S5 Photos and Features

At first glance you could easily not notice the S5 compared to the S4. That isn’t to say that Samsung didn’t change a lot, because they did, but the overall design is very similar between the two. They increased the screen size slightly from 5 inches to 5.1 but the resolution stayed the same with them both being at 1080p (1920x1080). They both have the same single physical button on the front of the phone with two hidden buttons built into the phone to the left and right of the main button. Really the only thing other than the slightly larger size that stands out between the S4 and the S5 on the front of the phone is a slightly smaller earphone. You get the same 2.0MP camera, proximity sensor, and RGB ambient light sensor. Really, where Samsung really stepped up was inside. The S5 has the same 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor that the LG G3 has. This was a big improvement over the S4 where for the LG G3 the G2 had a very fast CPU, so it was only a small upgrade.  

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On the bottom edge of the S5 Samsung kept things simple. You have a small microphone hole to pick up your voice when talking on the phone and then the charging/data connection. They did something really unique here though. Rather than stick with the same ol micro USB connection they stepped up to USB 3.0. This connection is wider than a micro USB 2.0 connection but it micro USB will actually still plug into the right side and charge/transfer data. Going to USB 3.0 means much faster transfer speeds tethering or transferring photos to your PC. There is some debate online on if USB 3.0 will provide a faster phone charge as well. Well USB the USB 3.0 standard does provide a little more power, so you will see an improvement over charging plugged into your PC on a USB 2.0 plug. Plugging into an AC to USB adapter should provide the same speed with USB 2.0 or 3.0 assuming the AC to USB adapter is a high amperage model like most are these days. To get to the charging connection you do have to open a small door, this is to keep the water and dust out and keep the phone protected.

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On the top edge, you have the headset plug along with a small microphone pickup for ambient sounds and an IRBlaster. The IR Blaster works in combination with Samsung’s WatchTV and remote apps to give you more control over your TV user experience as well as control over nearly any device in your house that has a remote. Using your phone as your whole house remote can be a little hard to get used to, but you never have to worry about where the remote is.

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Unlike the G3 the S5 has its volume and power/unlock buttons on the sides of the phone, like most phones. The volume control is on the left side and the power/unlock is on the right side. Other than that, the pictures below are a great look at the chrome ring around the S5.

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The back of the S5 has a dimpled texture that is similar to what the original Nexus 7 has if you have seen one of those. This is a nice improvement over the glossy back of the S4. On the back we have the external speaker down on the bottom left next to the Galaxy S5 logo. Up above the Verizon logo is the rear facing camera. The S5 has an impressive 16 MP rear facing camera. Just below the camera is the LED flash as well as a built in heart rate sensor. That is no joke, you can actually test your heart rate right on the back of the S5. This goes along with all of the other fitness features that Samsung has been building into their ecosystem for years.

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Ironically one of the best features of the S5 you have to pull the back cover off to really see. Samsung took what they learned from the S4 Active and put it into the S5. Specifically, that means that the S5 is dust and water resistant. They were able to do this by installing a gasket on the back of the phone to keep things nice and dry. The door covering the charging plug also has to be closed to provide protection. This isn’t a license to take your S5 swimming with you all of the time because there are still risks, but for those of you who have been known to drop your phone you have a little less to worry about. While we have the back panel off we can see once again just how thin the back panel is, just like with the S4 S3 and Note Devices. The S5 actually has the same battery as the S4 as well, so if you upgraded you can carry over an extra battery for when traveling.

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For the display on the S5, Samsung didn’t really change to much coming from the S4. They increased the size by .1 of an inch but left the resolution the same. This actually means the ppi went down from 441 on the S4 to 432 on the S5. This is still above the new iPhone 6 Plus with its 401 ppi though. Even so the screen looks amazing. Compared to the S4 it is more vibrant and brighter.

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #35775 18 Oct 2014 00:30
Opps forgot to do this earlier. Before heading out for the weekend I take a look at the Samsung S5 and the LG G3 to see what is the best Android phone to get currently.
SpR's Avatar
SpR replied the topic: #35840 10 Nov 2014 21:57
gs5 for the win, i dont like where the physical buttons are on the lg devices.

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