Samsung’s new flagship device, the Galaxy S5 has been the talk of the town, in every town, and for good reason: they got rid of the unnecessary bells and whistles that the S4 was packed with, and focused on technological upgrades enhancing functionality and usability. As per usual, the device got slightly bigger and lost weight, while picking up pace under the hood; commendable as that may be, the upgrades don’t stop at this point for the S5: this is where they begin.

Design

Although the S5 is very similar to their previous flagship model, the profile and the back are different. The profile has a new ribbed groove along the metallic finished plastic that houses the power button on the right; a 3.5mm audio jack, infra-red blaster and secondary microphone on top; the volume rocker to the right, and a primary microphone on the bottom located next to the oversized USB 3.0 interface. The S5 is one of the few devices to feature an oversized USB 3.0 interface, another such model was the Note 3.

Samsung Galaxy S5 USB3.0 interface pictured

The finish of the back cover has changed drastically, even though it’s still plastic, it has graduated from glossy plastic that picked up fingerprints at an alarming rate to a soft leather-like plastic that actually repels water and stands up to scratches. The dimple-like pits arranged in a grid formation, coupled with the material used causes water to form large drops and roll right off the surface.

There are several configurations and colours that the S5 is currently available in. We got the SM-G900H in black, courtesy of Shamrock Communications. Strangely enough the back cover feels different in the white finish: it’s not quite as smooth and leathery as the black variant (which is more dark grey than black). Among other obvious differences is the peculiar array of gadgetry located beneath the camera lens housing; it includes a regular flash next to the two small diodes which are in fact, the heart rate monitor. On the lower left hand side of the back panel you can clearly spot two horizontal gills that reveal the primary speaker housing.

The front is relatively the same – a 5.1-inch display instead of the 5.0 aboard the S4, but the rest has been carried forward: full HD screen topped with Gorilla Glass 3 that covers the same Super AMOLED Panel type. Even though on paper the display is relatively the same it looks much sharper and the colours appear to be truer than the previous model which made them look more dynamic than they actually were. Additionally, you can switch between screen modes, in case you’d rather have the more dynamic look, alternatively you could opt for the professional photo mode which translates well over various displays or you could use the adaptive display.

Functionality and usability

Water Resistance: The S5 has been designed to withstand water to a certain level, which does not mean that it is water proof but rather water-resistant. A combination of design elements have made this possible, such as the audio jack being internally coated; the oversized micro USB 3.0 socket cover being able to plug onto the interface, and the rubber gasket fit onto the back cover from the inside.

Samsung Galaxy S5 without back cover pictured

Every time the phone is powered on, the user is reminded to make sure that the back panel is sitting flush with the rest of the body in case the user changed SIMs or similarly, every time the charger is unplugged the S5 reminds the user to make sure that the lid is firmly shut. These things all help making the S5 water resistant per se, but the actual specification of the Galaxy S5’s water resistance is IP67, which means that, the phone is impervious to dust and can be submerged in water for up to half an hour. In comparison, the Sony Xperia Z2 has an even more impressive IP55 and IP58 rating, making it certified to stay submerged in water for longer and withstand water jets.

Heart Rate Sensor: A first for smartphones and achieved via infra-red light that tracks the visual changes in blood circulation and then displays your heart rate. It generally takes between seven and nine seconds, and even though for now you can only use the Galaxy S5’s heart rate sensor with the S Health app, it should be available for third-party apps, considering it is packaged within Samsung’s Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Software Development Kit (SDK). To be honest, this application is better suited for a wearable device that would be comfortable enough to be used in a gym, keeping your hands free.

Ultra Power Saving mode and benchmark test screenshot

Power Saving: There is a choice between Power Saving and Ultra Power Saving, the first one allows you to restrict background data, tweak clock speed and screen brightness or contrast, and also allows you to turn the screen monochrome. The latter, Ultra Power Saving restricts the user to six applications on a one-screen interface while everything is in black and white. The silver lining here is that the S5 can standby for up to 24 hours with just eight per cent battery life. It proved to be a lifesaver on the road, but I only used it when I was down to the last 10 per cent.

One handed operation mode: Since most of us don’t have hands big enough to singlehandedly operate phones which have a five plus inch display, Samsung introduced this feature on the Note 3 that decreases the canvas of the display to suit your hand size. You could also use this feature on their previous flagship device, the S4 for those models that include deodexed firmware and have root access; all it would require would be moving a few files to the system partition on the phone.

One handed operation mode screenshot and benchmark test

Fingerprint Scanner: We saw Apple’s TouchID receive widespread critical acclaim while HTC One Max’s rear scanner was a dud. Although the S5’s sensor is located in the same position as the iPhone’s – under the central select button – it behaves more like the HTC since you don’t have to rest your finger on it, but rather swipe downwards in a straight motion. It works fine on most occasions, but quite often it’ll let you down, and if it does not recognize the print in three attempts, the user gets booted out and asked to input the alternate password.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a 16MP main camera that boasts a 1/2.6” sensor along with autofocus, selective focus and HDR among several other tweaking options. I like that they have two columns of buttons on either side while holding the S5 in landscape position. The modes and settings menu has been simplified, similar to the reduction of bloat-ware plugged into the OS, it feels like a cool breeze on a hot summer day; making the entire process from application launch to the resulting picture, very swift in comparison to its predecessor. The S5 uses contrast detection and phase detection, making it faster than the regular contrast detection methods. There is a front facing 2.0MP camera as well, capable of dual video call as well as shooting in 1080p at 30fps. The primary camera can shoot in 2160p at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps and 720p at 120fps.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is selling like hot cakes and I can completely understand why: it has a beautiful display, possibly the best in its class, which feels like more of an upgrade than it did on paper. The operating system has less bloat-ware and there are numerous nifty upgrades that come together pretty well. This phone is a great successor to the S4, but not entirely a new breed of smartphone with alien technology, part of the reason for that is hardware technology seems to have hit a plateau. There is not much that even a midrange phone is not capable of doing, instead technological advancements seem to have shifted focus to software, applications and features. The S5 is not as well built as its competitors may argue; but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in all other fields.

SPECIFICATIONS Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900H Price: 65,000 to 70,000 rupees

GENERAL
SIM - Micro-SIM
Status - Available. Released 2014, April

BODY
Dimensions - 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm (5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in)
Weight - 145 g (5.11 oz) Fingerprint sensor (PayPal certified) IP67 certified - dust and water resistant Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes

DISPLAY
Type - Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
Size - 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.1 inches (~432 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch - Yes
Protection - Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- TouchWiz UI

MEMORY
Card slot - microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal - 16/32 GB storage, 2 GB RAM

DATA GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes

WLAN
Wi-Fi - 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth - Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, LE
NFC - Yes
Infrared port - Yes
USB - Yes, microUSB v3.0 (MHL 2.1), USB On-the-go, USB Host

CAMERA
Primary - 16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, phase detection autofocus, LED flash,
Features - 1/2.6'' sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, HDR

Video - Yes, 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR, video stabilization, dual-video rec.,
Secondary - Yes, 2 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call

FEATURES
OS - Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
Chipset - Exynos 5 Octa 5422 chipset
CPU - four 1.9 GHz Cortex A15 cores and four 1.3 GHz Cortex A 7 Cores
GPU - Adreno 330
Sensors - Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, heart rate
Browser - HTML5
Radio - No
GPS - Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java - Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colours - Charcoal Black, Copper Gold, Electric Blue, Shimmery White

BATTERY
Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery
Stand-by - Up to 390 h
Talk time - Up to 21 h
Music play - Up to 67 h