Come Thursday, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available on all four major U.S. wireless carriers. To celebrate, we thought we would hand out a whole bunch of cases and accessories for the device from our friends at Spigen.  We reviewed a couple of their cases already – the Ultra Thin Air and GLAS.tR – so that means we have a bunch laying around that need to go out to you, the wonderful Droid Life reader. In fact, we have 17 of their cases to give away, some of which are the Ultra Thin Air while others are the wallet/flip cover style. Who wants one?

Yesterday, the first real photos of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active presented themselves on the web, thanks to what appeared to be a display model at a trade show. Today, we’re getting a second look at the device – likely from the same location – on video. The source of this info claims that this is the GT-I9505 (retail international GS4 is GT-I9500) and that it only sports a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor and an 8MP camera, however the video shows it as the GT-I9295 which doesn’t necessarily seem like a GS4 variant. Plus with those specs, you’d be doing a disservice to the Galaxy S4 by slapping it’s name on there.

So while this phone is said to be a rugged, waterproof alternative to the Galaxy S4, it seems lacking in comparison. The retail Galaxy S4 runs on either a quad-core or octa-core processor, contains a 13MP sensor, and is a beast in terms of smartphone prowess.

Via:  MobileTechReview

After months of remaining on the top of Consumer Reports’ list of best rated smartphones, the LG Optimus G has been dethroned. Taking its place is the Samsung Galaxy S4 (our review), not the HTC One or white Nexus 4 LTE with 32GB of storage (couldn’t help myself, since it doesn’t exist but the media wants it to). Thanks to the “oodles” gesture and sensor-based tools, along with the “excellent” 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display, and its multi-tasking abilities,  the GS4 garnered a score of 81, which tops the Optimus G and One with scores of 79. The Galaxy S3 remains in third place with a score of 78, while the iPhone 5 rounds out the top 5 with a score of 77. 

When the Samsung Galaxy S4 “Nexus experience” device launches on June 26 for the questionably high price of $649 through Google Play, it will be available to U.S. customers only. According to CNET who spoke with Google on the subject of availability, for now, the device will be a U.S. exclusive. 

If Verizon ever opens up a pre-order for a new flagship device that you are strongly considering or have already made your mind up on, jump on the pre-order. Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen pre-orders arrive early time and time again from Big Red. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is no exception, as pre-orders shipped at the end of last week and are now arriving as early as today to many. Readers of ours (as you can see by the image above) are now the “envy of everyone” they work with.

The device doesn’t officially launch until May 23.

Have you received yours? If so, we’d love to hear your initial thoughts on it!

Cheers Chris!

A couple of weeks ago, Dan Rosenberg announced that he had unlocked the bootloader of the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4, but that he wouldn’t release his method until Verizon’s variant was also out in case they tried to patch it. With Big Red’s version arriving on doorsteps of pre-orderees, Dan had a chance to test his method thanks to a “helpful tester” and came out successful. According to a Tweet sent by Dan this morning, he successfully booted a custom recovery onto the Verizon version of the device and that he is looking forward to a release. 

As if the brand new Galaxy S4 and last year’s best selling phone the Galaxy S3 didn’t already look enough alike, Samsung is looking to make the software as similar as possible as well. SamMobile has a leaked version of the Android 4.2.2 build that Samsung is working on bringing to the S3. Not only does it upgrade your device to the latest version of Android, but many of the new features from the S4 will be included as well. 

Take a look at what could very well be the first shots of the Galaxy S4 Active from Samsung. This device has been an interesting one to follow, ever since the first reports of a water and dust-resistant Galaxy S4 hit the web back in April. It’s been reported that the device could launch as early as July, and with no word from Samsung yet, it’s interesting that they are allowing buyers to still gobble up the Galaxy S4 without presenting them with options first.