Saturday, March 14, 2015
Hands On Galaxy S5 Review
Once a year, Samsung takes some of its best material and slaps it together into a premium flagship model called the Galaxy S. While 2014s version -- the S5 -- came a bit earlier in the year than some earlier iterations, were no less excited to see it become the star of the show at Mobile World Congress. The new device will ship in April (on stage, Samsung specifically mentioned that it launches on April 11th in 150 markets), although exact pricing and availability are still unknown. It features a refreshed design language, yet anyone who has used a GS phone recently will immediately recognize it as a Samsung flagship.
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| Galaxy S3 vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S5 |
Despite its familiar design, the GS5 has a few new useful hardware features, including a fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, and a toned-down TouchWiz UI on top of Android 4.4 KitKat. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, however, was that Samsung didnt overload its prized new smartphone with a heaping dose of new S-branded features. This is a marked departure from the companys previous strategy of cramming in every software feature under the sun, which leads us to wonder if this is related to Samsungs recent agreement to dial back the customization it does on Android devices. So what else is new here? Read on for a deeper dive.
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| Galaxy S5 |
The new Galaxy retains the same 1080p Super AMOLED panel as the GS4; its just slightly larger, at 5.1 inches. With this in mind, it shouldnt come as a surprise that the viewing experience is pretty much the same as its predecessor. Additionally, the GS5 comes with a swappable back cover, microSD slot and removable 2,800mAh battery, which has a higher capacity than last years model. Its also IP67-certified, which adds an element of water and dust resistance never before enjoyed by Galaxy S users (unless you count the GS4 Active, that is). As a result, the micro-USB 3.0 port at the bottom is protected by a tab that keeps water from getting inside.
Samsung says the back of the GS5 is "leather-like," which basically means its a fancy-looking polycarbonate build. While the company already uses similar design language for the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 2014 edition, the look and feel is slightly different; its not quite as soft as the new Notes, and its small dimples actually remind us of the original Nexus 7. Though the sides have a metallic finish, company reps confirmed theyre actually made from a blend of polycarbonate and glass fiber. Still, were more confident of the durability here than we were with many of Samsungs previous Galaxy phones.
The One of the biggest talking points for the GS5 is that new fingerprint scanner. Its easy to see this as a response to Apples Touch ID implementation in the iPhone 5s, and while its hard to say if that was the primary motivation for the new feature, Apples not the only manufacturer to have integrated a fingerprint scanner, and were sure it wont be the last. In this case, Samsungs scanner, which works by swiping your finger down over the home button, has a few handy use cases. In addition to the obligatory phone unlock option, it also lets you fingerprint-protect a private data locker on your phone, in case you have confidential information you dont want getting out there. Samsung also announced a partnership with PayPal which allows you to make online payments using the fingerprint method. In our limited time with the GS5, I noticed that the phone picked up my fingerprint most of the time, as long as I did it slowly enough -- if youre in a swiping hurry, your chance of success will likely drop. Unfortunately, were still waiting to hear back on exactly how Samsung will implement security and privacy concerns with the scanner, so well update you as soon as we know more details.
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| FingerPrint Scanner in Galaxy S5 |
The other major new hardware feature is the heart rate sensor, which is built into the same rear module as the LED flash. It works in conjunction with S-Health 3.0, which acts as a personal life coach of sorts. To monitor your pulse, hold your finger up to the sensor and leave it there while the phone does the rest of the work. As you continue to do this more often, S-Health remembers your history and even goes through the effort of graphing it and offering up other relevant information. It also acts as a pedometer and food monitor. Samsung plans to offer an open SDK for developers to incorporate the tech into their own apps.
Of course, Samsung also put some emphasis on the camera as well. In this case, the GS5 comes with a 16-megapixel sensor that features UHD recording capability and real-time HDR (both photos and video) and a couple new modes that were excited to review. Oh, and of course theres Selective Focus, which allows you to alter the focus of the shot after its taken.
This looks like its going to be big news in smartphones this year, but it looks a lot like a gimmick to me if the S5 is anything to go by, which is a shame when its such a tough task for the phone to process.
First, Samsung is introducing a selective focus feature thats much like Nokias Refocus Lens, in which you can change the depth of field on an image after its taken. Additionally, it also has "Shot & More," which is essentially your standard suite of best photo, eraser and drama; the GS4 had the ability to do these modes, but the difficulty was in the fact that you had to know exactly which mode you wanted to use before taking the shot, whereas now youll be able to sort those details out after the shot is taken so youre not wasting extra time. Lastly, theres also a 2.0-megapixel camera on the front.
The design philosophy behind this version of the Galaxy S involves a modern, glam look, and it even shows in the user interface. Its still very much a TouchWiz device, but it has a much different appearance than previous versions. It seems to be less in-your-face (again, a likely consequence of Googles intervention) with fewer tabs and menus. My Magazine is still around, but its now accessible by swiping from left to right, not down to up.
The rest of the phones stats wont come as any shock. The GS5 offers a top-of-the-line 2.5GHz Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, an IR remote, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+, Cat 4 LTE (up to 150Mbps down/50Mbps up) and your choice of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage; oddly, 64GB doesnt appear to be an option, though you can add up to 128GB via a microSD card if needed. All told, its very much a run-of-the-mill Galaxy S flagship, but there are enough new hardware features and software tweaks to make it feel fresh.
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