Gadgetory

another year another Samsung Galaxy super phone with the Galaxy s5 samsung once again reaches for the top with high-flying specs like a 5.1 inch 1080p HD screen a 16 megapixel camera Android 4.4 and pretty much the fastest quad core processor around it also adds a fingerprint scanner and the cell phone world's first heartrate monitor so does that make Samsung's Galaxy s5 the smart phone to be you know not necessarily I'm Jessica's all court for seeing that I'm gonna show you around the phone the Galaxy s5 certainly upsets game over last year's model but with its familiar plastic look and feel and only slightly souped up specs it acts more like an enhanced galaxy s4 than the surprising ultra advanced phone that a lot of people were hoping to see still there is a lot to like and Samsung has changed one or two things first let's talk about the design the phone comes in white black copper and blue but not every market and carrier will have every color or at least not right away the dimpled back panel comes in a matte finish which cuts down on a lot of the annoying reflection that we saw it in the s4 and the s3 just like the s4 this years phone has a silvery rim and a physical home button the s5 may be a little bit larger than the s4 but it's pretty easy to pocket and I can even jog four miles without it dropping now take a close look at the bottom of the galaxy s5 and you'll see a flap covering the USB 3 port there's also a rubbery gasket beneath the back panel and a coating in the headset jack these together help make the s5 rated ip67 for resistance to water and dust in the OS Department Samsung has included Android 4.4 KitKat with a slightly revised TouchWiz interface on top the changes are pretty subtle like an on-screen menu button instead of a physical one but they all come together in the notifications tray s finder and quick connect make it easy to search your phone and transfer things like photos and videos to other devices the Settings menu also gets a fresh lick of paint and you'll see that there are a few new layout options besides if you're into shortcuts turn on the new toolbox feature its customizable and floats around to get out of your way my magazine is a news feed you can swipe to four the homescreen then there's the ultra power saving mode which strips the s5 down to the basics and promises many more hours of battery juice other small but significant changes appear in the camera experience the 16 megapixel shooter takes really nice crisp high-resolution photos and 4k HD video the camera app itself has logical on-screen controls including an all new HDR toggle that previews the results in real time before you take the shot the camera settings have also transformed into a tidy grid for turning features on and off for your convenience Samsung has repackaged some of the s4's modes into shot and more you just take the photo first and apply the effects later selective focus is one new trick for making the background or foreground of your photos stand out and virtual tour creates a 360-degree view of your location and video are in stills moving to the front of the phone the Samsung Galaxy s5 has a 2 megapixel front-facing camera that will automatically airbrush you I personally find this creepy but you can change it the camera also records 1080p HD video which is a really nice touch Samsung has really talked up two of the phone's features the fingerprint scanner and the heartrate monitor now other phones have had a fingerprint scanner before and this one uses a slightly different approach if you don't do it just right you're gonna have to rely on your password backup luckily the heart rate monitor is much more consistent its highs into the revised s health app and can track your heart rate over time you may not use this on a regular basis but it is a fun extra for fitness buffs the galaxy s5 still does everything that the s4 did and then some like there's a download booster split screen mode a ton of motion based gestures and you can use the screen while wearing gloves alright so here's my verdict I really like this phone and for day-to-day use you can't go wrong but it does leave a little bit of room for the competition to muscle through in particular I check out the HTC One m8 this all-metal phone is prettier has a similar caliber of core hardware and it has some awesome external speakers plus the m8 costs about the same price for double the capacity 32 gigabytes of on-board storage instead of 16 still the s5 performs consistently well in every category that matters it's a great Android phone and definitely one at the top of its class for even more nitty-gritty specs and a breakdown of the features I talked about today make sure you check out my in-depth written review at cnet.com