Review: Samsung Galaxy S4 Active for AT&T
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is just as feature-rich as the standard model, and goes a bit further by adding resistance to water and protection from klutzes. I genuinely like the Active's hardware more than the standard GS4 model, both in terms of looks and the reassurance it offers thanks to its more durable exterior.
The Active performs well across the board with one major exception: call quality. I am honestly shocked at how poor call quality is with the Active, especially considering how great the standard GS4 was. If you make a lot of phone calls, you should look elsewhere. If you can overlook poor call quality, there's plenty else to like.
The Active is easy to use, and has an incredible display. The removable battery and memory card might be selling points for some. Our test unit performed quite well on AT&T's network and offered good data speeds.
Samsung has crammed tons of new features into TouchWiz, though only about half of them are as useful as Samsung claims they are. The camera, in particular, adds some fun-to-use shooting tools thanks to the new Aqua Mode and it just might take better pictures than the standard model.
Altogether, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is an excellent device, even if it stinks at making phone calls.