William Wei, Business Insider
Reviews are out for Samsung's latest smartphone the Galaxy S4.
The general consensus is that the Galaxy S4 is a good phone and a modest upgrade from last year's Galaxy S3, but its cheap design leaves something to be desired.
Samsung was hugely criticized for choosing a plastic casing for the Galaxy S4 instead of metal and glass like its biggest competitors Apple and HTC.
Reviewers urged those looking for an Android smartphone, except Verizon subscribers, to go with the HTC One instead. (Verizon is the only major U.S. carrier that won't sell the HTC One).
Here's what tech's top reviewers had to say about the Galaxy S4:
AllThingsD's Walt Mossberg said the Galaxy S4 was good but not a great step up from the previous Galaxy S3:
On many key hardware specs, the Galaxy S 4 shines. But the plastic body felt a bit insubstantial to me... If you’re a nut for lists of new features, love Samsung or crave an even bigger display, the Galaxy S 4 may be for you. It’s a good phone, just not a great one.
The New York Time's Gadget guru David Pogue suggested that the Galaxy S4 looked almost identical to the Galaxy S3:
In the end, the Galaxy S4 is a good choice for people at opposite ends of the technical spectrum: gadget hounds who love to customize at one end, and (thanks to Easy Mode) the easily overwhelmed at the other.
For everyone else, the S4 may be buggy in spots and laden with not-quite-there features. But the basics are excellent; this phone is still a fast, bright, handsome pocket rocket. It easily earns its place as a successor to the Galaxy S3 and a rival to the iPhone.
AnandTech's Brian Klug only published part one of his review but suggests if you're used to the Galaxy family of phones you'll enjoy the S4:
Long story short, SGS4 is packed full of absolutely the latest and greatest everything on basically every axis possible... Compared to any previous Galaxy S device, the SGS4 is a clear step forward in all of the right areas. If you're a happy owner of a Samsung Galaxy S/S2/S3, you'll likely be a happy owner of a Galaxy S 4.
It's when you compare the Galaxy S 4 to its chief technical competitor, the HTC One, that the discussion becomes more complicated.
Business Insider's Steve Kovach said the S4 was a great phone and if you don't mind plastic you'll be happy going with Samsung. But he also alluded to the fact that something's missing:
In many respects, [the Galaxy S4] does live up to all that hype and is definitely one of the best phones you can buy today. But it's still falls short of its chief rivals, the iPhone 5 and HTC One, at least from a design standpoint.