As the Galaxy line of Android handsets has matured, one thing has been apparent; Samsung are no longer just developing handsets, they’re now developing their own user interfaces as well, and as a new Android user, you may find that the Galaxy S4 feels something completely different to the vanilla Android experience. But are all the extra software features needed, or are they just unneeded gimmicks?

Let’s have a look at some of the software features and find out whether they really are worth it or not.

Air Gesture

Air Gesture is a new feature that allows you to browse apps without laying your hand on the device, perfect for when you’re on your lunch break or you’re out in the cold and don’t want to type with your big awkward gloves. You can hover your hand above the phone and make a few gestures to scroll up and down in the gallery, browser and other apps, but there are a few areas where it’s lacking the convenience it’s trying to aim for.

Right now there aren’t really any apps to use with Air Gestures other than that what comes straight from Samsung, and Smart Pause

Smart Pause

Smart Pause is a feature that will pause video playback the moment you take your eyes off of the screen. I can’t recall how many times I’ve watched something a second time over to suddenly realize I missed out an important chunk of a movie or TV episode whilst I was distracted with something else, and I’m certain Smart Pause is the solution to that problem. However, it does get frustrating every now and then when you’re watching a video and don’t mind missing a few minutes, but of course you can just turn off the feature for these occasions. It also isn’t so smart when it comes to blinking or looking away to do something quick like pick up a drink of water, and this is where the convenience completely disappears.

Group Play

Group Play is an interesting concept that allows groups of S4 users to get together and blast out a song simultaneously to create a surround sound-like effect. Does it work? I haven’t tested it personally due to not having enough friends that actually have a Galaxy S4, but I am sure that will change in the future.

For now, the only reference we have is other people using it on YouTube. It does seem to work quite well, and despite not being anything like a true surround sound experience, it does work as a makeshift speaker system if you’re out with your friends. There are also some cool control features that can affect each speaker individually, and you can also share media and play games through Group Play as well.

Smart Scroll

Smart Scroll tracks the users eye movement to smartly scroll down a page when you reach the bottom of it. It works fairly well, and manages to track eye movement as long as you actually move your eyes enough for it to register. A lot of users have complained that it just doesn’t work for them, or that purposely trying to move their eyes to ensure that it worked would only lead to them getting a headache. It’s not something that could really replace every day scrolling, and with the fear of Samsung adding a feature that requires you to cross your eyes to zoom in, I’ve got to say that only being able to scroll up and down makes the whole thing a tad inconvenient. And for that reason it feels nothing more than a gimmick.

S Health

S Health has a few features that can help track our fitness, but it lacks enough to make it anything different than what can already be found in the app store. It does have a few features that only S Health can make use of, but you need third party equipment such as blood pressure monitors or glucose meters. Personally, I don’t find much use for S Health, but it may find use for others.

The TouchWiz UX is growing at an incredible rate, and the Galaxy S4 is now not making headlines for it’s great hardware, but because of its bountiful software features that other smartphones lack. Some may be gimmicky, but there is no doubt that they are all a step in the right direction for innovation and new smartphone technology that can improve our smartphone experience now or in the future.

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