Samsung has finally launched the all-new Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone in Barcelona, Spain. We take a look at its design, features, specifications, price and release date.
After tons of rumors, speculations and conjectures, Samsung has finally unwrapped its all-new Samsung Galaxy S5 at the on-going Mobile World Congress 2014 (MWC).
Emphasized as a lifestyle product, the Galaxy S5 has brought forth some notable features and design updates. While, we all knew that the Galaxy S5’s display would be remarkable and that it’s guts would be powerful, we take a detailed look to see if the S5 packs in any ‘WOW’ factor and gives us some concrete reasons to upgrade.
Design
Samsung smartphones are known for their gorgeous screens and the S5 is no disappointment in that department. However, when it comes to the S5‘s housing, we can’t help but feel a tad disappointed.
For year’s now Samsung devices have stuck to a relatively cheap and plastic design even as its rivals the iPhone and the HTC Once have evolved into something even more sleek, experimenting with glass and metal surfaces to varying degrees of success.
Rumors of a Galaxy S5 with a metal unibody were among the earliest gossip about the new Samsung phone, but so far its hasn’t come true. The Galaxy S5 model unveiled on Monday is still plastic and customers will have to make do with yet, another plastic body Samsung phone for now, until the next iPhone 6 competitor arrives later this year.
On the bright side however, slight relief comes from that fact, that the back of the smartphone does not feature the flimsy plastic that is seen on the S4 or on the Note 3. Instead, it’s a perforated plastic, which might be a hit among some users, as it’s a lot more grippable and feels nicer in the hand.
Features
Thought the Galaxy S5 does not bring any innovative features forward, it does pack in some notable features such as the built-in heart rate sensor and improved camera specs. As expected, the smartphone device is water resistant in up to 3 feet of water, dust resistant and also includes, a fingerprint scanner like the iPhone 5S.
Furthermore, there is also the new power-saving mode that only displays black and white and restricts, which apps can run. This feature will prove to be helpful at the end of a busy day and when the device is running out of juice.
One of the main highlights of Samsung phones has been their beautiful screens and their size. The screen has steadily increased, since the 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) on the original S from 2010, while the iPhone made that jump to 4 inches only in 2012 and has stayed that way since. But with the S5, Samsung has pushed the screen to only 5.1 inches measured diagonally, from 5 inches in last year’s model. Instead of size, Samsung touted the new phone’s ability to adapt its screen to changing external conditions and to dim it to avoid disturbing others nearby.
Technical Specifications
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Galaxy S5 boasts of a 5.1-inch display and is powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core processor or an 8-core Exynos processor depending on the region and is paired with 2GB of RAM. Other features include, a 16 megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera and a 2,800mAh battery. Connectivity feats include LTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and on the software front, the device runs on Android 4.4 KitKat.
Price & Release Date
Samsung evidently is a religious follower of the Apple iPhone, but the South Korean maker won’t be able to pull the Apple-style one week turnaround for its Galaxy S5.
Supply chain sources and industry insiders suggest an official Samsung Galaxy S5 release date on April 11, 2014. Though the official pricing has not been revealed yet, we reckon the S5 to priced around 550 euros or 650 dollars or Rs 36,000 approximately.
The Samsung Galaxy 5S unfortunately, has not taken a complete departure from the previous generation of phones. It lacks the ‘WOW’ factor. Unless, you are unusually excited about a fingerprint sensor, its hard to see why anyone would go out of their ways to upgrade to this phone. That said, the biggest selling point of the S5 is the new water and dust resistant feature.
Overall, the Galaxy S5 has failed to the set any crucial benchmark for the year 2014.
And this has given us more reason to wait and see if Apple or HTC bring forth the next big thing in smartphones.
