Saturday, 1 March 2014

Samsung Galaxy S5


Samsung Galaxy S5



The Samsung Galaxy S5 is official - and it's not what we expected. Rumors got a few details right, but not the whole picture, obviously. After so many updates and sequels to the S4, it's perhaps not all that surprising that the S5 feels like a small step forward.


The screen grew up only a bit and it kept the 1080p resolution rather than going to QHD.
The camera does, however, record UHD video - Samsung's initial information was for 1080p, but we can now confirm it's really 4K UHD (2160p).
Samsung does maintain the clockspeed advantage with a rare Snapdragon 800 chipset and while the fingerprint scanner was no surprise, the heart rate monitor certainly is.
TouchWiz was a bit of a surprise too. We got pumped up for a brand new flat version of Samsung's custom UI, but the reality is closer to what we saw on the new Galaxy Pro tablets.
The back of the device is a new iteration of Samsung's leather-like plastic, with what looks like perforated holes. It only looks like it though, the Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified - we don't expect to see a Galaxy S5 Active.

Samsung Galaxy S5 at a glance:

  • Form factor: Water-resistant bar phone, IP67 certification
  • General: 2G, 3G and 4G LTE connectivity
  • Dimensions: 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145 g
  • Display: 5.1" 16M-color Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (431ppi)
  • Chipset: Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC
  • CPU: 2.5GHz Krait 400
  • GPU: Adreno 330
  • RAM: 2GB
  • OS: Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
  • Memory: 16/32GB storage, microSD card slot
  • Still camera: 16 megapixel auto-focus camera
  • Video camera: UHD (2160p) video recording
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 3.0 with MHL, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, Infrared port
  • Battery: 2800mAh
  • Heart rate monitor
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Additional sensors: humidity sensor, temperature sensor