Galaxy S4 Active review: A rugged, water-resistant take on the Galaxy S4 for the outdoors.
The rugged Galaxy for the outdoors.
The Galaxy S4 Active brought IP67 water and dust resistance and physical buttons to Samsung's flagship line, launching the "Active" sub-brand. It swapped the AMOLED for LCD, but for outdoor and active users it offered flagship power that could take a soaking.
01Display
64/10064/100 trails the 68-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2013.
02Camera
56/10056/100 trails the 61-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2013.
03Performance
60/10060/100 puts it above the 56-point average for flagship phones of 2013.
04Battery
60/10060/100 trails the 62-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2013.
05Build
76/100At 76/100 this is one of the strongest build showings among flagship phones of 2013 — 12 points above the cohort average.
06Value
58/100At 58/100 this is one of the strongest value showings among flagship phones of 2013 — 7 points above the cohort average.
- IP67 dust and water resistance.
- Physical camera/home buttons for wet use.
- Underwater "Aqua" camera mode.
- Removable battery + microSD.
- LCD instead of the S4's AMOLED.
- Bulkier than the standard S4.
- Mono speaker.
- Smaller battery than rivals.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 87-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .