Samsung just finished its "Unpacked" event, and with it the global reveal of the Galaxy S5. While boasting a good offering of new useful-sounding features, it aesthetically looks fairly similar to what we've seen with the previous Galaxy phones, but they can't be blamed for sticking to a winning formula. It will launch in the US this April, but let's dive in to see what we're getting.
Highlight features included a bigger, sharper screen, longer battery, new look, faster internet speeds and processing, a heart sensor, is water resistant, and has a useful 'ultra battery-saving mode'.
There are some visual changes-it comes in a shiny array of colors, has a perforated textured back, and is more square in design-and has gotten slightly larger once again.
The Galaxy S5 has the rounded edges and removable back panel we've become familiar with in the previous Galaxy iterations. It comes in four colors as of launch-charcoal, gold, white and electric blue, with designer patterns and cases to come.
It's not the size of the Note 3, but still larger than the S4. This may concern some of the smaller users out there, who already have issues with the large size of the other Galaxy phones, but I generally don't find those a problem while being average-sized.
The back of the phone is a softer textured "unique, perforated rear pattern" meant to look stylish and modern while providing more grip than the smooth plastic we've seen on the S3 and S4. The phone is IP67 water and dust resistant, so it can get wet (though don't hold it underwater) and survive.
Home is still the only physical button, and now also acts as a fingerprint scanner. You can sign in or lock the phone with your fingerprint (which is "encrypted, stored on the phone and never sent out") or make payments with a swipe of your finger.
The screen is 5.1" Super AMOLED with a 1080p resolution, in addition to a super dimming feature for "not hurting your eyes in the dark or bothering those around you" and adaptive display.
Inside the device, there is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a one-upped version of the 800 with a faster CPU and GPU-a boost to the processor, but not the full sequel (the 805, which is still in development). The phone has 2GB of RAM, and the traditional 16 or 32 GB storage with the option to expand up to 128GB.
The 2800 mAh battery is said to last up to 12 hours when watching video and 10 for heavy web browsing. A feature I thought could be very useful was the ultra battery saving mode. When activated, the phone turns the display into black and white only and shuts down non-essential operations-mostly anything besides calling and texting. In this mode, Samsung stated 10% battery life could last for 24 hours, which is pretty impressive if the phone is still useful during that time.
Samsung promised to have "nearly doubled the WiFi speed" and it's the fastest a phone has been. They also created what they called the "download booster", which combines the WiFi and LTE signal power to give lightning-fast downloads, apparently as fast as 1GB in 30 seconds. This is quick, but uses the LTE network connection, counts towards whatever data package you have-don't use it all in one day downloading your favorite movies!
It's compatible with the Samsung Gear watches, which they also showed more of (including an active "Fit" version) and has various upgrades to the camera as expected. The rear camera is 16MP and boasts a 0.3 second autofocus feature, advanced HDR, and improved image sensor.
These are most of the highlight features present in the Galaxy S5, and I'd say it looks to be a pretty good device. It's hard to say without having used it, but they seemingly haven't done anything that would harm the product and added some genuinely useful-sounding features. More details will no doubt emerge as those at the conference get to have hands on time with the device.
