The next best is here. Many would argue and ask whether Samsung really did anything innovating? we do agree that there’s nothing Samsung can claim to bring first in the Galaxy S5, but the successful Galaxy series of flagship devices has got a pretty good successor with the Galaxy S5 having all one would be happy boasting about. Though we aren’t sure how much advantage would people take, of each of the feature newly provided in the Galaxy S5. Let me break this into the various aspects to tell you how good or bad the device is.
Externally, no comments. Samsung didn’t do much with the design as that is the same repetitive stuff. From the front, you won’t be feeling that this is the Galaxy S5, with the sensors being a little different. The back part is what Samsung always plays around with, as the Galaxy S4 had a textured back, while the Galaxy Note 3 had come with the faux leather back, but Samsung tweaked things a little, and placed a plastic one with the perforated look which although is smooth and comfortable in the hands, it doesn’t really look great.
The back area of the Galaxy S5 has the new camera with the flash, but there’s an addition which you can easily notice – a sensor which would record the heart rate. On the sides, it’s the same with the power key on one side, and the volume rocker on the other. On the bottom, there’s the MicroUSB connectivity port, with a cover on that, clearly giving you an indication that it protects from water and dust. That’s right, the IP67 certification. On the front, it’s the same home key but not with the same function, as you get the finger scanner beneath it for the screen unlocking and the payment authorizations, as it scans your fingerprint for the added security.
Samsung Galaxy Hands-on
Now here’s where Samsung has changed things quite a lot – the Interface. It’s the TouchWiz UI but there’s so many changes that you might be actually feeling better to see that the company worked a lot on making the interface better. Read below for the various new things you might notice in the interface.
- Download booster – this is something that takes advantage of both the LTE and the Wi-Fi 802.11 ac / MIMO connectivity to make the downloading even faster than it would be on one of the networks.
- My Magazine – throw away the Flipboard and such reader apps, as the My Magazine would do a pretty good job, and it always stays as a part of the home screen cluster. Swipe to the extreme left, and that opens the My Magazine app with the latest news.
- Geo News – this is a widget which would set your location and would track the information about the geo status of the location. The geo status includes the information of active wildfire, avalanche, dust storm, earthquake, extreme cold, extreme heat, flood, high winds, snow and ice, severe thunderstorms, winter storms.
- S Health 3.0 – a new version of the S Health app, which does a lot more than the previous version, thanks to the heart rate sensor as well as the pedometer.
- Settings – the settings section is very much changed, with the icons now arranged in a grid view and there are several sections under which you get to see loads of settings.
- Voice recorder – this one is available in all the smartphones, nothing new. But, the recorder looks neater and better with the large circle blinking in according to the depth of voice.
- Quick connect – the quick connect feature is something that would help you search and connect to all the nearby devices, without you having to toggle the options and search manually.
- Multiwindow – the Multiwindow feature would show itself from the left or right corner when the back button is pressed for long, and it would allow you to run two apps at the same time, occupying equal half sizes but you could change the size of both the windows.
Kids Mode
Something which many parents might love, and we too were pretty much impressed with it. Instead of just locking down everything, the Galaxy S5 gives a few apps when entering the kids mode, so that the kid enjoys the little time he has the phone in the hand. There are apps for drawing, camera with effects etc.
Finger Scanner
The finger scanner is something totally new for the Samsung’s devices range, and although one should claim that Samsung took inspiration from Apple for this, but still – a feature that is coming to good use, is good for the users (who cares if it is copied or is an original one from an innovative brain?). But talking about the scanner, it totally isn’t the best one. You have to swipe the finger down from the bottom of the display, continuing over the home button (which actually has the fingerprint scanner). It isn’t totally accurate, and the user might have to take time to learn where to properly swipe and register the fingerprint.
The Galaxy S5 Camera
Galaxy S5’s 16-megapixel camera is something very much upgraded from the Galaxy S4’s 13MP shooter, and this is assisted by the dedicated processor which makes things faster, and the brilliant autofocus in the S5’s camera does the focusing in just 0.3 seconds. The major features of the Galaxy S5s camera include:
- Burst shots
- Picture stabilization
- Face detection
- Metering modes
- Tap to take pics
- Selective focus
- Slow motion video recording
- Audio zoom
- HDR mode
But more than all these above listed ones, the one which took away our attention, was the 4K video recording. This is the third device in the MWC 2014 which we saw, having the 4K recording (the others were LG G Pro 2, Sony Xperia Z2). Although we did notice the couple of seconds lag before the recording starts and after it is done, but still if the quality is at question – the video was looking superb. Around 20 seconds of 4k video recording took around 130MB of storage, so one has to make sure they should be buying the 32GB version rather than the 16GB one if they make up their mind to purchase an S5.
Overall – I can’t give a verdict already, because there are a few areas where the S5 didn’t impress at all and a few features are pretty good, but we still have to do the benchmarking and the battery test to see how long it lasts. The full review would be up only when Samsung launches the device and makes it available in the market. Check out the Samsung Galaxy S5 availability details. There is also a confirmation through a sheet that the Galaxy S5 is coming in two variants, with one having the quad-core processor and the other one with an octa-core one.
If you are already interested in this smartphone, check out the various Samsung Galaxy S5 accessories.
