Sunday, 27 April 2014
Introduction
Every time the Samsung Galaxy S counter flips a digit, the world is getting ready to be amazed. The lineup that stood up to the iPhone and has been pulling Android to the very top of the food chain, is under new leadership effective last month, with Number 5 keen to prove its flagship worth.
Upgrades are all over the place: a faster chipset, a bigger screen, a couple of exciting new sensors (heart rate monitor and fingerprint scanner), with a vastly improved camera on top. The issue of the played out design is also taken care of and the S5 is treated to a new sort of finish, better than what the widely praised Galaxy Note 3 got.
Samsung Galaxy S5 official images
There's 4K video recording and a bigger battery - the list just goes on. We've tried to sum up the main things the Galaxy S5 has going for and against it below:
Key features
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; quad-band 3G with HSPA; LTE
- 5.1" 16M-color 1080p Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; Adobe RGB mode
- Android OS v4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI
- Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset
- 2GB of RAM
- 16 MP ISOCELL camera with phase-detect autofocus, 1/2.6" 16:9 sensor and LED flash
- 2160p video recording @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps, 720p @ 120fps
- 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
- Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA, Download booster
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
- 16GB/32GB of built-in storage
- microSD card slot
- IP67 certification for dust and water resistance
- Fingerprint scanner with PayPal payments support and private mode access
- microUSB 3.0 port with USB host and MHL 2.0; Backwards compatibility with microUSB 2.0
- Bluetooth v4.0
- NFC
- IR port for remote control functionality
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- Accelerometer and proximity sensor
- Heart-rate monitor
- IR gesture sensor for Air gestures
- Smart gestures: Smart stay, Smart pause
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- Ample 2,800mAh battery
Main disadvantages
- No OIS or dedicated camera key
- Rear-mounted mono speaker
- Poor video codec support out of box
It is a list that grows with every installment, but experience has taught us that there's more to a smartphone than the sum of its parts. When you're dealing with a flagship device of the Galaxy S5's caliber, you are always going to want more than premium design and software tricks that sound cool on paper.
It's the stuff that helps you get things done and skills you can't find anywhere else that seal the deal at this level. The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a name that's bound to get a lot of interest and plenty of exclusive features to make you want to give it a try. But the question we'll try to answer is will it convince you to spend your hard-earned cash.
Samsung Galaxy S5 live shots
Are the new, larger sensor and the first-of-its-kind phase-detect autofocus actually making a difference? Can the larger battery make up for the bigger screen and higher clock speed? And does the new finish work in real life or only makes good publicity? Those are just some of the questions will try and answer on the following pages and, as tradition goes, we start with the physical examination.
Join us after the jump.
Unboxing the Galaxy S5
The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes in a retail box made out of recycled paper with a wood grain print and a big "5". The contents are the usual - a compact charger, microUSB cable and a one-piece headset. Note that the cable is microUSB 2.0 even though the phone supports 3.0.
Unboxing the Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S5 360-degree spin
In terms of footprint the Samsung Galaxy S5 (142x72.5mm) sits right between its two main rivals - the LG G2 (138.5x70.9mm) and the Sony Xperia Z2 (146.8x73.3mm). However, factor in the thickness - 8.1mm for the Samsung handset vs 8.2mm for the Sony and 8.9mm for the LG - and you realize that the Galaxy S5 is overall the most compact of the bunch. Those other two have slightly larger, 5.2" screens but virtual keys eat into the available space, while the latest Galaxy flagship has off-screen buttons.
In terms of weight, the Galaxy S5 with its 145g is basically identical to the G2 (143g) and notably lighter than the Xperia Z2 (163g). The Samsung engineers did a great job of utilizing the available space and produced the best balance between screen size and portability.
Samsung Galaxy S5 sized up against the LG G2 and Galaxy Note 3
Design and build quality
To be honest, those first press images were less than overwhelming. We quite liked the faux leather rear on the Galaxy Note 3 and expected the Galaxy S5 to get a similar treatment.
Surprisingly, the latest Samsung flagship actually looks better than the phablet in person. The perforated back is stylish enough and, being the first of its kind, adds a bit of character that's quite important for a device hoping to be the best on the market.
Samsung has received a lot of criticism over the past few years for its unimaginative designs, but things have definitely been improving since the second half of last year and the Galaxy S5 is just another confirmation. The Koreans have even put a flap over the microUSB 3.0 port to mask the rather large hole, which would've spoiled the looks.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is certainly a looker
The build quality is great too - despite packing a removable back cover, the Samsung Galaxy S5 feel solid and gives away no worrying sounds when handled. And the IP67 certification hasn't resulted in overly plastic feel either, so we can give high marks here.
Samsung Galaxy S5 in White
The only problem we have with the new design and choice of materials is that they don't quite provide the same great level of grip as the Galaxy Note 3. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is still reasonably comfortable to handle, but just feels a tad of more slippery than its phablet stablemate.
Samsung Galaxy S5 in the hand
Controls
At first glance, the Samsung Galaxy S5's layout of controls isn't much different from what the Galaxy S4 offered. The now outdated context menu key has been replaced by a dedicated task switcher button on the left of the home key and that's about it.
However there is a trio of new major introductions that aim to become key selling points for the smartphone. The first one is the fingerprint sensor integrated into the home button just like on the iPhone 5s. Yet the manner of operation here is different and closer to the HTC One Max solution - you need to slide your finger over the key rather than just place it on top.
The home key now accommodates a fingerprint scanner
We find Apple's implementation faster and more intuitive, although it did pose accuracy issues for some users, including members of our team, over time. The Galaxy S5 accuracy seems excellent at this point, although we haven't had enough time with it to judge its long-term performance.
Up to three fingers can be set up to use for unlocking or authorizing payments through the PayPal app. At launch you can only do that in 26 markets - those include US, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
You can also use the fingerprint with Samsung services, but support for authorizing payments through Google services is yet to be added.
A cool feature of the fingerprint sensor is the special private mode, which will let you protect content on your Galaxy S5, only making it available after fingerprint unlock. This means you can safely share your phone with friends, co-workers and kids without compromising potentially sensitive information.
The other major novelty in the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the heart-rate monitor, which is located right next to the LED flash at the back. To use it you should hold the phone as you would normally with one of the fingers resting over the sensor and keeping steady for a few seconds. It works well on most occasions, although it occasionally failed to read any pulse whatsoever (even though we don't remember hiring any undead editors).
The rear-mounted pulse meter
The pulse meter is integrated with the S Health app and aims to help you keep a better track of your workouts and general physical condition. The thing is the location of the sensor and the fact that it requires you to keep perfectly still to work, means it's of hardly any use during your workouts and outside of that we didn't really have much incentive to use it.
Perhaps Samsung meant this as a way to promote the newly unveiled Gear lineup, which also packs heart rate monitors and works in a much more convenient way. On the Galaxy S5 however we didn't find it to be of much use.
The final upgrade the Samsung Galaxy S5 brings over its predecessor and its competitors is the microUSB 3.0 port. Samsung has been the only manufacturer to move to 3.0 for its recent flagships and this is the third device by the company to use it after the Note 3 phablet and the Note Pro 12.2 tablet. microUSB 3.0 brings faster data transfers while remaining backwards compatible, so you can still use your older cables when speed is of no object. There's the usual support for USB host and TV-out via MHL too.
The microUSB 3.0 port is tucked underneath a small plastic flap
The obvious downside is that the new port is much larger, with more pins than the old one, and creates a gaping hole on the surface of the device. Samsung found a way around it by placing a protective cover over it, sacrificing some usability in the name of better looks. The fact that the smartphone had to maintain the IP67-certification for dust and water resistance also played its role in making that decision, we guess.
Rubber isolation underneath the battery cover makes sure the internals aren't damaged by water
The rest of the controls are well familiar - above the display we have the earpiece, as well as a bunch of sensors. The traditional ambient light and proximity sensors are joined by an IR gesture sensor, which enables the Air gestures in applications such as the web browser and music player. There's also a 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls and a status LED up there.
The familiar set of controls above the screen
The left side of the Samsung Galaxy S5 features the volume rocker, while the power/lock key is on the right. Unfortunately, despite the proper camera upgrade that the Galaxy S5 got, the new flagship is still missing a dedicated camera key. You can use the volume rocker for snapping photos, but it can't quite match a two-stage button.
Once more we'll have to do without a dedicated camera key
The top of the Galaxy S5 features the 3.5mm audio jack, the secondary microphone and the IR blaster that lets the smartphone remotely control various home appliances. There's also a remote control app with a pretty rich database preinstalled, so the functionality is available right out of box.
The secondary microphone and the IR blaster join the 3.5mm jack on top
The primary microphone is alongside the microUSB port at the bottom.
The back of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is where the 16MP 4K-capable camera lens is located. The camera module uses a new larger 16:9 sensor and one-of-a-kind hybrid focus featuring phase detection in addition to the usual contrast detection akin to what interchangeable lens compacts offer. We'll test its performance in detail later on.
The LED flash and the loudspeaker grille are the other things to note at the back.
The redesigned back hosts the upgraded camera module and the loudspeaker grille
Removing the battery cover reveals the microSIM slot, the 2,800mAh removable battery and the hot-swappable microSD card slot.
The two card slots are under the back cover
An awesome display got even better
At first glance it might appear that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the first Samsung flagship that doesn't bring a major screen update. After a 5.1" Super AMOLED of 1080p resolution and 432ppi density sounds virtually the same as the 5" 1080p Super AMOLED panel that that the Galaxy S4 employed.
But that's only half the story - while the Galaxy S5 screen is only as sharp as its predecessor (you can't tell the difference at this point), its panel is completely redesigned. It offers higher brightness and more efficient backlighting as well as lower reflectivity, which means better contrast when there are strong light sources present.
The color rendering has also been tweaked and now the Cinema mode offers as true to life colors as any other smartphone on the market. Not that the Galaxy S4 wasn't close enough for most purposes practical, but the Galaxy S5 really makes the "LCD offers more natural colors" argument useless. And, as usual, Samsung offers more saturated screen modes if you prefer your images punchy rather than accurate.
This means that Samsung has taken what was an already impressive display and made it the best on the market. It's true that unlike most of its competitors, the company still employs a PenTile matrix, rather than a conventional RGB one, but the diamond arrangement introduced last year makes sure that results in no visible artifacts and, with pixel densities north of 400ppi, you can't take away points for sharpness either. You can only spot differences if you compare two panels side by side and look from so close that your eyes hurt, which is hardly ever going to be the case.
Our test brought another confirmation of the increased brightness of the new panel.
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |||
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 0 | 274 | ∞ | 0 | 529 | ∞ |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 | 0 | 201 | ∞ | 0 | 404 | ∞ |
| HTC One (M8) | 0.20 | 245 | 1219 | 0.46 | 577 | 1256 |
| LG G2 | 0.10 | 149 | 1522 | 0.45 | 667 | 1495 |
| HTC Butterfly S | 0.15 | 165 | 1117 | 0.43 | 451 | 1044 |
| Oppo Find 5 | 0.17 | 176 | 1123 | 0.51 | 565 | 1107 |
| Apple iPhone 5 | 0.13 | 200 | 1490 | 0.48 | 640 | 1320 |
Strangely enough, the sunlight legibility, while top-notch on its own, was only a little better than what we saw from the Galaxy S4. We were expecting an achievement near the very top of our chart, but the Galaxy S5 came slightly lower than that.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Nokia 808 PureView4.698
- Apple iPhone 53.997
- Samsung Galaxy Note 33.997
- Samsung Galaxy S53.549
- Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III3.419
- Nokia Lumia 9253.402
- Samsung I9505 Galaxy S43.352
- Samsung Omnia W3.301
- Samsung Galaxy S3.155
- Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114
Battery life
The Galaxy S5 screen isn’t much bigger than that of its processor (5.1″ vs. 5″), but it is brighter. The Snapdragon 801 chipset should also offer a big performance boost over the Snapdragon 600 of last year, but there are worries that this comes at the price of higher power consumption. Will the 200 mAh larger battery (2,800mAh vs 2,600mAh) make up for that?
Samsung has brought a new Ultra Power Saving mode, which disables most functionality and shows a simplified black and white homescreen, leveraging on the AMOLED screen. Yet, those fall outside the scoop of our dedicated battery life test as they limit the functionality of the smartphone severely and are generally for emergency use only.
As it turns out, however, the Galaxy doesn't need any such tricks to deliver excellent battery life - the smartphone posted an impressive endurance rating of 72h, handily beating the achievement of its predecessor. In the individual tests, the new Samsung flagship beat the Galaxy S4 by three hours more of talking and two hours more of web browsing, but scored an hour less for video playback. Still, considering that the screen is notably brighter at 50%, it really shows that Samsung has really improved its efficiency.
Latest TouchWiz on KitKat
The Samsung Galaxy S5 runs on the latest available Android 4.4.2 KitKat customized by the most recent incarnation of TouchWiz for smartphones. Samsung has added multiple features that increase productivity and enhance security.
The lockscreen no longer has widgets aside from a few special controls. More importantly, you can now fingerprint-secure it - the Galaxy S5 can be set to recognize up to three fingerprints. If those fail for some reason (e.g. wet fingers), the phone will ask for a password so you'll never get locked out.
The lockscreen
The homescreen features the My Magazine that displays both news articles and social networking updates. This is powered by Flipboard and you can enjoy your reads in a clean interface and send links to your friends or post social updates straight from the app.
My Magazine keeps you up to date with news and social networking updates
Categories (e.g. News, Business, Facebook) are displayed as tiles, each displaying its top article. You can reorder and hide the tiles. Once inside an article, you can browse more articles in that category with the familiar Flipboard effect.
There are regular homescreens too, with shortcuts, widgets and folders. If you want just those, My Magazine can be disabled completely.
The regular homescreens
The notification area is similar to what we've seen on Galaxy Pro tablets with its flat design and circular icons. The toggles work as usual and below them are two buttons (S Finder and Quick connect) and below that is the brightness slider, which can be hidden to save space, but you're stuck with the two buttons.
Notification area
There's a new feature called Recommended apps, which adds relevant shortcuts when an accessory is plugged, like the headphones.
Recommended apps
In the app drawer, icons are presented as a customizable or alphabetized grid and you can also view only the ones you've downloaded yourself. You can also disable some of the pre-installed apps so they won't take any RAM or appear in the app drawer. You can also hide icons to keep the drawer from getting cluttered.
The app drawer
The Galaxy S5 has an App Switcher button that calls up a custom switcher UI. As usual, you can go into the task manager for more advanced controls.
The app switcher and task manager
The Galaxy S5 comes with the Multi-window multitasking feature, which allows you to run two apps side by side. You can copy text between apps or snap a screenshot of one app and paste it in the other.
The new tray for Multi Window apps
If a pair of apps works well together (e.g. the browser and the email client) you can create a shortcut that launches both. Note that only select apps work with Multi-window but more can be found in the Play Store.
There are no floating apps here, but there's something called Toolbox - a floating icon that shows a list of shortcuts once tapped. This is a quick way to get to some of the most commonly used apps.
Toolbox is a floating drawer of favorite shortcuts
TouchWiz has many faces
The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a dedicated Car mode. It features four large shortcuts but you don't need even those as the phone goes into listening mode and you can dial, send texts ask for navigation instructions and control the music player without touching the screen.
Car mode is voice operated
Another special view is the Kids mode - it features colorful, kid-friendly graphics and limited functionality. There's a drawing app, gallery and media players, even a custom camera UI. Kids mode can handle multiple users, each with their own account. The app hides your photos and content. Only photos shot with the Kid camera are visible. The app also keeps track of how much each feature has been used.
Kids mode features dedicated apps with colorful, cartoony interfaces
That's not the only way to keep things private - Private mode secures photos and other files with your fingerprint (any of the three prints set up, with the password as a failsafe). Those files are only accessible when Private mode is enabled and completely hidden from apps otherwise.
Enabling Private mode and moving photos to a secure location
Note that this is completely separate from the lockscreen - you can have the insecure Swipe to unlock screen and still keep your files safe with Private mode.
The fingerprint scanner has been certified by PayPal and can be used by apps to secure transactions, unlike the iPhone's sensor, which cannot be accessed by third-party apps.
Samsung has enabled two power-saving modes as well. The first makes the screen black and white and limits the chipset speed. Optionally it can block background data too.
If you really need to make those last few percent battery charge last, you go to Ultra power saving mode. This one cuts off all advanced functions and even changes the homescreen to a simple one with big shortcuts (only 6 of them too).
This one also works with the Safety assistance feature. In case of an emergency, the phone will alert you to Geo News (e.g. extreme weather, earthquakes) and you get easy access to the primary contacts. Two buttons send "I need help" or "I'm OK" to the contacts.
The Ultra power saving mode is enabled to make the battery last as long as possible but with a different set of shortcuts - flashlight, emergency alarm and sharing your location get top spots on the homescreen.
The two power-saving modes • Emergency mode
Finally, there's Easy mode, which shows only a handful of large shortcuts on the screen. The step counter is also visible on the homescreen, so this mode is meant for when you're out on a run and aiming for tiny icons is too hard.
Easy mode simplifies the user interface
The Galaxy S5 also has the Smart screen features, Stay and Scroll. Air View is available too.
Motions gestures and Air View are available
Samsung's additions to Android are very helpful. Private mode in particular is something that will make even the iPhone 5s jealous, but we think Kids mode is well-executed too.
S Voice and Google Now
The Galaxy S5 features both Google Now and Samsung's S Voice.
Google Now integrates with your Google account and can access your daily routine, internet searches, email, etc. and give you information relevant to your interests and daily needs.
It provides traffic information to your work or home, knows the scores of sports teams you follow and gives you the weather forecast for your location. It's great for at-a-glance info, but can handle voice input as well.
Google Now
Google Now also has its own dedicated homescreen widget.
S Voice is meant for just voice commands. It can be used to dictate text, play music, open an app, change a setting, make a memo (including voice memo), add a reminder, schedule an event, set an alarm or timer, check the weather, do a search on the internet, look for local listings (e.g. nearby restaurants) and even get an answer to a question.
S Voice
Car Mode uses S Voice, so you should familiarize yourself with it even if you prefer Google Now, mostly to check if there are any options your didn't know about.
Synthetic benchmarks
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (MSM8974AC). Some clarification is due since not all 801 chipsets are created equal. The MSM8974 is the base Snapdragon 800 chipset, while MSM8974AB overclocks the GPU and gets the Snapdragon 801 badge.
The MSM8974AC goes a step further and clocks the CPU higher too. Also worth pointing out, on the KitKat software, Samsung has removed the benchmark detection and overclocking, so if the Galaxy S5 doesn't trounce the Galaxy Note 3 it's because it's showing real performance.
Surprisingly, Benchmark Pi isn't showing much difference between the Galaxy S4 and S5. We'll chalk this off to the benchmark being old as Linpack and Geekbench 3 show a definite improvement. Geekbench in particular puts the Galaxy S5 on top, while Linpack places it within a percent of Snapdragon 800 devices (some of which may have been engaged in benchmark-specific overclocking).
Benchmark Pi
Lower is better
- LG G Flex99
- Samsung Galaxy Note 399
- LG G299
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact104
- Sony Xperia Z1115
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra115
- HTC One (M8)121
- Samsung Galaxy S5128
- HTC One Max131
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)132
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)132
- LG G Pro 2141
- LG Nexus 5146
- HTC One151
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini166
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo183
Linpack
Higher is better
- LG G Flex1102
- Samsung Galaxy Note 31081
- LG G21054
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra1034
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact1010
- Sony Xperia Z11004
- Samsung Galaxy S5992
- HTC One (M8)992
- LG G Pro 2818
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)791
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)788
- LG Optimus G Pro743
- HTC One646
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini413
- LG Nexus 5393
Geekbench 3
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S53011
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact2968
- Samsung Galaxy Note 32937
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra2670
- Sony Xperia Z12638
- LG G Pro 22585
- Apple iPhone 5s2561
- LG Nexus 52453
- HTC One (M8)2367
- LG G Flex2254
- LG G22243
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo2172
- HTC One1972
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)1869
Compound benchmarks - Quadrant and AnTuTu 4 - show more confidence in Galaxy S5. Quadrant gives Samsung's new flagship a huge advantage over the S800 competition, and virtually on par with the HTC One (M8).
Quadrant
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S525044
- HTC One (M8)25035
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact21618
- LG G Flex20521
- Sony Xperia Z120388
- Samsung Galaxy Note 320052
- LG G Pro 220010
- LG G219815
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra18177
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)12446
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)12376
- LG Optimus G Pro12105
- HTC One11746
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo11404
- LG Nexus 58844
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini7153
AnTuTu 4
Higher is better
- HTC One (M8)37009
- Samsung Galaxy S536018
- LG G Flex35831
- LG G235444
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact34527
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo32162
- Samsung Galaxy Note 331109
- Sony Xperia Z130850
- LG G Pro 229603
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra29185
- Samsung Galaxy S427613
- HTC One26389
- LG Nexus 525097
When it comes to offscreen benchmarks, the High clock speed of the new Adreno 330 easily pushes it on top, but screen resolution has to be taken into account.
GFX Benchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
- HTC One (M8)28.4
- Samsung Galaxy S527.8
- Samsung Galaxy Note 326.3
- LG Nexus 523
- Sony Xperia Z123
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra23
- Apple iPhone 5s23
- LG G Pro 222.9
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact22
- LG G Flex22
- LG G222
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)17.1
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)17.1
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo15
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini6.4
GFX Benchmark 3.0 Manhattan (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S511.8
- HTC One (M8)11.1
- Samsung Galaxy Note 39.9
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact9
- LG G Pro 28.7
- LG Nexus 58.5
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo3.7
- Samsung Galaxy Grand 21.9
Lower resolution phones (720p or so) like the Xperia Z1 Compact and iPhone 5s climb on top, but as far as 1080p devices go, the Galaxy S5 is only matched by the HTC One (M8) on the GFXBench suite. Epic Citadel places it a bit lower though it's within a couple of percent.
GFX Benchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p on-screen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 5s37
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact34
- LG G Flex33
- HTC One (M8)30.1
- Samsung Galaxy S528.1
- Samsung Galaxy Note 326.7
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo25
- LG G Pro 224.1
- LG Nexus 524
- LG G223.1
GFX Benchmark 3.0 Manhattan (1080p on-screen)
Higher is better
- HTC One (M8)11.9
- Samsung Galaxy S511.7
- Samsung Galaxy Note 310
- LG G Pro 29.2
- Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.45
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo4.7
Epic Citadel
Higher is better
- HTC One (M8)59
- LG G Flex56
- Sony Xperia Z55.6
- Sony Xperia Z154.8
- LG G Pro 254.1
- Samsung Galaxy Note 354
- Samsung Galaxy S553.7
- LG Nexus 549.1
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo49
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)37.2
- Samsung Galaxy Grand 232
Samsung tweaked the stock Android browser, which clearly shows in the web benchmarks. The Samsung Galaxy S5 trades blows with the Apple iPhone 5s. Apple's iDevices have long set the standard in web performance, but screen resolution plays a role in BrowserMark 2 as the Galaxy S5 renders pages at over twice the resolution.
SunSpider
Lower is better
- Samsung Galaxy S5379
- Apple iPhone 5s403
- LG G Pro 2535.5
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo567.9
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3587
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra750
- HTC One (M8)780
- LG Nexus 5827
- Sony Xperia Z1845
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact855
- LG G2908
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)1046
- HTC One1174
BrowserMark 2
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 5s3549
- Samsung Galaxy S53529
- HTC One (M8)3213
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo3172
- LG G Pro 23048
- Samsung Galaxy Note 33041
- LG Nexus 52745
- LG G22718
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact2600
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)2438
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra2419
- Sony Xperia Z12398
- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini2314
- HTC One2262
So, is the new chipset worth it over the Galaxy S4 chipset? The Galaxy S5 is indeed faster than its predecessor in all relevant areas. Gaming performance is the headlining change here - the new phone offers significant advantages over the old one, which will enable more advanced games.
Overall performance has received a boost too, but you might not notice it in general usage where most apps are lightweight and fairly passive (say, a messenger). Still, if you have two heavier apps, the Galaxy S5 will run them side by side with Multi Window without breaking a sweat.
Dialer with Blocking mode
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has strong reception and in-call quality was clear and loud (even too loud perhaps at high volumes). The dialer is the familiar TouchWiz app and features all the basics - smart dial, quick dial and even a video call button.
Smart dial is available
The dialer is part of a tabbed app that also houses the Logs. Those are very detailed and show not only calls, but messages too and you can filter by various types of events (missed call, received message, etc.). There's even a search feature if you need to look up calls from just one number or contact.
The Logs tab • Call rejection
The Galaxy S5 features auto call rejection - it can reject all calls, only calls from specific numbers, all unknown numbers and so on.
Blocking mode is even more restrictive - it blocks incoming calls and silences notifications and alarms. Only contacts on the priority list will be able to get a call or a message through. Blocking mode can be set to turn on and off automatically during a certain time period (e.g. at night).
Blocking mode
We were worried that the water-proofing will have detrimental effects to the loudspeaker. While it is indeed quieter than the Galaxy S4, it's not by much and both phones make it to the Good category.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overal score | |
| LG G2 | 65.7 | 62.2 | 66.2 | |
| 65.5 | 62.0 | 65.8 | ||
| Apple iPhone 5s | 68.7 | 66.3 | 69.2 | Average |
| Nokia Lumia 1020 | 69.8 | 66.6 | 72.5 | |
| 66.9 | 66.6 | 75.7 | ||
| HTC One | 69.3 | 66.6 | 75.9 | |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 | 70.6 | 66.2 | 77.3 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | 70.5 | 66.6 | 78.0 | |
| 74.6 | 71.3 | 82.7 | Excellent |
TouchWiz phonebook
The list of contacts is displayed alphabetically and there's an alphabet scroll and a search field. Your contacts automatically get synced with your Google account and your social networks.
Contacts are listed by either first or last name, depending on preference. They can be filtered based on where they come from - SIM, phone, specific online accounts or any combination of those.
The Galaxy S5 contact manager • filtering contacts by origin
The advanced menu offers a few more options: edit contact, import/export, join contacts, send or print contact cards, get friends via social services, etc. You can edit contacts and assign custom ring and message tones and even custom vibrations.
Editing a contact
Messaging and text input
The Messages app has a row of shortcuts for the contacts you message most often and below that is the list of all conversation threads. Threads feels like a standard IM app and you can customize font size, the shape of the bubbles and the background.
Favorite contact shortcuts • options • customization options
This app handles both SMS and MMS and features a wide variety of smilies. Note that using smilies greatly reduces the number of symbols in a message - it drops to 70 and each smiley counts for two symbols (that's because they use the Unicode format rather than the GSM alphabet).
Writing a message • inserting a smiley • message options • changing font size
The Messages app has some cool features too - you can delay dispatch by 3 seconds (or up to 30), so you can cancel a message before it goes out. You can also schedule messages to be sent automatically (say, congratulations for a birthday).
The app also features spam protection - messages from specific numbers or containing specific phrases can be blocked. Safe mode will disable the feature that automatically makes links clickable and will scan them for potential threats.
Fighting spam • cancelling messages • being extra careful with links
You can set an Emergency message to go out to primary contacts when you hit the Power button three times fast. The phone can optionally take a photo (without making a sound) and send it along with the message.
Tap the Power key three times fast to send out an SOS
The Galaxy S5 comes with two familiar email applications out of the box - one for your Gmail and a generic app to use with any POP3/IMAP account.
The generic app handles multiple accounts from any email server and features a combined inbox. It has a spam filter and Delayed send options similar to those in the text message app. It has a Primary Senders inbox just like Gmail too.
The default email client • swiping between messages
Gmail is smart about categorizing messages and grouping them - e.g. all promotions go in a folder, all social network messages in another and so on, keeping the Primary folder clean and containing only the important stuff. The Gmail app can handle multiple Gmail accounts, but doesn't offer a combined inbox.
The Gmail app • swiping between messages
A couple of chat applications are preloaded on the Galaxy S5. Google's Hangouts does IM complete with group chat and sending photos, but it can handle video chat too. Google has turned it into its default SMS/MMS app.
There's also Samsung's proprietary ChatOn. It adds some social flare with a custom page for each user, which you can follow. This includes Facebook-style pages for sports teams and web sites rather than just individuals.
ChatOn mixes instant messaging with social networking
The Samsung QWERTY keyboard features a row of numbers above the letters and a rich set of features. You can enter text by swipe-typing (like Swype and others), as well as move the cursor or view all alternative symbols for a key (which can be great if you use special symbols a lot).
The default on-screen keyboard • continuous input
The button row has a quick dial-like feature where you press and hold a number to enter a preset phrase. This can be used for standard messages like "okay", "can't talk now" and so on.
A small floating keyboard is also available, which comes in handy with Multi Window as you can move it out of the way (and it takes up less space to begin with).
Assigning phrases to number keys • floating mini keyboard
The final two input methods are Voice input and the Clipboard view.
Voice input
Smart gallery
The gallery on the Samsung Galaxy S5 can be viewed by time or by album and filtered by several categories. Event is the basic view, which groups photos based on time and location, but it's the other modes that caught our interest.
The gallery can automatically filter all photos that have people in them, but it can do the same for pets, flowers, cars, scenery and even food. If you're the type to share what you're having for lunch on social networks, you'll be pleased to hear the app handles Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa out of the box.
The gallery • smart filters
Pinch zoom will change the size of the thumbnails and can also open and close individual photos. Batch operations are supported and that includes not just copy/delete but also image rotation.
Pinch zoom controls the thumbnail size
The single photo view has several shortcuts for sharing (via an app or over DLNA). The Quick Connect button in the notification area will scan for all ways you can share something in the Gallery with nearby devices.
You can easily edit images right in the Gallery itself. The new Studio option is quite powerful and can do anything from basic editing and photo collages to creating and trimming videos. It also handles the post-processing of Shot & more photos.
Editing a photo
The Gallery also supports highly customizable slideshows.
Desktop-like file manager
The My Files app organizes your files into categories - Images, Videos, Music, Documents, Downloaded apps, Recent files and even Dropbox files. The My Files app can move, copy, lock and rename files in bulk, even send multiple files to another phone. You can ZIP multiple files to be sent easier.
A desktop-like file manager
Feature rich, user-friendly music player
The TouchWiz music player on the Galaxy S5 is jam-packed with features and supports a wide variety of file formats, including FLAC.
Music is sorted by several categories and you can hide some categories you don't need. Folder view is available and so is scanning for DLNA servers (Quick Connect helps with this).
There's also the Music square - the phone scans your music library rating each track in terms of tempo (Exciting or Calm) and emotion (Passionate or Joyful). It can then load a playlist matching your chosen tempo and mood. The emotion axis in the graph can be switched to Age, which makes it easy to automatically create a playlist of classics or contemporary hits.
Browsing the music library • Samsung Music square
The Now playing screen gives you the usual options: timescroll, playback controls, an AllShare shortcut. A coverflow-like list of album art lets you know what the next song will be and is an easy way to skip right to it. The music player will also try to find the lyrics for the song you're listening to.
Now playing
Samsung has enabled several audio-enhancement features. The SoundAlive equalizer presets are cleverly organized into a square similar to the Music Square. The presets balance between Treble and Bass, Vocals and Instrumental. You can also just tap the Auto toggle or enable a Tube amp effect, 7.1 channel virtualization, along with Studio, Club and Concert Hall effects.
The advanced equalizer view gives you a proper seven band equalizer you can tune manually and enable additional effects like 3D, Bass and Clarity.
SoundAlive feature
The list of audio features doesn't end there. Smart volume will keep the sound level consistent across tracks, while Adapt sound tests the performance of your headphones and tunes the equalizer based on that.
While listening to a song you can find music controls in the notification area and the lockscreen.
Music controls in the notification area and the lockscreen
Video player lacks support for key codecs
The video player on the Samsung Galaxy S5 handles files from the local storage and DLNA-compatible devices. Chapter preview lets you jump to a specific scene.
Browsing the video collection • watching a video
Codec support is not great, however. Many videos we tried resulted in an "audio codec not supported" message and even some basic video codecs don't work (i.e. DivX). MKV, AVI (XviD) and MP4 videos do play, but anything beyond MP3 or AAC sound is a no go.
If subtitles are available, the video player will automatically find and load them. You can also manually load subtitles if the video and subtitle file names don't match.
Subtitle options
You can change the zoom mode (100%, fit to screen width and without affecting the videos aspect ratio) and there's a pinch zoom too, in case you want to get close to a specific part of the action. Instead of zooming in, you can zoom out and turn the video into a floating window with the familiar Pop Up Play feature.
Pop Up Window
The same SoundAlive audio-enhancing technology from the music player is available here too. There are additional settings for the brightness, playback speed and playing the audio over Bluetooth (if you have wireless speakers).
Additional settings
Splendid audio quality
The Samsung Galaxy S5 audio output is certainly among the cleanest we have ever seen a smartphone produce. Posting excellent scores top to bottom in the first part of our test, the Samsung flagship only let its stereo crosstalk spike a bit in the second one. That's some of the most accurate audio reproduction you can find on the market and one that should be good enough for even the most demanding audiophiles.
On the other hand volume levels, while good, are not quite among the best we've encountered. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is still going to be loud enough for the majority of users, but the HTC One (M8) holds a lead in that department.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | +0.02, -0.08 | -96.3 | 93.3 | 0.0017 | 0.0089 | -95.2 |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 (headphones attached) | +0.01, -0.08 | -96.3 | 93.3 | 0.0095 | 0.018 | -61.9 |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 | +0.03, -0.08 | -95.9 | 93.2 | 0.0030 | 0.0092 | -96.4 |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 (headphones attached) | +0.03, -0.08 | -96.0 | 93.3 | 0.0031 | 0.089 | -77.5 |
| HTC One (M8) | +0.04, -0.10 | -95.4 | 93.4 | 0.0012 | 0.010 | -93.2 |
| HTC One (M8) (headphones attached) | +0.04, -0.08 | -94.9 | 93.9 | 0.0014 | 0.018 | -79.7 |
| HTC One | +0.11, -0.14 | -92.4 | 91.2 | 0.0012 | 0.013 | -92.4 |
| HTC One (headphones attached) | +0.16, -0.07 | -92.1 | 90.9 | 0.014 | 0.055 | -70.8 |
| LG G2 | +0.03, -0.28 | -91.9 | 91.9 | 0.0097 | 0.011 | -91.3 |
| LG G2 (headphones attached) | +0.07, -0.03 | -91.5 | 91.8 | 0.037 | 0.041 | -54.3 |
| +0.09, -0.01 | -91.8 | 92.0 | 0.0063 | 0.012 | -89.9 | |
| +0.01, -0.15 | -91.7 | 91.7 | 0.098 | 0.049 | -45.6 |
Samsung Galaxy S5 frequency response
You can learn more about the whole testing process here.
Improved 16MP camera
The Samsung Galaxy S5 features a 16MP camera and is the first phone to use an ISOCELL sensor. It's a large sensor too, 1/2.6". For comparison, the Lumia 1520 / 929 Icon sensor is 1/2.5" and the Sony Xperia Z2 sensor is 1/2.3".
Better still, it's a 16:9 sensor so widescreen photos use the full sensor, while the Galaxy S4 camera loses nearly 4MP to cropping. Phase Detection Auto Focus promises very fast focus locks and from our testing it delivers - the Galaxy S5 is both faster and more accurate than the HTC One and iPhone 5s.
The interface has been mildly redesigned and is closer to the classic camera UIs. There's a column of shortcuts on the left, the middle two of which are customizable. All settings are collected into a grid of shortcuts so you can access everything easier.
The new camera interface • all settings
The Mode button has been simplified too, it's now just a scrollable list at the bottom. Several options have been combined into Shot & more - Best photo, Best face, Drama shot, Eraser and Panning shot.
Mode selection • color effects
A new mode is Virtual tour shot, which is similar to panoramas except you can move forward, turn left or right, move some more. The result is an animation of your camera movement, the phone will even draw a map with your path. More modes can be downloaded too.
Selective focus is another cool new mode. It takes two shots and processes them so you can photograph a close-up subject and blur the background or blur the object and keep the background in focus. The third option is everything in focus, here's how those options look.
The processing isn't perfect, but the upside is that this mode is very quick.
Selective focus: all in focus • near focus • far focus
A quick note on Virtual tour and Selective focus shots - they produce a single JPG file that's easy to share. When viewed, it appears as a single photo, but you'll need a compatible Galaxy device to view the additional functions (refocus or play the virtual tour). As a result file sizes are pretty big too.
We wish Samsung enabled an option to export virtual tours to videos so they'll be much easier to share.
Image quality
We set up an impromptu shootout between the Samsung Galaxy S5 and several other phones we had laying around in our office. For still image quality, we're pitting it against the LG G Pro 2, Nokia Lumia 1520 and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.
We've prepared 100% crops and after those you'll find the full resolution images.
The first crop looks at the textured exterior of a building. The Samsung Galaxy S5 captures the most out of the texture although it also over-sharpens the most. The Nokia Lumia 1520 clocks in second with good detail and the least visible signs of processing. The LG G Pro 2 does fairly well too. The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact photo features a good deal of noise, which shouldn't be mistaken for detail. All phones are off when it comes to white balance, each in its own way.
Samsung Galaxy S5 • LG G Pro 2 • Nokia Lumia 1520 • Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
The second crop focuses on a distant detail and the Galaxy S5 comes out on top again - the writing and the foliage appears the sharpest, but colors are oversaturated and oversharpening is noticeable again. Here the LG G Pro 2 snatches a point from the Nokia with marginally more detail. The Sony Xperia camera once again shows a lot of noise, but did better with the detail this time, matching the Galaxy S5 in that aspect.
Samsung Galaxy S5 • LG G Pro 2 • Nokia Lumia 1520 • Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
We also wanted to find out how the switch to 16:9 aspect ratio has affected the Field of View (FoV) on the Galaxy S5 camera. It's as wide as Xperia Z1 Compact, though that one has a vertical advantage. Unless you're using a 16:9 mode, such as Superior auto, then both are equal.
We also tested how the phones perform in low light. The ISOCELL tech is supposed to reduce the noise in the dark, let's see how it stacks up against the super-sampling of the Lumia 1520 and the Superior auto mode of the Xperia Z1 Compact.
The first batch of photos were taken with the flash off. Here the bigger sensor of the Nokia has an advantage after the super-sampling does its work, which helps reduce the noise from the high ISO (640). The optical image stabilization helped keep the shutter open longer too (1/24s).
The Samsung Galaxy S5 did fairly well here too with a faster shutter speed (1/33s) and lower ISO (320). The lack of OIS limits exposure time. That didn't help the LG G Pro 2, which was optimistic with the shutter speed (1/16s) and ISO (200). That said, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact redeems its poor performance earlier despite the even more aggressive settings (1/16s, ISO 64).
Samsung Galaxy S5 • LG G Pro 2 • Nokia Lumia 1520 • Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
We enabled the flash and took a new series of photos. The flash allowed the Galaxy S5 to halve the ISO setting at the same shutter speed, which did bring in more detail. The more powerful flashes of the Lumia 1520 and LG G Pro 2 result in a more noticeable improvement with the Nokia coming out on top. The weak flash of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact didn't do much for it.
Samsung Galaxy S5 • LG G Pro 2 • Nokia Lumia 1520 • Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Here are some Galaxy S5 photos collected in one place for convenience.
Samsung Galaxy S5 camera samples
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has HDR mode too. The ISOCELL technology promises to increase dynamic range, but the dedicated mode pushes things further. Samsung has consistently been among the HDR mode top achievers and the Galaxy S5 is no exception.
It adds detail to both highlights and shadows and does a great job of hiding artifacts like ghosting. The effect is a bit too strong for our tastes (HDR always reduces contrast), but it works great overall.
HDR test: off and on
Galaxy devices also take some very high resolution panoramas. The Samsung Galaxy S5 does 60MP photos and the level of detail is pretty amazing. The stitching is very accurate too.
Panorama sample taken with the Samsung Galaxy S5
To summarize, the Samsung Galaxy S5 camera is an excellent all-rounder. Photos taken in daylight have a commendable level of detail and, while processing comes on a bit strong, it shouldn't be visible unless you're viewing photos at 100%.
For low-light shots, the Galaxy S5 finds a good middle-ground - it's not as good as the Nokia Lumia 1520, but produces perfectly usable shots.
Finally, the additional modes do great with quality HDR and high-resolution panorama.
Photo quality comparison
The Samsung Galaxy S5 camera produces great photos for the 16MP league - follow the links to our tool to compare the device to the other smartphones we've tested.
Samsung Galaxy S5 in our Photo Compare Tool
Video quality is amazing
The Samsung Galaxy S5 can record 2160p videos at 30fps (in this mode some features are disabled), 1080p at 30fps and 60fps. There's also a 120fps slow-motion mode at 720p.
Videos are stored in MP4 files with bitrate varying by mode. 1080p @ 30fps videos are still captured 17Mpbs, 60fps mode goes up to 28Mbps, while 2160p videos are at a whopping 48Mbps. That means a short 30 second video grows to 180MB - be mindful of that if you're recording a video you want to share later.
In any case, sound is recorded in stereo at a bitrate of 128Kbps and a sampling rate of 48kHz.
The video camera doesn't have as many fancy shooting modes as the still camera, but dual shot is available and you can do time lapse videos. The time lapse videos can speed things up to 8x, with resolution and frame rate remaining at 1080p @ 30fps (time lapse actually requires less processing power than regular video capture).
Touch focus is available before and during video recording and you can switch back to continuous autofocus if you prefer. There's also digital zoom available up to 4x and the quality is pretty good even at the highest level.
Videos shot with the Samsung Galaxy S5 offer stunning detail, especially if you shoot them at 2160p. Noise levels are low, color accuracy is good and there are few traces of aggressive post processing (unlike with the still camera).
The same goes for the 1080p video mode too - obviously you don't get as much detail, but the much smaller file size and better compatibility (many computers can't play 2160p properly, especially when it's in a Flash container) make us think this mode will be used the most.
We swapped the Xperia Z1 Compact with a Galaxy Note 3 and made crops from 2160p videos, except for the Lumia 1520, which shoots 1080p only.
Here the Galaxy S5 comes clean ahead of the second in line, the Galaxy Note 3.The levels of detail are comparable, with a slight advantage for the S5 but in reality the difference is bigger as the Galaxy S5 has a much wider field of view (FoV).
The FoV of the LG G Pro 2 is a bit wider than that of the Note 3, but the image appears softer.
Here's a comparison of the FoV of the four cameras:
Video quality comparison
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is one of the few 2160p-enabled cameraphones in our database, but they are becoming more common with recent releases. The resolution chart (third one) shows an image quality that will give 8MP still cameras a run for their money. Image quality in good light is stunning, though compression artifacts start to creep in the shadows. In low light, most of the fine detail is gone, we'd go with 1080p in the dark.
Samsung Galaxy S5 in our Video Compare Tool
Rich connectivity has it all
The Samsung Galaxy S5 features extensive connectivity options, but do note that LTE is market dependent. Without it, the phone can do 42Mbps downlink and 5.76Mbps uplink, with it those values jump up to 150Mbps / 50Mbps.
Local connectivity also includes Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac support, with 2.4GHz and 5GHz band compatibility. Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA support are also available.
A feature borrowed from the iPhone (which later dropped it) is called Download booster - files over 30MB are downloaded over LTE and Wi-Fi simultaneously. This also works for native apps that have been set to use Wi-Fi only, but not for third party apps.
Download boosted speeds up downloads
Bluetooth 4.0 + LE is also available (it's used on all new smartwatches and other wearables), plus there's ANT+ for additional sports gadgets. NFC is available for quick pairing, with Android Beam and S Beam handling file transfers.
GPS and GLONASS receivers are available for accurate location info.
There is a microSD card slot as well, on top of the 16/32GB of inbuilt storage. All that storage can be filled quickly enough thanks to the microUSB 3.0 port. It's backward-compatible with microUSB 2.0 if you don't happen to have a USB 3.0 cable around.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 also supports USB-on-the-go, but you will need to buy an adapter for that. TV out is available too, if you have an HDMI adapter and the phone can output surround sound. Wireless screen mirroring is available too.
The Galaxy S5 can output surround sound
An IR blaster allows the phone to control a TV using Samsung's Smart Remote app. The app can also handle disc players, AV receivers, streaming media boxes and even air conditioners. Once you set it up, its controls will be available on the lockscreen.
Smart Remote will tell you what's on TV and change the channel too
If you have certain Samsung or HP printers, you can wirelessly send photos, documents and other things (e.g. web pages, contact information) to be printed too.
Web browser
The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with both the stock Android browser (customized by Samsung) and Google's Chrome. Both support Multi-window, but only the stock browser supports Air View.
Browsing GSMArena.com on the Samsung Galaxy S5
Anyway, the interfaces of both browsers are virtually identical. Both show favorite web sites on their new tab page and can sync bookmarks and open tabs across devices. The browsers handle multiple tabs (with Incognito mode), but in Chrome you can switch between tabs by horizontal swipes from the side, which is pretty handy.
Voice input is available if you don't feel like typing up a query.
Chrome is also available out of the box
Air view, Smart scroll and Smart stay all work in the browser, the first of which lets you simply hover your finger over a web element and it will act like mouse-hover, which is great for websites not optimized for mobile devices.
Note that Chrome has an option to reduce traffic by compressing web pages on Google's servers before they are sent to the device, similar to how Opera's Turbo mode (and Opera Mini) work.
Flash is no longer welcome as even the stock browser has dropped support for plug-ins.
S Apps
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a number of features that enhance the security of your data. There are basics like encrypting the phone and the external memory card in addition to the more selective Private mode option.
There's also Find my mobile out of the box. It has remote controls so you can reset and lock the device if you lose it and check its location on a map. Once reset, you can prevent the phone from being reactivated. The phone can send out a message the moment a new SIM card is inserted.
There's also a backup function that keeps your phone logs, messages, wallpaper and several other settings backed up in the cloud.
Cloud backup • Find my mobile
S Health has gotten even more advanced. The step counter is always working in the background, keeping track of how many calories you've burned. For more accurate measurements, the Galaxy S5 also features a heart rate monitor.
S Health tracks your exercise and heart rate
You just press the tip of your finger against the sensor (below the camera, next to the flash) and in a few seconds you see the reading. For continuous readings, you can pair the phone with a Gear smartwatch or a dedicated sensor made by Samsung, Timex or Garmin.
Besides the basic pedometer, S Health can also track running, cycling and hiking. Goals can be set based on distance, time or calories. During an exercise the app can play music and report your progress out load.
Starting a workout
Having burned up some calories, you can tell the app what you've had to eat in great detail. The app has extensive lists of various foods and their energy value. Calories - both eaten and burned - can be tracked on graphs by hour, day and month.
Detailed log of what you eat
You can share your workouts with friends (including photos) if you're the competitive type. You don't have to take the Galaxy S5 on a run with you either, a Gear device can take the readings, which will be synced with S Health.
While S Health is quite advanced, third party apps can integrate with it and provide even more comprehensive exercise tracking though there are none as of yet.
Standard organizer
While it wasn't preinstalled, the Polaris Office 5 is available as a free download from Samsung Apps. Just go to the Galaxy Essentials category (there you'll find other useful apps too). Anyway, Polaris has a clean interface and does both viewing and editing of Office documents.
The Polaris Office editor hands Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents
The Android calendar has been replaced by S Planner (as usual). It features six different views: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, list and tasks. For the month view, events on the selected day are listed in a panel on the right.
S Planner calendar
Adding a new event is quite straightforward and you can also set an alarm to serve as a reminder. Multiple online calendars are supported and they can be color-coded for easier recognition.
A calculator, voice recorder and a memo app are available out of the box.
Calculator app • memo taking app
The Alarm app is quite advanced too. Each alarm has its own tone, snooze and repeat settings. It also features Smart alarm, which rings quietly, slowly turning the volume up for a less stressful wakeup. The app also features a world clock, stopwatch and a timer.
The Alarm clock
Google Maps and Navigation, where available
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a GPS/GLONASS receiver. A-GPS can speed this up quite a bit, but requires Internet access. The barometer speeds up GPS locks even without a data connection. If rough positioning will do, Cell-ID and Wi-Fi positioning are on it. Wi-Fi positioning can work even if Wi-Fi is disabled or you can turn this off to save battery.
The Galaxy S5 comes with Google Maps and Navigation. Voice-guided navigation has become a viable solution already. The public transport option can be very useful too.
Maps show alternative routes and you can see alerts if there are any issues down the road like construction zones, traffic jams and so on. Google's Waze purchase is paying off.
Google Maps with advanced routing options
The app also supports the Street View mode, allowing you to see the landmarks you're looking for before you set off. That makes them much easier to find when you arrive.
Street View
Google Play and Samsung Apps
The Google Play Store features several scrollable tabs - categories, featured, top paid, top free, top grossing, top new paid, top new free and trending. Apps usually have several screenshots (some even offer a demo video) so you can get an idea of what the app looks like before installing it.
Google has added a small "designed for phones" warning for apps that don't have tablet interfaces. Those can look bad on the large screen, so it's nice to be forewarned.
The Google Play Store will give you access to hundreds of thousands of apps
Samsung has naturally made its own Apps store available. It features largely the same type of interface as Google Play, except here you'll find far fewer apps. The good news is Samsung uses this repository to distribute some exclusive titles and some promotional offers, available only to its customers. Also, you can use your fingerprint to simplify and secure access to Samsung Apps.
Samsung Apps store
Final words
The Samsung Galaxy S5 polarized opinions at its very launch - it's inevitable when a device has so much to live up to. Yet, you don't need to look any further than the stats on our homepage to know the name of the latest star commanding the interest of our readers.
The question is which of the two camps you are in. Were the critiques justified or was it just the usual exercise in hating what's trendy?
We certainly can't agree with those who slammed the design as being ugly and unimaginative. Quite the opposite - it's the prettiest Galaxy S to date and one that looks different from everything else on the market. Granted, this is strictly a matter of taste and not everyone will go crazy about the perforated leather back, but no one will deny either that the build quality is up to flagship standards.
Now let's look at the upgrades the Galaxy S5 brings. Given that looks were one of the main reasons to bash the Galaxy S4, the refreshed styling alone should make a pretty big difference. Yet the new feel doesn't end there - you also get a brand new Snapdragon 801 chipset to take over from the tiring Snapdragon 600 and lead the field once more.
There's also the tangibly better stills and 4K video recording, which put the Samsung Galaxy S5 in the running for the cameraphone title. The fingerprint scanner, while offering little real-world benefits at this point, is implemented very decently and will only grow in worth as more and more developers and markets start to embrace it.
Then there's the IP67 certification, which means your heart no longer has to skip a beat when you get your expensive new smartphone wet. It's one of those features you certainly won't need every day, but one that's more than welcome in certain scenarios.
The software has also taken yet another step forward and TouchWiz is now more polished than ever. There aren't a whole lot of new features this time as Samsung has focused more on improving old ones and offering just a couple of novelties.
The Kids mode may be just a response to what competition already has, but no one can deny the convenience, while private mode adds a whole new dimension to the fingerprint sensor. Most importantly however, the flow of the UI is somewhat simplified this time and it's even easier to get stuff done.
There are of course, some aspects of the Galaxy S5 that end up on the wrong side of the grading scale. The heart-rate monitor, while working well, left us feeling that it makes more sense on a Gear smartwatch than the back of a smartphone. Also, the absence of a proper shutter key is even harder to forgive now that the camera is so good. And, finally, two of the Galaxy S5 direct rivals are now offering front-mounted stereo speakers, so the solitary speaker at the back is hardly winning the Samsung flagship any points.
All things considered, however, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is more than ready to fill in the big shoes of its predecessor. Even though this is the first Galaxy S smartphone not to bring a substantial upgrade in the display department, it offers enough elsewhere to feel vastly superior to the Galaxy S4. And pushing beyond 1080p is unlikely to produce anything but extra battery and GPU strain.
With that settled, let's have a look at how the Samsung Galaxy S5 stands in comparison with its main rivals.
The HTC One (M8) is, of course, the first name that springs to mind, being the latest flagship to be officially announced and the first to hit stores in high volumes. The smartphone brings a one-of-a-kind aluminum unibody that's probably the prettiest in business, but is led down by its Duo camera, which is mid-range material at best. Stereo speakers also count in favor of the One (M8), but its software backing in the face of Sense 6.0 can't quite match the versatility and functionality of TouchWiz.
HTC One (M8)
The Sony Xperia Z2 is the other big name on the list, having debuted alongside the Galaxy S5 at the MWC last month. Second generation on, Sony has one of the hottest bodies in business, this time with a pair of front stereo speakers too, but perhaps a little bit more screen bezel than becomes a flagship. The two are pretty evenly matched elsewhere, but their software packages are quite different.
While the Xperia Z2 goes for a more vanilla Android look and prefers to add apps, rather than UI features, the TouchWiz covers the underlying OS head-to-toe adding a few exclusive extras in the process. Which approach will work better for you depends mostly on what you look for in a smartphone UI.
Sony Xperia Z2
The LG G2 is six-months old now, so the very fact that it's still in the running is as good a compliment as they get. Packing a slightly less powerful chipset and a bit inferior (but still great OIS-enabled) camera, the G2 is a proper Android flagship and one that, thanks to its lower price, provides the best value round these parts of the market. It's no longer quite the best, but it's not short of exclusive features either.
LG G2
The Galaxy S5 is a beast of a smartphone and with Samsung's nearly unlimited resources to spend on marketing, it will be a miracle if it doesn't become the season's bestseller and break the records of its predecessors. And the good news is that it's got enough to offer that will bolster the brand image rather than just live off it.
Long story short, the five-star experience is there. The markup from the previous generation isn't as high perhaps as some may've hoped but that's what the other new flagships have to live with too. The best smartphone title is Samsung's to lose - now, that's tough - but the Galaxy S5 is saying: "Not on my watch."
content courtesy:www.gsmarena.com
content courtesy:www.gsmarena.com
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Nice and quite informative post. I really look forward to your other posts.
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