Gadgetory

it's one of the most anticipated phones of the year for better or worse but everyone wants to know exactly what the next version of the Galaxy has in store for us so let's find out because it's Joshua regard form and write authority of what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s5 as is the case with plenty of the updates to flagship smartphones this year much of what you remember from previous iterations returns and in the galaxy s5 there are some subtle but ultimately not too significant changes the first thing you'll notice is the shape of the phone which takes on a very familiar form factor with the rounded corners that put together what is pretty much a flat profile all around it'll either be too familiar or it's going to be played out depending on who you are samsung's trademark button layout returns with the new and welcome change the tactile home button with back and this time a recent apps button which helps to provide a much more traditional experience at least when it comes to multitasking one thing you will notice especially if you're a screen that are that the bezels around the screen are a little bit larger now some of you out there will lament this change but there is a reason for that Samsung was going for durability in the galaxy s5 so when this lands if you happen to drop it on the sides perhaps the screen is going to be a little bit more protected and also you also get that ip67 certification come around to the sides and you'll find the same button layout atop a slightly different backdrop now while we did see a somewhat notebook design introduced in the Galaxy Note 3 this time around the ridges are much more pronounced and neither detract or add to the handling because the sides for all intents and purposes are still flat so the experience is largely the same head down to the bottom and you'll have the microUSB charging port that is now covered by a piece of plastic another facet of that IP certification I'd just mentioned when it comes to the material on the back I will have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of this perforated design primarily because we already had a great full leather offering that was introduced in the note series so for some people out there and some one myself I do find this to be a little bit of a step backward but anyway when it comes to the back you have that cover but up here you have the ISO cell the new ISO cell camera and also the addition of the heart rate monitor ultimately however looks are one thing handling is a whole different story and in that regard I have to give Samsung some credit because they believe in their design and if it ain't broke they don't necessarily have to fix it the size of the phone even with the 5.1 inch screen is still highly accessible as it is only marginally larger than its predecessor if you were a fan of the handling experience of the Galaxy s4 you get largely the same deal here it's an aspect of the phone that always strikes me first the ease of use in one hand and the ability to reach most places on the screen because of the ergonomics so if the looks of the phone are going to lose some points maybe it redeems itself by having a form factor that is ultimately familiar meaning that the learning curve on the galaxy s5 is really not all that steep at all Samsung continues its tradition of Super AMOLED displays by bumping up its size by 0.1 inches and pretty much everything you may expect from this 1080p resolution screen with 432 pixels per inch is here in the galaxy s5 display highly vibrant colors do justice to the updated version of TouchWiz as colors basically pop out and punch you in the face this kind of vibrancy is eye-catching to be sure but can be toned down if you wish them to be viewing angles are as good as ever allowing you to see elements clearly even in steep angles and pretty much any in all media you're going to watch through this display shines through so fire up games like plants vs. zombies - and enjoy yourself worth mentioning is the screams ability to register touches from fingers even when you're using gloves along with its ability to recognize a hovering finger for air view capabilities in performance as is the case with all of the flagship updates this year the Samsung Galaxy s5 sports the basically required processing package the Snapdragon 801 clocked in at 2.5 gigahertz and backed by the audrina 330 and 2 gigabytes of RAM often we see comments regarding stutter and lag on Samsung Galaxy devices but while they may have been occasional in the past I wouldn't use the term seldom for this one credit can be given to the updated and thus optimized new version of TouchWiz in which I only really find delays in the my magazine area when it is trying to refresh the content especially with the slew of tools available in the new version of TouchWiz getting work and play done shouldn't be an issue and thankfully the phone is powerful enough to even handle all of those tools ip67 means that the s5 is dustproof and can be under one meter of water for 30 minutes and after splashing about in my tests the phone bounced right back and was responsive I didn't even have much trouble with the water registering presses on the screen as can be an issue with other water-resistant phones and all of that protection helps keep safe a number of features that range from ultimately useful to maybe useful sometimes because at the very least under that back cover you have access to that removable battery and also to the expandable storage using the micro SD card slot an IR blaster allows you to control your TVs and set-top boxes in an app that helps you find the best content on TV and the sensors within the phone help with various functions like the s health pedometer and the air gestures all of which make their return in the S 5 call quality on the t-mobile network yielded few problems no calls were dropped and neither side of the call complained about the sound quality and speaking of sound quality the speaker of the Galaxy s5 is still relegated to the back side portion and mostly retains the experience of before with a pretty one-dimensional sound and a lack of volume while it is possible to mess with the settings in order to achieve a slightly better sound overall the galaxy s 5 speaker just pales in comparison to any of its competitors that have front-facing speakers the main additions when it comes to the hardware are the heart rate monitor and the finger scanner both of which are covered in feature focus videos but here's the gist the heart rate monitor does add another layer to the s health fold but unless you're only looking for a snapshot of your heart rate from time to time the single readings possible by the s5 SHRM won't prove useful for anyone truly passionate about fitness and while the finger scanner does add another level of security to the s5 I found it a little more bothersome than anything adding to the time it takes for me to get into the phone perhaps when it is given more functionality than basically just unlocking the phone I would use it much more at the time of filming all of the b-roll for this video I was using the phone extensively obviously especially since I was taking it out for a camera shootout so here is what my usage looked like once the battery hit 50% so the average user will get longevity from this phone while power users might be reaching for the power cord just in time for bed and the ultra power saving mode might be your saving grace as you are able to strip the phone experience to its monochromatic bare-bones limiting you to only some apps and settings at the benefit of having much more longevity now one of the biggest additions to the galaxy s5 is the new ISO cell camera an optic package that brings 16 megapixels of power and new technology to isolate pixels for higher quality photos but if you don't need to hear the technical jargon perhaps the quality may speak for itself first we'll talk about the app which takes on the Mohr circle centric motif of the updated TouchWiz look while dialing it back on some of the features that were originally introduced in the galaxy s4 and then adding in a few new ones it's a pretty simple app to use at first glance as auto mode will get you where you need to go but open up that settings menu and you'll see all that you can tweak in a long scrolling menu live HDR affords you the ability to see through the viewfinder the effect HDR would have on your shot it's useful if you aren't sure how HDR would affect the scene and when you use it right it can really enhance an otherwise jarring Li contrast a photo select the focus is Samsung's way of adding some style to your photos with the mode on you can focus on your main subject and then the camera will take multiple photos and process them together the processing time is a little long but if done right you can play around with the resulting image and while at times it will do its job well and yield you the choice of foreground background or everything in focus it can be a hit or miss at times when the software is unable to draw a perfect line between subjects you'll notice as a portion of the picture will be blurred because it wasn't processed properly in the end ISO so seems to do the trick as far as quality goes at first yielding photos with great color saturation and pretty good detail at first glance the details are captured pretty well as a number of photos show good sharpness even after zooming in but this is not true for every photo lowering the overall lighting conditions will exacerbate this which comes as a little surprise but the camera does continue to get some decent shots even in those less than ideals situations so with the slew of features and settings Ives disposal the ISO cell camera proves to be a worthy companion for anyone that wants to get even just a little bit more out of their smartphone photography and we finally make it to software in which we see an updated version of TouchWiz one that might not be as drastic and update as many hoped but still manages to somewhat add to the formula at first glance TouchWiz seems like the same old same old you have the very colorful home screens and also the app drawer which is still a paginated layout horizontally but then you'll see in addition in the home screens when you move left and it is called the my magazine while it is supposed to be a news aggregator it does piggyback off a Flipboard but not to the extent you might like even casual users of Flipboard which is still a very powerful and stylish news application will not be happy to know that their own set up notifications don't filter through the my magazine screen instead it pulls from a curated list of categorical offerings and then your social media outlets more freedom of choice would have helped the my magazine which ultimately becomes a shortcut to parts of Flipboard that you probably don't use pull down that notification drop-down and you're going to see how the circles comprise the power widget and when you bring it down to see all of the features available in your s5 you'll find that signature long list of particular toggles now many of these will be familiar but one worth mentioning is the toolbox a small floating button which is much like a chat head that provides a quick shortcut to up to five different favorited apps after that we also have a download booster which allows TouchWiz to download files larger than 30 megabytes using both your Wi-Fi and mobile data connection it works extremely well but don't get carried away or you'll use of all your data in no time and all of these are found in a completely revamped settings menu that has taken on that circle motif as well all options are also quite elegantly categorized in pull downs making it easy to find what you're looking for after that much of what you may remember returns like every gesture you may or may not use the multi window and apps like s-health which was updated mainly to accommodate the heart rate what strikes me most about this update version of TouchWiz is the fact that it's actually pretty smooth and I found the performance to be actually quite good the only thing that I'm really sick of when it comes to TouchWiz are the noises that it makes all of those little noises that we've had since the galaxy s2 are really played out but those subtle changes that you find in here do afford it a little bit of freshness at least until it doesn't feel fresh anymore and after that it pretty much comes down to touch was being a little bit too familiar for its own good but at least it's pretty snappy and it's still pretty reliable the Galaxy s5 will be available for all the major carriers soon at the premium prices for their two-year contracts usually $1.99 in the States expect unlocked versions of the phone to range close to the $700 mark and so there you have it the Samsung Galaxy s5 now a lot of you out there are probably not going to look at this phone as a proper upgrade and how do I know that what's because you've sounded off on it already and in quite a few ways they're probably right some additions like the heart rate monitor or even the finger scanner still don't feel ultimately useful to me and will probably sit in that Samsung bag of tricks marked galaxy syndrome which includes a number of other features from previous iterations it also might not be the best-looking phone out as for some it seems too similar to its predecessor while perhaps somewhat regressing with its material choice but for every finger scanner there's an ISO cell camera for every design choice you may not like there is now IP certification and for every point lost for being unoriginal there are points for familiarity half of you will like this phone the other half will not that's the reality of the galaxy at this point but there is one thing for certain you probably know what it is you want and if what the galaxy s5 offers fits into your needs then guess what you're probably going to love this device and for everyone else out there we do have the benefit of quite a few other choices in the smartphone game but as far as the galaxy s5 goes I would encourage you to still give it a try and see for yourself stay tuned to Android authority for all of the best coverage from our reviews to our comparisons to all of our future coverage of these flagship devices drop us likes in our videos because we love to see those thumbs up and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already and when you're done with all of that head on over to Android authority comm for you more in-depth coverage because we are your source for all things Android