Samsung Galaxy S5 Review

Samsung 
UNPACKED - TRAILER

INTRO:
The Samsung Galaxy S5 was launched at MWC 2014, Samsung’s long-awaited new flagship device and successor to the uber-popular Samsung Galaxy S4. Improving on a winning formula is always challenging, and Samsung has been keen to emphasis that the S5 is a product of customer feedback on previous iterations.

Launched alongside the Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch and the Samsung Gear Fit, the new Galaxy phone from Samsung is set to go head to head with the likes of the HTC One (and the rumored HTC M8) as well as the Sony Xperia Z2 and Google Nexus 5.

FEATURES:

The new Samsung S5 feature-set is where things get interesting – like the S4 with its eye tracking, Samsung has worked hard to get some standout features into the S5. We’re talking an inbuilt Heart Rate monitor (more on that later), a fingerprint sensor linked up to a global PayPal deal, IP 67 water and dust resistance as well as a slew of other improvements covered in detail below.

The fingerprint scanner in particular has been widely rumored, especially in the wake of Apple’s TouchID commitment on the iPhone 5s, and here is something similar for Android users.

The scanner is located under the home key, which Samsung have done an excellent job of making look completely standard. To set up, swipe 8 times to register each print, up to three prints can be registered. In our initial tests the angle was critical, so bear in mind which hand you’ll be using.

Samsung has struck a ‘global partnership’ deal with PayPal to provide payments via fingerprint reader verification in 26 markets. It’ll be interesting to see the details on the ground in terms of who and where this will be accepted, but at least eBay shopping is likely to be slightly more secure.

CAMERA:

Samsung made a beeline for the high ground in their Unpacked event, stating that the Samsung Galaxy S5 16MP rear camera has the ‘strongest smartphone camera on the market’. This is based on a variety of new functions, such as 4K video recording, auto-focus in up to 0.3 seconds, delivering ‘SLR levels of response’ according to Samsung. Next there’s real time HDR that delivers ‘striking image intensity’ and real-time response, as well as the ability to view a ‘live’ preview image.

Finally, there’s selective focus, where you can capture images and change focus later in three ways - near, far and pan. During our brief hands-on, the HDR functioned well, as did the selective focus, but we’ll need to test the S5 in a variety of situations to be definitive. The front camera is a respectable 2MP for your video calling and accurate selfie requirements. 

PERFORMANCE:

The usual caveats apply to our hands on time, being both short, sweet and under controlled conditions. However, with a Quad core Krait 2.5GHz chip and 2GB RAM under the hood this was never going to be slow.

Samsung promises that connectivity is first-class, offering 802.11ac with MIMO support, and booster tech using LTE + Wifi in parallel to speed downloads where possible. The S5 also offers Ultra power saving mode at the other end of the spectrum, which dips down to very low power (black and white display, etc) to spin out more battery life when activated.

UPDATED WITH

S-HEALTH 3.0

Samsung made a big noise over one of the standout elements of the S5, the Heart Rate monitor built into the back of the handset, next to the camera flash. Hold your finger on the camera and get a readout of your HR. Our test unit made us pretty chuffed, with a resting HR of 51, we’ll have to conduct some real world tests to make sure that’s accurate.

RELEASE DATE: APRIL

QUICK SPECS:

Network

LTE Cat.4 (150/50Mbps)

AP

LTE: 2.5GHz Quad core application processor

Display

5.1” FHD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080), 432 ppi

Dimension

142.0 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145g

OS

Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat)

Memory

RAM : 2GB

16/32GB User Memory + microSD slot (up to 128GB)

Connectivity

WiFi : 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac HT80, MIMO(2x2)

Download Booster (LTE + WiFi simultaneous reception)

NFC, Bluetooth®: 4.0 BLE / ANT+

USB 3.0

IR Remote

Additional Features

IP67 certificated Dust & Water Resistant, Emergency Mode, Ultra Power Saving Mode, S Health, Quick Connect, Private Mode, Kids Mode.

Camera

Main(Rear) : 16MP (1/2.6”, Phase Detection AF)

Sub (Front) : 2.0MP (1920 x 1080, Wide-angle lens )

Camera Features

HDR (Rich tone), Selective Focus, Virtual Tour Shot

Video

UHD@30fps, HDR, video stabilization

Video Codec : H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, MP43, WMV7, WMV8, VP8

Video Format : MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Audio

Audio Codec : MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/ AAC+/ eAAC+, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC

Audio Format : MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA

Sensor

Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, Barometer, Hall, RGB ambient light, Gesture, Fingerprint, Heart Rate Sensor

Battery

2800mAh

Standby time : 390 hrs (LTE) / Talk time: 21 hrs (WCDMA)