Fighting Fantasy novels are some of the best fiction I have ever read. Being translated into a game is even better, thanks to all the perks that come with a game. Not having to keep track of stats, inventory, or where to turn the page. Sorcery is a series created by Steve Jackson and is wonderfully crafted. It’s not so much the characters in the game as the world itself and how it’s portrayed.
When the game starts out, the player comes across a beggar and has complete freedom to kill him, greet him, or just ignore him. In fact, this is a completely open game; every choice matters until the very end. I was just surprised at how much detail went into each choice and each move. Every step of the way, a choice can be made that can kill you, help you, or show consequences later in the game. Just greeting or ignoring someone can be optional, or that is the person you need to talk to to make your path easier. It’s so organic, though, and that’s the magic of this game.
The goal of the game is to find four magic lines that you must recite at the north gate of the city, which has been locked for thousands of years. Of course, you can leave the city and leave it to be burned down by the raiding orcs and goblins; however, this is the cheap way out. If you missed one of the four nobles, you must find them so you can go back to a point in the city and try the area again. Another thing I really loved is that your character remembers going through these areas, so the game is adjusted accordingly. You can avoid traps, being captured, and fights to make going to areas you missed easier. You can also rewind any encounter at any time without any penalties, which is a blessing for these adventure games.
The visuals are rather charming and feel like something that has come right out of a book. The sound design is a little lacking, but when it does kick in, along with the music, it’s fantastic. The other two elements of the game, besides adventuring, are magic and combat. Magic is used throughout the entire game, whether for predicting traps, weakening enemies, creating shields, or making yourself bigger. Magic can be used to help or harm people. Combat is strategic in a way that you must read what’s going on with the enemy and then watch their stamina bar to predict how hard your next attack should be or to defend.
In the end, I had one problem: I couldn’t figure out where the last two nobles were. I almost gave up on the game, but some of the clues finally made sense, and I was able to find both nobles in one try before going back to the north gate. The story flowing organically allowed me to remember where I heard about the nobles and that I had visited those areas, and it finally clicked. Once I opened the game, I finished the ending and couldn’t wait to jump into Sorcery 3. This game is highly recommended for RPG fans and adventure fans.
It’s been a long time since I played a game through an entire day and couldn’t put it down. Valiant Hearts will keep you instantly glued to the screen thanks to its rich history, characters, and story. Valiant Hearts is probably the only WW1 game I can remember playing. There is a huge lack of WW1 games, and I’m glad Ubisoft decided to make it a 2D platformer rather than an FPS. The game is brilliant on many levels, and fans of these types of games will not be disappointed.
You play four different characters, all fighting the tragic war in France. A German, an American, a French woman, and a Frenchman. The game reenacts major battles from World War I and also gives you a history of what really happened during that time period. You can also go around collecting trinkets that are from the war. It’s great for history buffs or anyone who’s curious about what really happened during WW1, since WWII is all anyone talks about.
With that said, the game mixes up stealth, action, and puzzle solving, all of which are excellent. There’s no real fighting in the game; you don’t get a gun. You are mainly just trying to survive this tragic war while you watch everyone around you die. It gives you a sense of helplessness and makes you realize just how terrible and brutal World War I was. The game is played on several 2D planes. Using the background and foreground to solve puzzles, all of which are completely different, but the mechanics tend to be the same, and it gets a bit old towards the end. However, many sequences are cinematic and scripted, which keeps you glued. I can honestly say the game is well-paced and perfect for a one-day gaming spree.
I did find some issues here and there, such as a few puzzles being extremely vague, but it’s nothing that some trial and error and exploration won’t solve. There is a hint system for people who aren’t very good at puzzles, but it can also be turned off. Some of the more frustrating areas were the action sequences in which bombs drop and you have to dodge enemy fire. A lot of it is trial-and-error because the game rushes you through it. Expect to restart and die several times throughout this game.
The graphics alone are just gorgeous, and the colors pop on PS4 and Xbox One. The sound is excellent, and the music is wonderful. Many pieces are classical symphonies from the time period, so it adds even more authenticity to the game.
With that said, Valiant Hearts is probably a hidden gem that many people will pass up. It’s tragic; it really teaches and shows you every step of WWI and enlightens you on just how terrible the human race can be. From mustard gas bombings to the creation of tanks and aircraft, World War I was just a stepping stone for WWII.
Samsung is the top dog right now in the phone business. They know what customers want and know exactly how to utilize the Android OS on their device the best. With the Note 4 being my second Samsung Android phone and my fourth Android phone in general, I have to say Samsung has finally perfected the smartphone. Even after playing with this thing for three days and running numerous apps and benchmark tests, I can’t find anything wrong with the phone. I honestly really tried hard to find some minute detail that I overlooked and just can’t like I was able to with previous Android phones. Why is this phone so perfect? Let’s start with what’s under the hood to get an idea of why this phone can do what it can do.
Under the Hood
The Note 4 is a beast in small clothing. There is so much going on under the hood—so much amazing hardware crammed into this tiny shell—that I am just flabbergasted at how Samsung was able to pull it off. Let’s start with the basics. The phone is 6.04″ tall, 3.09″ wide, and 8.5mm thick. That’s not a lot of room to cram this much hardware into. The phone actually has a good weight to it—not too light but also not too heavy. It doesn’t feel overly cheap like the iPhone 6 does. The actual material doesn’t feel cheap either. The edges are solid aluminum and won’t bend or twist in your pocket or under pressure. The back has a faux leather texture, which feels extremely nice. While Samsung is known for cheap plastic backs, faux leather makes up for it.
With any Samsung phone, you will be familiar with the hardware button layout. A menu button, volume rocker, and power button, as well as two soft keys. I actually have to compliment the volume rocker here; it feels more solid and easier to find with your thumb. Instead of the whole rocker being flush, each side sticks out a tad more than the middle section. One thing that will throw users off is the new task list softkey that replaced the soft menu key on the Galaxy S5. It took a while to get used to this, as I was always hitting the app list key, thinking the app menu would come up.
After the sleek and comfortable design is looked over, you will notice what is probably the best-looking phone screen available right now. The 5.7″ Super AMOLED screen just looks fantastic. While Samsung device owners will be used to quality screens, this one is a huge jump up. Being twice the resolution of most large phone screens. This screen has a whopping 2560×1440 resolution with 515 PPI. every other smartphone, including the iPhone 6 Plus, which has a 5.5″ screen and a 1920×1080 resolution. This quad-HD screen is just addictive to look at. Everything, no matter what it is, just looks gorgeous with deep colors and a vibrant backlight. The screen is also much brighter than previous Samsung phones, but for some reason it uses less battery power than even the Galaxy S4 did.
For the picture lovers out there, the Note 4 has one of the most powerful phone cameras available and is one of the few that can shoot in full 4K resolution. The Sony IMX240 camera allows 5K photos. The 16 MP rear and 3.7 MP front-facing cameras are just fantastic. With the front being a 3.7 MP camera, it is a better quality camera than the average 2 MP front-facing camera that most phones have. Under the rear-facing camera is a heart rate sensor as well as a UV sensor. This heart rate sensor is more useful than you think. Want to take a selfie with a better rear camera? Press your finger against this sensor, and it will snap the photo for you. Health nuts will also love the sensor for fitness apps.
Let’s get to the heart of the phone. The Note 4 uses the Snapdragon 805 chipset, which sports a Krait 540 quad-core CPU at an astounding 2.7 GHz. The GPU is the Adreno 420, which is one of the most powerful phone GPUs out right now. The phone also sports some of the most RAM you will find at a solid 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The internal memory is 32GB, which is great for photo takers and gamers. What does this mean to the average user? Your phone will operate at lightning-fast speed with no slowdown when switching or using apps. If you want to know just how powerful the Note 4 is, take a look at the screenshots for benchmarks from 3D Futuremark’s benchmarking software. The Note 4 ranks as the fourth most powerful phone in existence, while the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are way down to 31 and 26, respectively.
There are other hardware features, such as 2.4/5GHz WiFi and even an MHL-AV link for connecting your phone to your TV. While the Note 4 surprisingly lacks the USB 3.0 port seen in the Galaxy S5 and Note 3, it is replaced with a fast-charging Adaptive Charge technology that allows the phone to fully charge in 1 hour.
While that is a lot of technology, there is one thing that the Note series has been beloved for, and that’s the S Pen. This little guy does so much and becomes so useful in situations you didn’t think it would. The software suite for the pen may be small, but it is all useful. Artists will love how accurate the pen is for drawing thanks to pressure recognition and pinpoint accuracy. Writing memos is extremely easy. Once you pop out the pen, you can use it to highlight text, write down email addresses, phone numbers, and links, and turn them into usable actions on your phone. This is a very neat idea and even comes in handy at job sites. The pen hides away on the bottom right of the phone and is completely flush. It feels nice in your hand and is nearly as long as the phone. My favorite feature is being able to have your phone alert you if you leave your pen somewhere and even show you where you last had it on Google Maps.
Software
Software-wise The Note 4 uses a tweaked version of the Galaxy S5 OS. With a better drop-down menu and more options in the device settings, you can completely hand-tailor this device to every possible need yourself. One feature I wanted to save for last is the fingerprint scanner. Yes, I know the iPhone 5S started it, but it’s a fantastic feature to have. The sensor is actually more responsive than the 5S sensor, as it also recognizes the tip of your pad. You honestly would have no idea the menu button has a sensor built into it. I found linking my PayPal account to the sensor for logging in was great and added a ton of security. You can even set this as a lock screen and save up to three different fingers.
There are various other little features, such as a download booster. If you have weak WiFi, the phone will use your 4G speeds along with WiFi to break data up into packets and increase your download speed. I tested this with my work’s WiFi, as its max speed is about 4 mbp/s. I downloaded a 250MB app, and the download booster kicked in and showed me a comparison bar. While the WiFi was pulling in about 4 MB/s, the 4G was pulling 35 MB/s. Of course, this is only if the file size is over 30MB to keep everything you download from kicking in the booster.
Another neat feature is emergency assistance. Add your contacts, and you can press the power button three times, and it will send pictures and sound recordings to those contacts. This is great if you are in a car accident with no one around and need help. While this isn’t a substitute for 911, it can be used in situations where 911 doesn’t apply.
Overall, the Galaxy Note 4 is just a fantastic phone all around. With a solid physical design, a gorgeous screen, a very useful S Pen, and various other software features, you are just going to fall in love with this phone.
Mobile gaming hits are usually casual-friendly, like Angry Birds, Farmville, Flappy Bird, and many others. Most of those games are fairly mindless and don’t require much thought. Along comes Threes, a game that requires strategy and thinking beyond just a simple tile-sliding game.
Threes is simple, minimalistic, and quite charming. The board is made up of 16 tiles. You get six random tiles made up of numbers 1, 2, or 3. You must slide these tiles into each other to add them up. If you slide to the left, everything on the board will slide to the left. This single gameplay element is what distinguishes it from regular slider puzzles. With this in mind, you have to be careful to slide all the tiles in the right direction. Once you get 3, you can slide 3 and 3 together to make 6. Two of those make 12, and so on. However, the higher the number you have, the harder it is to get another number like it together to join those two. It’s a brilliant gameplay design that gets extremely addictive.
It takes a lot of practice, and sliding randomly won’t get you anywhere. You can easily gridlock yourself without even realizing it if you aren’t careful. Thankfully, Threes is pleasant to look at and listen to. Each number tile has its own voice and caricature, and the simple, washed-out white design is easy on the eyes. Even the music is charming and great to listen to. This is the kind of zen game that Angry Birds or Clash of Clans can’t get to.
Even if you aren’t a fan of numbers or math, you are missing out on one of the best mobile games ever made that doesn’t require microtransactions. Even that alone is worth the purchase.
It’s very rare that a mobile game gets as artsy as an indie console or PC game. Monument Valley is where Journey meets Echochrome straight out of the gate. It has the aesthetics of Journey and the gameplay of Echochrome. Flipping levels to create illusions that create new pathways—that’s what Monument is all about. The game isn’t really all that hard; in fact, it’s a cakewalk, but it’s all about the experience.
There’s an underlying story here, and the ending is a bit touching. You’re a princess (that resembles a white cloak from Journey) who is trying to restore gems at the end of each level. If I say more, I will spoil the experience. New gameplay elements are slowly added in, like crows getting in your way that you must avoid or use to press switches. Walking on different planes is another, while an interactive column (that’s actually a small character) becomes an ally. The game is strange, yet so damn beautiful.
But there is one huge problem. The game is only 10 levels long, and they are extremely short. For $4, you’re getting a fantastic experience, but it’s over way too soon. I would have liked an endless mode or some sort of puzzle mode that didn’t include a story. The puzzles are just so fun to solve, and each level is like opening a present. The more you fiddle with the level, the more beautiful everything gets and the more fun it becomes.
As it is, Monument Valley is a rare gem on mobile devices. It looks and plays beautifully, but the shortness will enrage people who fall in love with it.
The Nexus 7 was the best 7-inch tablet on the market at the time. With the powerful Tegra 3 chipset, it seemed like it was unstoppable—that is, until its cousin came along to trump it. Not only is the 2013 addition thinner and sleeker, but it’s also four times as powerful and well worth upgrading. Google partnered with Asus once again, but this time ditched the Tegra chipset and threw in the Snapdragon CPU and Adreno GPU. Once you open the box, you will immediately notice the physical changes to the tablet. The deep black and the overall more rectangular shape and sharper edges look slick and clean. Gone is the soft bumpy back from before, replaced with plastic and a beveled Nexus logo. I do miss that softback, as it didn’t scratch, but the new back still has a soft, fuzzy feeling to it.
Apart from that, you will also notice the front-facing camera has moved to the right, as there is now a back camera that is 5.0 MP. The front camera has improved slightly by 0.1 MP, but it makes a difference. While other tablets have more powerful rear-facing cameras, the Nexus 7 does record in 1080p and looks pretty good in well-lit areas. I would have liked to see at least an 8 MP camera, but just having a camera added is a great addition. There isn’t a flash, so the camera is nearly useless at night.
Let’s talk about the screen. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The 1920×1200 resolution LCD screen looks clear, bright, and crisp. The resolution upgrade is very noticeable compared to the 2012 model. With 323 PPI, everything is going to pop out at you, from games to comics. The sound is also something I love on this tablet that most tablets don’t have. We have 5.1 surround sound in this thing. There are two small speakers at the bottom and one large one at the top. The speakers are made by Fraunhofer, who is the guy who invented the MP3. I immediately noticed the sound difference when I started playing games. It sounds like everything is coming at you from all angles; it’s rich, crisp, and so much clearer than the 2012 model.
So what’s under the hood? The speed increase is incredible, as apps load faster and things just process at a much faster rate. My comics rendered faster, games loaded quicker, and I had zero hangs when loading graphics-heavy websites in Chrome or switching apps quickly. The Snapdragon Krait 300 CPU is clocked at 1.51 GHz and is quad-core. This is much faster than the 2012’s 1.3 GHz CPU. The Adreno 320 GPU helps a lot as well and loads faster than the Tegra 3. The games looked better, and everything loaded so much faster. For example, on the 2012 model, I could not select the best graphics option in Rival Knights; on the 2013 model, I could. I also had a lot of slowdown with low framerate on the 2012 model in Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf. On the 2013 model, it ran at 60 FPS.
The battery also lasts a good while for a slimmer battery. You will get hours of gaming or reading out of this thing, even with WiFi on. Besides processing speed, the 2013 model has Bluetooth 4.0, screen mirroring, Qi wireless battery charging, and a notification indicator at the bottom of the tablet. These may not seem like much, but they make a big difference in an upgrade. Not to mention the loose charging port from the previous model has been fixed with a more sturdy USB slot. The tablet is also 2 ounces lighter, so you can’t really complain.
Bottom line: The Google Nexus 7 (2013) is the best 7-inch tablet you can get your hands on at a great price. If you own the 2012 model, I highly recommend upgrading like I did. It’s fast, sleek, has a gorgeous screen, and has fantastic surround and sound speakers.
When you think of Hitman, you don’t exactly think of a board game. Hitman GO has Agent 47 sliding around various levels, trying to find the best way to the end, or his target, without getting caught. The enemies vary, with some who follow a path and will move one space when you do; other enemies will catch you if you land on the space they are facing (but they don’t move). The game is more of a puzzle than anything else. Some levels have briefcases you need to get to, while others want you to finish in a certain number of moves. There are other elements introduced later on, such as trap doors, items you can throw to distract enemies, and so on.
The game is highly addictive since levels have that (I get it now!) appeal where you just want to do one more level. I especially love when you have an assassination level and the Ave Maria theme plays from Hitman: Blood Money (composed by the oh-so-excellent Jasper Kyd of Assassin’s Creed II soundtrack fame). I also love the graphics, which look very good for a simple puzzle game.
However, this game just doesn’t feel like Hitman, and that’s the issue. Sure, you’re sneaking around, but there’s no violence, no gruesome death scenes, and no nudity. There’s zero plot (which is really fine for this kind of game), but many Hitman fans will scratch their heads wondering why this game even exists.
That’s not to say the game is bad. But even with faceless woodblocks, the game would have been just as good. At least non-Hitman fans can enjoy this game. Anyone who loves puzzles or board games, in fact.
Racing simulators were not something you’d think of on a phone outside of looking like something from the Atari days. Now that phones are nearly as powerful as home computers, racing simulators can have all the processor-demanding traits to bring a great experience to your phone or tablet. Real Racing 3 is probably the best mobile racing game out there, and for many reasons.
Let’s just get this out of the way. Yes, the game is free-to-play, and yes, the game is always tempting you to pay for more R$ or gold coins. If you’re patient enough to wait for upgrades, repairs, etc., then you will have a great time. Jump in for about 20 minutes, do a few races, buy and upgrade, and go about your business until it’s done. If you want to just cram away at races for hours, you will either need to cheat (by altering your save data on the Android version to give you unlimited money) or you will completely hate this game.
Before you go about hating it, give it a chance. There are hundreds of races, plenty of real-world tracks, and a lot of great-looking real-world cars. Once you jump into a race, you will notice how fantastic the controls are and just how real the game can feel. As you rumble across strips on turns, you will feel your phone vibrate accordingly. Using the accelerometer makes the game feel smooth and realistic. All you need is the gas on your right and the brakes on your left. Each car has its own characteristic feeling to it, just like any console simulator.
Once you finish a race, you will work your way around achievements, unlocking new events and cars, and also trying to upgrade your car as fast as you can. You can even customize your vehicle a little with ride height, rims, paint, and decals. This all may come at a huge cost of grinding and waiting, but it’s well worth it once you can finally beat that race you couldn’t before thanks to your new upgrade. However, people who don’t have the patience will quickly uninstall this game and give it a 1 star on the app store, which isn’t quite fair.
Outside of the tense races and many race types, the graphics are fantastic. The cars look great, and the dust kicking up behind opponents’ tires makes you forget you are on a phone. The only issue I had graphics-wise was the massive amount of slowdown when 22 cars were on screen. Even on a Samsung Galaxy S4, with some of the best mobile hardware out there, I received a slowdown. Apart from this, you also get slick menus and some nice music to go along with all this.
If I were to rate this game based on the free-to-play model, I would give it a 4/10. Simply because some of the wait times are really long, earning enough cash to upgrade can be a bit of a grind. On the flip side, those kinds of people will see a wonderfully crafted racing simulator that’s one of a kind right now on the mobile market.
The Android family is growing exponentially and feels like a train hurtling down the track at 200 MPH with no stop in sight. The whole platform has grown in just a couple of short years with a quality market (and market storefront), more quality apps, and games, and now the addition of books and movies just makes the Android market feel like something to compete with the App Store. The devices are also really utilizing the system, and thanks to Google allowing open resource development of the platform, we get some really great apps and features on the phone that the iPhone, Blackberry, and other phones just can’t do.
Out of the Box
The Bionic has a great-looking box, but there’s not much beyond that. It comes with the standard battery, charger, USB cable, and 16GB micro SD card (cha-ching!) (I’ll cry if a phone comes with a car charger.) The phone came with a SIM card, which is new to Verizon and Droid phones. This is a 4G SIM card and is needed to activate 4G. When you boot it up, you can act like normal, but there’s one feature that was enabled on my phone that kept me on the phone with Verizon for over an hour until I scoured the internet myself. A certain little voice privacy feature was enabled that keeps your 3/4G off and, for some reason, was also enabled on my old Droid. Thankfully, disabling this turned my 3G back on, but that wasn’t really a problem with the phone itself. Once that’s all done, you’ll notice how fast the phone boots up (there’s even a neat Droid Bionic logo animation and sound!). Transformers anyone?) So let’s go over some of the hardware features.
Hardware Features
The first thing you’ll notice is that the speed of the phone is as fast as a computer. That’s the 1 GHz dual-core processor running everything for you at lightning speed. Why dual-core? Everything is just twice as fast and lets you multitask like never before without any type of slowdown or lag that you might even get on single-core 1Ghz phones. Compared to the iPhone 4S, it’s actually faster with an ARM Cortex-A9 processor. Yes, the iPhone 4S does have the same processor type, but it’s under-clocked at 800 MHz per core, so you’re losing about 25% speed over the Bionic unless you jailbreak your iPhone and overclock the processor.
The GPU is also slightly faster than both the iPhone 4 and 4S (they both have the same GPU) with a PowerVR SGX540 at 304 MHz, while the new iPhones both have an SGX535 model. The Bionic has faster and more memory with 1 GHz DDR2 memory, which is as fast as a computer, while both iPhones still use eDRAM and only have 512 MB. This means extra speed, faster app switching, and the ability to have more apps open without suffering from slowdown, lag, or crashes.
The Bionic also has 8GB of internal memory with the option of SD cards (up to 32GB), so with the standard model, you get 22GB of memory (maximum 40GB), while the iPhones are stuck with just the internal memory and you have to pay huge dollars for more space. The camera is about on par with the 4S with 8MP and 1080p support that lets you take panoramic photos, super high-quality video, and photos, and has an excellent flash. The front-facing camera is just 1.3 MP for video calling.
The only thing that the iPhone really trumps the Bionic on are the displays. The iPhones have 960×640 resolutions with 326 ppi, and the Bionic has 960×540 resolutions with 266 ppi. It’s not much, but it does make a difference when you compare the two. The Bionic does have a huge 4.3″ screen, which stomps on the iPhone’s 3.5″ screen, and is a true qHD screen (true 16:9 ratio), which is perfect for watching movies. The Bionic also has a mini-HDMI port for connecting to your TV, and even other high-end phones don’t have this yet. The Bionic has a higher contrast ratio of 800:1, while the iPhones have 800:1. This means it can display more colors and resemble more of an HDTV than a phone display.
Software Features
When you start using the phone, you will see it has so many great features over old Android phones, the iPhone, and Blackberry. First off, let’s talk about data management and sharing. The phone now comes with a file manager, so you can transfer files from your internal storage to your SD card as well as connect to your computer wirelessly and share files. The phone also supports DLNA, which can sync your media via Wi-Fi and upload media to your computer. The phone also gives a few options when you connect to your computer via USB. Instead of just the mass storage device option, you get a PC Mode that allows you to connect via a Motorola laptop or installs the MotoHelper driver on your PC and lets you access the SD card and internal storage. The software will also show any missed calls, texts, etc., which is a nice touch.
There are some nice pre-installed apps, such as the built-in camera apps, which give you a good range of options for video and photos; you now have a download manager; and MotoPrint, which allows you to connect to a wireless printer via W-Fi. There’s also a task manager, which is very useful to kill stubborn (read: poorly programmed) apps that won’t close. It also has an auto-kill list for when the screen goes out for 2 minutes. This helps preserve battery life (you’ll need it), but the phone does a good job of doing this on its own. You can turn the phone into a mobile hotspot (remember, it’s extra per month for this feature), plus all the standard apps like the task scheduler, calculator, and alarm are nice.
The market has a great storefront and has tons of quality games, apps, books, and movies now. The market just allows you to really make the phone your own, reflects your personality, and gives you so many options. The phone really has just so many great features built-in that make things so much easier for transferring data and media, as well as using the cameras and all the nifty hardware.
One thing I have to mention is that the games run smoothly on this phone. Using the PlayStation and SNES emulators, I can get games to run at 400 FPS with all the quality options enabled. All the high-end 3D games run without a hitch, and you will be unstoppable game-wise, especially if you can switch from a hardware-hungry emulator to the browser to check an FAQ, switch back, answer a call, or text someone, all without any slowdown and with all those running in the background.
When it comes to the basic phone features, it sounds great; the speakers sound sweet; calls are clear; and typing on the keyboard is easy with the huge screen. You won’t miss a pull-out keyboard with this phone.
It’s Not Perfect
The phone isn’t perfect; however, the battery is probably the biggest issue with this monster sucking it dry within a few hours. Sure, you can use battery-saving apps, and the phone has a built-in battery saver, but if you surf the net a lot or play games all the time, have a charger with you at all times. There also seems to be an issue with mobile networking, because it fades in and out a lot. I’m not sure if that’s my area or the phone itself. While 4G LTE is lightning fast (there’s a world of difference in speed), it’s only available in a few areas (mainly big cities), so I don’t even get it in my area. By 2013, Verizon said the whole country would get it, so we’ll have to see. There also isn’t a camera button on the phone, and a lot of people are used to this. The volume and power buttons are also really small and sometimes hard to press when you’re not looking. Other than that, this is an amazing phone and should be bought by every Android lover!
Update (6/17/13)
Now that I have had this phone for a full 2 years, I hate the thing. I have the same problem I did with the original Droid. I went through two years of crappy firmware updates, 4G constantly dropping out, sluggish, unresponsive everything, but at least the battery issue got fixed, but it took an entire year. I don’t know what happens with Motorola phones, but after 6 months, they just tank on you. I tried resetting the phone to factory defaults and replacing the phone, but neither worked. It would sometimes take minutes for a browser to load, and typing would be delayed up to 10 seconds, and it was frustrating and annoying. It also doesn’t help that the phone is huge and heavy compared to phones that are out now. It finally got the 4.2.2 Jellybean update about 3 months ago, but it runs worse on that OS than the 2.3 it came with. I will never buy a Motorola phone again. Sometimes the language would change randomly, but at least it didn’t reboot on its own like my last phone. While the Bionic is discontinued now and has been replaced by the Droid Razer and Razer Maxx, I feel mad about Motorola abandoning their Bionic users. The phone was the last to get the 4.0 ICS update, and even that had bugs of its own. Just don’t ever buy a Motorola phone; they are all the same.
Apple finally met its match; the Samsung Galaxy S III has sold more units than the iPhone 4 and 4S combined. That’s a serious feat. Why do you ask? Because Android OS gives you complete freedom to do what you want, not what Samsung wants. There is no iTunes that you are tethered to; you can put what you want on your phone; you can buy expandable media; the choice is yours. People loved that, and the S3 took off due to the form factor and Samsung’s smart marketing ideas. With the S4, Samsung has created the most powerful smartphone on the planet. Honestly, I won’t even compare the S4 to the iPhone 5 much because it is more powerful than that phone and the iPad 3.
Out of the Box
The box itself is actually pretty nice. It has a wood texture on it, letting you know you bought something classy, something with character—not a robot clone like the iPhone 5. Like wood, you can shape it and do what you want with it—make furniture, do some wood burning, or break it into pieces. Like wood, the S4 has endless customization options. The S4 comes with earbuds that are better than the iPhone earbuds, as well as three different earpieces for different size preferences. You will also have to put the battery in yourself, the back cover, and for some carriers, the 4G SIM card. Assembling your phone also lets you know that it’s yours; it’s not assembled in the box like an iPhone, and it gives you a bit more attachment to your phone. This sounds weird to some people, but it’s true; there’s a reason for all this.
Welcome to Android
For people who have used Android for a while (like me since 2.2), you will love the 4.2.2 Jellybean OS. Samsung’s personal touch is amazing, with many power-saving options, a great shutter menu, and the speed and precision of a high-end PC. Think I’m kidding? There is virtually zero lag even with multiple apps open, but that’s not the first thing you will notice.
The phone itself is the thinnest and sleekest phone around. Especially for the power under the hood. The 5″ Super AMOLED display is gorgeous and rivals that of high-end HDTVs. It has a 1920×1080 resolution; that’s a full 1080p resolution, which is the same quality as a TV. The screen is also 441 PPI, which is twice that of most other high-end phones. You are looking at pure, eye-catching, crisp visuals for movies, games, and photos. Nothing out there beats it. It also feels great; it’s a perfect rectangle with rounded edges. It has aluminum sides to make it look modern, and it also comes in black and white. I prefer the black because it looks sleeker, and the white makes it look like a stretched-out iPhone 4S. The volume rocker is very thin and blends in with the phone, and the same goes with the power button. The S4 has a home button like the iPhone and is unlike most other Android phones. It has a menu and back soft key, but no search soft key like other phones. I found this simple, and honestly, it looks like a better iPhone.
Under the Hood
For people who care or don’t care, the S4 is one of the most powerful phones on the market. It has a 1.9 GHz (there are 1.6 and 1.4 GHz models available) quad-core Krait 300 CPU. That is damn fast, even faster than most high-end tablets. It sports an SGX PowerVR 544 GPU, which will let you play the best games out there but is also extremely fast, and current games don’t quite push it to its limits; it’s a tri-core GPU to boot. In fact, it’s just one up from the PlayStation Vita GPU, and everyone knows it can produce near-PS3-quality graphics. The S4 has 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, which means tons of room for app switching, and you won’t have any slowdowns. You also get a 13 MP camera, yeah. It’s the same quality as a high-end point-and-shoot, and the quality is amazing. There is also a 2 MP front-facing camera, which is better than most phones’ 1.3 or 0.3 MP FFC. This allows extra precision when using the smart gestures later. The battery also has a Near Field Communications chip, which allows for NFC to beam to other devices. You can also mirror your screen on another device to show them something. The S4 also features DLNA file sharing for computers and other devices.
Air Gestures
With the combination of the gyroscope, front-facing camera, and smart screen, you can do things on your phone without even touching it. One feature lets you wave your hand in front of the screen to answer a call, hold the screen with two thumbs and use the gyroscope to look around your pictures, wave your hand in front of the screen to scroll pictures, and various other features. One other feature lets you hover your finger above an image to preview it before pressing it. Honestly, these features are gimmicks and nothing more than something to show off to the public. The biggest issue is that there is a serious battery drain. Keeping the FFC and smart screen features on just sucks your battery dry in a few short hours.
Smart Screen
A few features are here, including scrolling pages with the tilt of your head or tilting your screen. It doesn’t respond as well as you think and sucks your battery down. You can also use Smart Stay, which will turn the screen off when you look away, and Smart Pause, which will pause the video when you look away. This all keeps your FFC on and will drain your battery in no time as well.
The Little Things That Matter
In the end, there are little things that are there for customization. Multi-Window allows you to quickly switch apps with a drawer at the side of your screen. There’s a great power-saving mode that underclocks the CPU and can turn off haptic feedback as well as dial back the color resolution on the screen. You will need these because the battery does not last long in the S4 with everything turned on. There’s also a little feature that lets you make your own vibration patterns, which are really interesting. You can have widgets and shortcuts on your lock screen, which most phones need third-party apps for; you can control the phone with your voice; and you can unlock the screen with your voice. This may seem pointless to some people, but the fact that Samsung put it in here means they care about the consumer. They give you all these tools, and you can decide if you want them or not; they are not forced on you. One thing that I do need to mention is that there is a lot of bloatware on the phone that needs to be disabled. I disabled nearly 30 apps that I would never use and just used up space and resources.
In the end, the Galaxy S4 is one of the most customizable and powerful smartphones on the market, and I would go as far as to say THE most. I have never had a phone that gave me so much freedom, so much power, and such great picture quality. The biggest problems are with the battery and the gimmicky features that help drain that battery. The air gestures and smart screen are for lazy people or people who like to show off; it actually takes more effort to use these than to just use the screen. Despite this, the S4 gives you endless possibilities with the most powerful and efficient mobile OS on the market. You are a fool not to own this phone.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Yep! The fact that I forgot about this game until you made a comment proves that.