Samsung Galaxy S5 full features and news

Here's what the Samsung Galaxy S5 looks like

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is old news. Sure, it's a great smartphone - as you'll see in our in-depth review - but now all eyes are firmly locked on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 was launched at MWC 2014, with Samsung's fifth Unpacked conference packed with journalists looking to see what the latest Galaxy device holds.

While it was never in doubt that the tech giant would deviate from the highly lucrative Galaxy S prefix, given what happened with the Samsung Gear – anything could have happened.

It launched, though, with the GS5 moniker but is it the best phone in the world? Read on where we reveal all the specs you need to know and what we thought of the device.

Samsung Galaxy S5 release date and price:

All the big smartphone manufacturers are relatively entrenched in annual product cycles now, which means we can usually predict when they will launch their headlining products.

 A 'toned down' launch was likely after the New York Times reported that Samsung was going to lose the theatrics for the next launch of its handset - something which would have made a lot of us very happy after the awful 'Broadway' unveil for the S4.

But we did have to sit through at least two songs by an orchestra, which was lovely but seemed to take forever.

And you will be waiting a little bit for the Galaxy S5 too. Samsung isn't doing an Apple-style one week turnaround, as the official Samsung Galaxy S5 release date is actually April.

In terms of price there's no point hoping that Samsung might offer the Galaxy S5 at a more competitive rate than its predecessors, coming in at £599 in the UK with other regions still to set their own prices.

The Galaxy S5 is crammed full of new tech and thus the price tag makes a certain degree of sense - we're still waiting to see where it will land when it comes to contracts, but it will be at the higher end.

Samsung Galaxy S5 design

There was talk of a whole new design language for the Galaxy S5 with some hoping that Samsung would break away from the similar styling of the Galaxy S3 and S4.

This hasn't happened as such. Design wise, well you can't call the Samsung Galaxy S5 ugly, because Samsung does know how to put a phone together well.

But at the same time it's the same tired story on the design front: taking some elements from the predecessor, adding in some bits from the current Note and calling it all new.

The 'metal' surround is almost identical to the Note 3, to the point we were looking for an S Pen to start poking out in the hands on review. But the back is the main change and we would go as far to say that it is lovely.

No more shiny plastic or laughable attempts to make it look like a leather notebook – while it is still plastic, it's a lot more grippable and feels a lot, lot nicer in the hand.

The overall construction is again more solid, but the device is markedly bigger compared to the Galaxy S3 and S4. There's a lot more Note DNA in the Galaxy S5 than ever before, that's for sure.

And then there is the little fact that it is waterproof. Last year we saw the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active turn up after the S4, adding a rugged dust and waterproof body to the design, and the Galaxy S5 has come with these features as standard - bringing it inline with the likes of the Sony Xperia Z1.

Screen and processor

Samsung Galaxy S5 64-bit CPU?

There was a lot of buzz around the 64-bit A7 processor which Apple stuffed inside the iPhone 5S what with it blowing up benchmark tests left right and centre, and it was thought that Samsung may want a bit of the action.

Well 64-bit was certainly not set in stone and what we have instead is a 2.5GHz quad-core processor.

Considering the Galaxy Note 3 launched with a mighty 2.3GHz quad-core processor and 3GB of RAM we'd have expected the Galaxy S5 to at least match it, if not beat it. And while it does this in processing power, the RAM is just 2GB.

Samsung Galaxy S5 screen

Samsung already had a display that's sharper than the human eye can detect, so why and how would it go any sharper?

With the screen on the Galaxy S5 - which is now 5.1 inches up from 5 inches - once again Samsung was a victim of its own hype. We were all expecting a grand step forward, the first manufacturer to bring a 2K screen to the masses.

There were loads of rumors about this. With numerous outlets saying that it would be possibly bringing the S5 with a 2K QHD display - that would have been a dizzying 560ppi for screens as small as five inches.

But what we have is just a Full HD Super AMOLED version, one that's actually a little less sharp in theory than before as it's now 5.1- rather than 5-inches, meaning it's down from a 441ppi to 432ppi on the new version.

It's not massive, but it is a drop when we were expecting something higher-res.

The color reproduction does seem to be more impressive on the Samsung Galaxy S5, however, with movies looking much better on the device.

Given Samsung wants to go 4K for its 2015 smartphones, the halfway resolution did make sense for this device but we will have to wait.

In the end what we got was a 5.1-inch FHD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) that is IP67 Dust and water Resistant.

Android KitKat ahoy

All previous headlining Galaxy S handsets have sported the Android operating system and we didn't expect that to change with the Galaxy S5. And quite right we were - the Samsung Galaxy S5 will come with Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat).

Of course it won't be the pure Android experience you get on the Galaxy S5, as Samsung has slapped its re-tooled TouchWiz interface over the top.

And that skin is a big jump forward. The notification bar is the biggest change that we could see, with the whole area looking a lot different to the standard version Samsung has employed with TouchWiz over the years.

There are now quick links to the likes of S Finder and Quick Connect, which allow you to theoretically move through the phone at greater speed.

The former is the same thing as Google Search, it seems, with more information drawn in from the web. It's the kind of thing you'd need to spend more time with to see if it fits in with your lifestyle, as it could either be a really quick way of flicking around or a waste of valuable screen space.

Another thing that has been upgraded is Quick Connect. This seems to now make a little more sense, as it takes the best of things like AirDrop and AirPlay from Apple and moves them all into one place. You can also DLNA stream from here, and makes the Galaxy S5 a really connected hub of the home.

Camera, battery and fingerprint scanner

 

What kind of camera?

The Galaxy S4 rocked up with a pretty decent 13MP camera on its rear, but there will still plenty of rumors surrounding Galaxy S5 suggesting it will take things a little further with a 16MP snapper.

And this is indeed the case. The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes equipped with a 16MP rear camera and 2MP front camera. It shoots 4K at 30fps and there's a whole host of image functionality new in the Galaxy S5. This includes video stabilisation - similar to the LG G2 - HDR and selective focus, the latter allowing you to change the focus of your snaps after the event, although it takes many seconds to process.

That's still not as impressive as the 20.7MP Sony Xperia Z1 or 41MP Nokia Lumia 1020 - but do we really need cameras that powerful on our phones?

While most of the camera details were kept until the official announcement, Samsung did let us in on one thing before the show confirming that the flagship smartphone will feature a new "reflector-integrated flash LED." And this, surprise surprise, is on the device.

So what does that actually mean? Well Samsung claims it will allow for a wider field of view, better daylight and nighttime photos and it will ensure everyone in a photo is illuminated by the flash (not just those in the center).

It sounds great, but we're reserving judgement until we've actually put it through its paces.

Samsung Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner

Samsung looked certain to eschew the fingerprint scanner on the Samsung Galaxy S5, but because biometrics seem to be the in thing we now have a fingerprint scanner on the S5.

It's an accurate scanner that works only after you wake the phone - an extra step Apple doesn't make you go through - and scan you finger down from the screen to the bottom of the home key.

It's a few steps behind Apple's decent integration of TouchID in the iPhone 5S, but miles ahead of the finger-based abomination on the back of the HTC One Max.

 

A better battery

Whenever a new flagship handset is launched you can almost guarantee that the manufacturer will spend a least a couple of minutes explaining how it's improved battery life to ensure your phone just keeps on going and going.

Recent leaked packaging showed the battery coming in at 3000mAh, but this was a little off of the mark, with the actual battery power coming in at 2800mAh. This is still impressive, though, with Samsung quoting standby time of 390 hrs / talk time: 21 hrs.

 

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