which will happen later this month.
This is Samsung’s flagship mobile product and I thought the company did a great job to raise the level of excitement during the presentation. The President and the Executive VP of Samsung Japan as well as the Deputy President from Headquarters all gave great talks about the S4 and the vision for what Samsung is doing. They were joined by some famous Japanese Talento, who together with Samsung people very effectively illustrated the cool features on the S4:
1) The world’s first 5 inch full HD organic EL display
– It’s 8mm thin (1mm thinner than the previous model), but the display size got bigger than the previous model because of their slim bezel technology.
– 2,600mAh large capacity battery (500mAH more than the previous model)
– 1.9GHz Quad Core CPU
2) Various camera related functionality
【Sound & Shot】
– Enables you to record 9 seconds and associate it with photos
【Dual Shot】
– Take a photo of your subject and yourself on the same pic using the main and sub cameras at the same time
【Drama Shot】
– Takes continuous photos of a moving object and compose them to a single photo, which creates a photo that looks like a line-up of stop motion photos
【Story Album】
– Allows you to create a photo album by using photos saved in the S4
【Keshigomu (Eraser) Mode】
– Takes continuous photos and enables you to remove a walking person accidentally appearing behind your subject in the photos
3) Evolved handleability
【S Preview】
– Enables you to preview your photo albums and schedule, etc. by moving your finger close to each item above the screen
【S Gesture】
– Enables you to control the phone when your hands are dirty (flipping the page you are looking at and answering a phone call, etc.) by moving a hand above the screen
– Even use your elbow to navigate when your hands are full
– When you answer a phone call by using an S Gesture move, the phone call setting automatically shift to “Speaker Mode”. It will be very helpful when both hands are busy
【Smart Pause】
– Detects when your look away from the screen and video is paused automatically
【Glove Friendly】
– Enables you to control the touch panel in gloves
【Group Play】
– By using Wi-Fi tethering function, you can share music, photos and games with your friends
【S Health】
– Track you health by, for example, counting your steps and amount of exercise, monitoring the temperature and humidity around you, and recording calories or your weight etc.
【Kantan (Easy) Mode】
– Easily changes the home display from the regular one to a very simple looking one that is for smart phone beginners or elderly people. Each item is displayed in bigger size
– Good for smart phone beginners. Once they get used to use a Galaxy S4 with Kantan Mode, they can change the home display to the regular one
4) Notable accessory
【S View Cover】
– A smart phone cover for Galaxy S4.
– When you open the cover like a book, it shows the regular home display on Galaxy S4.
– There is a window in the cover so that when you close it, you can still see important information like the clock
– When you get a phone call, you can answer the phone by touching the window part and speak through the cover
The “talento” who discussed the S4 were:
– Kouji Imada
– Kyoko Uchida
– Ueske Yamamoto