New Galaxy S4 Accessories from Samsung

New Galaxy S4 Accessories from Samsung

Yesterday during the launch event of the Galaxy S4, Samsung also announced a number of new accessories to go along with its new flagship smartphone. The whole accessory market is a big eco-system for any phone manufacturers and with so many OEM-developed accessories targeted at the lifestyle users, Samsung looks poised for even greater market dominance.

The new accessories do everything from protect the new Samsung Galaxy S4 to help charge the new phone and sync fitness data. Samsung wasn’t very clear on when any of the new accessories will arrive in stores, though it would likely be available same time as the phone to entice the launch customers.

1. Samsung S4 S View Cover

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 or S IV has a collection of covers that replace the battery door of the phone and protect the screen. This is similar to the official casing for the Galaxy S3. These cases come in a variety of colors including blue, orange, pink, green and black. Samsung also introduced a cover case which it calls the S View Cover case. The S View Cover has a small window near the top of the case that lets users view part of the screen, to see the time, notifications etc. The case works like a Smart Cover for the iPad, meaning it will automatically put the phone to sleep when the phone is covered. Not sure if it uses a magnetic sensor.

Galaxy-S4-S-View-Covers

2. Samsung S4 Wireless Charging

Samsung Galaxy S4 also offers Wireless Charging but via an add-on. It require a new battery door replacement though, which means the Galaxy S4 out of the box wouldn’t work with your existing Qi-Charger for the Nexus 4. It’s also not clear if any of the other cases will support wireless charging on the Galaxy S4.

3. Samsung S4 Infrared Remote

There’s also a neat feature that didn’t get much attention during Samsung’s Galaxy S4 unveiling yesterday. I guess it got buried under with information overload but it does seem to have taken a copy at HTC’s top end smartphone, the HTC One.

The new Galaxy S4 has a built-in infrared sensor, meaning it can communicate with any TV, DVD, Blu-Ray player and set top boxes and act as a remote control. It should work with any brands, and not just limited to Samsung. How about using your S4 to turn on the aircon, TV, radio when you are back?

4. S4 S Health, S Band and Scale

GalaxyS4-accessories-s-band5. Samsung Galaxy Game Pad

Samsung-Gamepad-S4

The last interesting accessory is the Game Pad, which supports one touch Bluetooth pairing via NFC Tectile technology, and offers gaming controls. The game pad looks surprisingly like an Xbox Controller Clone and not sure if there will be a black Samsung game pad to match the colour scheme of frost white and black mist. The phone fits into the pad for easy gameplay. However, it seems that only games downloaded through Samsung App Store would be compatible. I am not sure how that works out though. However, if the gamepad is too bulky to bring along, how about investing in a TactSlider instead.