Samsung Galaxy S5: all you need to know

Samsung introduces a brand new design paradigm with the S5 - one that still uses plastic as the basis material, but flaunts a perforated rear pattern, that is quite different than the 'stitched leather' looks of the Note 3.

Besides the Charcoal Black and Shimmery White, the Galaxy S5 will arrive with two extra colors at launch - Electric Blue, and the aforementioned Copper Gold that you can see in the pictures.

The Galaxy S5 uses a 5.1' 1080x1920-pixel Super AMOLED display and while the resolution has not changed from the S4, Samsung has improved the display making it go brighter at peak brightness (great for outdoor use) and dimmer at the lowest levels (great for night-time viewing). 

The newly-coined quad-core Snapdragon 801 (Qualcomm's MSM8974-AC chipset), clocked at 2.5 GHz, is what's powering the Galaxy S5. The new chipset supports fast 150 Mbps LTE-Advanced download speeds, and Samsung claims that the S5 will support up to 8 LTE Cat4 bands on all global carriers.

There is also an innovative feature in the handset, called Download Booster, which speeds up downloads by combining the Wi-Fi/ac and LTE-Advanced connectivity.

The 2800 mAh battery unit in the Galaxy S5 can thankfully be swapped out, in the best of Samsung's design traditions. It is rated for the respectable 21 hours of talk time on a charge, and 16 days of standby.

Samsung bragged that the Galaxy S5 can endure up to 10 hours of web browsing, and up to 12 hours of HD video playback, which are impressive numbers indeed.

The Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified, rugged, which means that it is completely sealed from dust, and will remain functional even after you dunk it in up to three feet (1m) of water, for as long as half an hour.

The other big new feature is the swipe Finger Scanner embedded in the home key. It provides biometric authentication for unlocking the phone, or for secure mobile payments transactions. On its back, right below the camera the Galaxy S5 features a heart rate monitor.

The camera unit now provides the fastest 0.3 seconds autofocus times of all handsets - a feat made possible by the dedicated image signal processors in the Snapdragon 801 chipset. Since we have the same 1.1 micron pixels, the sensor has become slightly larger, at 1/2.5', to accommodate the increase in pixel count.

Besides 4K video recording at 30fps, the processor also allows for a few extra camera tricks, too. Selective Focus allows users to tap on objects they want to look sharp, and the rest of the background gets blurred, achieving a shallow depth of field (DOF) effect without special lenses.

Samsung also touts that an advanced High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode that goes for both photos and real-time video capture. The 16MP shooter also boasts f/2.2 aperture, and Samsung's new ISOCELL technology, which should bring better exposed and blur-free photos in low light.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 release date is set for April 11 across an impressive 150 countries worldwide. Price is not yet announced, but if we had to guess we’d say $199 on contract and around $600 full retail.

Features List

• Finger Scanner - A swipe fingerprint scanner is embedded in the home key, and provides biometric authentication for unlocking the phone, or for secure mobile payments transactions.
• Heart beat sensor - An improved S Health 3.0 app makes a cameo with the new Galaxy S5. Besides the usual pedometer, diet and exercise recordings, it is now also paired with something really interesting - a built-in heart rate monitor, located next to the LED flash. 
• The sensor probably works on the same principle that the optical one on the Gear 2 smartwatch does, and you can further customize the experience with an abundance of third party apps that take advantage of the combined health and fitness trackers on the phone.
• Waterproof chassis - The phone carries an IP67 rating, just like the Galaxy S4 Active, which warrants the grander physique. This certification means that it is completely sealed from dust, and will remain functional even after you waterboard it in up to three feet (1m) of water, for as long as half an hour.
• Download Booster - Samsung has put an innovative feature in the handset, called Download Booster, which speeds up downloads by combining the Wi-Fi/ac and LTE-Advanced connectivity.
• 4K video recording and new camera features - Besides 4K video recording at 30fps, the processor also allows for a few extra camera tricks, too. Selective Focus allows users to tap on objects they want to look sharp, and the rest of the background gets blurred, achieving a shallow depth of field (DOF) effect without special lenses. Samsung also touts that an advanced High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography will be in store with the Galaxy S5, that lets you 'reproduce natural light and color with striking intensity at any circumstances'.
• Ultra Power Saving Mode  - There is a new Ultra Power Saving Mode, for instance, that makes the display show images in black and white, shutting down all processes and connections it deems unneccessary, which should make the phone last quite the time in that state.
• First phone with Wi-Fi 2x2 MIMO setup - Galaxy S5 is the first phone with Wi-Fi 2x2 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) setup, likely provided by Broadcom's new BCM4354 5G System-on-a-Chip (SoC). It's an alternative to the 1x1 MIMO chips used in smartphones, bringing the same multiple antenna capabilities found in tablets and home wireless networking devices, finally in phones.

SOURCE: PhoneArena

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