Samsung Galaxy S5 hands-on and initial review

Samsung’s best gets even better in the Galaxy S5 — we take it out for a spin

Behold, the Samsung Galaxy S5. The Korean manufacturer at Mobile World Congress unveiled the fifth iteration of its flagship Android smartphone. And as we’ve come to expect, this one’s better than every one that’s come before it.
Let’s start with the basic Galaxy S5 specs:

• 5.1-inch display. Android 4.4 KitKat.
• 16-megapixel rear camera.
• 2 gigabytes of RAM.
• Storage options of 16 or 32 gigabytes.
• MicroSD card storage.
• Waterproofing with a IP67 rating.
• 802.11 ac Wifi, with MIMIO (2x2).
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE
• USB 3.0.
• NFC.
• IR port.
• 2,800 mAh (removable) battery.

What else could you want in the Galaxy S5? And we haven’t even mentioned all the software customizations. We’ve gotten a brief look at the Galaxy S5 here in Barcelona. Come with us now as we walk you through the GS5, as only Android Central can.

See also: Full Galaxy S5 specs | Galaxy S5 image gallery | Join the discussion in our Galaxy S5 forums

The Samsung Galaxy S5 video hands-on

Samsung Galaxy S5 hardware

It's plenty apparent that Samsung's learning from user feedback

Samsung continues to improve on its hardware quality, and the Galaxy S5 shows. Moreover, it's plenty apparent that Samsung's learning from user feedback, and the Galaxy S5 is a reflection of that.
The phone is just a smidgen bigger than the Galaxy S4 — the Super AMOLED display has been upped to 5.1 inches as well. The bezels seem a little larger than we'd expect, but not grossly so. The standard 1080p resolution is at hand here — no "2K" displays yet — and it looks great. That's in part because the default backgrounds and images are designed to show off (as well they should) and also because the Galaxy S5 has an improved "Adaptive Display" that will work the color gamut depending the lighting situation. It doesn't just get brighter or dimmer — it changes the way the colors look.

The Galaxy S5 is unmistakably a Samsung phone — right down to the home button. But this time around it's swapped out the legacy menu button for a proper multitasking key, and it's about time that happened. (We've previously seen this on the company's "Pro" series tablets.)

The GS5's gorgeous soft-touch back is unlike any previous Samsung design

The rear of the phone deserves some serious attention. While we'd figured Samsung would continue with its faux-leather (complete with stitching trend), it's nary to be seen on this initial crop of Galaxy S5. Instead, we're treated to a textured soft-touch back — not unlike the 2012 Nexus 7 tablet from ASUS, actually. The Galaxy S5 will initially be offered in charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold — and the colors themselves are pretty stunning.

Ridged edges make up the sides of the phone. The volume and power buttons are in their usual places. The Galaxy S5 most certainly looks and feels like a Samsung product, as it should. But it's probably the best Samsung's come up with so far.
If we had to pick one thing to gripe about, it'd be the camera stack out back. It's not a huge bulge, but it's noticeable. There's also some additional bulk that has to come with the inclusion of waterproofing, and the plastic flap covering the charging port may become an annoyance for some. But that's us looking for nits to pick. The GS5's hardware looks and feels solid, more so than any Galaxy S phone for the past couple of years.

Samsung Galaxy S5 software

The industrial design is but the first way Samsung has improved things in the Galaxy S5. Software's the next. The Galaxy S5 is running Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box, and it's paired quite nicely with Samsung's custom user interface.
You read that right. Five years into the Galaxy S line, TouchWiz has come around. Maybe some of that is Google's doing — the white status bar fits right in. Launcher and menu icons have taken a turn for the flat.

Truly, this no longer is the clown-colored user interface we've for so long tried to hide.

This no longer is the clown-colored user interface we've for so long tried to hide.

That's not to say there's not a lot going on — because there is. Samsung has still crammed so many features into this phone. The quick settings, for instance, had 20 buttons when we took a look. There's a veritable armada of Samsung apps. (And plenty more you can download on your own.) And on the whole, they're a little sharper and less visually cluttered than earlier TouchWiz efforts, even if everything remains bright and vivid on the phone's SuperAMOLED panel.

And the ever-clever Samsung has put its Magazine UI where Google Now lives on the Nexus 5 — at the far left of the homescreen.
For enhanced security, the Galaxy S5 also supports biometric authentication through its finger scanner — up to three fingers can be stored, swipe you finger down from just above the home button to unlock the device or perform other security-related functions. One such feature shown to us used PayPal — the company has partnered with Samsung to use the GS5's biometric capabilities — to confirm a purchase with the user's fingerprint.
Another feature we're liking is Private Mode, which lets you keep pictures, music, documents, video and voice files behind a secondary password and away from prying eyes.
So, yeah. There's a whole lot going on in the Galaxy S5, but it's nicely done, and a bit more professional-looking than before.

Samsung Galaxy S5 camera

HDR mode now gives you a live preview of your HDR shot.

The Galaxy S5 packs a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a slew of shooting modes, but Samsung is focusing on a handful of new features. Selective focus lets you adjust depth of field after you've taken your shot — we've seen similar stuff from Sony and Nokia in recent months. And HDR mode now gives you a live preview of how your high-dynamic-range image is going to look. Samsung's also touting the speed of the GS5's autofocus as a key camera feature, saying it can focus in as little as 0.3 seconds depending on lighting — and side-by-side with the GS4, the difference in focus speed is pretty striking.

As for image quality, we'll have to reserve judgment until we've spend some more time with the device, but photos shot in our relatively small demo area looked great on the Galaxy S5's screen, and capture speeds were about as fast as any smartphone we've used.

The GS5's flash doubles as a heart rate sensor.

In addition, there's an interesting secondary function for the GS5's camera flash — it doubles as a heart rate sensor when used with the S Health app. Hold you finger over the flash and it'll glow red, allowing the phone to monitor your heart rate. And of course you can track all this stuff over time through S Health, which, as on the GS4, is designed to be your health and fitness hub on your phone.

The bottom line

A step forward for Samsung in a bunch of important areas.

Our main takeaway from our brief time with the Galaxy S5 so far is that Samsung is has been listening to customers and critics alike, and has finally gotten around to addressing many of our gripes with its build quality, software and UI. It's still a plastic phone, and a plastic phone running TouchWiz at that, but the GS5 represents a clear improvement for Samsung in a bunch of important areas. The new Samsung UI strikes us as something we might enjoy using, rather than software that's just there. And the soft-touch back feels infinitely nicer in the hand than the glossy, slimy plastic of old.
The most interesting development out of the GS5's announcement might be the arrival of waterproofing as a mainstream feature. Other Android manufacturers, notably Sony, have been doing this for a while, but a waterproof GS5 is a big commitment on Samsung's part
We'll be seeing a lot more of the Samsung Galaxy S5 in the months ahead, and our opinions are sure to evolve as we spend more time with the phone. For the moment, though, it's a promising start to 2014 for the world's biggest maker of Android phones.

Samsung unveils Galaxy S5 with 5.1-inch screen

One of the highest-caliber debuts at this year’s MWC, the Samsung Galaxy S5 was just unveiled at the Unpacked 5 event. The flagship opens a new chapter in Samsung's design – the back is still leather-like, but with a brand new look.

We’re looking at a longer feature list fifth year in a row – IP67 certification is a big one and so are the fingerprint sensor and heart rate monitor, a first for a mobile device.
The core features too were duly updated to put the Galaxy S5 ahead of its S4 predecessor – a 5.1" Super AMOLED screen of 1080p resolution, Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2GB of RAM, 150Mbps LTE and a 16MP camera.
Update: Samsung's original info stated 1080p video recording, but it turns out it's actually UHD - that's 3840 x 2160.
Another thing that didn’t turn out as whispered was TouchWiz – it's new and based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, but not as flat as some Holo fans would have hoped.
No switch to on-screen buttons either – the Galaxy S5 has three keys below the screen, this time an App Switcher button replacing the Menu key.
The Galaxy S5 will be available in four colors initially - Black, White, Blue and Copper. The US is getting only the Black and White ones though.
Check out our hands-on for more info.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 hands-on

If you have been keeping track of the stats corner on our homepage, you might have noticed that the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is currently the most popular smartphones in our database. We managed to obtain a retail unit and we are now ready to share our first impressions with you.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is a massive upgrade over its predecessor – it comes with a bigger display of higher resolution, double the processing powered with a snappy quad-core chipset and comes with a fancy faux leather-like plastic rear cover.
We got the dual-SIM flavor of the Galaxy Grand 2, which supports two SIM cards working simultaneously. There is also a handy SIM manager to handle the functionality.
Anyway, the Grand 2 is running on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, though Samsung is expected to push a KitKat update later this year. Apparently the first Grand will be getting one, so here is hoping its sequel will get the same treatment.
Here is our first hands-on video. after the cut

Samsung Galaxy S5 to bring Kids mode

Borrowing a page out of Windows Phone’s book, the newest installment of Samsung’s Galaxy flagship lineup will reportedly feature a new Kids Mode parental control feature.

Kids Mode takes after Kids Corner in WP8, and will give you a special limited access user account for when you want to lend your Galaxy S5 to a child or someone else.
Kids Mode will let you set a PIN to control access to apps and settings and limit the numbers your kid can call. There’s even going to be an option to control the amount of time that can be spent playing a particular game or using a specific app.
Samsung will hopefully go into more detail at the Galaxy S5 announcement, which is expected to
take place next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Be sure to check back with us for complete coverage of the event!

Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 arrives next month

Looking to pick up the Samsung Galaxy Camera 2? Well you’ll be able to buy it next month for $450.

The 16MP Android-powered camera has Jelly Bean out of the box, and is supposed to be a zippy performer.
The Galaxy Camera 2 also comes with a 4.8” 720P display, 2,000 mAh battery, and WiFi data only. It also packs a 21x zoom, and an f/2.8-5.9 max aperture range.
Samsung also revealed that they will be shipping their NX30 camera today, which comes with a 18-55mm kit lens. The price, however, is a bit steep: $1,000.

Anybody think that either of these options are worth it?

Samsung smartwatch with Tizen OS gets tipped for MWC launch

According to a report in USA Today, the upcoming refresh of the Samsung Galaxy Gear will boot Tizen OS. The Korean giant is widely expected to launch its next generation smartwatch alongside the Samsung Galaxy S5 next week, on February 24.

Reportedly, the upcoming smartwatch will feature new HTML5 version of Tizen. The new OS build will allow Samsung to attract web developers to create applications for the device.
USA Today sources explain Samsung’s alleged swap of the current Galaxy Gear’s Android build with Tizen as an early move to counter Google’s influence over an OS ecosystem for wearable devices. The search giant is developing Android version designed specifically for the aforementioned, rapidly expanding product segment. When utilized, it will allow Google to increase its ad revenues from the services it provides even further.

Regardless what Samsung’s plans are, we won’t have to wait long to find out. We will be covering its event live, so be sure to tune in to get the full scoop.

Microsoft sells 200 million Windows 8 licenses

Microsoft has revealed that the company managed to sell 200 million licenses of its latest Windows 8 operating system. The number consists only of licenses that Microsoft sells to OEMs to install on their system and not fresh copies that customers can buy off the shelf or online.

While the number might seem large, the truth is it is actually lower than that of Windows 7. Microsoft revealed in May last year that they sold 100 million licenses and now 16 months from the launch of the OS, they hit the 200 million mark. In comparison, Microsoft sold 240 million licenses of Windows 7 in the first year alone.
It’s clear then that Windows 8 isn’t doing as well as its predecessor and is actually getting worse with every passing day. Another thing to remember that these are licenses purchased in bulk by the OEMs and don’t reflect actual copies being used by the customer. So while it still counts as a sale for Microsoft, not all of them are actually
in use.
Microsoft released Windows 8.1 last year and will soon be releasing Windows 8.1 Update 1 to help alleviate some of the problems had with the original Windows 8 but it seems customers are fast losing interest. Add to that the general drop in PC sales and things don’t look too great for Windows or Microsoft in general.

Nokia employs designers to make a dress out of 35 Lumia phablets

Nokia has come up with the very interesting idea of making a dress out of Lumia 1520 phablets. The Finnish company has teamed up with Fyodor Golan Fashion House and the dress will make an appearance at this years’ London Fashion Week 2014.

The tech dress is going to feature 35 Lumia 1520 phablets with changing images synced by the wearer’s movement.
KIN is helping Nokia and Golan on the technological aspect of the dress. According to Nokia Conversations, “KIN employed a combination of sketched drawings, 3D-printing, and Python and C# programming languages to build the skirt.”
The phablets will be showing images that will change color and picture according to the wearer’s movement. Here is the official explanation of how this will work.

“As the skirt moves, images on the screens change color, creating a synchronised shimmering effect that emulates real-world fabric. To form this illusion, a bespoke app was conceived that employs GPS technology to align the wearer’s movements with the skirt’s sparkle.”
There is no info on what will happen with the dress after the London Fashion Week. One thing is sure though – you probably won’t be doing much dancing in it.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo battery life test

"The battery size and overall specs remain the same, so we’ll have to see how much the bump in processing power impact battery life. Let’s dive right in!
The Galaxy Grand Neo and Galaxy Grand are by and large identical devices, both sporting 5-inch WVGA screens and 8GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM, and 2,100 mAh batteries. Both also come in dual-SIM variant, although our particular model is of the single-SIM variety.
Our first test revolves around 3G talk time, where we hooked our Neo to and HSPA-enabled phone to see how long it would last before the battery gave out. At over 13 hours it was able to outperform the original Galaxy Grand by 45 minutes, although that device was powering two SIM cards simultaneously."

Talk time

• Nokia Lumia 1520 28:34
• Moto X 14:06
• HTC One 13:38
• HTC One X+ 13:31
• Nokia Lumia 520 13:33
• Sony Xperia C 13:29
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo 13:20
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 13:10
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos 12:45
• LG Optimus GJ 12:39
• Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE 12:37
• Huawei Ascend P1 12:30
• Pantech Burst 4:46

The our browser stress test tells a similar tale, with the Grand Neo scoring near 8 hours of surf time and the Grand trailing it by 3/4 of an hour. The slightly higher Jelly Bean build on the Neo (4.2 vs. 4.1.2 on the Grand) likely explains some of the variance.

Web browsing

• Sony Xperia C 12:45
• Huawei Ascend Mate 8:17
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 8:17
• HTC One mini 8:12
• Nokia Lumia 610 8:01
• HTC One X+ 7:56
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo 7:43
• Sony Xperia E dual 7:42
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini 7:38
• Nokia Lumia 720 7:37
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active 7:35
• BlackBerry Z30 7:34
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus 3:01

Finally, we tested the a looped video playback endurance on the Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo. With a score of just under 7 hours it leaves something to be desired, especially considering the Galaxy Grand managed over 8 hours. It’s likely that the quad-core Broadcom chip is not as optimized towards video as its dual-core counterpart, which would explain the discrepancy compared to the first two tests.

Video playback

• LG G Flex 19:57
• HTC One mini 7:23
• Nokia Lumia 610 7:23
• LG Optimus G 7:16
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active 7:03
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013) 7:03
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo 6:55
• Huawei Ascend P6 6:55
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 6:54
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim 6:49
• Nokia Lumia 720 6:43
• Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue 6:40
• Nokia Lumia 710 3:27

Ever since the release of TouchWiz on Jelly Bean, Samsung has been better than most manufacturers at optimizing battery performance during standby. Its standby numbers really helped when it came to our overall endurance rating, where the Neo was able to score a very respectable 59 hours. This means that the Galaxy Grand Neo can last almost two and a half days if you do an hour of calling, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video watching each day.

Be sure to check out our detailed review for more on the Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo.

It’s the End of the Road for Windows XP and Office 2003!

Do you remember when you first used a computer. It was e-machines. Very solid system then; as were the many other tech brands that have been swept under the carpet by more vibrant product brands over the years. The still image of a lush green meadow that greeted you on th home screen after the usual Windows XP loading bars and fast forward several years later, having to upgrade to Windows Vista and so on.

Matter of fact, Vista was like a major break from the Windows norm and without entirely taking in its features, Windows 7 was launched and was good, not great. Then came Windows 8. Pure class.

 
Mastery of the art and science of technology. Such ease.  Some people live for the upgrades! Why have some organizations like the very infamous Cyber Cafés, IT driven firms, etc.bluntly refused to upgrade to Windows 8?Are they really skeptical about testing new waters or would they rather stick to the status quo? Or is it because Microsoft still provides support for these old versions of the Windows Operating system? Well, all of that is about to change because, like it or not, global devices and services giant Microsoft has announced the official end of support for Windows XP, Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems and Office 2003 by April 8, 2014 and therefore urges its customers and partners to migrate to Windows 8 and Office 2013 platform.
 

Now, ending support in this context means that for Windows XP, Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems and Office 2003, partners and customers will no longer receive security updates and technical support from Microsoft, which will result in vulnerability to security threats.

According to Oluyomi Alarape, Datacenter Solutions & Sales at Microsoft Nigeria, “There are several re-engineering and attacks that needs to be catered for as a result of the changing technology landscape. Businesses stand to have huge risks if they do not migrate because there will be no security updates to meet security requirements”

In addition, Windows 8 provides mobile security through Bit locker, “Windows To Go”, is a full version of Windows 8 on a USB stick which readily support BYOD “Bring Your Own Device” initiatives.

Awawu Olumide-Sojinrin, Acting Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria while speaking at a media briefing to announce end of support for the Windows XP and Office 2003 in Lagos, explained that Microsoft is proactive in communicating changes that are critical and important to our customers. As a result, she said Microsoft is taking its time to notify its customers and partners ahead of the April 8 2014 deadline.

Windows 8 is Microsoft’s latest operating system for modern businesses, building on Windows 7 fundamentals such as speed, reliability and security while creating a modern platform for the new generation of hardware experiences from tablets and innovative touch devices to traditional desktops and laptops.

So, as the sun sets for Windows XP, Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems and Office 2003 users with April 2014 as the deadline for migration to the Windows 8 platform, there are more benefits and featureslike Speedy Boot Time, Innovative & Dynamic Desktop, Improved Search Function, Windows To Go, Windows Live Syncing, etc., whichhelp businesses bounce off of what to do with their older technology as they look to protect valuable IP and customer information. So, how about we leave Windows XP, Windows XP Professional and Office 2003 in the year 2013 and step into the New Year 2014 with the Windows 8. Deal? Yes deal! Happy migration and happy New Year!