Samsung Galaxy S5 Smartphone: A Quick Preview Dying to know what the latest generation of Samsung's flagship phone will be like? Here are the details.
By Jason Fell
Fans of Samsung's flapship line of smartphones, the Galaxy S, can rejoice and celebrate. The latest iteration has been revealed.
Samsung announced the Galaxy S5 today at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain. On the surface, the design looks much like the S4. It comes with the same Super AMOLED display, but the S5 measures in at 5.1 inches. Other than that, the back cover features a perforated pattern that Samsung says creates a "modern glam look" that comes in either charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue or copper gold.
It's on the inside where most of the updates are. First, it runs the "Kitkat" version of Android. OK, but here's something more interesting: similar to the iPhone, the S5 features a fingerprint sensor which can be used to lock and unlock the device, as well as to access secure payment tools.
The S5 also comes with a built-in heart rate monitor which provides real time data before and after exercise by placing a finger on a sensor by the rear-facing camera. It works in conjunction with S Health 3.0, which can track and map workouts and suggest healthier meals.
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Additionally, the S5 comes with a 16-MP rear-facing camera as well as a 2-MP front facing camera. It comes with advanced auto focus speeds for capturing a shots quickly, a "selective focus mode" for bluring images near or far in the frame for a more creative look, and a High Dynamic Range preview mode which Samsung says makes it easier to take high definition images and videos, like of a beautiful sunset for instance.
The S5 comes with a 2.5-GHz quad core processor with 2-GB of RAM. You'll have the option of 16-GB or 32-GB of internal storage.
Pricing for the S5 hasn't been released yet. The phone is expected to be available starting in April.
Over the weekend, Samsung released details of its second generation Gear smartwatch -- the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. Instead of running Android, the devices will operate on Tizen, an open source, Linux-based operating system.
Related: Samsung Unveils Next Generation Gear Smartwatches Ahead of Mobile Conference
