Samsung India has announced the new Galaxy S5 smarthone in India. We had an opportunity to check out the Galaxy S5 again and spent some time trying out the device. We last checked out the Galaxy S5 at the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona (Spain) last month. For India, Samsung has introduced the 16 GB Galaxy S5 model which will be sold from April 11 in India at a price ranging between Rs 51,000 to Rs 53,000.
The Galaxy S5 smartphone arrives with a design that will remind you of the Galaxy S4. Compared to the Galaxy S4, Samsung has packed a faster processor, better camera, larger battery and introduced couple of new sensors.
Specs
Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a 5.1 inch touchscreen with full HD (1920×1080 pixels) resolution. This Super AMOLED Display has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The handset comes in 16 and 32 GB internal storage variants but the best thing about it is that one can even use a micro SD card of up to 128 GB capacity in its expandable storage slot.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has powerful hardware including 2.5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad core Processor and 2 GB RAM. It is based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat version.
It has has a 16 megapixel rear camera with claimed autofocus speed of 0.3 seconds and an advanced High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode. Besides, it can shoot 4K videos. There is a 2 megapixel front camera in Galaxy S5 as well.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 also comes with fingerprint sensor. According to Samsung, it can recognise three fingerprints and it takes eight swipes to register the same instead of holding your finger on a certain place.
Though this nano SIM based Galaxy S5 is not compatible with India’s 4G network it has many connectivity features including fifth generation 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Infrared port, micro USB 3.0, USB on the go, DLNA, and WiFi Direct. It has a 2800 mAh removable battery.
Look and feel
In terms of design there is no eye popping changes in Samsung Galaxy S5 as compared to S4. It looks quite similar to its predecessor and has a plastic body. It has a removable back panel that has a texture of little pores that gives decent grip. It will be made available in four colours – blue, gold, white and black.
In terms of new additions, just above select button on the display screen there is a finger print sensor just like in the iPhone 5S. To use it, one simply need to place his finger on it and swipe it downwards. It can be used for locking the phone as well as to authenticate online transactions.
Samsung Galaxy S5 has water resistance capability for a short period of time and is dust-proof as well. To deliver these features Samsung has rubber sealed the back panel and USB port.
Another interesting addition in Galaxy S5 is the heart rate sensor which is placed just below the rear camera. It can monitor your heart rate when you place a finger on it. At present it works only with a pre-installed fitness App on the phone.
Display
The Galaxy S5 uses a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with full HD Resolution which is not much different from that of S4 except that it is bigger by 0.1 inch. As it sounds obvious, it is sheer joy to watch full HD movies and graphics intensive games on this display.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 16-megapixel rear camera that has some new modes and a reworked HDR mode. For the vied chatting and taking selfies there is a 2 megapixel front camera.
The auto focus feature in the rear cameras is quite fast and couple of pictures we clicked in auto mode from the rear camera was quite good and detailing was clearly visible.
Also, a new mode had been added to the camera app in S5 which lets you defocus the background or foreground and the best part is one can even undo the changes.
Other features
Like other Samsung devices, the Galaxy S5 has its share of few “extra” features. Prominent among those is the Kids Mode that allows one to lock away features that you do not want your kid to see. It has Ultra Power Saving Mode which when activated shuts down all features except calls and texts.
Images By Sushil Kumar