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- Review count12
- Helpfulness votes38
- First reviewJanuary 14, 2012
- Last reviewDecember 13, 2016
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.8
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- Answer count2
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- First answerAugust 7, 2013
- Last answerOctober 10, 2014
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Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active SGH-i537 Cell Phone for AT&T: Built for those who love the outdoors, this phone delivers the power and great features of the Galaxy S 4 with a sturdier dustproof shell and a camera that snaps photos underwater.AT&T Next option available. Learn more ›
Customer Rating
5
Almost everything in the S4 with More
on August 7, 2013
Posted by: utazdevl
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:35-44
Phone size:Just right
Let me start off by saying that I am no adventurer. I am not a weekend warrior. I am not someone who braves the elements and needs a cel phone that can keep up with me. I am, however, a dad. I am the father to a 3 year old and a 6 year old and I love my technology.
Until last year, I had an iPhone. I bought the very first generation of iPhones (unsubsidized pricing) and bought every incarnation up until the 4S. When my upgrade came up around the time the 5 was coming out, I wanted to try something new, so I jumped to the Galaxy S3 and was amazed at how liberated I felt in the Android/Samsung world. When my annual upgrade came up again, I was pretty sure I was going to stay with Samsung (after briefly flirting with the HTC One). I had grown too accustomed to having a removeable SD card and replaceable battery. I can't tell you how many times one of my sons would ask to play on my phone before we went out, only to have my battery depleted as we were leaving the house. Having the replaceable battery allowed me to no longer stress about when and where I was going to be able to charge my phone after a kid had a marathon Angry Birds session.
When I first read about the Galaxy S4 Active, I dismissed at as a "gimmick" phone. I don't spend a lot of time in the water or at the beach, so why would I ask my phone to hold up in those environments. Then I realized it was priced the same as the standard S4, and started to realize what the true purpose of this phone was. This is not a phone made for swimmers, surfers or other outdoor adventurerers, it is a phone for people who sometimes do these things, but more likely live an accident prone life. I need a phone that can survive a beverage spill at a restaurant or a splashy ride at Legoland. And that is exactly what the Active model is.
I have had the phone a week now and can honestly say it is pretty amazing. The first day I showed off to my co-workers by dunking it in a bucket of water (which had my heart racing despite the phone's guarantee) but the true test came the next day, when my 6 year old accidentally dropped it into his bath. I reached in and grabbed the phone, then calmly explained to my son that he needed to be more careful. End of Story. Any other phone and that story is followed by weeks trying to get a proper replacement, eventual outlay of hundreds of dollars and hours spent trying to reset up a new phone's content and preferences. I don't have to worry about that now. I don't even put a case on the phone (so I can finally have a cool thin phone without having to bulk it up with some protective case)
Under the hood, the phone is basically the same phone as the flagship S4, except the S4 has a 13 megapixel camera and the active has an 8 megapixel camera. I do miss the extra megapixels but the reality is that the 8 megapixels is more than enough for me most of the time.
As far the physical structure of the phone, I actually prefer it to the standard S4. The Active is a bit bigger, a bit thicker and a bit heavier, but no more so than if you were to put a decent case on your S4, and as I said earlier, the S4 kind of doesn't need a case. The Active has a TFT Screen instead of the S4's AMOLED screen. Both are super high resolution, but I find that the Active's TFT is a bit better than the S4's screen. The S4 screen seems a bit muddier and doesn't do as well on a lower brightness setting outside (I use lower brightness to save battery power). People say that the TFT doesn't show as rich blacks, but I have yet to see an image on my Active that doesn't look exceptional despite it not having a rich black.
Something I should mention is that while the phone is waterproof (3 feet for 30 minutes) and dustproof, it is not any more "breakproof" than other phones, so I have put a screen cover on to protect the front. Since Samsung uses a plastic back case, I am not worries about protecting that piece (I figure I can buy a new battery cover if I break the old one).
Battery life is a little better than my S3, which was about the same as my wife's iPhone 5. I mentioned about the ability to swap out batteries, so that is a huge win here. I still think I should be able to unplug the phone at 7am, use the phone in my normal day, and charge again at 10pm at night on a single battery, but it would seem no phone (aside from one with a supersized battery like the Droid Maxx) is prepared to offer me that. Just a sad reality of owning a smartphone.
I read a lot of reviews from consumers saying that their Actives weren't as waterproof as the ads claim, and the first time they took them in the pool they broke. Out of fear of this issue, I bought Geek Squad protection ($9.99 a month) to cover myself. I figure i will drop this protection at some point in the future (maybe even after the first month), but it give me peace of mind while I test the limits of the phone. So far it has passed every test I have given it, though.
In conclusion, you take a risk whenever you buy something that claims to do something very other few things of its type can do. Typically, though, in addition to this risk, you also sacrifice specs. With the Active, you not only don't have to make too many sacrifices (i.e. the camera), you get back other things as well. If you are looking at the Galaxy S4, I would highly recommend taking a long look at the S4 Active.
My Best Buy number: 810415308
What's great about it: immune to water accidents, lots of features
What's not so great: Battery life is average, lessor camera than the S4
I would recommend this to a friend!
Picture Quality
4
Battery Life
4
Sound Quality
5
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+9points
9of 9voted this as helpful.
Manage up to 8 of your home theater electronics devices with this Logitech Harmony 700 915-000162 universal remote, which features a brilliant color command screen for easy navigation. One-touch activity buttons simplify device selection.
Posted by: utazdevl
from Los Angeles, CA
I have too many remotes. TV, DirecTV, AppleTV, Playstation 3, Wii, Surround Sound and Computer. I kept losing the AppleTV and Computer remotes because they are so small. My wife couldn't figure out which remote to use to get to the various devices.
I have NEVER bought a universal remote i've liked. I would buy one, but after a couple weeks I'd find myself using it for a couple items, but also the original remotes. Eventually I'd stop using the universal all together.
This time, I really did my research and was willing to spend more for the right universal remote. Logitech Harmony seemed to be the best out there. I went with the 700 because of the rechargeable batteries but still didn't cost a fortune because I figured I might end up not using it eventually.
2 Months later, I am using this remote every day for all my devices. It works with everything I own. Some people will complain about the set up (you need to attach to a computer connected to the net) but I love that you basically go online and do everything you want the remote to be programmed to do, then hit "Sync" and it download the information to the remote. It is really smart thinking. The remote has buttons for everything on all of my devices, and you can individually program any buttons you need to be ones you want.
The only reason I am giving this a 4 out of 5 is because of the "activities" function. Activities are sequences of button pushes that are all made into a single button push. For example, if you need to switch your TV input to your BD Player, turn on the BD Player, turn on the surround sound and turn off the DVD player, you can set an "activity" to do all these things in a single button push. It is great in theory, but what seems to happen to me frequently is that one of the button pushes gets "missed", and suddenly, I am on the wrong input, BD Player, Surround Sound on and DVD player off. Then, I have a couple button pushes on the remote to get to the section where I "manually" switch the TV input. When this happens to my wife, she gets totally confused and seemingly randomly pushes buttons, which only causes more issues. Activities are a great idea, but the execution seems a bit lacking.
That said, the "manual" usage of the remote is amazing and the remote otherwise perfect.
What's great about it: Set-Up, multitude of buttons, reasonable price, rechargeable batteries
What's not so great: When an "activity" goes wrong, it goes VERY wrong.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Ease of Use
4
Durability
5
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
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Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active SGH-i537 Cell Phone for AT&T: Built for those who love the outdoors, this phone delivers the power and great features of the Galaxy S 4 with a sturdier dustproof shell and a camera that snaps photos underwater.AT&T Next option available. Learn more ›
Will the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active be available for T-mobile customers?
No, it is an AT&T exclusive, but you can bring it to T-Mobile after you unlock it.
9 years, 6 months ago
by
utazdevl
Los Angeles, CA
Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active SGH-i537 Cell Phone for AT&T: Built for those who love the outdoors, this phone delivers the power and great features of the Galaxy S 4 with a sturdier dustproof shell and a camera that snaps photos underwater.AT&T Next option available. Learn more ›
Can it be used with my T-mobile ?
As of 8/7/13, the Active is only available on the AT&T network.
10 years, 8 months ago
by
utazdevl
Los Angeles, CA