For a three-year-old flagship smartphone, a price range of $150 to $300 would be fair enough considering the influx of great flagship handsets as of late.
Surprisingly, the 2013 flagship smartphone of Samsung, the Galaxy S4, still commands a price of up to $700 up to this day. The cost of the top variant Galaxy S4 is surprising since the base variants of the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S7 approximately cost the same.
But it is just one model and it is being retailed at $699.99 by AT&T for the 16GB White Frost variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4. It is not clear if the amount is just for the unit only or it already covers subscription over a certain period but it is still remarkably high as listed in the Product Chart website.
At the bottom of the price chain for the Samsung Galaxy S4 are two certified refurbished units with the same SCH-i545 variant but also having 16GB storage and goes for only $149.99. One comes in black and the other is white and it is being made available by Verizon and GSM.
The more familiar Galaxy S4 i9500 16GB model, which is normally a factory-unlocked international variant, comes at a price of $300.31 for its white model and $287.97 for the black version.
These prices only indicate that despite its age, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the more classy and still in-demand phones in the market today.
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on the Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be turning three years old next month so it is understood that it would not be getting the official Android 6.0 Marshmallow from the Korean tech giant.
However, even before the official Marshmallow updates to Samsung devices that are between one to two years old this month or next month, a custom ROM based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow has arrived on the Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505 variant recently, cites WCCF Tech.
Developed by Vanilla AOSP interface, the custom build of the Marshmallow firmware update offers a couple of tweaks, enhancements, and exclusive features on top of a few original apps and features that typically come with the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.
However, it is important for users to note that the AICP custom ROM based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow shall specifically come to the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE variant with model number I9505.
Before downloading the custom ROM, Galaxy S4 users are advised to do the usual procedure in updating the OS of their smartphone and the most important of them is backing up everything as well as ensuring that the battery is charged up to 70% at the very least to ensure interruption-free downloading and updating.
Why the device continues to get updates
The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with a 5-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and a pixel density of 441 ppi.
The Korean tech giant’s flagship smartphone of 2013 is powered by a 1.6GHz octa-core processor and comes with 2GB of RAM and an internal storage of 16GB with an option to expand up to 64GB via the microSD card slot.
The Galaxy S4 also features a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front snapper.
When the smartphone came out to the markets three years ago, it was already running on Android 4.2 KitKat while drawing power from a 2,600 mAH removable battery.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a single SIM (GSM) smartphone that accepts a micro-SIM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, and 4G.
The different sensors on the smartphone include the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, and gyroscope.
As a smartphone that is now three years old from the time it hit the retail markets, the Galaxy S4 was kind of expected not to receive the latest mobile OS update from Google. But since there are millions of Galaxy S4 users around the world, plenty were still waiting for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow on their devices.
Given its huge user base, the Galaxy S4 is one of the many Android smartphone models that constantly get software updates.