Samsung Galaxy S5 Hands On
Yesterday Samsung launches its slightly dissapointing Galaxy S5. The 5.1" smartphone has a 1920 x 1080 pixels HD AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 432ppi. It runs Android 4.4.2 and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor with a frequency of 2.5GHz. Hands on video after the break.
Icons on the screen are Sir-Jony-Ive flat and there is a good feel to the user interface. Judging by a quick hands-on, the Android 4.4.2-powered gadget felt really rather snappy, and that’s down to its 2.5GHz ARM-compatible quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 system-on-a-chip processor. It’s clearly using the Samsung Touchwiz interface, too.
The big emphasis on fitness means that in addition to the supplied exercise encouragement app, the handset is ruggedized to the IP67 spec, which means its casing is better than splash-proof but it's not absolutely waterproof: IP67 means it's dust tight, and can withstand 30 minutes under one metre of water. Thus, it will survive an accidental dunk but don’t go swimming with it. More practically, you can use it as a music player in a steam-filled bathroom or go snowboarding with it.
Here's a hands on video from Android Authority:
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Senior Member
Posts: 9698
Joined: 2006-02-14
- 2GB RAM instead of 3GB like others of this range have/will have
- Low storage
- Cheapest and lowest quality screen they could have possibly chosen. Super AMOLED+ is a normal pattern screen, Super AMOLED is Pentile or similar garbage. Worlds worse than any IPS.
- Same old SoC, the Snapdragon 801 is a slightly OC'd 800
- Looks cheap like a child's dollar store toy and I'd bet that plastic is not durable
- No notable software improvement
It's "fine", but for the price range it will be in ($800 here) it's a joke considering it's supposed to be a Samdung flagship. I guess the fact that it looks like a joke is apt then.
Senior Member
Posts: 9094
Joined: 2010-11-10
Fair points, thanks for that.
Senior Member
Posts: 4847
Joined: 2009-08-29
- 2GB RAM instead of 3GB like others of this range have/will have
- Low storage
- Cheapest and lowest quality screen they could have possibly chosen. Super AMOLED+ is a normal pattern screen, Super AMOLED is Pentile or similar garbage. Worlds worse than any IPS.
- Same old SoC, the Snapdragon 801 is a slightly OC'd 800
- Looks cheap like a child's dollar store toy and I'd bet that plastic is not durable
- No notable software improvement
It's "fine", but for the price range it will be in ($800 here) it's a joke considering it's supposed to be a Samdung flagship. I guess the fact that it looks like a joke is apt then.
You need to take a breath.
-The phone is one of the few that have expandable storage via microSD.
-AMOLED Pentile is cheap? LOL. While older AMOLED screens had a pretty wide gamut w.r.t sRGB (~138% for the Galaxy S2 - still nothing in front of wide gamut desktop displays that can hit 170% - including your dearest Dells), that number has been going down consistently with every new Galaxy S / Note. The Note 3 had coverage almost at 100% when using professional photo mode, and had a color temperature VERY close to 6500K, something I don't even see with LCD displays like the one on the LG G2, Xperia Z1, Nexus 7 2, etc... (first two measured myself). The screens have been getting more accurate, and while I consider Pentile to be an intermediate step that should eventually be ridden of, given I use a Galaxy Note myself and know its shortcomings, the effect is about negligible on a screen of this PPI ~441 and it's a non-issue.
-The Snapdragon 801 SoC is the top SoC available right now. Clocks offer a ~40% boost in GPU performance, much welcome, and a boost from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-1866 for the memory controller.
-Design, I would agree, and I hate them for it.
-As expected, a new UI, which while I would agree that it's not something revolutionary, at least it's a change. If they have managed to make TouchWiz as smooth as other UIs their competitors use, then that's a win.
Although I do think that this year a lot of devices will eclipse the S5 (even those coming pretty soon), the half-year-flagship mobile phone trend is nothing new to us. It's been here since last year.
Senior Member
Posts: 8394
Joined: 2007-08-07
Needs a new look, same old design and style.

Marginal improvements and a high price tag.
Sony Xperia Z2 comes with 3Gb ram Vs 2Gb, Snapdragon 801 cpu and a 20mp camera.
All this for a far lower price tag of $600. Build quality is far better consisting of glass and metal.
I will be keeping my Z Ultra.

Posts: 9094
Joined: 2010-11-10
Why is everyone calling this disappointing? Thats a genuine question, not looking for and argument.
Though i would like to know what people are doing with their phones for Samsung to add a feature like 30mins of water protection. The only surfaces ive ever dropped my phone on are solid ones and i dont know what its like in other countries, by in NZ our puddles arent normally bugger than 1-3cm deep, any larger and we call it a lake.