A year ago I would have been much more thrilled than I am now to be reviewing a phone like the Galaxy S4. Back then, I didn’t have a lot of experience with different Android phones, and looking back at my Galaxy S3 review, that inexperience shows a little. I like to think I’m more knowledgeable in what the industry has to offer now that I’ve had a lot of time to research the Android phone community, and with that knowledge I’d like to give my thoughts on Samsung’s latest flagship.

*This phone was leant to me by Verizon Wireless, who in no way influences my opinion on the product. What you are about to read are my legitimate thoughts on the device.*

The GS4 is a semi-worthy successor to the GS3. Let me just start out by saying that I predicted much of what I see here in front of me: a practically unchanged body, some improvements inside and out, and an even more gross-looking Android skin for an operating system.

The phone looks and feels almost exactly the same as the GS3, but I’ll call it a slightly smaller version of the Galaxy Note II instead. Either way, the 5-inch Super AMOLED 1080P screen is quite the upgrade, with an enormous 441 pixels per inch allowing for crisp icons and flawless visuals no matter how you look at it. It’s certainly the most attractive feature of the phone, apart from the upgraded camera.

And wow, this camera. OK, so you may or may not know that I own a two year-old DSLR. It’s a 12MP shooter with a 30X zoom. It performs pretty well under most conditions, and can produce stunning photos. I’m here today to tell you that this smartphone has a better camera than my DSLR. And I’m not joking.

This isn’t just because of the astounding 13 megapixels the GS4 boasts, though that certainly plays a part. It’s also because of the incredible lack of shutter lag in addition to the best flash I’ve seen yet in a smartphone. The colors of the shots look natural and not washed out like the iPhone 5’s, yet zooming in as far as you can go will no longer produce as fuzzy images as we saw with the GS3 one year ago. Of course, there is no optical zoom on the smartphone, so distance shots will look better with my DSLR than the Galaxy any day. But for short to medium-distanced photos, the GS4 produces hands-down the best photos I’ve ever taken with any device. That’s an incredible statement and one I still can’t believe I’m writing.

The camera also allows for dual-camera shooting (where the front and rear lenses take photos at the same time), but that’s something that lends towards my argument against the phone later on.

I enjoy the outside of the device. Samsung learned a thing or two from the GS3 and made the GS4 a bit more comfortable for the hands. Edges are more flat than curved, and the metal trim looks nice, even if it is a blatant attempt at giving the phone a faux “premium” look. Speaking of which, I am someone who agrees with the majority of the community: metal phones are the future, and the plastic of the Galaxy phones needs to be done and over with. Some people think the Note III will finally move the series forward with this, but I guess we’ll wait and see.

Anyway, the plastic is back with the GS4, but at least it has a cool, subtle weave pattern to it this time.

Overall, I don’t have any issues with the design except for the plastic and one other thing: the glaring and somehow still unfixed issue of the camera sticking out the back of the phone. This is something I have seen on all Galaxy phones I’ve looked at: when setting the phone down (if it doesn’t have a case), it rests on the camera lens. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always set my phone on something soft. Where’s the logic in making something scratch-able and important like the camera your product’s foot? How hard would it be for the brunt of the resting position to be taken up by the actual backing itself, and not the glass of the lens? This is something that continues to puzzle me and I hope this is the last model we see it in. It’s like Samsung is pressuring you into buying a case, which is unfortunate because I think the phone looks best without one at all.

The only other major change on the outside is an IR (infrared) blaster on the top of the phone, allowing it to control almost anything that had a remote you lost in the couch cushions. It’s a neat feature and one I wouldn’t necessarily put in my next category I’ll be talking about; primarily because it’s actually useful. On with the ranting:

Despite everything I’ve said so far, if I had to describe the GS4’s features in one word, the dominant candidate would be an unfortunate “gimmicky.” Allow me to explain.

Samsung is all about software with their phones. It’s how they set themselves apart, and I’m fine with that – when it works. Which, in most cases here, it either doesn’t… or is too far-fetched to even get you to care.

Touchwiz, Samsung’s Android skin, is back and uglier than ever. Putting such an unattractive software package on such great hardware takes me back to when I reviewed the new Blackberry Z10. What a way to ruin the user experience! Touchwiz didn’t used to bother me, but now after using stock Android, I can’t get over how intrusive and complicated it makes things. Menus are blocky and contain no color. Shortcuts, or so they’re supposed to function as, are hard to get to and don’t enhance the user experience. At least, they certainly don’t make it simpler.

But what irritates me more than the look of everything you do on the phone is the enormous amount of gimmicky things Samsung has crammed into this device. Some are cool and some are useless. Some you’ll use every day and some you’ll try maybe once and be done with forever.

Some examples:

Air view: The phone detects when you hover your finger above the screen, allowing you to do things like preview photos without actually tapping them. This seems like a cool idea, and it works okay, but the huge drawback about it is that it only works with supported Samsung apps, like the calendar and the email app built-in to the phone. Because of this, it’s very limited and has me writing it off as a gimmick. Unfortunate, but true. Perhaps in future phones, it can have more of a use than it does now.

Smart Scroll / Smart Pause: The phone is aware of what your eyes are looking at, and adjusts the content on the screen accordingly. With Smart Scroll, web pages scroll up when your eyes reach the top of the phone, and down when your eyes reach the bottom. This sounds cool, but you’ll never use it. Nothing beats the precision of your fingers for scrolling, and the gimmick is laggy anyway. Smart Pause has videos played in Samsung’s video player automatically pause whenever you look away from the phone. While this is neat and actually practical, the fact that it doesn’t work with anything other than the phone’s video player is another example of Samsung’s innovations being limited by it’s shoddy default apps. When these things aren’t universal, what’s the point of all the software?

S Voice, S Drive, S Health, Hub, WatchON, Story Album, ChatON, Link, KNOX, Group Play, etc…: I won’t go into details about these, but all you need to know is that most of them try to fix problems that don’t exist. I don’t need S Voice when Google Voice is leagues better. I don’t need Group Play when I can email any file I want (or transfer it via near-field communication), and I don’t care about making a story album of pictures that I took on my phone. Many of these have to do with controlling your TV, and beyond the IR blaster that turns your phone into a remote, the rest of the apps are useless unless you have a smart TV. Once again, the limitations outweigh the innovations and practicality.

So we’re left with a phone that has amazing capability hardware-wise, but gimmicky features software-wise. For those of you wondering if you should upgrade to the GS4 from the GS3, my answer would be no. I don’t think it’s worth breaking your contract just for more bloatware and a better screen. I’d personally stick around for the Galaxy Note III, which is rumored to have better materials and finally a new design.

I’d still say the same thing for someone who has never owned a smartphone. The GS4 is extremely attractive, but there are better options out there like the HTC One or the upcoming Note III. I think the GS4 is an unfortunate middle-man, a phone that doesn’t really have a place because of all of these conflicting issues. If you enjoy the freedom of Android without needless add-ons and you want the GS4, spring for the Google Play edition of the phone, which is a lot of money but comes with pure Android, not the cumbersome Touchwiz interface. Or, if you can wait a bit and want to still be loyal to the Galaxy brand, stick it out for the Note III.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 gets a 3/5.