Just three days before its scheduled March 14 release in New York, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 allegedly showed up on Monday in a number of images that were posted in a Chinese forum. But the leaked device, labeled as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Duos GT-I9502, was deemed by many as a prototype of the device that could eventually be different from the actual device.
The purported Galaxy S4 images, however, revealed a set of key features and specs of the device that have been rumoured for a long period of time. The details included a 5-inch Full HD AMOLED display, an Exynos Octa 5410 CPU, PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU and 2GB of RAM. The device was apparently running on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and it looked like the sides were made of aluminium, while the back was made of plastic.
At a time when these claimed images of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Duos GT-I9502 were creating a lot of buzz, making some people to believe and some others to disbelieve, SamMobile came out with a report saying a dual SIM version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 would indeed be a reality.
"Now we do not know if this is the real device but what we do know is there will be a DUAL-SIM version of the Galaxy S IV. SamMobile is able to confirm the Galaxy S IV DUOS, thanks to our insider for the information," said the report, which also cited the forum poster saying that the dual SIM version of the Galaxy S4 would be available only for Chinese network provider Unicom initially.
The Galaxy S4 images in question were showing the firmware I9502ZNUAMB1 installed in the device, while Samsung is currently testing I9502ZNUAMB5 firmware with I9502CHUAMB5 CSC, the report added.
Galaxy S4 To Feature a 3D Camera?
A dual SIM version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was not the only spice added to the rumour-mill on Monday. A report by Android Community also provided a new twist in the tale. The report pointed toward a pair of patent filings by Samsung - one was dealing with a 3D camera feature and the other a panoramic camera feature.
Here is how the report explained the 3D camera-related patent that was published earlier this month:
"The 3D related patent is thought to mean that the Galaxy S4 could be capable of producing 3D video as well as 3D still images. This patent was published earlier in the month and is showing as being 'application software for smart phones.' Well for smartphones as well as for tablets, digital cameras and numerous other devices including portable media players. Basically, this is looking like the 3D will come in after the image or video has been captured (as opposed to having a dual-camera setup that captures 3D while recording)."
When it comes to the patent related to the panoramic camera feature, the report said, based on details in the filing, that it would help "prevent things such as image flare and in general, improve the overall image quality."
Considering the timing, it is possible that both of these features could be included in the Galaxy S4. However, as the report itself mentioned, "the timing could also be nothing more than a coincidence."
Now that the Galaxy S4 release is around the corner, it's better to take every rumour with a grain of salt. The wait is just about a matter of a couple of days now.
