This is the Galaxy S5 -- Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, now faster, waterproof, capable of capturing Ultra HD video and still very much a Galaxy.
Shown to Wired.co.uk ahead of its big reveal here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the S5 is a 5.1-inch, 145g, Android 4.4.2 KitKat-powered, 2.5GHz quad-core pelvic thrust right into the centre of the smartphone dancefloor. But is it enough to warrant applause?
Physically it looks a lot like the S4 -- its plastic construction still feels sleeker and smoother in contrast to Sony's rugged industrial designs. The Full HD 1,920x1,080 Super Amoled screen is 0.1 inches larger than the S4 (and we're expecting just a jot smaller than Sony's next flagship), although the rear now enjoys a faux leather feel versus the S4's plastic finish.
Processor and features
Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 801 processor powers the S5, with four cores clocked at 2.5GHz paired with 2GB of RAM. It'll come as little surprise that the device therefore feels snappy in the hand.
Samsung hopes several key features will keep the S5's head above the increasingly testing waters in the high-end Android pool.
Notably one is photography. The Galaxy S5 has a 16-megapixel camera that, alongside a simpler user interface redesign, includes two interesting features: real-time high-dynamic range (HDR) photography and video capture, and post-processing focus alteration.
Previously a photo could be captured with HDR settings but the effect -- better balances of very dark and very light areas of a photo -- was only applied after the shutter was released. Now the HDR effect is produced in real-time. It worked well in our hands-on demo, too. The option can also be applied to videos, meaning HDR 1080p video can be recorded on the S5.
And, this can be done underwater as well -- the S5 is water resistant. Ever wanted to take a camera into the sea and capture HDR video of a jelly fish? Or someone's undercarriage? Now's your chance. In fact you can record underwater video in Ultra HD 4K at 30fps.
The Galaxy S5 feature's a Lytro-like refocussing feature as well. With this setting switched on, the camera takes multiple photos at the same time when the shutter is released, each with a different focal point -- foreground or background, broadly speaking. After about five seconds of processing, the result is the ability to refocus a photo after the fact. There are only two settings -- again, foreground or background -- so sliding the focus back and forth doesn't seem an option.
Fitness and sensors
Fitness is another area the S5 addresses. A heart rate monitor has been added to the device just next to the rear-facing camera flash. Within the new S-Health 3 fitness app included on the phone, an option to take a heart rate reading is available. Place a finger over said sensor, wait a few seconds, and the phone logs your current heart rate. This can be viewed historically within the app alongside other information also captured by the device's motion sensors, such as steps taken, distance travelled and calories estimated to have been burned over a given period.
Other new features include a fingerprint sensor, which is built into the home button and used for unlocking the device or, at launch, authenticating a payment using PayPal thanks to a partnership the company has struck with Samsung. 802.11ac Wi-Fi sits alongside 4G LTE, but can be used in tandem to speed up downloads. In short, if a 4G connection with, say, 20Mbps of download bandwidth is available, but you're also connected to a Wi-Fi connection that also offers 20Mbps, the phone will be able to suck down files at a combined 40Mbps.
There's no question the S5 is an iteration on the S4, rather than a complete overhaul. But they're all iterations in strong areas. At our briefing for the Galaxy S4 we were told the then-new phone would let you scroll text up and down by tilting the phone.
This time we're told we can shoot HD videos with high-dynamic ranges applied in real-time, underwater. We'll let the reader decide which of those two announcements is more exciting.
The Galaxy S5 will go on sale in the UK on 11 April.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
