Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: With New Smartphone, Samsung Wants To Free Your Fingers

 

Samsung is aiming to free your fingers with the much-hyped release of the Galaxy S4.

Like all new smartphones, the Galaxy S4 packs new and improved features. But the one that stands out is an infrared sensor that allows the user to answer calls, control the screen and read long text without ever touching the display.

Attempting to change the way we interact with our smartphones is a bold and ambitious move from Samsung. We've spent nearly six years -- to paraphrase the words of the late Steve Jobs -- using the styluses we were born with to answer calls, take pictures and scroll through text and images.

But according to Pai-Ling Yin, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the movement toward a more seamless interaction with technology is the natural progression of innovation.

"I would say people are desperate to interact with their phones in a new way," said Yin, part of the Mobile Innovation Group at Sloan. "If you could imagine what would be the easiest way for humans to interact with technology, it would be to use natural human movements."

Samsung is betting that natural movements -- like swipes, waves, and head nods -- will be the next great innovation in smartphones.

A simple swipe over to the Galaxy S4's screen brings the locked phone to life, showing the time, date, missed calls, messages and remaining battery life without you touching it. Swiping from left to right allows a user to scroll between pictures, songs or Web pages, and moving a hand up or down scrolls through text. Videos pause when a user looks away from the screen.

If your phone rings while driving, a quick wave of the hand will answer the call and automatically set it to speakerphone.

Air View, also available (albeit with a stylus) on the Galaxy Note II, Note 10.1 and Note 8.0 devices, allows the user to preview an email, message or photo by hovering a finger over the content.

The most striking feature may be Smart Scroll, an updated version of Smart Stay, the technology on the Samsung Galaxy S III and Note II that kept the screen from dimming or turning off while a user looked at it.

Smart Scroll uses a camera to detect a user's eyes, allowing her to scroll through Web pages and email with a simple tilt of the head or device.

So are we about to retire our thumbs and see buses and subway cars full of commuters nodding their heads up and down as they stare at their smartphones?

Not quite. Learning these new features takes some time, and they're far from perfect. An initial setup screen is a helpful guide to the phone's new features, but even after spending a good bit of time reading on the phone, I still hadn't mastered Smart Scroll. The text would sometimes move too quickly and I'd lose my place in the material.

Scrolling through a large number of photos is also imperfect. It's slower than using your thumb, and if you don't move far enough away from the sensor at the top of the phone, the phone will think you're scrolling the other way and you'll end up with the previous photo.

And for now, most of these features are only available in a handful of apps; Smart Scroll, for example, works in the default browser, but not in Chrome.

But Yin said Samsung shouldn't be concerned if users don't flock to the new features right away.

"Adoption, as with many new technologies, tends to be slow at first and then speed up," Yin said. "Early adopters who are more favorable to Samsung will help them work out the kinks."

Samsung is one of a growing number of companies developing technology that aims to liberate us from using our hands to operate our devices.

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, infamously called "rubbing a featureless piece of glass" on a smartphone "emasculating." Glass, the wearable technology from Google that will be released next year, aims to free people from their smartphones by providing a heads-up display and camera mounted on glasses.

In March, The Verge reported that LG and Samsung are engaged in a patent battleover the technology used in Smart Pause.

Even Facebook Home, the new "apperating system" that Facebook released two weeks ago, aims to make the tasks of Liking, commenting and sharing easier.

Samsung is making gains into Apple's consistent lead in the U.S. smartphone market. In August, before the iPhone 5 came out, Samsung handsets outsold the iPhone for the first time ever.

According to Comscore, Apple still controls nearly 39 percent of the American smartphone market, and Samsung trails with a 21.3 percent share. But if there was ever a time for Samsung to continue to bite into Apple, it would be now. In an earnings call on Tuesday, Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, suggested that the company does not plan to release a new product until the fall.

The Galaxy S4 goes on sale this week and will be available on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile and as well as on Cricket, C Spire and U.S. Cellular, according to the Associated Press. Prices will range from $150 to $250, depending on the contract.

Samsung has already succeed in introducing innovative technology that takes us beyond how we interact with our devices today. But it remains to be seen whether the technology will see widespread adoption.

Courtney Jarrell, Utah Teacher, Accused In Rape Of Female High School Student

A former math teacher and girls' basketball coach at a Utah high school has been arrested on charges of raping a 17-year-old female student.
Courtney Jarrell, 22, resigned from Riverton High School on Friday after being charged with two felonies, object rape and forcible sexual abuse.
According to charging documents obtained by the Deseret News, Jarrell had "illegal sexual activity" with the student at her home between February and March of this year.
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Students at the high school told NBC affiliate KSL that they were shocked by the allegations, since Jarrell, who taught math at Riverton for eight months, was well liked. It was her first teaching job.
"Everybody loved her," Kathryn Orchard, a student at the school, told the station. "My parents, even, were way shocked because my parents loved her, too. They thought she was a great teacher."
Sandy Riesgraf, a spokeswoman for the school district, told KSL that Jarrell had been placed on administrative leave last month after allegations surfaced.
According to Fox Salt Lake City, Jarrell was an honors student and played softball for Utah Valley University. Parents told the station that the sophomore girls basketball team Jarrett coached had just won a championship.

Jarrell's attorney indicated she would enter a not guilty plea for all charges. A court date has been set for May 16. According to CBS News, Jarrell could face five years to life in prison if convicted.

Tavon White, Leader Of Black Guerilla Family Prison Gang, Accused Of Impregnating 4 Female Guards

BALTIMORE — Federal prosecutors say 13 female correctional officers, seven inmates and five others with gang ties have been charged with plotting to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other contraband into the Baltimore jail and other corrections facilities.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday said the ring also involved sex between inmates and guards that led to four of the officers becoming pregnant by Tavon White, leader of a jailhouse gang called the Black Guerrilla Family. He is held at the Baltimore City Detention Center, awaiting trial on a charge of attempted murder.
The indictment claims the gang ran the scheme from inside the detention center and charges gang members and corrections officers with conspiracy, drug possession and distribution and money laundering.
A telephone call seeking comment from White's attorney was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Cornelius German Killed: Teen Fatally Shot Blocks From Obama's Chicago Home

CHICAGO -- Chicago police say a 15-year-old boy was found fatally shot in a backyard about four blocks from President Barack Obama's home on the city's South Side.

Cornelius German had been shot in the back and was found unresponsive at about 9:40 p.m. Monday in the 700 block of E. 50th Place.

Police Department spokesman John Mirabelli says German was a gang member but that the motive for the shooting was not yet certain.

German was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after he was found.

Obama's home is just blocks away in the Kenwood neighborhood.

Mirabelli says no one is in custody as of Tuesday morning.

Dwayne Johnson Surgery: The Rock Underwent Emergency Hernia Surgery

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson underwent abdominal surgery Monday after sustaining injuries from a wrestling match earlier this month. The "Pain & Gain" movie star suffered a torn abdomen and abductor muscles, he said, from an April 7 match against WWE Champion John Cena, who was defending his title.

The 40-year-old star announced the news on his Twitter page Sunday:

"Saw my Dr who had to push my intenseness back thru the tear in my abdomen. Kinda romantic. Surgery is next week. #BringItOn," he wrote.

Johnson's rep confirmed to E! News that the star had undergone an emergency hernia operation last night that caused him to miss the Los Angeles premiere of his new film. Director Michael Bay also wished him well from the red carpet: "Dwayne's hurt tonight. He was pushing it too hard. [He] needs to grow up and stop wrestling 300-pound men."

Monrovia Brush Fire Forces Evacuation Of 200 Homes

MONROVIA, Calif. -- Authorities lifted evacuation orders for some residents Saturday night as firefighters made advances on a brush fire in foothills east of Los Angeles, officials said.

About 200 homes were forced to evacuate earlier in the day after the blaze erupted in the San Gabriel Mountains, authorities said.

The fire was sparked by equipment used by a gardener working the backyard, said Jennifer McLain, a city spokeswoman. Flames spread to the hillside behind the residence, scorching about 175 acres and sending a huge smoke cloud that could be seen across the San Gabriel Valley.

The fire did not threaten homes, but authorities ordered evacuations as a precaution. They began lifting evacuation orders late Saturday after firefighters contained 50 percent of the blaze, and winds subsided.

Full containment was expected Sunday.

Fire Chief Chris Donovan said dry, thick brush on steep terrain made the fire difficult to contain.

More than 200 firefighters, aided by water-dropping helicopters and an air tanker, were battling the blaze.

One firefighter suffered a heat-related injury.

As the Monrovia fire burned, a four-acre brush fire ignited across town near Interstate 405, forcing the closure of southbound lanes for at least an hour and causing traffic to back up for miles. That fire has been contained

Midwest Floods: Forecasted Rain, Snow Could Lead To More Flooding

GRAFTON, Ill. -- The Mississippi River is topping out at some problematic spots, but there is growing concern that spring floods are far from over.

The river was at or near crest at several places Sunday between the Quad Cities and near St. Louis. Some towns in the approximate 100-mile stretch of river from Quincy, Ill., to Grafton, Ill., reached 10-12 feet above flood stage.

The good news was that most businesses and homes were high and dry, though hundreds of acres of farmland were under water, bridges were closed at Quincy and Louisiana, Mo., and countless roads were shutdown.

But river towns aren't yet in the clear: An inch or more of rain is in the forecast as well as continuing accumulation of snow to the north, especially in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Flood watchers along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers know that once that snow – record levels in some cases – melts, a lot of it ends up in the big rivers.

The current flooding is bad enough. In scenic Grafton, a small tourist town 40 miles north of St. Louis, floodwater 3 inches deep seeped into the basement of Pam and Dennis Bick's home where they've lived for four decades.

"We have time to figure out what to do, where we would go and where we would put everything," Pam Bick, 57, said. "I don't want it to come up any more. But I can't stop it."

Rain last week started the whole mess, causing the Mississippi and many other rivers to surge in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Flooding has now been blamed in three deaths – two at the same spot in Indiana and one in Missouri. In all three cases, vehicles were swept off the road in flash floods.

Spots south of St. Louis aren't expected to crest until late this week, and significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill.

Adding to concern is the forecast. National Weather Service meteorologist Julie Phillipson said an inch of rain is likely in many places Monday night into Tuesday, some places could receive more than that.

"That's not what we want to see when we have this kind of flooding, that's for sure," Phillipson said.

In La Grange, Mo., sandbags were holding back the murky Mississippi River water at City Hall, a bank and a handful of threatened homes, and the water was dropping. This flood was little more than an inconvenience, Lewis County emergency management director David Keith said.

"What we're worried about now is all that snow melt in North and South Dakota and Minnesota," Keith said, referencing the state's mounds of April snow.Forecasters said up to 6 inches of new snow were possible in the Black Hills area of South Dakota through Monday morning. But AccuWeather meteorologist Alan Reppert said it may stay cold long enough to the north to make for a gradual melt. Of greater concern, he said, is the Red River in North Dakota, which could see significant flooding in the coming weeks.

By Sunday, sandbagging had all but stopped in Clarksville, Mo., evidence of the confidence in the makeshift sandbag levee hurriedly erected to protect downtown. The river Sunday was about 10 feet above flood stage and expected to rise another foot before cresting Monday.

"We believe we'll have a successful conclusion," said Jo Anne Smiley, longtime mayor of the 442-resident hamlet.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Mayor George Heartwell declared a state of emergency as the flooding Grand River poured into the basements of several hotels and other downtown buildings.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared at least 41 counties disaster areas from flooding. The Fox River in northern Illinois reached record levels, and several records were possible along the Illinois River.

Indiana officials were still determining if flooded communities like Kokomo, Tipton and Elwood will be eligible for disaster aid.