Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S4 Active today. This “rugged” dust and water-resistant version of the flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone includes many of the same features as the original, but is its own phone all at the same time.
A company press release claims the new device is “purposefully designed for active users who love the outdoors.” The newest smartphone in Samsung’s lineup has a fully-sealed design, which is supposed to keep dust particles out and also protect it against water damage for up to 30 minutes of submergence at a depth of one meter. The Galaxy S4 Active also features a water-resistant earphone jack. Each of these features was designed to comply with the IP67 certification standard.
As far as specs go, the Galaxy S4 Active’s main features include a 5-inch Full HD TFT LCD screen (with pixel density set at 443 ppi), an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi ac, NFC, Wi-Fi Direct, irDA, and USB connectivity. Inside you’ll find a 1.9GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, a number of different mobile sensors, and approximately 11.25GB of user-available memory (at least for the 16GB model). Comparing it to the original S4, it is just a little over 1mm thicker and about 20g heavier.
When it comes to features, it is quite similar to the first S4. The S4 Active will also run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean right out of the box and will be equipped with several exclusive Samsung software features, such as S Travel, S Translator, Smart Pause, Air View, Air Gesture, and S Health. A new software feature aimed at the active crowd is a camera mode called Aqua Mode, designed to improve visual quality and clarity for underwater images and video.
Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 Active in the US and Sweden in the summer of 2013, in three color options: Dive Blue, Orange Flare, and Urban Gray.
Photos courtesy of Samsung Tomorrow
