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If yesterday’s pictures of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active have whet your appetite, then eyes down for the first leaked video of the waterproof Samsung Galaxy S4. Whet! Get it? Cos it’s waterproof! Oh, never mind.
The toughened version of the S4 hasn’t been officially unveiled yet, but MobileTechReview has got hold of one for this short glimpse. Read on to see the latest leak of the phone that doesn’t have to worry about leaks.
The video is a brief introduction to the S4 Active, courtesy of a secret source — although the fact that the phone is tethered down and the settings are in Croatian could give a clue as to its origin. We don’t see much of the hardware, but the video does confirm it’s got an 8-megapixel camera.
There’s some confusion about whether it’s dual-core or quad-core. The video claims a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, whereas previous leaks suggested a quad-core chip. If it is dual-core that’s a step down from the quad-core S4 proper — but then the S4 has chip-changing issues of its own: in some countries it’s dual-core and in other countries it has an eight-core 1.6GHz Exynos5 processor.
Still, it might be worth giving up a quad-core chip for a waterproof phone, particularly if you often find yourself battling the elements or braving the great outdoors.
It’s a shame the S4 Active follows the disappointing S3 spin-offs by taking features away with one hand while giving new features with the other. But for a waterproof, dust-proof housing and physical buttons — so you can press them while wearing gloves — it might be a sacrifice worth making.
Waterproofing is usually an added feature found in less powerful Android phones, although the waterproof Sony Xperia Z impressed us greatly, taking a prestigious CNET Editors’ Choice.
Is the Active the S4 you’ve been looking for? Is it worth sacrificing quad-core speed for a dual-core chip in a waterproof casing? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or give us a dunking on our water-resistant Facebook wall.
