Samsung has just unveiled its new flagship phone—the Galaxy S4. While we have had a good look at a phone now, it’s time to look at some of the bells and whistles that the company will be releasing for it. Here're some of the potentially useful accessories from Samsung's line-up.
S Band
The first is the S Band. This is meant to go with the fitness suite that Samsung is including in the device. You wear it on your wrist and go about your day, and your phone will tell you how fit your life is. It mostly works as a pedometer and measures how many steps you take, how many calories you burned and the distance you walked. It also tells you about your sleep efficiency by keeping track of how much you move while sleeping. It has the potential to be a big hit with the fitness buffs out there.
S View Cover
Next up is what Samsung likes to call the innovative S View Cover. To the untrained eye it looks like a regular flip cover, but eagle-eyed observers will notice the large gaping hole in the middle of the cover where one would assume the lockscreen’s clock widget would show. We’ve seen many variants of this cover over the years, and most of them have another perforation that lets you answer calls without opening the device. This one just lets you check the time. You still have to open the cover to use your phone in any meaningful way.
Game Pad
The Game Pad is curiously lacking the S branding, but other than that, it looks like it could be a fairly useful accessory for those of us who are really into mobile games. The snap-on controller bears a striking resemblance to the Xbox 360 controller, right down to the A, B, X and Y buttons. It uses Bluetooth and NFC to pair with your phone in one touch, and is available for a range of phones that have screen sizes ranging from 4 inches to 6.3 inches.
While not many Android games would be compatible with it, you can definitely pair this with an SNES or NES emulator on the S4 and play classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Castlevania IV.
Wireless Charging Pad/Cover
Wireless charging is becoming a staple feature with high-end smartphones these days, and Samsung doesn’t want to disappoint. With this accessory, you won’t have to face the hassle of trying to plug in your micro-USB cable into the phone but then realising that it's upside down. Depending on the price, this has the potential to be very useful for those of us who hate micro-USB cables.
Flip Cover
Nothing really unique to see here, this is basically the S View Cover without the gaping hole. They’re available in a variety of different colours, ranging from the sober black and white to the bright yellow and blue. These textured covers will undoubtedly be a big hit with consumers.
Protective Cover+
If you’re worried about dinging the back of your brand new Galaxy S4, fret not. Samsung’s got your back (see what I did there?) with the Protective Cover+. Available in the same colour options as the flip covers, these are designed to protect your phone from damage caused by falls and other things gravity likes to do.
Extra Battery Kit
High-end smartphones aren’t exactly known for having good battery lives, and the Galaxy S4 may be no different. Samsung, coming to the rescue again, is offering extra battery kits in case you ever run out of juice and can’t find a spot to recharge. It also comes in a nifty case where you can put your drained battery.
Heart Rate Monitor
The HRM works with the Running Mate app to let you keep an eye on your heart-rate while you’re exercising. This will once again be fairly popular with fitness buffs, since you can switch up your exercise depending on how your heart’s pumping. It monitors your heart rate in real time, and going by the trends these days, probably has a share button or something.
Body Scale
Another feature for the fitness buffs, the body scale, lets you as you might expect, measure your weight. The key feature of this scale, as opposed to any other scale, is that you can send your weight directly to your phone to use for fitness-related purposes through Bluetooth. It supports up to seven users (probably not at the same time) and is compatible with the S4’s S-Health 2.0 app.
And there you have it. All of the official accessories that Samsung’s announced for the Galaxy S4 so far. Let us know which one you’ll be getting if you decide to buy an S4 in the comments below. I’ve got my eye on that Game Pad.
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