Stefan Mileschin

Samsung is revealing what Smart software additions the Galaxy S 4 will bring to the table, and they're well beyond what's been rumored. The camera is one of the biggest focuses, borrowing much from the Galaxy Camera: Cinema Photo captures still images with moving backgrounds, a Drama Shot burst mode that creates animated GIFs, an Eraser mode to remove unwanted background subjects, and a Sound & Shot mode that puts audio in the background of still images. A Story Album automatically creates photo albums based on common details such as location and time. And did we mention that it can shoot photos and video from both the front and back cameras at the same time?

That's just the start. AirView now works with your finger, rather than a pen, and is effective right from the lock screen. Adapt Display and Adapt Sound automatically tune the picture and speakers for varying viewing conditions, and WatchOn uses a built-in IR blaster to tune your TV. S Translate, meanwhile, will take both spoken and written words and translate them through several languages, inside of multiple apps. S Voice has been upgraded to S Voice Drive to let drivers get navigation, find points of interest and otherwise interact with the phone without having to take any hands off the wheel. S Health, which Samsung initially mentioned last year, is around to track calories and steps through accessories such as S band, a body scale and a heart rate monitor.

Like to do things that involve more than one person? There's more still. ChatOn has been upgraded to support video chat, and Group Play both allows for sharing songs in a surround mode or playing local multiplayer games -- when it's supported, that is. All told, there's a small deluge of new features that could amount to a lot, even excluding new hands-free elements like Smart Scroll. Check after the break for a quick preview video and the press release.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/s...ftware-tricks/