Latest Galaxy S5 news
Introduction
Announced on February 24, 2014, the Galaxy S5 cut much of the bloat that Samsung shipped on earlier devices. The company focused on delivering a better user experience with network connectivity, advanced camera and enhanced device protection features in mind.
It was a great step up from the Galaxy S4 which had been very well received in the market. Samsung made some improvements to the design and shipped the device with more powerful internals. This resulted in a new flagship device that was well worth its price tag.
Design
The Galaxy S5's design is actually quite similar to that of its predecessor, the Galaxy S4, at least from the front. It had the same chunky bezels all around with Samsung branding under the earpiece. However, it was a different story at the back. Samsung opted for a perforated pattern on the back cover to give sort of a modern glam look. Samsung didn't repeat this for any other flagship.
The Galaxy S5 measures 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm and weighs 145g. It's IP67 rated for dust and water resistance. The device has a physical home button with an embedded fingerprint sensor, it ditched the micro-USB port for a USB 3.0 port, and has a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the device.
Specifications
Samsung opted for the 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor for the Galaxy S5, it was coupled with an Adreno 330 GPU with 2GB of RAM. The Exynos 5422 was also utilized for some models of the Galaxy S5. The handset was available with 16GB and 32GB storage options as well as the ability to expand memory externally with a microSD card of up to 128GB.
Other specs include a heart rate sensor, fingerprint scanner, temperature and humidity sensor, etc. Its connectivity options include support for LTE, fifth generation Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 2X2 MIMO. It came with a 2,800mAh removable battery.
Display
The Galaxy S5 features a 5.1-inch Full HD (1920×1800) pixel resolution Super AMOLED display with Adaptive Display technology. The panel offered deep blacks and fixed an issue seen on earlier panels with yellow/blue tint on white images. The whites on the Galaxy S5's display were the brightest seen on a Samsung smartphone so far. The screen reached up to 600 nits of brightness which meant that outdoor visibility was great as well.
Camera
The Galaxy S5 brought some major improvements to the camera tech on Samsung's flagship lineup. It featured a 16-megapixel camera f/2.2 camera sensor with PDAF and an LED flash. A 2-megapixel f/2.4 selfie camera is present as well. The handset is capable of shooting 4K UHD video at 30FPS and 1080 FHD video at 60FPS.
Software
Android 4.4.2 KitKat was pre-installed on the Galaxy S5 out of the box. It came with the new TouchWiz UX which implemented Samsung's Magazine UX into the new launcher. A Kids Mode was introduced so parents could easily share their smartphones with their children. A redesigned S Health app was also shipped with the Galaxy S5. The Download Booster feature made its first appearance on this device, enabling users to boost download speeds by bonding Wi-Fi and LTE simultaneously.
Availability
The handset was announced at Samsung's Unpacked event in February ahead of MWC 2014. Samsung released the Galaxy S5 globally on April 11, 2014 for $649.99 in Charcoal Black, Copper Gold, Shimmery White and Electric Blue colors.
