The rumours, at least most of them, proved true and Samsung Galaxy S4 generally came out as consumers would want it to be - thin, light, smooth, eye-candy, power-packed and brimming with features that seem to convince every penny is worth the buy.

Is it? CNET concedes the S4 is high-end, long on features and should serve its desired functions for everyone but the tech site also warned that what buyers will get is a mere bump up of the Galaxy S3, specifically in the look department.

The Galaxy S4, CNET said after a brief test drive, "isn't exceptionally beautiful and software isn't particularly inspiring," short of suggesting that those looking to use a gadget this year with emphasis on aesthetic should wait for the HTC One, the iPhone 5S or even the Nexus 5.

Tightly wrapped as it is, the hardware specs attributed by many blog reports to the S4 were mostly spot on - the unit got the 5-inch Super AMOLED screen that beams out a pixel density of 441ppi.

It will have the best CPU available out there, either a quad-core 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 or an 8-core 1.6GHz Exynos Octa 5. The implement hinges on market deployment but early reviews seem to indicate that no matter the powerhouse beneath, the mix of an enhanced TouchWiz and the latest JellyBean works wonder on the S4 - no lags, no freeze thus far.

But of course, extensive reviews and testing later on should determine if the new Samsung flagship will prove to be worth the impending jump for the estimated 40 million S3 users across the globe.

The new S4 servings do not disappoint, according to BGR News, most notably in the camera snapping sector. Armed with a main 13MP shooter and a bevy of software upticks from the S3, the S4 is a fine retooling of what users have experienced from Samsung last year.

Of particular interest to camera smartphone enthusiasts are Dual Shot, Sound & Shot and Cinema Photo. The first allows photo shooters to capture a pic while nudging his image inside the frame, thanks to the simultaneous use of the front and rear cameras.

The last two enable the creation of cool images that can either be laced with sounds or surgical animations. Samsung has incredibly extended what users can do with the S4 camera that BGR quipped the company may unwittingly kill the Galaxy Camera.

Premium Suite on the Galaxy S4 indeed levelled up, making the handset the smartest so far with its Smart Features. Smart Pause allows for pausing and resuming of video playback by simply looking away and then gazing back to the phone screen.

Smart Scroll provides for more reading pleasure in terms of easy flipping to another page but it's not the eye-tracking capability that was earlier hyped about. Instead, users will have to tilt the S4 to hop into another view.

On the other hand, Air Gesture is what it is advertised about. This feature reads a phone command by the simple gesture of a user's hand.

Lastly, Samsung brought Air View from the Note 2 to the S4. The function gives out previews of files or messages in the phablet. The difference in the new smartphone is users can use their fingers to perform that, eliminating the need for an S-Pen.

The S4 supports wireless charging, according to Samsung, but it remains unclear if that is an offer coming right out of the box or some rigging or accessories will do the trick.

Reports suggest that it'll be plan black and white for the Galaxy S4 shell that is made of polycarbonate though it is not remote that Samsung may eventually spice up the colour servings in the months to come.

The South Korean tech giant is mum on pricing but it should be safe to assume that the levels will be same with that of the price tags that came with the Galaxy S3 last year. Note too that the S4 is set to rollout in three storage configurations - 16GB, 32GB and 64GB - each carrying different price marks.

All told, Engadget believes the Galaxy S4 falls short of sending the message that it is a major upgrade. The new smartphone can pass up as a minor refresh of the S3 and naming it as Galaxy S3 Plus is not a bad idea at all, the tech site added.