Samsung Galaxy S IV likely to debut in March with contactless gestures and a resemblance to its predecessor

According to DDaily, a Korean journal with what seems like the scoop on all things Samsung, the Korean giant will be releasing its Galaxy S III follow-up in the middle of next month, likely at a launch event on March 15th.

The paper posits that the new Galaxy S device will maintain the “organic” and “human-centric” design language of its predecessor, which translates to soft corners and a smooth backing. Whether it will become a larger version of the GS3 remains to be seen, but Samsung has overhauled its flagship phone design every year since the launch of the Galaxy S, so it’s difficult to lend that position much credence.

DDaily does confirm that, though Samsung experimented with on-screen buttons, the GS4 will continue the trend of a hardware home button and capacitive back and menu buttons to either side. We can’t imagine Google is too happy about this, as by the time the phone comes out it will have put out four versions of its Android operating system with on-screen navigation button support. Knowing Samsung will sell more Android devices than any other manufacturer and in turn influence the long-term perception of Android will certainly irk those devoted to a unified look and feel on Android.

Another interesting rumour is the implementation of contactless gestures, much like what the Note II can do with the S Pen and AirView. While the GS4 is said not to come with a stylus — and really, why would it? — Samsung may be implementing technology similar to the Sony Xperia Sola’s Floating Touch finger detection. We’re sure that Samsung will find a way to put the technology to good use, and hope that it’s not a source of battery drain.

The Galaxy S IV is rumoured to come with a 4.99-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920×1080, seemingly the upcoming standard for flagship Android devices. While we’re sure the display will look gorgeous, there is concern around deteriorated performance and battery drain from such a high-resolution part. If Samsung chooses to use its in-house Exynos 5 Octa chipset to power the new device — and we’re almost certain the company will use an Exynos chip this time around — it stands to reason that there will be a fairly large battery cell included with the phone to accomodate all that extra horsepower.

Samsung is looking to unveil the Galaxy S IV in March for an April rollout, which will prevent the competition like HTC, Sony and, to a lesser extent LG and Motorola, from gaining a foothold with their new products. We’re hearing rumours that Motorola’s X Phone will be Samsung’s biggest competition in 2013, so the year is already shaping up to the an amazing one for smartphone aficionados.

Source: DDaily
Via: Android Central