What We Want From The Samsung Galaxy S IV

        It's been confirmed: the Samsung Galaxy S IV will be unveiled at an event in New York City on March 14th, although we've expected this announcement for a while now. As an owner of the current Samsung Galaxy S III model, I'm interested in what the Korean tech giant has to offer next. As Apple seems to re-release the exact same phone year after year with only a slightly skewed screen size to differentiate itself from its predecessors, Samsung tends to innovate in style and performance as each new rendition of its Galaxy lineup of smartphones and tablets release. In this article I hope to cover all of the actions Samsung will need to take in order to properly overthrow the current king who sits upon the throne of smartphones, Apple's iPhone. Let us begin.

While these may not be the official specs of Samsung's

upcoming slate-format smartphone, I sure hope they are.

No International-Exclusive CPU

        That's right. Those of you who purchased a Galaxy S III via American carrier have a downgraded version of the true Galaxy S III experience. The international unlocked, Australian, and Korean variants of the same phone, featured a 1.4 GHz Cortex A-9 quad-core CPU rather than the 1.5 GHz dual-core processor which the U.S. variants of the GS3 consisted of. If Samsung wants to appeal to newcomers, maybe they shouldn't restrict their higher-end CPU units to variants which aren't sold by U.S. carriers or retailers.

No Immense Screen Size

        We already have the Galaxy Note series of phone-tablet hybrids for our large handset desires; we don't need anything bigger, Samsung. I really hope to see innovation rather than just a buffed up screen size. Innovation is what makes Samsung unique from the "new" Apple. While I'm completely satisfied with my 4.8-inch screen size on the Galaxy S III, I wouldn't mind a full 5-inches, but any more than five is pushing it.

S-Pen Compatibility & Functionality

        I'm nearly positive that every tech journalism site in existence wants to see S-pen integration in the next Galaxy S handset, although I'm not sure how this capability would appeal to casual consumers. As you could probably imagine, the current S-Pen-compatible Galaxy Note(s) are not exactly marketed towards casual consumers, and therefore, S-Pen integration in the now-mainstream Galaxy S series could cause confusion among Samsung's current and future audiences. Although the S-Pen and all of its hovering functionality is great to a techie like myself, Samsung would, without a doubt, approach S-Pen integration with a different approach in marketing techniques, as I'm not sure consumers would buy that a Nintendo DS stylus is the "Next Big Thing". In other words, Samsung would have to clarify that S-Pen isn't an ordinary stylus, but has features that simply could not be possible with direct human touch.

Android Needs To Be Cool

        One thing I've noticed about the sheep around me who fall for Apple's products is that in the mind of the casual consumer, the operating system is everything. OSX (although many Mac users won't even be able to tell me what that is) is the selling point of Mac computers and, believe it or not, iOS is the selling point of iPhones and iPads. (Shocking, I know! :P) But let's analyze this for a moment. What makes iOS "cooler" than Android? Obviously the way Apple markets their product through commercial and viral marketing plays a vital role in making a mobile operating system seem "hip", but also a variety of exclusive apps (which, for the most part, aren't very good anyway) often create a broad line between iOS and Android. Samsung needs to clearly state the reason they've stuck with Android all this time, and they need to be bold, stating that the competition's library of applications are growing weaker, while Android is becoming stronger. The coolest thing Samsung (or even Google for that matter) could do right now is say, "Look, we know you can get a boat-load of crappy Mario knock-offs on iOS, but if you switch to Android, you can get nearly all the features of a jailbroken iPhone without voiding the warranty of your beloved handsets." Cue converting sheep.

Actual Innovation

        After the laughable announcement of the iPhone 5 last year, I was almost certain this would be the end of Apple's reign of victory in the world of mobile handsets. I was far from being right. Since its release, the iPhone 5 has been selling like hOtcake5, reclaiming its throne after the Samsung Galaxy S III became the most popular smartphone in the world. The Samsung Galaxy S III may have had some neat gimmicks and a vast variety of actual features as well, but the Apple consumer would sacrifice all of that for simplicity and a decent library of apps, which is understandable, but Samsung needs to announce a new feature that current iPhone users simply couldn't otherwise live without, like when Apple created the App Store, but it's not my job to tell them what that feature will be. ;) It's some Asian guy's job.