Samsung s5 year of manufacture. Review of Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F). Everything is as it is! Specifications Samsung Galaxy S5

Detailed testing of one of the most anticipated smartphones of the new season

Of course, one of the most long-awaited and anticipated new products among mobile devices of the coming year should be considered the next update to the flagship line of Samsung smartphones - the Galaxy S5. The new product does not need any special introduction - in recent years, the Korean company Samsung Electronics has managed not only to become scandalously famous due to countless lawsuits with rival American Apple, but also to occupy, along with it, one of the leading places in the world market for the sale of tablets and, of course , smartphones.

From left to right: Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Apple iPhone 5s

By the way, in recent years the Koreans have firmly accustomed users to the idea that Samsung always has two flagship smartphones on the market at the same time. They are representatives of two top product lines moving in parallel courses - Galaxy Note and Galaxy S. Not so long ago there was another update to the line of tablet phones - the Samsung Note 3 smartphone, about which we wrote so much at one time, went on sale. Now it’s time for a series of smartphones to be updated with a more “civilized” design.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4

The Galaxy S series smartphones have always been very different from their semi-tablet counterparts from the Note line precisely in size - they were quite elegant devices in terms of dimensions. However, with the release of the Galaxy S5, it must be admitted that the distance separating them is shrinking more and more. Moreover, not only the sizes of each successive representative of the Galaxy S line are becoming larger, but also in the Note line they are consistently decreasing. Galaxy Note 3 has become the smallest among its brothers, and the Galaxy S5, on the contrary, has acquired such large dimensions that it’s time to think: what, exactly, is the difference between the modern representatives of the two lines? Their performance is absolutely the same, the design is similar, the price is the same, and we have already said about the sizes. Is the whole difference now just the presence or absence of an electronic pen?

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3

In any case, you shouldn’t expect a special technological breakthrough from the new flagship of the Galaxy S line. New technological discoveries have not yet been made, but everything discovered has already been put into practice, and now they are sharpening, finishing, polishing - improving functionality. And we’re not just talking about Samsung devices - the entire market as a whole is now waiting for something new. This, by the way, is clearly visible in the example of the last two world IT exhibitions, held at the beginning of the year in Las Vegas and Barcelona. The products of the Korean company are no exception: in terms of hardware and technology, the new flagship is not much different from the previous one (Samsung Galaxy S4) - now the focus is on improving functionality. Ultra-fast data transfer capabilities, an updated camera control program interface, a wide selection of fitness applications, a heart rate monitor, a fingerprint scanner, as well as agreements with the world's leading content and service providers to pre-install a host of various applications with a long-term prepaid subscription - that's what , which is what Samsung is now working on. Gigabytes and gigahertz somehow suddenly faded into the background, which is probably for the best. Surprisingly, the Koreans didn’t even add RAM to their new flagship - the Galaxy S5 still has 2 GB of RAM, although the new product still has some changes in hardware.

Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S5 (model SM-G900F)

	Samsung Galaxy S5	LG G2	TCL Idol X+	Lenovo Vibe Z (K910)	Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (N9005)
Screen	5.1″, Super AMOLED	5.2″, IPS	5″, IPS	5.5″, IPS	5.7″ Super AMOLED
Permission	1920×1080, 432 ppi	1920×1080, 424 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1080, 400 ppi	1920×1080, 386 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.5 GHz		MediaTek MT6592 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @2.0 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.2 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.2 GHz
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Mali 450MP4	Adreno 330	Adreno 330
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	16/32 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16—64 GB
Memory card support	microSD	—	—	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.3
Battery	removable, 2800 mAh	non-removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 2500 mAh	non-removable, 3050 mAh	removable, 3200 mAh
Cameras	rear (16 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP)		rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP, video 1080p)	rear (13 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP, 1080p video)
Dimensions	142×73×8.1 mm, 145 g	139×71×8.9 mm, 143 g	140×69×7.9 mm, 120 g	149×77×7.9 mm, 147 g	151×79×8.3 mm, 168 g
average price	T-10725078	T-10505130	T-10632117	T-10516952	T-10545574
Samsung Galaxy S5 offers	L-10725078-10

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC), 4 Krait 400 cores, 2.5 GHz
GPU Adreno 330, 578 MHz
Operating system Android 4.4.2 Kitkat
Touch display Super AMOLED, 5.1″, 1920×1080, 432 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
Supports microSD memory cards up to 128 GB
Networks 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE Cat.4, up to 150/50 Mbit/s)
Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+
USB 3.0, OTG, MHL
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac HT80, MIMO (2x2), Wi-Fi hotspot
NFC, infrared
GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
16 MP camera, autofocus, LED flash, UHD video (4K) 30 fps
Camera 2 MP (front)
Accelerometer, gyroscope, distance sensor, compass, barometer, Hall sensor (magnetic field), light sensor, gesture sensor (infrared), fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor
Dust and moisture protection according to IP67 standard
Li-ion battery 2800 mAh
Dimensions 142×72.5×8.1 mm
Weight 145 g

Appearance and ease of use

As already mentioned, the new model of the Galaxy S series has become significantly larger in size than the previous one. It feels like the smartphone in your hand has finally crossed that invisible line called “a little more and it will be too much”: now the device has become really bulky and surprisingly heavy. For the breast pocket of a shirt, for example, this is now certainly an inaccessible guest, although, of course, people who are determined to follow the path of life with a “shovel” at the ready will not feel anything unusual in the size of the new Galaxy S. Still, it is smaller than the Galaxy Note 3, although the difference is already minimal. And yet, it is still not clear why it was necessary, with almost identical screens, to make the new model so much larger than the previous one. On the Galaxy S4, for example, the side frames are only 3 mm wide, but on the Galaxy S5 they suddenly grew to 4 mm, the same goes for the top and bottom parts of the frame - they also suddenly became much wider, although the screen itself is practically the same size. changed.

As for the appearance, here the developers clearly adhere to a single design line: metal and leather, leather and metal - they are now used in all the company’s mobile devices (including numerous wearable gadgets). It’s just a pity that at the exorbitant prices at which current flagships are sold, the company was greedy to provide real leather - maybe then these devices would look truly stylish. But no, as in previous times, ordinary molded plastic is used here to create the appearance that the back wall of the smartphone is made of leather. The texture on the plastic is different from that of the Galaxy Note 3: here they used a kind of pseudo-embossing, as if a pattern of numerous dots was pressed into the leather. It looks nice and fresh, at least better than the glossy plastic that has adorned the surfaces of all Galaxy S and Galaxy Notes for a long time.

As for metal, there is none here either: the shiny “chrome” rim around the entire perimeter of the case (exactly the same as on previous models, only with a different pattern) is a coating on plastic, not real metal. This bezel, by the way, has also become much wider and even thicker, adding bulk to the smartphone as a whole.

The surface of the rim is quite slippery - due to it, as well as due to its considerable mass, it is rather inconvenient to lift the device from the table surface, since the fingers do not feel a confident grip.

The back cover is easily removed from the case and just as easily put on - it is traditionally attached to several plastic latches, with a barely noticeable ledge for hooking with a fingernail. Under the cover are hidden slots for SIM cards and memory cards, located in a “sandwich” one above the other.

Below there is a compartment for a removable battery - it supports the cards, but the memory card can still be replaced “hot”. The device uses only one SIM card, Micro-SIM format; a microSD memory card can be used here with a capacity of up to 128 GB.

On the back of the smartphone there is a square window for the camera module, it is quite large in size, and there is an LED flash next to it. Below in the recess you can see the eyes of the sensor for measuring the pulse. The heart rate sensor chamber is recessed into the body, and it also has its own backlight - a small LED element illuminates the blood vessels of the finger applied to the camera, while it counts heartbeats. Even lower is a hole for sound output from the ringing speaker with a slightly curved rod, and the whole thing is decorated with a silver chrome-plated company logo.

The front panel has not undergone significant changes - this is a completely recognizable element of all Samsung mobile devices. It stands out, first of all, for its elongated mechanical key under the screen, which this time has received additional functionality. This button is also responsible for scanning a fingerprint - now no one can blame Koreans for not having a golden smartphone with a fingerprint scanner. Unlike the iPhone scanner, here you can’t just put your finger on it: you need to move it along the key, and even at the right speed - if you rush, you can fail. In this regard, the iPhone scanner looks preferable: not only do you not need to move your finger, but you can also place your finger on the button at any angle, which allows you to hold the device with any comfortable grip. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S5 scanner, you will have to hold the device with one hand and swipe the sensor with the other, which is very tedious, and most users will most likely simply disable this function.

The touch buttons next to the mechanical ones have a bright white backlight with an adjustable glow time, which is commendable. Above, above the screen, you can see a longitudinal slot in the protective glass for sound output from the earpiece; next to it you can see the eyes of the front camera and sensors. There is also an LED alert indicator that lights up in different colors depending on the charging status and incoming events - its functions can be configured: disabled or enabled individually.

There are two buttons on the side faces of the device: on the left - volume control, on the right - power and lock. The large metallic keys of all Samsung smartphones have a soft stroke and distinct pressing, they are perfectly located blindly, and in general, in this regard, the products of the Korean company are one of the best on the market.

At the top end, a headphone jack (3.5 mm) and an infrared transmitter eye, which serves to control various equipment as a remote control, are comfortably located next to each other. The corresponding proprietary software called Smart Remote moves from model to model - naturally, it is also available here. The functionality of the Smart Remote program is excellent: it is not only capable of connecting a smartphone using an infrared port with any equipment, but can also act as an interactive program guide.

At the bottom end, the USB 3.0 connector is covered with a metalized cover with a rubber gasket - it protects the smartphone from dust and moisture getting inside. Yes, yes, the new flagship of the Galaxy S line has finally acquired dust and moisture protection according to the IP67 standard. In principle, the previous model also had it, but there it was a separate branch of the line called Galaxy Active. The protection in the Galaxy S5 is arranged in the same way as there: a rubber gasket is glued to the inner surface of the back cover, and the connectors are closed with special plugs. It’s nice that every time you put on the back cover or remove the plug from the Micro-USB connector, the smartphone itself reminds you to close the protective covers (the reminder can be turned off).

And finally, about the best part: now the Galaxy S line has a new color - gold. In addition to this, there are three more colors on sale that have previously graced Samsung’s flagship devices (for example, the Galaxy S3). By tradition, they were given romantic names: Charcoal Black (black), Sparkling White (white), Electric Blue (light blue) and Copper Gold (golden). For additional jewelry, in particular a keychain or strap, no fastenings are provided.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone is equipped with a Super AMOLED touch matrix. The screen dimensions are 63x113 mm, diagonal - 5.1 inches, resolution - 1920x1080 pixels. Such a parameter as the pixel density per inch is equal to 432 ppi here - the pixel density is very high.

The outside of the screen is covered with protective glass. The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the body is approximately 4 mm; the frames are not very narrow; they were smaller in the previous model.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually, or you can use automatic adjustment. Multi-touch technology here allows you to process up to 10 simultaneous touches. The screen can be operated with gloved hands, and it becomes more sensitive to any touch, so the settings prudently leave the option to disable this function. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the brightness of reflected objects, there is a very effective anti-glare filter that is superior in reducing reflection brightness to the screen filter of Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy S5, then they can be distinguished by size):

Due to the slight difference in the color tone of the reflection and frames, it is difficult to visually assess the amount of reduction in the brightness of the reflection, however, statistics from the graphics editor show that the S5’s screen is indeed slightly darker than that of the Nexus 7. The ghosting of reflected objects is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, maybe a little better than Google Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 340 cd/m², the minimum was 2 cd/m². Despite the not the highest brightness value, you can use the smartphone even in bright daylight, as an effective anti-glare filter helps out. You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. For example, when outputting white on half the screen, the maximum brightness with manual adjustment increases to 360 cd/m². Low brightness mode allows you to use your smartphone even in complete darkness without any problems. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the setting slider away from −5 before +5 units. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for −5 , 0 And +5 . In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 4, 9 and 16 cd/m², respectively (generally a bit dark), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) the brightness is set to 100, 180 and 270 cd/m² (acceptable ), in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 420-425 cd/m² for all three correction values, which is above the maximum for manual adjustment and should be sufficient to ensure legibility in the sun. In principle, the result of this function is as expected. When the brightness decreases, modulation appears at a frequency of 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for three brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum brightness there is practically no modulation (the amplitude is insufficient for flicker to be visually distinguishable), but at medium and low brightness the relative modulation amplitude is high, so image flickering can be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This smartphone uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix based on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

(For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.)

For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is similar to that in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. For example, when displaying a black-and-white map every pixel (the original can be taken from here), the vertical lines look uneven, and the horizontal ones are low-contrast and separated not by white, but by a greenish gap. A fragment (the original photo is available at the link) of the macrophotography reveals the reason:

It can be seen that the vertical lines have a black gap and that the sum of the colors of the subpixels can be considered white, but due to the red subpixels on one side there is some unevenness of the lines. In the case of horizontal lines, there is neither a white gap (there are green subpixels) nor a black gap (there are red and blue subpixels). However, these artifacts are of purely academic interest, since in mobile use it is extremely difficult to visually distinguish such small details. As a result, the resolution margin cancels out the “features” of the PenTile RGBG matrix.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although the white color acquires a slight tint when deviated to relatively large angles, but the black color is simply black at any angle (although the reflection from bright objects has a bluish halo that is more elongated horizontally, which is why there are black areas in the light may lighten slightly and acquire a “metallic” tint). So black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the second participant in the competition, with the screen brightness set to approximately 210 cd/m². There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

One can note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (in mode Standard):

Color rendition is clearly not bad, but despite all the conventions of forced color balance in the camera, set to 6500 K, it is clear that the colors of the S5 are clearly “cooler” and have too high saturation. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen. White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed was doubled compared to the previous two photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors did not “float” on all screens and the brightness of the Samsung S5 at an angle is noticeably higher.

Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the turn-on (and, less often, turn-off) front, there may be a step (or two) 16.7 ms wide (corresponding to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to a shade of 25% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are almost impossible to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The ability to customize color rendering is implemented on the page with a selection of profiles, one of which involves some kind of automatic adjustment (profile Adapt Display):

In case one of the three fixed profiles is selected, except the profile Dynamic, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.28-2.30, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2 , while the real gamma curve practically does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

For profile Dynamic The gamma curve has a slight S-shape, which increases the apparent contrast of the image. Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images and increases for dark ones. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. This image dynamism increases when you select the option Auto tuning screen brightness. Below are the dependences of brightness on time obtained when switching from a black field to a white field and back with the option turned off and on Auto tuning screen brightness:

In the second case, the brightness begins to decrease after some time. The picture is slightly darkened, but energy is saved a little.

Color gamut for profiles Dynamic, Standard And Professional photography very wide and almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:

When selecting a profile Cinema The coverage is tightened to the sRGB boundaries, but still remains a little wider:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Cinema with maximum correction, the color components are already slightly mixed together:

Note that on wide-gamut screens, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. This can be seen in the photographs above. However, a visual assessment showed that when choosing a profile Cinema saturation is noticeably reduced, and colors become close to natural. The screenshot taken after selecting this profile is shown below:

Unfortunately, the most recognizable shades - skin, for example - still remain slightly oversaturated.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, but, in general, acceptable. Color temperature in profiles Dynamic And Standard significantly higher than 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in the area of the gray scale from white to dark dark gray this parameter does not change very much. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) over most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and a very effective anti-glare filter, so the smartphone can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable, and in bright light it is even recommended to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating and a color balance close to standard (if you select the appropriate profiles). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color, excellent uniformity of the white field, less drop in image brightness than LCDs when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include screen brightness modulation, which appears at medium and low brightness values. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is approximately the same as the Galaxy S4. The sound is moderately bassy, not deprived of low frequencies, clear throughout the entire range, but not so loud - there were louder devices (HTC One or Oppo Find 5, for example). The sound output grille here is cut into the back wall, so the sound is muffled when the device is lying on the table. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, making telephone conversations on the Samsung Galaxy S5 quite comfortable.

To play music, the device offers a choice of three pre-installed players: Google Play Music, Yandex.Music and Samsung’s own player. All sound effects when playing melodies with a proprietary player are combined with a technology called SoundAlive - although some of them are only available with connected headphones. The same applies to the sound optimization function. There are a lot of different virtual effects, they are combined into a matrix of squares, you can experiment for a very long time.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 16 and 2 megapixels. The front camera takes pictures with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080, and also shoots video with the same resolution.

The main rear camera is equipped with a new 16-megapixel module with ultra-fast autofocus (focusing in 0.3 s), stabilization, single-section LED flash and the ability to shoot video in UHD resolution (4K). In addition to one fancy feature - 4K video recording - it also uses another: like the latest Sony Xperia Z2, there is a selective focus feature that allows you to highlight a certain part of the image, leaving the background blurred. That is, now you no longer need to use special lenses to create a shallow depth of field (DOF) effect.

When shooting in automatic mode, which is set by default, photos are 5312x2988 in size. I really liked the design and organization of the new camera control interface. Here, as in the case of the audio settings menu, everything is divided into equal cells, each of which is always visible, interactive, their drawing is clear, the entire menu is perfectly visible even in the brightest sunlight. In general, the camera control settings menu turned out to be perhaps the best on the market in terms of ease of access to all functions and overall clarity.

The camera can shoot video in UHD resolution (4K), with a choice of several resolutions up to a maximum of 3840x2160. Traditionally for the latest top models of the mobile market, the settings also include slow and fast shooting modes. Examples of test videos are presented below.

Video No. 1 (189 MB, 3840×2160, 4K)
Video No. 2 (58 MB, 1920×1080, 1080p)
Video #3 (123 MB, 3840×2160, 4K indoors)
Video No. 4 (71 MB, 1280×720, slow motion)
Video No. 5 (4 MB, 1920×1080, accelerated)

Examples of photographs with our comments are presented below.

	The sharpness of the photo is good.
	The sharpness across the frame is also quite good.
	Small details are worked out quite well.
	The camera doesn't cope so well with backlight, but the exposure is well chosen.
	On thin lines you can notice small waves from the noise reduction - but only upon closer inspection.
	In low light conditions, noise can be seen, although it is relatively small.
	The camera handles shadow noise well. True, the detail suffers a little from this.
	The camera does macro well in low light, but it's worth using a focus lens due to the relatively long shutter speeds.
	In good lighting, the camera does macro photography well.
	Another example of a good macro.
	The text is well done, but a little damaged. However, it is possible that the camera works more accurately with smaller text.
	Panorama stitching is almost perfect. Only dynamic objects suffer, which is quite natural.

	Lighting ≈1300 lux. The camera does a very good job.
	Lighting ≈460 lux. The situation remains virtually unchanged.
	Lighting ≈240 lux. Noise becomes noticeable, especially its processing.
	Lighting ≈240 lux, flash. The flash noticeably improves the situation, almost returning the original resolution.
	Lighting<1 люкс. В темноте камера не справляется.
	Lighting<1 люкс, вспышка. И в темноте вспышка отрабатывает очень хорошо.

First of all, it is worth noting that now the camera has a 1/2.6″ format sensor, and not just a higher resolution, while previously smartphone cameras were only awarded with 1/3″ format matrices (not counting Nokia), or even less, Until Sony decided to install a 1/2.3″ format sensor in the Xperia Z1. So Samsung, following Sony, began a slow but steady movement towards improving the quality of pictures. And, I must say, the result is already noticeable to an inquisitive eye.

Firstly, you can already see good work with noise. Their processing still leaves much to be desired, but if you do not look at the images pixel by pixel, then noticeable strong color noise in the shadows is practically not visible. Of course, this is the result of the noise reduction, but the higher resolution allows it to work more subtly, and the increased sensor size slightly reduces the likelihood of strong noise. Of course, we won’t go into discussions about pixel size (like HTC) and the supposed qualities of the camera that follow from this, but increasing the sensor definitely brings its benefits. Secondly, image detail has improved, which is also due to the higher resolution and larger sensor.

I would like Samsung to further improve the noise reduction, then the camera can be compared with ordinary compacts. Although even without this, she shows herself very worthy, and it is clear that they worked hard on her. The camera optics operate quite smoothly across the entire field of the frame and in all plans. Of course, it would be strange to see a flagship with shortcomings in such places, but we have already encountered this. Sharping can only be found if you know where to look. The only thing that really cannot be called ideal is the work of the noise reduction - such a processing result looks very archaic in photographs of a modern flagship.

Based on the results of shooting the stand, we can conclude that the actual resolution of the images may not be the highest, but we have already stated that in this case this is far from the main characteristic, especially in the vicinity of such values, since the resolution can be high, but not quite natural. However, the camera resolution is quite decent. It is also worth noting the good performance of the flash and the sensor, which works quite consistently in different lighting conditions.

In general, the camera is made very well, almost at the level of compact cameras. Of course, there is something to work on, and in general there is room to strive. But even in its current form, it is well suited for shooting documentary and feature stories.

Telephone and communications

The developers place special emphasis on the communication capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S5: the smartphone operates in the fifth generation of Wi-Fi 802.11ac networks with support for 2x2 MIMO mode - in this mode, data can be received and transmitted in two streams, that is, up to two times faster than in the first generations of 802.11ac compatible devices. In addition, the device provides support for a large number of 4G (LTE) frequencies and speeds corresponding to the LTE Category 4 standard - up to 150 Mbit/s. With a SIM card from the domestic operator Megafon, the smartphone in practice confidently finds and works with the LTE network.

In addition, the smartphone supports the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band and the NFC standard. As a standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; there is a Wi-Fi Direct mode. The navigation module works with both the GPS system (with A-GPS) and the domestic Glonass. The speed and quality of operation of the GPS module is not satisfactory: the system works quickly and flawlessly, the navigation module finds the first satellites almost instantly, and even indoors.

No spontaneous reboots/shutdowns were observed during testing. The screen of the smartphone is large, so drawing letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. It’s very convenient that there is a dedicated top row with numbers - you don’t have to switch the layout every time. But the layout itself and the location of the keys are not the same as others: instead of just pressing the dedicated button with the image of a globe, here you have to switch language layouts by scrolling sideways on the spacebar, which is certainly less convenient. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. There is support for continuous writing by sliding, but there is no option to move the keyboard closer to one of the edges, as on the Galaxy Note series tablets.

OS and software

The system uses the latest version of Google Android software platform 4.4.2 (Kitkat) and the proprietary graphical user interface TouchWiz, the appearance of which has undergone changes. He became, according to the new fashion, more “flat”, which clearly benefited him, although the traditional Asian clumsiness remained. The appearance of the settings menu has changed: now all icons look like exactly the same circles and they are arranged in the form of a single long list. But, of course, the display of the menu can be changed, leading to the old view with vertical tabs. In this case, there will no longer be four of them, as before, but as many as six. In general, I liked the new look of the interface and the settings menu more than the old one: everything is neat, orderly, symmetrical, working with various subsections of the menu has become more intuitive. The menu of installed applications has not undergone significant changes, but now you can display a special button on the home screen, which, when clicked, opens a context menu with quick access to the most popular applications. The notifications menu received two additional dedicated oval buttons for quick access to searching throughout the smartphone and enabling the function of quickly connecting to familiar devices.

To the various ways to lock a smartphone, another one has now been added: you can lock the screen using a fingerprint, the scanner of which is built into the central key under the screen. To successfully memorize the texture of your fingertip, you need to swipe the sensor at least eight times, after which you will also have to come up with a standard digital code in case your finger remains unrecognized after five attempts. It’s a shame when the developer also imposes restrictions on the personal password you create: an attempt to limit yourself to a digital password failed - you need to alternate numbers with letters.

By the way, the issue of security has been strengthened in the Samsung Galaxy S5 by another innovation: now, due to the appearance of the “Children” mode, you can open access only to certain permitted programs, after which you can safely entrust the device to a child for 30 thousand rubles to play with.

Speaking of games, it is worth noting that we tested games such as Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8 on the smartphone - we did not find any problems with playing them.

Another specific operating mode has been added to the smartphone, which the developers themselves talked a lot about at presentations. In fact, this is a regular energy-saving mode that any built-in program for saving energy in mobile devices has, it’s just that Samsung brings its smartphone to the point of complete “exhaustion” in this mode. When the maximum power saving mode is activated, not only all network interfaces are disabled, but also the graphical interface of the shell becomes black and white, and the number of applications allowed to run is strictly limited. Naturally, in this mode, the smartphone can “work” much longer (who would doubt it), but this work will be carried out within a very limited framework.

One of the central applications pre-installed in modern top-end Samsung smartphones, which developers constantly remind you of, is a program for monitoring your own health called S Health. The program has a wide range of health-promoting functions: pedometer, exercise recording, nutrition monitoring, etc. Now the application has not only received the new version S Health 3.0, but has also acquired additional functionality in the form of a dedicated hardware heart rate counter. In principle, some programs have previously tried to count heartbeats using an ordinary smartphone camera, but now a whole block with a small camera and backlight has been allocated for this. You need to put your finger on the recess in the back of the smartphone, and then the program will count your pulse. Naturally, this data is saved, processed and displayed in the form of graphs and tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S5 hardware platform is based on a single-chip quad-core system (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. The new platform has the functionality of the Snapdragon 800 with a slightly higher frequency of processor cores: the Snapdragon 801 can operate at frequencies up to 2.45 GHz, while the core frequency of the previous The chip version was limited to 2.36 GHz.

The processor here is supported in graphics processing by the same Adreno 330 video accelerator, but here too there is an increase in frequencies: the GPU is already overclocked to 578 MHz instead of 450 MHz. About 12 GB of RAM (out of 16) are initially available for the user's needs in the device; the amount of RAM here is 2 GB - in this regard, surprisingly, no expansion occurred, while Sony equipped its newest flagship with three gigabytes random access memory. MicroSD memory cards are supported in this model; you can also connect external flash drives, keyboards and mice using a special adapter in OTG mode.

Since the most powerful and most productive of the competing serial platforms is now SoC MediaTek MT6592, the configuration of which includes eight full-fledged processor cores [simultaneously] operating at frequencies up to 2 GHz, it is logical to include its results in the comparison first of all. Let us remind you that we recently released a review of the powerful TCL Idol X+ smartphone, which is built on the maximum version of this platform. Also, naturally, it is worth adding to the comparison the results demonstrated in the same tests by the previous version of the Qualcomm platform - Snapdragon 800, on which all the top smartphones of last year run. However, the most important battle today will still not take place, because the main competitor of the hero of today’s review, the flagship smartphone Sony Xperia Z2, also built on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, has not yet reached our test laboratory. In the near future, we will definitely compare it with the Samsung Galaxy S5 data obtained today.

To get an idea of the performance of the platform of the smartphone under test, we will conduct a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing in MobileXPRT, as well as in the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

The results of testing are as follows. As for the competing MediaTek MT6592, the latest Qualcomm system (Snapdragon 801) coped with it in all respects. In general, this is not at all surprising, considering that the previous version of the Snapdragon 800 coped with it. As for the comparison with the Snapdragon 800, according to the results of all tests, there was practically no real increase: the same maximum 35K points in AnTuTu, and in other benchmarks the difference is negligible - within the margin of error.

By the way, as for these very resulting figures: since the smartphone being tested today is a landmark device, and the rest will be compared to it throughout the year, it is probably worth recalling the fresh balance of power. If you rely on the numbers of the popular AnTuTu benchmark, it looks something like this: eight MediaTek MT6592 cores with a frequency of 2 GHz demonstrate 31K points in this test (26 thousand points for the eight-core Zopo 998 and THL T100S with a lower frequency of processor cores - 1.7 GHz), and about 35 thousand - for top smartphones such as LG G2, Sony Xperia Z1, Acer Liquid S2 and now Samsung Galaxy S5, built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800/801 hardware platform. Two main conclusions emerge as a result of all these comparisons: TCL Idol X+ is the first smartphone on the MediaTek platform, which managed to come close to the leading solutions from Qualcomm, albeit at the expense of twice as many processor cores. And second: the new version of the top Qualcomm platform brought virtually no increase in performance, although this microscopic superiority allowed it to gain an even stronger foothold on the podium as the undisputed leader among platforms for mobile devices. According to the above, the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 platform is currently one of the most powerful smartphones on the planet.

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

The lag in the operation of the Mali-450MP4 video subsystem is still noticeable: this video accelerator produces approximately 47 fps in those test modes in which the Adreno 330 produces 60 fps.

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can be truly correct only in the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

With video playback, things are not as smooth as we would like for the Samsung Galaxy S5. Amazingly, this is one of the rare smartphones in which the popular MX player flatly refuses to run with the Hardware+ decoder, and most often only this option saves the situation when the standard player cannot play the audio track of a file. That is, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S5, in order to normally play three of our five test files (MKV), you will have to use a software decoder (at least for audio decoding - video can be decoded in hardware) - neither Hardware nor Hardware+ , nor, of course, the decoder of a standard video player are capable of playing these types of files with sound that are common on the network. And this is an obvious drawback, because we have a solution with an excellent large and high-quality screen in all respects and maximum performance, which could become an excellent multimedia assistant. By the way, similar problems occur with the Galaxy Note 3 - we hope that with the release of updates for MX Player the situation will somehow change. By the way, the top smartphones from LG and Sony always have complete order in this table, because even with their own hardware they are able to play all the presented files, not to mention supporting all modes of the MX player.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally, sound only with software decoder (Hardware+ is not supported)	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally, sound only with software decoder (Hardware+ is not supported)	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after switching to software decoding (mode Hardware+ is not supported); The standard player does not have this setting

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used an LG IPS237L monitor that supports direct MHL connection using a passive adapter cable from Micro-USB to HDMI. Let us recall that Samsung has implemented its own version of this interface at the physical level. As a result, to connect an external device via MHL, you need to use special adapters or connect standard MHL adapters through simple passive adapters. In this case, we carried out the test using a proprietary Samsung adapter, and output via MHL was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels with a frequency of 60 frames/s.

When the smartphone is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and wide black fields are displayed on the right and left. In this case, the actual resolution on the monitor screen is, of course, lower than the resolution on the smartphone screen. When the smartphone is in landscape orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor fits within the boundaries of the screen and exactly matches the image on the smartphone screen. The exception is the start screen, which is displayed only in portrait orientation:

Sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and is of good quality. At the same time, at least multimedia sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is controlled by buttons on the smartphone body. In principle, in the smartphone settings you can select the sound output mode - stereo or surround. However, in our case, the monitor only received stereo sound, so there was no choice. The smartphone connected via MHL is charging.

To test the output of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode, since there were a lot of artifacts in the “Hardware+” mode. The results of this test (block entitled “Smartphone screen”) are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is high, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals, and there are no skipped frames. The smartphone can even display files with a resolution of 4K up to 30p inclusive. However, uniform alternation of frames is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct alternation of intervals between frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution (adjusted for some PenTile features). The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed. However, dark scenes may not look very good, as the darkest shades vary too much in brightness and color tone, which can lead to compression artifacts being too noticeable.

With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing a video with a standard player, the image of the video file is displayed only in landscape orientation, while only the image of the video file is displayed on the monitor, and only information elements and virtual controls are displayed on the smartphone screen.

The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the “MHL (monitor output)” block. The output quality is very good. When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the monitor screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, maintaining true proportions, and the resolution corresponds to Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the monitor is equal to the standard range of 16-235, that is, all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights.

The conclusion is typical: an MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages and other activities that benefit from multiplying the screen size. True, you will have to purchase an adapter specifically for Samsung or find an appropriate adapter.

Battery life

The lithium-ion battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a capacity of 2800 mAh, which is good by modern standards, but not a record one. Accordingly, in terms of battery life, the device showed very good results, which we traditionally summarized in a comparative table.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Samsung Galaxy S5	2800 mAh	17:20	12:30 pm	4 hours 30 minutes
TCL Idol X+	2500 mAh	12:30 pm	7:20 am	3:00 am
Lenovo Vibe Z	3050 mAh	11:45 am	8:00 am	3 hours 30 minutes
Acer Liquid S2	3300 mAh	16:40	7 hours 40 minutes	6:00 am
LG G Flex	3500 mAh	23:15	13:30	6 hours 40 minutes
LG G2	3000 mAh	20:00	12:30 pm	4 hours 45 minutes
Sony Xperia Z1	3000 mAh	11:45 am	8:00 am	4 hours 30 minutes
Samsung Note 3 N9005	3200 mAh	22:30	14:00	4 hours 45 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted until the battery was completely discharged for more than 17 hours, and when continuously watching videos from YouTube in high quality (HQ) with The device lasted 12.5 hours at the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network; in 3D games mode, the smartphone lasted 4.5 hours, decent for such a screen, and really pleased with such stability: its predecessor Galaxy S4 at first overheated greatly and with these tests were performed poorly, and only with a firmware update the situation returned to normal. With the new flagship, no problems in this regard have been found before the start of sales, and by the way, the device heats up significantly less than its predecessor.

Bottom line

Summarizing the Samsung Galaxy S5 review is both easy and difficult. It’s easy, because, perhaps, no one needs to explain why the flagship smartphones of the Korean company are deservedly among the best on the market. And it’s not just the combination of top-end technical characteristics and maximum performance that makes them stand out, there’s also something else. It seems to us that the company is one of the few who are not ashamed to spy on the desires of users. For most manufacturers, this always remains only unfulfilled pretentious promises and slogans, but in practice, no matter how much users cry about something, they will never get it. But the Koreans have a completely different point of view on this matter; they readily satisfy any desires of customers. Want a removable battery? - Get it. Need a memory card slot? - For God's sake, we don't feel sorry! Suddenly fell in love with the golden color? - So, we now have a golden smartphone. And with such simple actions, coupled with high-quality products and huge production volumes, the Korean company managed to climb to the very top of the mountain, pushing many along the way, and simply throwing some off the cliff. Those who know how to adapt survive, and this is what Koreans do best.

As for the hero of today's review, we can say with confidence that he has become a worthy successor to the flagship line. An excellent screen, powerful hardware, complete technical equipment, good battery life and maximum functionality, several added features like a heart rate monitor and a fingerprint scanner - all this is worthy of praise. Although, it is worth admitting that the fifth Galaxy S did not have so many noticeable innovations that it could rightfully be called a completely new model, in terms of design and appearance (in this regard, by the way, there was even a kind of decline: the smartphone has become heavier, larger, rougher - everyone admits this). It’s even surprising that the Koreans didn’t call this model Galaxy S4s - such a “letter modifier”, which has already become generally accepted, denoting an improved version of the model, would be more appropriate here. But all this is just a little confusing.

But what’s really depressing is how much Samsung jacks up the prices for its top-end smartphones. It seems that the Koreans no longer remember that prices can sometimes be varied somehow - they reached the 30,000 mark with the previous flagship and now put the same price tag on all subsequent models as a matter of course. The tricky thought in the minds of entrepreneurs is obviously this: “They will complain the first time, but the next time they will be happy that they did not raise the price even higher.” This, by the way, is what happened: now users are happy that the price of the new flagship at the start of sales was not raised higher than the previous one. This is very alarming, and of course, against this background, it is difficult to recommend such a device for purchase: it is certainly very worthy, but for many, Samsung products may already be unaffordable. Did we think five years ago that we would talk like this in the future about the products of this Korean company?

Contents of delivery:

Telephone
Charger with USB cable
Instructions
Wired stereo headset

Positioning

A parity situation has arisen on the global market - the market is de facto divided by two players, Apple and Samsung. Each company has its own flagship, for Apple this is actually the only product - the iPhone, you don’t have to take into account older models or the iPhone 5c, which appeared in 2013. For Samsung, the range of products is much larger, but the main focus is on the Galaxy S, which is its best-selling phone and competes with the iPhone. In 2013, sales of the Galaxy S4 came close to the iPhone 5, in some countries they even exceeded the iPhone for several months, but then a new model came out and everything returned to normal. Samsung quite rightly believes that the Galaxy S4 has become a successful product, although dreams that its sales will exceed those of the iPhone have not come true. Moreover, the potential of this device is very high; to this day, versions of it are being released that will live on the market for at least another year and a half. And here Samsung fell into exactly the same trap as Apple before them - the previous models began to look more attractive than the new ones. Let me remind you that with the release of the iPhone 5 and the new version of iOS 7, many people suddenly began to buy the iPhone 4s, since the design of this device and its characteristics seemed better to them. There was no difference in the quality and size of the screen, there were no significant or big differences either. This happened for the first time for Apple, when the old model unexpectedly, after the release of the new one, did not become a niche, but took up up to half of sales.

For Samsung, Apple's model is not entirely suitable; it is difficult to draw direct parallels - after the release of S4, sales of S3 remained high and noticeable, but these were products of completely different price classes. Unlike Apple, Samsung's flagships are constantly falling in price throughout the year, with a total loss of initial cost of 33 percent. Therefore, it will not be possible to transfer the situation to Apple; the companies are in different positions. But we can say with confidence that the Galaxy S5 tried to preserve all the features of the previous device, and also not make it a competitor to the Note 3, plus maintain sales of all S4 variants. Despite all the public statements, sales plans and the like, we can safely say that the Galaxy S5, despite its flagship status, does not play such a role for Samsung. It is possible that this is due to the release of an older version of the device, the presence of which is denied by the company, or the release of Note 4 in September, to which the focus is gradually shifting. Of course, the sales volume of this model will be at least at the S4 level, perhaps 10-15 percent higher. But sales will be boosted by cheaper S4 variants, and the bet is on them, as well as the Note line. This happened for the first time and looks like a conscious decision from which all the characteristics of the flagship flow.

For the first time in the Galaxy S5, the technical characteristics do not exceed those of the Note line model, in our case it is the Note 3. Formally, we can talk about an improved camera, but it does not offer striking differences in the quality of photos, the processor is about the same performance, the amount of memory, including RAM, less in S5. These are clearly products of different classes, and the Note 3 looks very advantageous compared to the S5; it has clearly been given a second life with this announcement.

For the buyer, this means that buying a Galaxy S5 is not at all as profitable as it might seem at first glance, since its alternatives look extremely attractive and interesting. First of all, this is the Galaxy S4, secondly – the Note 3. It is curious that there is almost no reason to choose the S5 over these devices - all these reasons are insignificant, and their totality will not be an outweighing factor for the majority. While it's possible that many consumers will change their phones out of inertia, this group of buyers has remained the same for many years. The release date of the new iPhone remains an unclear factor; if it happens in the summer, it will influence the choice of many people. It is also obvious that by increasing the screen size, Apple will eliminate one of the most serious complaints about these smartphones. These factors will certainly influence S5 sales and choice.

Many software features from the Galaxy S5 may not come to previous models, not because of the possibility of their implementation, but for purely marketing reasons; it is necessary to show the difference in the devices and draw attention to the new product.

An interesting question is whether it is worth changing the Galaxy S4 to S5. Such a replacement will be pleasant (a faster device, a better camera, there are different features), but you won’t notice much of a difference. Although there is still a certain sense in this. But replacing Note 3 with Galaxy S5, in my opinion, definitely doesn’t make any sense; these are products of different classes. However, let's take a look at what S5 is.

Design, dimensions, control elements

Samsung tries not to experiment with the design of its devices; it remains unchanged from year to year. While testing the Galaxy S4 Black and S5 for battery life, I kept getting confused which phone was in front of me. It is almost impossible to distinguish them by the front panel at a quick glance. You will be able to do this much better from the pictures, but in life they are completely similar - even slightly different sizes are not noticeable.

Phone size – 142x72.5x8.1 mm, weight – 145 grams. Let me remind you that for S4 these parameters were 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm, 130 grams. Slightly taller, slightly wider. You can't feel the difference in your hand, the grip is exactly the same - it fits easily in any pocket.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy S4

The designers took a shine to the back cover of the device – it has a leather-like structure, with uniform dots applied to the surface. Initially, 4 different colors are offered.

Two years ago I had an X-Drago Dash Dot case that had almost the same design as the back panel on the S5.

I can’t remember a case where a manufacturer would copy someone else’s case when creating their flagship. This is another indicator of the crisis of ideas that exists on the market - the same solutions are being chewed over by many companies.

The back cover has a strange feeling, it is a little oily, as if soaked in some kind of solution. When you hold the device in your hands, your fingers begin to sweat on this cover (it is possible that this is an individual reaction of my body, but those around me also noted this after I asked a question about their feelings).

Another characteristic feature is warnings that you need to tightly close the charging connector cover; this appears after each charge. There are no sensors here, just common sense that tells you that in order to charge the device, you opened the connector. Also, after opening the case, you are asked to check its tightness.

On the left side surface there is a paired volume key, on the right - the on/off button. At the top end there is a 3.5 headphone jack, it is moved to the right (on the S4 on the left and next to the second microphone), this is done so that when the headphones are turned on it does not block the microphone. There is also an IR port window.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Apple iPhone 5S

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Above the screen you can see a 2-megapixel front camera, as well as a proximity sensor. The physical key under the screen is adjacent to two touch buttons - everything is unchanged here, except that the assignment of the keys has changed in accordance with how it is done in KitKat.

Display

Perhaps this is the biggest disappointment - for the first time, Samsung decided not to increase the screen resolution for its flagship, but only to slightly increase the diagonal - now it is 5.1 inches with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels (432 ppi, in S4 - 441 ppi). It is impossible to see individual pixels on the screen; the resolution of the human eye does not allow this. There are no barriers for superhumans, and they see pixelation even on this device. SuperAMOLED screen type, displays up to 16 million colors.

One of the user misconceptions is that Super AMOLED screens are too bright, the colors are saturated and unnatural. In the screen settings, you can choose any display option, including those typical for screens from other manufacturers (dimmer, natural colors). It’s interesting that other manufacturers’ screens produce the maximum possible, and it’s impossible to make them brighter, more contrast, or more saturated colors. Samsung offers maximum flexibility in settings.

Just like the S4, there is an “Optimize Display” option. This is the most interesting setting, since the device analyzes the level of lighting around and, depending on the conditions, sets the contrast, brightness, and also adjusts the colors on the screen. It turns out that white looks white in almost all conditions. Another setting is “Professional Photography” (previously called Adobe RGB), but it has almost no effect on the image display quality, the latter does not noticeably change compared to other settings (I was not able to notice this).

In the sun, the screen looks great, there are no problems, readability has increased slightly, this is due to changes in the screen itself, which I would like to mention separately. So, for the first time testing the video playback time on this device and the S4 Black Edition at maximum screen backlight, I noticed the white light on the S5; the picture looked much worse. This was a clear step back.

After playing with the settings, I discovered a rather funny thing - the picture quality is excellent and completely comparable to the S4 with automatic backlighting (the default setting), but trying to turn the brightness up instantly leads to negative consequences. Also, the quality of the Adaptive Display is such that it is focused on energy saving mode, the colors are muted. To get a picture like on the S4, you should choose one of the other display modes.

Everything became clear with brightness in the sun; with automatic adjustment, it turns up precisely in these conditions, readability in direct sunlight increases sharply. Although I couldn’t notice much difference in Moscow with the same Note 3 (Samsung Galaxy S5 in the photos above).

I have a strong feeling that the default settings are made in favor of a certain scenario in which people want not very bright, muted colors and average backlighting - plus, it saves battery. You should choose these parameters for yourself.

And here are some screen comparison photos with the S4. Let me remind you that the screen in the S4 was and remains the best on the market, in the S4 review there was a large comparison of displays, the situation has not changed in any way over the year.

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5 from below:

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5 from above:

Fingerprint scanner

The function is quite interesting and appeared in response to the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5s, where you need to put your finger on the button. Unlike Apple's implementation, in the S5 you just need to swipe in the center of the screen and hit the center key. In the settings you can register up to 3 fingerprints, swiping with one hand while holding the phone is very inconvenient. Someone might be clever and it will work out, but it doesn’t work out that way for me - so only with two hands. Apple only needs one hand - and the device itself is smaller.

Almost always the scanner works perfectly, detects the fingerprint quickly and unlocks the phone. During operation, several times I saw a message that the surface of the device was wet, I was asked to wipe it. Apparently, this uses a sensor that is already present in the S4 and measures the ambient temperature and humidity.

It’s difficult to say anything special about the scanner; everything works and does not cause any complaints.

Battery and power saving modes

The phone has a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2800 mAh (the S4 has 2600 mAh), the manufacturer specifies for the device up to 390 hours of standby time, up to 21 hours of talk time, as well as up to 10 hours of watching videos and about 45 hours of listening to music . Separated from reality, these results are impressive, but you and I know very well that in practice, most Android smartphones do not last that long and show completely different results.

Before discussing the operating time of the device, let me remind you that initially only the S5 version, built on the Qualcomm chipset, appears on the market; the Exynos version will come later - so we are talking only about this version of the phone. But there shouldn't be any significant differences.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy S5

So, the easiest way was to take the same FullHD video in X.264 and see how long the Galaxy S4 could play it (I took the Black Edition from Qualcomm). The program for playing video is MX Player, without hardware decoding. The result with maximum screen brightness, sound off and in offline mode was typical - about 9.5 hours.

For most modern smartphones, this is an unattainable result; for example, MTK devices play a similar video for about 4-5 hours (with comparable battery capacity). The S5 test revealed an interesting point - the device worked for about 12 hours and 40 minutes. Unfortunately, during playback, he went to the main menu once, so I had to start playback again - but the impact of this incident is minimal, it can be ignored, since the screen time shows how long the video was playing.

Many people are impressed by the raw numbers, but how often do we watch videos non-stop and not use other features? Of course, not often, because the phone is a universal harvester in which we use literally all the possibilities. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate collectively how the battery works and how long it allows the phone to last. Here we can say that the S5 is not much different from the S4, the operating time is comparable - with heavy use of the device, it will run out around lunchtime (3-4 hours of screen operation and a couple of GB of data). With not very heavy use it can survive until the evening. Unfortunately, I was not able to notice any particular difference from the S4; the device is definitely inferior to the same Note 3, which currently remains the record holder in terms of energy consumption and easily survives until the evening with any usage profile.

However, in the phone settings, two more energy saving modes were added to the already existing ones, and a quick power button was created for them. There is a regular power saving mode in which you can limit the background operation of applications and enable gray colors for the screen (for AMOLED this is a feature - gray color consumes almost no energy). Moreover, in gray tones you can work almost anywhere, even watch videos - but it will be gray, which is not very pleasant and convenient.

I was interested to see if it was possible to live a whole day in this energy consumption mode. I managed to do this easily, you can say that the device will last for two days, but it won’t give you any pleasure. It is unlikely that there will be people who will use a screen in this color scheme. There is also one more limitation - Whatsapp and other programs that use a background connection stop working and you stop receiving messages. For social networks that Samsung and the SNS program know, as well as access permissions obtained on the phone (Facebook, Instagram, 4square, Twitter), you receive push messages from the Samsung service. That is, the energy saving mode also has a software feature - instead of push messages from different services/programs, they arrive at a certain interval from only one. This interval cannot be configured; all settings are hidden from the user. Look at the phone usage graphs in this mode.

This saving mode is good when your battery is running low, but you need all the phone's functions. Then, on 10 percent charge, you can easily live for about two hours, without denying yourself almost anything. Two hours is an active use of the device; it just can last much longer in your pocket.

In early firmware of the device, the widget for starting the energy saving mode showed the approximate operating time in two modes - normal and maximum. The first mode was removed for the commercial version; it can be activated from the menu, but you cannot see the estimated operating time.

The maximum power limit mode cuts down almost everything; at 35 percent of the battery charge, the phone can work in standby mode for at least 4 days. But, of course, it all depends on how you use it. The gray scale is also turned on, but all communications are cut off, the list of running applications is limited only to those that you have allowed, all background processes are turned off. This is a very deeply redesigned procedure, since many system functions are disabled, you will not be able to take a screenshot in this mode, many built-in options will be unavailable (but you don’t need them).

I liked this mode because when the battery runs out, by activating this mode with one touch, you can calmly live until the evening - SMS and voice will be available to you.

The bottom line is that we have a fairly typical and power-hungry Android, which, however, performs quite comparable to the iPhone 5s on the same tasks. To avoid unnecessary disputes and battles, I want to emphasize that each of us has our own set of applications, work profile, backlight brightness, and so on. A phone that works for one person for two days may be dead for another by lunchtime. Therefore, you should not give operating graphs of your devices, they say absolutely nothing, you need to compare devices at the same time, with the same load. For the S5, you should focus on a full day of work, taking into account the fact that you will use certain energy saving features without, however, denying all the pleasures of this device.

Camera

There is a separate material dedicated to the camera, in which you can learn everything possible about it.

Hardware platform, memory, performance

The phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8974AC chipset, also called Snapdragon 801. This is the fastest chipset from Qualcomm at the moment, its previous version MSM8974AB was used in devices such as the LG G2. Quad-core processor, maximum frequency 2.45 GHz, graphics coprocessor has a frequency of 578 MHz (previously 450 MHz). The LPDDR3 memory bus frequency has also been overclocked - from 800 to 933 MHz. In many ways, this is what gives the increase in productivity.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB (half is free after loading), internal memory is 16 GB (there is a 32 GB version, but it is unlikely to be widely available on the market). The amount of memory occupied by programs is about 4 GB. Memory card – up to 64 GB.

In synthetic tests, the device shows excellent results, outperforming the Note 3, despite the smaller amount of RAM.

Before the advent of commercial firmware, performance was lower, the device was inferior to Note 3. Now it is slightly higher in performance. But these are synthetic tests that are of interest to fans of virtual parrots. There are a few more tests for them.

In normal, everyday life, the speed of the device is excellent. The interface is extremely responsive and fast. Those who can see lag will see it everywhere - but this is one of the fastest devices at the moment. There is no difference from the iPhone 5s in terms of speed.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Bluetooth. Bluetooth version 4.0 (LE). When transferring files to other devices that support this technology, Wi-Fi 802.11 n is used, and the theoretical transfer speed is about 24 Mbit/s. Testing the transfer of a 1 GB file showed a maximum speed of about 12 Mbit/s within three meters between devices.

The model supports various profiles, in particular Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial Up Networking, File Transfer, Object Push, Basic Printing, SIM Access, A2DP. Working with headsets does not raise any questions, everything is ordinary.

USB connection. In Android 4, for some reason, they abandoned the USB Mass Storage mode, leaving only MTP (there is also a PTP mode).

USB version – 3, data transfer speed – about 50 Mb/s.

When connected via USB, the device is recharged.

The microUSB connector also supports the MHL standard, which means that using a special cable (available at electronics stores), you can connect the phone to the TV (to the HDMI output). In fact, the standard describes the ability to connect via microUSB to HDMI. This solution looks preferable to a separate miniHDMI connector on the case.

The maximum data transfer rate in LTE is 150 Mbit/s.

WiFi. The 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standard is supported, the operation wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember selected networks and automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router in one touch; to do this, you need to press a key on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Among the additional options, it is worth noting the setup wizard; it appears when the signal is weak or disappearing. You can also set up Wi-Fi on a schedule.

802.11n also supports HT40 mode, which doubles Wi-Fi throughput (requires support from another device).

Wi-Fi Direct. A protocol that is intended to replace Bluetooth or begin to compete with its third version (which also uses Wi-Fi version n to transfer large files). In the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone begins to search for devices around. We select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. Now in the file manager you can view files on another device, as well as transfer them. Another option is to simply find devices connected to your router and transfer the necessary files to them; this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

NFC. The device has NFC technology, it can be used with various additional applications.

S Beam. A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes in size to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring up and authorize phones, but the second is already used to transfer the files themselves. The creatively redesigned way to use Wi-Fi Direct is much simpler than using a connection on two devices, selecting files and so on.

IR port. Necessary for using the phone as a remote control for various household appliances. Automatically configures for almost any model of equipment.

Software features - some features and children's mode, S Health

I described all the features of the new version of TouchWiz, pre-installed programs and all the new features in a separate and voluminous material. This is done with intent so as not to be repeated here.

The Galaxy S5 pays a lot of attention to new operating modes for people with impaired motor coordination, hearing or vision impairments. In terms of the set of built-in capabilities, this is one of the most powerful models, along with equipment from Apple. But usually during the test you skip this menu (it appears during the first boot), and then you don’t go there. However, it has another non-trivial function: a baby monitor. You can place the phone next to the child, and then it will detect his cry, and then the camera flashes will notify you about it. Since my children have already grown up, I could not test this function in practice. The phone does not respond to the recorded cry of a baby, and if you want to see how Murtazin howls, then watch the video below - this device also did not respond to my howl. This does not mean that the baby monitor does not work, but most likely it is useless.

It so happened historically - simply due to the fact that Korea recently became a developed and high-tech country - that Samsung has always been in the role of catching up, no matter what product area you take. And she has always professed the approach of “we will overtake and surpass”, and, as a rule, not so much in the sense of “we have better”, but in the sense that “we have more”. Whether this is good or bad is an open question, but this approach has always worked and ultimately allowed Samsung to become one of the largest and most influential companies in the difficult and changing high-tech market.

The Koreans themselves, it seems, are still at a loss about this and do not fully understand what to do. Because it’s one thing to be a successful and dynamic “number two”, and quite another to try to orchestrate the market, come up with new ideas, develop previously non-existent directions, and all that stuff. This is not to say that Samsung is not trying to do this - they are really trying. But so far with varying degrees of success: Korean ideas often turn out to be very artificial.

Apparently, Samsung decided to slow down a little with its usual quantitative approach. It’s not that we completely abandon it - of course, in the Galaxy S5 there is a certain amount of “more”, “higher” and “more often” - but there is still an attempt to carry out serious work on mistakes: to do not only “a lot”, but also "Fine".

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

Design is a subtle matter. When we are talking about the company’s products, which sell millions of copies - and therefore, obviously, are very popular with a huge number of people, then everything is very complicated. Here we must speak carefully about design: either good or nothing. Otherwise, there will be tons of people who are indignant at value judgments. So, about the aesthetic component, sorry, this time we’ll just keep silent and focus on the facts. The facts are as follows: compared to the Galaxy S4, the new smartphone has acquired a more square shape, acquired a corrugated metallic rim, the back panel is now decorated with a leatherette coating, and the dimensions have grown significantly. As a result, the S5 looks more like the Galaxy Note 3 than the Galaxy S4. Is it possible that instead of a “stitch” on the back there is “perforation”.

Structurally, the S5 is completely no different from all previous Samsung devices in a serious price category. Inside there is a magnesium frame, which plays the role of a durable and rigid frame, on the outside there is only a plastic body kit. Either the plastic panels in the S5 have become a little thicker than in the S4, or the vibration isolation has been strengthened, but the “ringing” of the case, characteristic of the previous Samsung flagship, has seriously decreased. The case still vibrates when you knock on it, but it is much less noticeable.

The main innovation of the Galaxy S5 is the appearance of protection against moisture and dust. Koreans have already tried their hand at this genre, but earlier, separate smartphone models were created for experiments. In the “regular”, “main” flagship, Samsung uses this feature for the first time.

Moisture and dust protection is implemented according to class IP67. There was a marketing ploy here: to the uninformed eye, IP67 is obviously bigger and “better” than IP58, which Sony claims for its flagships. In fact, this is not at all true: the fact is that the Ingress Protection rating (the very abbreviation IP) consists of two numbers that are independent of each other. The first number speaks about dust protection and only about it - accordingly, in terms of water protection, the IP6x class is no better than IP5x.

The second distinctive feature of the Galaxy S5 is the presence of a fingerprint sensor. Like Apple, the sensor is built into the only physical button on the front panel. But it works completely differently: you can turn on the iPhone with a button and, by holding your finger on it for a few fractions of a second, you can unlock the smartphone. In the Samsung Galaxy S5, these actions are divided into two independent operations: you first need to turn on the smartphone, and then slide your registered finger from the mark on the display to the sensor.

Fingerprint sensor integrated into the Home button

The sensor works quite well - it recognizes the finger quite reliably, even if you move it at all sorts of unnatural angles, except that it doesn’t work upside down. But the process itself is less convenient than Apple's and takes a little more time. However, even in this form it turns out much faster than with entering a password or a pattern of dots. Additional actions can be assigned to the fingerprint sensor, including authorizing transactions in PayPal.

There is only one “loud” speaker in the Samsung Galaxy S5, it is located at the back. Sounds pretty nice and very loud

However, it should be borne in mind that, as in the case of the iPhone, they have already learned how to bypass the protection: to do this, you need to take some actions that are not exactly simple, but still not quantum mechanics. So it’s worth minimizing the risk: do not attach the most valuable and easily “monetized” login passwords, such as bank passwords, to your “fingers,” and also use for identification those fingers, good prints from which, most likely, will not remain on the glass of the front panel - the little finger or nameless.

The third unusual feature of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the built-in heart rate sensor. It is located in a small niche on the back side of the case; the camera flash is placed in the same niche. The sensor consists of a pair of elements: a diode that illuminates the finger, and a simple camera that reads the pulsation.

Due to the protected design, the body has grown significantly. At the same time, the display increased purely formally - by 0.1 inches. So there is no talk of any new level of comfort when working with the screen, but you have to reach much further for the necessary elements. Visually, the Galaxy S5 does not give the impression of a large device - the shape greatly smoothes out the dimensions - but in fact it has almost caught up with the Xperia Z1. And it greatly outperformed the LG G2, equipped with a larger screen.

However, this is the problem with most modern flagships: they are all too big. We have already gotten used to this: we have long learned to stretch our fingers to distances that were previously difficult to imagine, and also to quickly grab the tubes from a comfortable grip to one that makes it easier to reach the button with your finger.

⇡ Technical specifications

Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F)
Display	5.1 inches, 1920x1080, AMOLED
Touch screen	Capacitive, up to 10 simultaneous touches
Air gap	No
Oleophobic coating	Eat
Polarizing filter	Eat
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC v3: four Qualcomm Krait-400 cores (ARMv7), frequency 2.46 GHz; process technology 28 nm HPm
Graphics controller	Qualcomm Adreno 330, 578 MHz
RAM	2 GB LPDDR3-1600
Flash memory	16 GB (about 12 GB available) + microSD
Connectors	1 x micro-USB 3.0 (MHL) 1 x 3.5mm headset jack 1 x microSD 1 x micro-SIM
cellular	2G/3G/4G Qualcomm MDM9x25 modem (built into processor), WTR1625L transceiver + WFR1620 receiver One SIM card in micro-SIM format
Cellular connection 2G	GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Cellular 3G	WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz DC-HSPA+ (42.2/5.76 Mbps)
Cellular 4G	LTE FDD band 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 (2100/1900/1800/850/2600/900/800 MHz) LTE Cat. 3 (150/50 Mbit/s)
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz
Bluetooth	4.0
NFC	Eat
IR port	Eat
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
Sensors	Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer/Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Digital Compass), Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor
Main camera	16 MP (5312x2988), 1/2.6’’ Samsung S5K2P2 CMOS matrix with back-illumination and ISOCELL technology, element size 1.12 µm autofocus, LED flash
Front-camera	2 MP (1920x1080), CMOS matrix Samsung S5K8B1YX03 size 1/7.3’’ with back illumination, element size 1.12 microns without autofocus, without flash
Nutrition	Removable battery 10.78 Wh (2800 mAh, 3.85 V) The battery has a built-in NFC antenna
Size	142x73 mm Body thickness: 8.3 mm (9.7 mm including camera)
Weight	145 g
Water and dust protection	IP67
operating system	Google Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) Samsung's own TouchWiz shell
recommended price	29,990 rubles
* There is also a version with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage

⇡ Hardware and communications

In past years, Samsung flagships first appeared with their own Exynos processors and only then, due to the special wishes of American cellular operators, versions on Qualcomm chips were released. The turning point occurred at the launch of the Galaxy Note 3: versions for this model were simultaneously announced for both Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon.

For the Galaxy S5, the main one will be the version (or rather, “versions” - there are quite a few of them for different markets) on American processors. Modifications for Exynos also exist, but as secondary auxiliary ones, for some special markets - it is not yet clear for which ones, they have not yet gone on sale. One way or another, the current version on the Russian market is SM-G900F, equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with the simple model name MSM8974AC v3.

The American chipmaker introduced a fair amount of confusion into its lineup earlier this year, so it makes sense to provide a table showing the differences between different Qualcomm SoCs.

	Maximum CPU frequency	Maximum GPU frequency	ISP	eMMC	Dual SIM Dual Active	Memory interface
Snapdragon 800
MSM8974VV v2	2.2 GHz	450MHz	320 MHz	4.5	No	800 MHz
MSM8974AA v2	2.3 GHz	450MHz	321 MHz	4.5	No	800 MHz
MSM8974AB v2	2.3 GHz	550MHz	322 MHz	4.5	No	933 MHz
Snapdragon 801
MSM8974AA v3	2.3 GHz	450MHz	323 MHz	5.0	Yes	800 MHz
MSM8974AB v3	2.3 GHz	578MHz	465 MHz	5.0	Yes	933 MHz
MSM8974AC v3	2.5 GHz	578MHz	465 MHz	5.0	Yes	933 MHz

So, MSM8974AC v3 is the most powerful Qualcomm chip available today. It is still quad-core and 32-bit - it uses the Krait-400 architecture running with the ARMv7 instruction set. But compared to the “regular” 800, the new version is noticeably overclocked: the maximum frequency of both the computing cores themselves and the graphics adapter built into the processor is higher, the chip can work with faster memory, even the ISP, the unit responsible for working with cameras, has been overclocked .

In addition, new versions of Qualcomm's flagship chips now include support for a faster interface for connecting eMMC 5.0 flash memory, as well as support for two SIM cards in Dual SIM Dual Active (DSDA) mode. The latter, however, is not relevant for our version of the Galaxy S5 - it only has one SIM card, in micro format.

The amount of RAM has not changed compared to that in the Galaxy S4 and is still 2 GB. The memory type is apparently the same as in the Galaxy Note 3 - LPDDR3-1600. As for the flash drive, there are versions with both 16 GB of built-in memory (about 12 GB of which are available) and 32. Of course, microSD cards are supported; Samsung prefers not to limit the user’s desire to expand the storage capacity.

With communications, by and large, everything is the same: the Snapdragon 801 has the same MDM9x25 modem built in as the Snapdragon 800, which can work with any existing networks of the second and third generations, and also supports LTE category 4 networks. Support for faster ones LTE Cat networks 6 (remember, in Moscow such a network is already operating within the Garden Ring) you will have to wait until the next generation of modem, MDM9x35. Moreover, at first this modem will be external and only by the release of Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 will it move into the SoC.

As for the RF part, everything is more interesting here: the Samsung Galaxy S5 uses a new WTR1625L transceiver, equipped with a WFR1620 companion chip, which is an additional receiver and is designed to implement carrier frequency aggregation technology. The Galaxy S5 also has a QFE1100 chip, which is responsible for Envelope Tracking technology. All this additional equipment, in theory, allows you to increase data transfer speeds and reduce power consumption.

The slots for micro-SIM cards and memory cards in the Samsung Galaxy S5 are arranged in a “sandwich” arrangement. And the NFC antenna is built into the battery

With the set of supported ranges, alas, everything is not as great as we would like. Samsung prefers to differentiate markets, including support for cellular networks. This is good for sellers in local markets, but not so good for those who travel frequently and want to enjoy fast data transfers anywhere in the world. SM-G900F is the European version of the device, and in Europe there will be no problems with communication. However, it is not so suitable for other regions: many popular 3G/4G bands in the US are not supported. Not to mention China.

The micro-USB 3.0 connector is hidden under a flap. You will have to open it each time to charge, there is no possibility of connecting a docking station, but you can purchase a rear panel with wireless charging - of course, for additional money

For wired connection, a micro-USB 3.0 interface with MHL support is used. Wireless interfaces - a complete set: the user has a dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac adapter, Bluetooth 4.0, and NFC. There is also an infrared port - so the smartphone can operate as a universal remote control. Among other things, this can be useful if you want to turn down the volume of the TV in some public place.

The Qualcomm iZat Gen8B module built into the processor is responsible for working with navigation satellite networks, exactly the same as in the Snapdragon 800. Let us recall that in addition to the GPS and GLONASS systems that have already become standard, this module and the WTR1625L transceiver already mentioned above also support the Chinese Beidou. Moreover, the Samsung Galaxy S5 seems to be the first “global” smartphone for which Beidou support is stated in the official specifications and actually implemented - on the SGS5 we were able to catch Chinese satellites for the first time.

Test of GPS/GLONASS/Beidou receiver of Samsung Galaxy S5. From left to right: 15 seconds after start; one minute after the start; in room

Navigation works very quickly: even without access to the Network, the Galaxy S5 literally finds a dozen satellites in a matter of seconds and confidently determines the coordinates. This is the fastest navigation smartphone we've ever seen - the speed is simply amazing.

The market has not felt any shortage in the mobile device niche for several years now. Every year, manufacturers offer customers various new products. A wide range can be seen in all price categories. However, some users still prefer smartphones that, as they say, are time-tested. This review will describe just such a gadget from the famous Galaxy line. It was released by a world-famous Korean company - Samsung. The price of the Galaxy S5, its technical characteristics and, of course, reviews will be discussed in this article.

The model debuted successfully. In 2014, it was considered one of the best that were presented on the market. The manufacturer tried to implement everything necessary in it to satisfy the requirements of a wide audience of buyers. What came of it? Let's figure it out together.

Positioning

At the time of its release, the Samsung Galaxy S5 model (read reviews below) belonged to the segment of flagship devices. This is fully confirmed by characteristics that are considered relevant to this day. At the start of sales, the price of a smartphone varied around $400, but with the release of new models it gradually began to decrease.

It is worth noting that for those buyers who are not looking to get a new product, this phone is an excellent choice, time-tested. The device has a sufficient level of performance to cope with any tasks. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but let’s take a look at all the characteristics in order.

Equipment

Although this model is not a “state-priced” model, the set of components makes it difficult to classify the smartphone as a flagship. All that is offered to the buyer is a USB cable, documentation and charging. Many users would really like to see a case for the Samsung Galaxy S5 in the box. But alas, it, like the film for the screen, as well as a memory card, will have to be purchased separately. Headphones, unfortunately, are also missing, so we can safely say that the manufacturer saved a lot by abandoning accessories.

Appearance

The first impressions of buyers when examining this smartphone are positive. Even despite the plastic body, a feeling of reliability is created. And this is completely justified, since the manufacturer used high-quality materials. The shape of the phone is closer to a rectangle. The corners are slightly rounded, which undoubtedly makes it attractive. An excellent addition was the chrome frame that runs along the entire perimeter of the case. It looks majestic and highlights the front panel of the phone. The control panel is standard. The mechanical key contains a fingerprint scanner. The company name is displayed above the screen. There is a selfie camera “eye”, a sensor, and an earpiece.

The back panel looks quite impressive. The corrugated coating played a significant role in this. It is worth noting that it is used not only for beauty, but also for practicality. For example, dirt practically does not accumulate on the back panel, so you don’t have to buy a case for the Samsung Galaxy S5. After all, many people have to carry it just to get rid of a stained surface, but with this phone such a need disappears by itself. On the back side, the buyer will be able to see a small speaker hole, which is located at the bottom. At the top in the middle there is a large “window” of the main camera. Below it there is a flash and a sensor that measures the heartbeat.

The back cover is very easy to remove. The battery is hidden under it. For the Samsung Galaxy S5, the developers chose an interesting arrangement of slots into which an external storage device and a SIM card are installed. Upon quick inspection, it may appear that he is alone. But this is not so - the cards are inserted on both sides, so to speak, in a “sandwich” (at the bottom is the drive, and above it is the SIM card).

In addition to all the usual elements, this smartphone has an infrared port, thanks to which the device can easily replace the remote control. A USB 3.0 connector covered with a chrome cap is provided for charging.

Screen

Most buyers pay special attention to the screen capabilities when choosing a smartphone. And, in principle, this is correct. After all, interaction with the gadget occurs through this particular element. Are Samsung Galaxy S5 buyers disappointed with the screen characteristics? If you believe the reviews, then no. An excellent large display with a 5.1-inch diagonal and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 px. The matrix is made in accordance with SuperAMOLED technology, which is undoubtedly an advantage. This company is distinguished by the fact that it equips its products with high-quality screens. S5 was no exception. High pixel density (431 ppi) guarantees a high-quality and clear image in which, even with a magnifying glass, it is impossible to see pixelation. The developers did not forget about protection by installing high-quality Gorilla Glass 3.

The viewing angles and color are simply gorgeous. The picture is displayed richly and juicy. Even in direct sunlight, the information is perfectly readable, and the contrast remains virtually unchanged.

Protection standard

It is worth noting that the characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S5, even now, fully meet modern requirements. Many buyers were pleased with the fact that the manufacturer used IP67 protection. What does this mean? The device is not afraid of getting wet. According to the international standard, the phone can withstand immersion in water up to a depth of one meter. The maximum time spent in it should not exceed 30 minutes. Users recommend that after immersion in water, be sure to wipe the screen and the places where the connectors are located with a dry soft cloth. Also, owners do not have to worry that if they get caught in heavy rain, their phone will stop working. This is confirmed by numerous reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Thanks to special protection, this smartphone does not need to be cleaned of dust and other small particles of debris. For example, after falling into the sand, it is enough to simply clean the upper surfaces from contamination.

According to the manufacturer, the camera works perfectly when the device is immersed in water. If desired, the user can take unique pictures of the underwater world, but do not forget about the limitations in depth and time.

Performance

It’s not for nothing that the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone is equated to flagship devices. Its hardware can easily compete with expensive devices. To ensure high performance, the phone has an excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. Manufactured using a 28nm process technology. It runs on four computing modules, which are developed based on the Krait 400 architecture. The maximum frequency is 2500 MHz. The only drawback is the number of rows of the system, limited to 32 bits. 64-bit applications are not available for such hardware. The user will experience problems only when installing new software, but otherwise the platform works fine. We can safely say that there is not a single task that the device cannot cope with.

To work with graphic images, the developers installed the Adreno 330 coprocessor. This model is perfect for working with a screen with Full HD resolution. Most games run smoothly, and the user can select high graphics settings.

Memory

The capabilities of the gadget are also characterized by RAM. Productivity will directly depend on its volume. In this model, the developers used two gigabytes. However, it is worth considering that about half is already used by system processes, so in fact, users only have one gigabyte left.

Unfortunately, with the size of the built-in storage, not everything is so rosy in the Samsung Galaxy S5 16Gb. From the name it is already clear that its volume is limited to 16 GB. The pre-installed software takes up about 5 GB, so there are only 11 left for installing applications. Is this enough? Each owner will decide for himself. For those who need additional memory, the option to install an external drive is offered. The device supports flash drives up to 128 GB. There is a separate slot for them.

Platform

This smartphone is controlled by the fourth Android. The original firmware of the Samsung Galaxy S5 has the proprietary TouchWiz interface. The developers did a good job on the shell. They changed the design and made the interface as clear as possible. The updates affected the settings menu and some applications.

With the advent of the fifth version of the operating system, owners of this model are invited to update their gadget. To do this, simply connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi and activate the corresponding menu item.

The phone has a lot of pre-installed software. It includes popular services from Google, social networks, weather, office programs, players and more.

Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S5 meets the needs of the most advanced users. To verify this, just look at the characteristics of the main camera. The manufacturer did not skimp and installed a 16-megapixel matrix. But this is not the only advantage of optics. It was in this model that the developers implemented a completely new automatic focusing system. To take a high-quality photo, simply point the viewfinder and press the shutter. In any lighting, bright and clear shots can be taken with the Samsung Galaxy S5, reviews confirm this. The menu has many settings that can be adjusted manually. The flash copes well with the assigned tasks. Videos are recorded in high resolution 4K UHD. With this quality, the maximum frame rate is limited to 30. You can increase the speed to 60 fps by changing the resolution to 1080p.

What do owners say about the front camera? Unfortunately, it cannot boast of flagship capabilities. It is based on a sensitive sensor with a resolution of 2 megapixels. From these characteristics it is already clear that dreaming of a high-quality selfie is pointless. The only thing this module is suitable for is video communication.

Battery Specifications

When choosing a phone, battery life is a mandatory criterion. It is provided not only by the battery, but also by the energy efficiency of the hardware platform. First, let's look at what battery the developers chose for the Samsung Galaxy S5? The battery is removable and made using lithium-ion technology. Has a capacity of 2800 mAh. Compared to its predecessor, this model shows better results. To complete the picture, it is necessary to take into account the large high-resolution touch screen and a fairly powerful hardware platform. With all this, the Galaxy S5 is able to work with an average load for about a day.

It is worth paying attention to the energy saving mode. The device features the Ultra Power Saving function, with which you can significantly extend the “life” of your smartphone on a single charge. When activated, the color of the image is turned off, and the multifunctional device turns into a simple “dialer”. In this state, as the manufacturer assures, the phone consumes no more than 10% in 24 hours.

Samsung Galaxy S5: reviews

To assess the real capabilities of a gadget, it is not enough to know only the technical characteristics. In this matter, you must also listen to customer reviews. The comments not only talk about the positive aspects of the smartphone, but also discuss the negative ones in detail. The biggest complaint was the ROM size. Currently, advanced users do not have enough memory of 16 GB in order to fully use the potential of the gadget. And if you consider that not the entire volume will be available, then it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to do without external drives. The plastic body can also be considered a disadvantage, especially if you rely on modern trends. Nowadays even state-priced phones are produced with an aluminum case, which significantly increases the level of reliability of the device.

In principle, the Samsung Galaxy S5 has no critical flaws. Users, by and large, in their reviews mainly highlight only the strengths. What is the indisputable advantage of this gadget?

Degree of housing protection. With this model, the manufacturer has implemented the IP67 standard, so you don’t have to worry that the phone will break down if it gets wet.
User-friendly interface. Of course, it is impossible to call the fourth Android a fresh version, but the number of compatible office and entertainment applications is so large that the user will in no case experience restrictions. The most advanced ones are invited to change the firmware in the Samsung Galaxy S5 to a newer one.
Resolution of the main camera. The device has a high-quality model, with which it is easy to take excellent pictures. Let us remind you that you can do them even under water.
Current characteristics of the hardware platform. The equipment allows this model to be competitive even after two years.
Decent battery life. During the day, the device operates at an average load. And if you activate the Ultra Power Saving mode, the smartphone will use the battery resource very economically, which will significantly increase the operating time.

Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and Galaxy S5: main differences

For lovers of small smartphones, the manufacturer has released a smaller copy of the Galaxy S5. The appearance of the phones is practically the same if you do not pay attention to the sizes. The dimensions of the device with the mini attachment are 131 × 65 × 9.1 mm. Let's compare them with the “older” version. As for the height and width, they have decreased compared to the Galaxy S5 by 11 mm and 8 mm, respectively. However, the thickness of the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini, no matter how strange it may sound, has increased by 1 mm. The differences don't stop there. For some reason, the developers significantly underestimated the technical characteristics of the “younger” version. This is not the first time that buyers have observed such a trend. Let's look at the differences in detail.

	Galaxy S5 mini	Galaxy S5
Display Specifications	4.5' (diagonal reduction by 0.6') HD (resolution degraded) 326 ppi (pixel density decreased by 106 ppi)	5.1″ Full HD 432 ppi
Hardware	Snapdragon 400, frequency 1400 MHz, coprocessor - Adreno 305	Snapdragon 801, 2500 MHz, graphics accelerator - Adreno 330
Random Access Memory (RAM)	1.5 GB	2 GB
Autonomy	2.1 thousand mAh	2.8 thousand mAh
Optics capabilities	8 and 2.1 MP	16 and 2 MP

Conclusion

From the review it is clear that the manufacturer did a good job on the Samsung Galaxy S5. The price of a smartphone with flagship hardware varies from 6,500 to 10,700 rubles. The device perfectly implements all the functions necessary for comfortable work. Surprisingly, even three years after its release, the technical characteristics of this model are still relevant to this day, so the purchase will be completely justified.

Test

Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone test: evolution of the leader

Sales of the previous flagship of the Korean manufacturer's smartphone line, the Samsung Galaxy S4, exceeded 40 million units, largely securing the company's first place among mobile equipment manufacturers in 2013, which it occupies by a significant margin over its closest competitor. At the same time, it must be admitted that in terms of technology and design, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was often inferior to the flagships of other manufacturers, which did not hinder its sales at all.

Samsung Galaxy S5

A similar fate can be repeated - it received a hardware platform that is not the most powerful at the moment (top-end characteristics are more likely to be expected in the Note series), a fingerprint scanner and water protection, which have already been implemented in other devices. But the combination of all these features and small but numerous software modifications, finally a smart marketing strategy from Samsung, make it a potential hit that could become the most popular Android smartphone this year.

		Sony Xperia Z2
Display	S-AMOLED 5.1’’ 1920x1080	IPS 5.2’’ 1920x1080
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
Video chip	Adreno 330	Adreno 330
Memory	microSD up to 128 GB	microSD up to 64 GB
Cameras	flash autofocus UltraHD recording	flash autofocus UltraHD recording
Communications	Wi-Fi 802.11ac Bluetooth 4.0 microUSB 3.0 IR port	Wi-Fi 802.11ac Bluetooth 4.0 microUSB 2.0
Peculiarities	IP67 certificate housing protection pedometer Fingerprint's scanner heart rate reader	IP58 certificate housing protection
Dimensions	142x73x8.1 mm 145 g.	147x73x8.3 mm, 163 g.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is clearly aimed at becoming a mass device - a large (but not too large) 5.1-inch screen with Full HD resolution, water resistance, an abundance of functions, a removable battery and support for microSD memory cards - the company has done everything to please everyone as much as possible possible number of users. In Russia you can already pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S5 for 30 thousand rubles. Sales of the smartphone should begin on April 11.

Design and ergonomics

Traditionally for Samsung, the new flagship does not have an outstanding design and looks quite simple, almost repeating in its appearance the last year's Galaxy S4 model - with rounded corners and a silver edging on the edges. The body is made of plastic, has no metal elements and, of course, does not look as premium as devices from Apple, Sony or HTC. However, we can expect that Samsung will later introduce a “designer” model of the smartphone, as happened with the Galaxy S4 Black Edition and La Fleur. At the moment, four design options for the model are available, differing in the color of the back panel - black, white, blue and, as a tribute to fashion, gold.

Back view

The 5.1-inch screen makes the Samsung Galaxy S5 slightly larger than the fourth model - its dimensions are 142x72.5 mm, and the body thickness reaches 8.1 mm. The weight of the device is 145 grams including the installed battery, so in the hand the smartphone, considering its size, seems quite light.

Bottom edge

An important characteristic of the Samsung Galaxy S5 case is that it is certified to the IP67 standard, that is, it is completely protected from dust and can withstand immersion under water to a depth of 1 meter for at least half an hour. Interestingly, the back cover of the Samsung Galaxy S5, made of rubberized flexible plastic, can be removed, which is very unusual for a device with a declared IP67 protection rating. However, it fits into place very tightly (and the smartphone reminds you to check its installation after each boot). Testing has shown that the smartphone remains operational both under running water and when immersed, which is a big plus for an expensive flagship device. The only consequence is that after “bathing” the touch screen does not respond well to touch for a few seconds.

Top edge

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a minimal set of control keys. On the left side there is a volume rocker, on the right there is a power and lock button. In color they blend in with the silver color of the edging, but they protrude quite strongly from the body, so finding them tactilely is not a problem and working with them is quite convenient. On the top edge of the Samsung Galaxy S5 there is a standard 3.5 mm audio jack and an infrared port. MicroUSB 3.0 for charging and communication with a computer is located on the bottom edge and is covered with a rubberized plug that protects it from water. On the back cover of the smartphone there is a main camera lens, a unit with an LED flash and a heart rate sensor, as well as a small speaker located at the bottom of the device. Under the panel there is a removable battery and slots for a micro-format SIM card and a microSD memory card with a capacity of up to 64 GB.

Right side

On the front panel of the Samsung Galaxy S5 there is a 2-megapixel front camera, proximity and light sensors, and a traditional touch control unit with a mechanical central button. A big innovation for Samsung was the use of a fingerprint scanner built into this key. Once an account is created on the smartphone with the owner's fingerprint information, the scanner can be used to unlock the phone, log into a Samsung account, and confirm payments. In the test smartphone, the scanning function worked quite correctly - after a short “training” procedure, the system clearly recognized different users. Interestingly, the principle of operation of the scanner in the Samsung Galaxy S5 differs from the iPhone 5S - to recognize a fingerprint using the scanner, you need to swipe your finger from top to bottom, and not just place it on the sensor.

Card slots

The Samsung Galaxy S5 turned out to be very successful in terms of ergonomics - it fits very comfortably in the hand. The 5.1-inch diagonal is a reasonable compromise between the size of the display and the dimensions of the device itself. For such a screen, the body is not very large, mainly due to the small size of the top and bottom frames. Although the smartphone is slightly wider in width than comparable models, perhaps due to the seal needed to protect it from water. However, even those with small hands will not experience any difficulties with the controls - both the screen and the mechanical keys are easily accessible when working with one hand. It’s also nice that the rubberized and perforated plastic of the back panel does not slip in the palm of your hand.

Specifications

The basis of the hardware platform is the new quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip with a core frequency of 2.5 GHz, created using a 28-nanometer process technology and equipped with an Adreno 330 graphics module. Despite the increase in frequency, its performance is not much different from last year’s Snapdragon 800 model, although and supports faster memory. Also, the smartphone received 2 GB of RAM, which is not much for a modern top-end device. As a result, in synthetic performance tests, the Galaxy S5 is inferior, albeit very slightly, to the Galaxy Note3 phablet. However, this does not affect everyday work with the device - the smartphone copes well with both work and entertainment tasks, including games that require high performance.

Test results

After some time, Samsung will most likely present another modification of the Galaxy S5, equipped with an eight-core processor, probably the proprietary Exynos 5422, which was announced at the MWC-2014 exhibition. Information about this appeared in Samsung infographics shortly after the presentation of the smartphone. However, the company quickly removed mention of the eight-core processor before officially confirming these plans.

Samsung Galaxy S5 supports Wi-Fi standards a/b/g/n/ac and can work in LTE networks. At the same time, the model implements the possibility of joint operation of Wi-Fi and LTE modules, speeding up the connection to the Internet. The smartphone also has an NFC module and supports Bluetooth 4.0 with low-power protocols BLE and ANT+, so it can work with various fitness trackers and external sensors without any problems.

Working hours

The use of the new chip also had a positive effect on the energy efficiency of the smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with a removable 2800 mAh battery, which is fairly standard for modern devices, but good power saving mechanisms allow it to increase its battery life. In the AnTuTu Tester test, the smartphone scored 574 points, discharging to 19% charge in three hours under maximum load. When playing Full HD video with maximum screen brightness, the smartphone discharged to 39% after 7 hours of operation, which is a very good result. In general, with everyday work and active use of wireless communications, you can count on two days of operation on a single battery charge.

Battery test results

Samsung also introduced a new maximum energy saving mode in the model - in it, the display brightness is significantly reduced, the image becomes black and white, and only a small set of applications can be launched on the smartphone. Wireless interfaces and auto-update of data are disabled by default in this mode, but they can be enabled manually. The stated operating time of the Samsung Galaxy S5 in this mode is one day per 10% battery charge, so this is a very useful innovation that allows you not to be left without communication in an emergency.

Display

It uses a 5.1-inch screen with the company’s traditional AMOLED matrix with Full HD resolution. Its pixel density is 432 ppi. The image on the display looks very cool - bright, detailed, with rich colors and good contrast. The screen has wide viewing angles and practically does not distort the image when tilted, and also allows you to easily see the picture even in direct sunlight.

The screen brightness is smoothly adjustable over a very wide range, which makes it possible to set a comfortable backlight in any lighting. Also, the user is given the opportunity to select one of the color rendering modes, including adaptive, which automatically optimizes for a specific application. The list of programs in this mode includes “Gallery”, “Video”, “Books” and several others, but unfortunately does not support third-party applications.

The smartphone perfectly plays video in Full HD resolution and is even capable of handling higher resolutions up to 4K. But the external sound of the Samsung Galaxy S5 did not please me - the small speaker is not suitable for listening to music and only reproduces system notifications well.

Camera

The main camera in the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a resolution of 16 megapixels, and it uses a new proprietary sensor made using ISOCELL technology. Its essence is that individual elements on the matrix are isolated from each other, which reduces crosstalk between adjacent pixels and allows for more accurate color reproduction in the photograph, and also improves its contrast.

Camera interface

In practice, it is difficult to assess the contribution of this technology to the overall quality of images, but the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S5 has one of the best photo modules at the moment is clear. Photos have good detail, accurate color reproduction and a wide dynamic range. Autofocus is very fast - the stated focusing time is 0.3 seconds.

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/634

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/455

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/108

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/282

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/304

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/105

31 mm EGF; ISO 40; F/2.2; 1/40

Gallery of pictures from the rear camera of the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Clicking on a thumbnail will open a full-size image.

The maximum resolution of Samsung Galaxy S5 photos is 5312x2988 pixels, videos can be recorded in a resolution of 3840x2160. The camera allows you to take pictures in HDR mode, shoot panoramas, take multiple exposure photos, and record slow-motion or fast-motion video. A special section for the camera has appeared in the Samsung branded application store - new filters and shooting modes can be installed additionally.

Software

Samsung Galaxy S5 runs Android operating system version 4.4.2 KitKat and has a pre-installed proprietary TouchWiz interface, which has received many small improvements and effects, in particular, an updated look for the settings menu. The device also uses the proprietary My Magazine update feed, which allows you to create an individual selection of news. The system has several operating modes - children's mode, which limits the list of available applications and actions on the device, private mode, which allows you to hide individual files from other users, and blocking mode, which turns off notifications from people not on the “white list”.

User interface

The S Health sports application is also pre-installed, designed to track physical activity using the smartphone itself or additional external accessories. The functionality of the program includes a pedometer, training support (running, walking, cycling) and heart rate measurement. The heart rate monitor built into your smartphone detects your heart rate using your finger, and, let's face it, this is not the best way. Even in a calm state, several consecutive measurements gave results from 60 to 80 beats per minute, which indicates a fairly high measurement error. However, this is one of the first examples of using such a sensor in a smartphone, so in the future we can hope for improved accuracy, perhaps even through improvements to the recognition program.

S Health interface

The total internal storage capacity in the test device was 16 GB, of which about 10 GB is available to the user. There is also a version of the smartphone with 32 GB of internal memory. However, support for microSD cards always makes it possible to quickly increase the available space.

Bottom line

It turned out to be a completely typical smartphone from a Korean company - with a discreet design, but very rich in functionality. The model has all the features of a mass product - high, but not maximum, performance, a large set of new, but already tested solutions.

Samsung Galaxy S5. Better, bigger and can swim

In the Galaxy S series, Samsung does not experiment, offering users a carefully prepared cocktail of the most popular solutions. The Samsung Galaxy S5 has an excellent display, water resistance, a good camera, a powerful hardware platform, and a number of additional features, including a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate monitor - more than enough for this year's flagship. A huge advantage of the Galaxy S5 is that it’s impossible to go wrong when choosing this model - it will suit almost everyone, except perhaps those who like very large screens and maximum performance. But there are other models for them in the Samsung product line.