Samsung announces Galaxy S4 Active

MANILA, Philippines – Following a series of leaks over the course of the last month, Samsung makes official a dust and water-resistant version of the its flagship smartphone the Samsung Galaxy S4. 

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is designed for users who live a more active, rugged lifestyle and is engineered to survive the elements – dust, water and to a certain extent snow. The phone is rated IP67 – an international protection standard that rates a device’s resistance to foreign objects and water (IP68 is the highest possible rating).  

The S4 Active will share the same hardware and software features of the original S4 including a 1.9GHz quad core processor (the non-LTE variant of the S4 comes with 1.6 GHz octa-core processor), a 5-inch full HD screen with 443 pixels per inch (ppi), a 2600 mAh battery and LTE connectivity.

One notable difference between both phones however is the rear camera. The S4 sports a 13 megapixel main shooter while the S4 Active comes with a 8 megapixel main camera. The camera of S4 Active however comes with a software feature called Aqua Mode which is said to “increase visual quality and clarity” of underwater images and video. 

The S4 Active also comes with 3 physical buttons (menu, home and back) unlike the original S4 which only has one physical home button.

It remains unclear if Samsung is using a different kind of material for the S4 Active. The original S4 is made of polycarbonate plastic, the Active features a “fully sealed design” which keeps dust out and protects against submersion in water for a duration of 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter. It is also unclear how the new sealed  design works but official photos of the device show the same groove on the back upper right hand side of the phone used to snap off the back cover of the S4 and other Samsung phones.   

Watch the hands-on review: 

The smartphone will be available for purchase this summer and will initially be available in the US and Sweden. It will be available in 3 color options, Urban Grey, Dive Blue and Orange Flare. Not announced is the red and black version of the phone seen in leaked photos and videos a few weeks back. The unit will make its press debut at the Samsung Premier 2013 event in London. Pricing information has not been made available as of press time.

A lower spec’d, smaller version of the S4 – the S4 mini was also announced last week. – Rappler.com