Samsung has finally unveiled their Galaxy S5 device, during a keynote at the Mobile World Congress 2014 from Barcelona, Spain.
This is a release that many people have been eagerly anticipating. The latest in the very popular Galaxy line, rumors have been fluttering around the internet for weeks about what features we might expect.
According to the company, they have focused more on “what matters to consumers”, and gone back to more basic features than their last several devices. Given their penchant for being the latest to offer capabilities no one really wanted but sound cool, this is a refreshing change.
Among those features are a 16 MP camera that will be among the highest quality in a smartphone on the market, with a new interface and menu for editing, saving and sharing photos and video. What’s interesting here is that Samsung promises world’s fastest auto-focus speed (with up to 0.3 seconds) and an advanced High Dynamic Range (HDR).
The design is apparently different, but there isn’t that huge of a change. It has a 5.1″ 1920 x 1080 resolution screen, it is fairly thin, and it features a studded backing that is pretty interesting. Under the display, there’s a new home key button that has a fingerprint scanner and capacitive keys for multitasking and back button.
The hardware is also what we have come to expect, with a 2.5GHz quad-core processing chip, 2 GB RAM, and 16 or 32 GB storage with an extension of up to 64 GB with a microSD slow. It runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and Samsung’s user interface.
Consumers are looking for mobile tools that inspire and support them as they improve their everyday lives, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division JK Shin said.
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.
Interestingly, Samsung is continuing their quest to be the fittest of all smartphones. They have put a focus on providing tools for people to remain healthy and get in shape. The S Health 3.0 provides a thorough fitness tracker, diet tracker, pedometer, and other apps. It also has a built in heart monitor.
I am not entirely certain why Samsung is so obsessed with providing fitness attachments to their phones. Maybe the CEO was overweight as a child and is compensating. But the heart rate monitor is admittedly cool, even if the other features in that area can be done with an app already.
As for the rest of it, this will be yet another solid, high performance smartphone from Samsung. The problem is that we don’t have any detail about its price so this could either cost $100 or $2000. Or maybe they are planning another keynote for this, since the phone is scheduled to hit stores on April 11th.
Source: Samsung
