The past couple of months have seen a dizzying array of "hero" smartphones hit the Australian marketplace. They're all around the same kinds of price points outright or on contract, so which one should you pick? This week: Samsung's feature-packed Galaxy S4.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a superb smartphone that excels in most areas, but it's let down by software glitches, and a main rival that's a little bit better in most areas. Read the review.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 looks almost identical to its predecessor but includes a better display, an improved camera and a huge amount of software...

Excellent battery life; Impressive screen; Outstanding camera

Too many gimmicks; UI can be overwhelming; Slippery; plastic build

Samsung has packed this phone with benchmark specs; processing power, camera quality, software and battery power are all top line. While the S4 seems to struggle when it comes to loading games, and its screen has been shown to occasionally give up the ghost, the phone as a whole ran well with its...

+ Plenty of software innovations; + Quality screen; + Good camera and capabilities

- Processor sometimes seems to struggle; - Smart features don't work over whole phone; - Design is the same as the S3

My wife purchased this phone as an upgrade to her Motorola Razar. She likes this phone so much more than her last one. Overall the Galaxy S4 runs so much smoother. She has had some occasional slowness issues but overall great phone!

Easy To Set Up; Easy To Use; Large Clear LCD; Low Power Consumption

Slow At Times

The bottom line is: if you are shopping for the best smartphone, then look no further than the Galaxy S4.

The Galaxy S 4 is a solid improvement over the GS3, and the best Samsung device we've ever used, but we'd love to see Samsung come up with a fresh design and premium look.

Superb 1080p Super AMOLED display; Camera takes impressive daylight shots; Snapdragon 600 delivers solid performance; Battery life better than most flagships

Several new features are impractical and half-baked; Boring overall design without premium look or feel

So far the phone is great haven't had any problems. Love the s series from Samsung.

I have had this now over a month and can confirm it is a genuine Samsung mob with european warranty. Out the box the OS is KitKat with a firmware upgrade to KitKat 4.4.2. At the time of writing Android 5 is not available, however Samsung are releasing 5.1 within the first quarter.

Are there no limits to what the Galaxy S4 can do? Just yesterday, it helped save the world from an alien invasion, right before giving birth to a little one that, we're told, will eventually be known as the S4 mini. ( Editor: go easy on the puns there pal ).

Superb screen; versatile camera; speedy performance; software features

The range of features could get confusing; mixed success with some features such as Air Glance and Air call-accept