Samsung's next-generation flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, was officially announced by the company at the Mobile World Congress trade show on Monday, and the handset will compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone 5s by sporting its own fingerprint sensor.
Samsung's response to Apple's Touch ID also sports a fingerprint scanner under the home button, allowing users to unlock their handset and access private data stored on the phone. Samsung has also partnered with PayPal to enable mobile payments with its fingerprint scanner.
Unlike Apple's Touch ID, which simply requires that users press their finger against the home button for it to be scanned, Samsung has employed technology that requires a "swiping" motion to read a print.
The redesigned handset also has a "perforated" polycarbonate exterior on the back, while the front of the device is a 5.1-inch display at a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, powered by a 2.5-gigahertz quad-core processor and two gigabytes of RAM. The Galaxy S5 is also IP67 dust and water resistant. The device runs Android "KitKat" version 4.4.2.
Samsung's fifth-generation Galaxy S device is also focused on health and fitness, and includes a personal fitness tracker to help users monitor and manage their behavior, not unlike the step tracking M7 coprocessor found in Apple's iPhone 5s. However, Samsung has also included applications that can record diet and exercise records, and the device also has a built-in heart rate monitor that can be used to measure a user's pulse.
The new heart rate monitor is located on the rear of the device, next to the camera's flash. Users must place their finger on the sensor to have it measure their pulse.
To that end, Samsung has also announced a separate wearable device dubbed the Gear Fit, a smaller wrist-worn accessory that connects with the company's ecosystem of devices.
As for camera specifications, the Galaxy S5 has a 16-megapixel shooter that is accompanied by an enhanced menu and user interface. Samsun also claims that it has the world's fastest autofocus speed, getting a shot in focus in up to 0.3 seconds.
Another new feature introduced by Samsung is the Ultra Power Saving Mode, which turns the display to black and white, and shuts down all unnecessary features to minimize battery consumption. Samsung says battery life with the Galaxy S5 is improved by 20 percent over its predecessor.
Finally, for wireless connectivity, the Galaxy S5 sports high-speed LTE, as well as 802.11ac next-generation Wi-Fi. A new "Download Booster" is also said to improve download speeds by using LTE and Wi-Fi simultaneously.
"With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers," said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. "Consumers are looking for mobile tools that inspire and support them as they improve their everyday lives. The Galaxy S5 represents an iconic design with essential and useful features to focus on delivering the ultimate smartphone on the market today through people inspired innovation."
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is set to launch around the world in April.
236 Comments
Here's the Verge's initial take on the finger print scanner: http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/24/5441668/samsung-galaxy-s5-announcement-launch [QUOTE]Less successful is Samsung’s take on the fingerprint-unlock system made popular by Apple with the iPhone 5S. Like the 5S, the S5’s home key features an integrated fingerprint scanner, which can be used to unlock the phone or authenticate purchases online (Samsung is partnering with PayPal to enable this feature, though it doesn’t validate purchases from the Google Play Store). Samsung’s version requires a vertical swipe over the home button to activate the scanner, and we found it to be quite unreliable and virtually impossible to activate when holding the phone in one hand. It can store up to three different digits, but it was very particular about the speed and orientation of the swiping motion used — if we weren’t doing a perfectly straight swipe down, it would refuse to unlock the phone.[/QUOTE] And mock of gold phone From [URL="https://twitter.com/JoannaStern/status/438027962663710720"]Joanna Stern[/URL]: [Img]http://i.imgur.com/hqBMiJK.jpg[/IMG]
It's very nice to see Samsung avoiding new software gimmicks. Everything they added this year appears to be useful.
U-G-L-Y...you ain't got no alibi, you ugly uh uh you ugly! That has got to be one of (if not THE) ugliest phone I've seen. Who'd they copy that from?
Iconic design ??? %uD83D%uDE33
5.1".... does it come with a wall mount?