CyanogenMod founder Steve Kondik had been employed with Samsung since August 2011 however that employment has since come to an end. But perhaps key for those curious about the GALAXY S 4, Kondik has taken to Google+ and shared his thoughts on the handset. At the risk of giving a spoiler, he seems to be fairly impressed with the GALAXY S 4.
Kondik noted that the time he spent with the GALAXY S 4 was using the final hardware. He says that he is a huge fan of the Galaxy S III and in fact, he uses one every day. Based on that knowledge, he said that he was “quite pleased” with the GALAXY S 4. Before any Galaxy S III users being planning to upgrade, there was some talk of that. Kondik noted that the GALAXY S 4 is a “clear choice” if you have a Galaxy S II, but that upgrading from a Galaxy S III is “less urgent.”
Talk of the GALAXY S 4 touched on how the device feels “quite a bit more solid” than the Galaxy S III and about how there are a number of unique features that have potential. As for that, Kondik notes that the potential is hinged upon Samsung releasing an API. Some of those features include the hover functionality and the IR blaster. Otherwise, Kondik has said that both the front and back cameras are excellent and that the GPS seems to work better than any other Samsung device. All said and done, he seems to really like the handset.
Shifting over to TouchWiz and the same cannot necessarily be said. In fact, it seems that goes in the opposite direction with comments such as how “it feels like it has been sent back a few years to the Froyo days.” Some of the specifics mentioned include TouchWiz as having a fully tabbed UI, more pop-up windows and “loading” dialogs and that the UI performance is only “average.
Thankfully though, the features seem a bit more welcomed. Some of the specifics here included hover, multi-window and a bit about the camera app having “seen some significant upgrades.” On the flip side, his least favorite was Smart Srcoll. Bottom line here, there seems to be some good and some bad.
[via Google+]
What’s “Smart Srcoll”?