Samsung has just unveiled its next flagship smartphone the Galaxy S4 at a much-hyped New York launch event yesterday in preparation for a release in April. Hours after the main announcement the inevitable range of official and unofficial accessories have emerged, offering an exciting variety of ways to enjoy our new Android-based ‘Life Companion’.
One of the add-ons we find most interesting is the first-party produced Samsung Game Pad. The device docks onto the Galaxy S4 smartphone and connects to it via Bluetooth. A familiar D-Pad and four function buttons are complimented by twin analogue sticks and shoulder buttons, allowing mobile gamers an alternative and more traditional control method.
And when playing Android games on the Galaxy S4’s 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, which features a sharp 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, games will not only look stunning but you’ll have fully articulated control over them.
You may observe, as we did, that from the title and design that much of this official offering could be influenced from other gaming platforms – Nintendo’s Wii U controller name and a button configuration and colour scheme almost identical to the Microsoft Xbox 360.
But this doesn’t detract from the fact that this is a neat accessory and bold move by Samsung who has officially addressed the increasing trend of mobile gaming. Interestingly the Game Pad can also attach to suit other Samsung devices with a smaller 4 inch screen up to a larger 6.3 inch screen, which could confirm some rumours relating the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
As for the Samsung Galaxy S4 itself, the smartphone features some great specs including octa-core 1.9GHz processing power and 2GB of RAM with LTE/4G supported. The Gadget Helpline has hooked you up with all the details from the launch in our featured article.