Infrared blasters, which smartphones used to have in the late 90s and early 00s, are back with a vengeance. HTC put one in the One, Samsung put one in the S4, and we’ll likely see more phones feature IR blasters as the year goes one. What does one do with an IR blaster? Besides turning on your TV and changing the channel, not much.
Which brings me to today’s news. During the weekend, Samsung issued an update to WatchON, the software they wrote to control an IR blaster, so that it can run on three unreleased handsets: the S4 Mini, the S4 Active, and the S4 Mega.
The Mini and the Active, we already know about about. Just to recap: the S4 Mini will have a 4.3 inch 960 x 540 pixel display, 8 megapixel camera, and there are a billion photos of it already floating around the internets. The S4 Active, according to rumors, has the exact same specifications as the S4 that’s already out on the market, except that it’s both waterproof and dustproof.
The last phone, the S4 Mega, is totally new. Samsung has already announced two “Mega” phones, one with a 5.8 inch screen, the other with a 6.3 inch screen, and they’re what I’d consider to be midrange. The Mega 5.8 has the same screen resolution as the S4 Mini, which is quite ridiculous. The Mega 6.3 is a bit better at 720p, but still, Samsung can do better.
So what can the S4 Mega possibly bring to the table? I’m just speculating here, but I’m going to say S4 specs in a massive body. How massive? We’re going to have to wait and see. Then again, this could just be a typo on Samsung’s part. The company makes so many different smartphones that the poor guy who wrote this WatchON changelog might have been confused.
