Samsung galaxy s5 features. Grouping applications into folders

P representatives Samsung spoke on the company's official blog about ten hidden functions of the new flagship smartphone Galaxy S5, which we invite you to familiarize yourself with.

1. Ultra-sensitive mode.

You can enable ultra-sensitive mode, which allows you to use your phone with a gloved hand, a fingernail, or even a pencil!

To do this, go to “Settings”, “Display” and then turn on the “Increase pressure sensitivity” function.

2. Automatically generated music playlist based on your tastes.

Creating a playlist takes quite a long time. However, if you turn your Galaxy S5 horizontally (in landscape orientation) while listening to a track through a music player, your smartphone will put the next track to play that is most suitable, based on the genre, source and similar parameters of the playing track.

3. Add your favorite apps to favorites using “Toolbox”.

Toolbox is a small mini-program whose shortcut you can place anywhere on the screen. Place your favorite apps in the Toolbox to access them fast access.

You can find this widget on the Quick Launch panel or in the settings menu. To add new applications, you must click the “Edit” button. The Toolbox shortcut can be activated on every screen.

4. Private mode.

Go to settings, click “Private Mode”, select the materials you want to hide, click “Menu” and “Send to private materials”. After which you will be asked to lock the mode using a password.

5. Mode for children.

Sometimes friends aren't the only people you don't want to show things to. Many parents give their smartphones to their children, worried that the child may read something unnecessary or delete important information.

Luckily, the Galaxy S5 comes with a kids mode that will allow your child to view only fun and safe content while also enjoying the cute design. You will also be able to restrict or allow access to the content you select. For this:

a.) Go to the mode widget;

b.) Set a password;

c.) Go to your child's profile and select the applications that your child can use.

By default, the camera, drawing, sound recording and video applications are available. In this mode, you can also limit the time during which your child can use the smartphone. To do this, click “Parental Controls”, “Menu” and then “Daily Time Limit”. You will also have the option to view your phone's usage history in Kids Mode.

6. Turn on the camera from the lock screen.

The Galaxy S5 now also provides access to the 16MP camera while the lock screen is active. To enable this feature, go to “Settings”, “Lock screen” and “Add camera shortcut” - after which you can take pictures and record videos by tapping on the shortcut, even when the screen is locked.

7. New camera modes – “Virtual Tour” and “Take a Picture and Edit”.

The Virtual Tour mode allows you to combine several images into one row, creating something like a GIF - an image in motion.

The second mode, Take a photo and edit, allows you to immediately edit the photo you just took and add various effects.

8. Priority contacts.

Every person has favorite contacts and Samsung decided to make communication between friends even more convenient. Now you can add people important to you to the list of “Priority Contacts”, which will be displayed on top line messaging apps.

To add a contact to your list, simply go to Messages and tap the plus icon. You can add a maximum of 25 people.

9. Ability to view caller information.

Galaxy S5 is capable of providing subscriber information ( Last Activity in social Google network+ and last communication history) to whom you called/received a call from.

To activate this function, go to “Settings”, “Call” and select “Show caller information”.

10. Answer calls without turning off the application you are using.

Galaxy S5 allows its owners to answer calls while using other applications.

To enable this feature, go to “Settings” and select “Notification shortcut for incoming calls”.

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Reviews Articles

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 modifications software Finally, Samsung's smart marketing strategy makes it a potential hit that could become the most popular smartphone on the Android operating system 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.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is clearly aimed at becoming a mainstream device - a large (but not too large) 5.1-inch screen with Full HD resolution, water resistance, plenty of features, a removable battery and card support microSD memory– the company did everything to please the maximum 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 is no different outstanding design and looks quite simple, practically repeating in appearance last year’s Galaxy S4 model - with rounded corners and silver edging on the edges. The body is made of plastic, has no metal elements and, of course, does not look as premium as Apple devices, 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 random access memory, which is not so 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. Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with a removable 2800 mAh battery, which is a fairly standard indicator for modern devices, but good energy saving mechanisms can increase its battery life. In the AnTuTu Tester test, the smartphone scored 574 points, discharged 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, during daily work and active use Wireless communication can be counted on for two days of operation on a single battery charge.

Battery test results

Samsung also introduced in the model new mode maximum energy saving - in it the brightness of the display 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 in this mode are disabled by default, 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 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 on the matrix individual elements are isolated from each other, which reduces crosstalk between adjacent pixels and allows for more accurate color reproduction in the photo, 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 rear camera 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.

Scratches and other abrasions

Plastic Galaxy case The S5, at first glance, seems vulnerable to damage of various kinds. However, after more than a month of use, the durability of the smartphone was a pleasant surprise. I deliberately tried not to handle it too carefully, but small scratches appeared only on the ends of the case, and they are practically invisible.

Even the back cover of the case, the plastic of which seems soft, will not be scratched if you leave the smartphone in the same pocket as your keys.

Galaxy S5 uses protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which is three times stronger than Corning's previous design. It is really difficult to scratch it, although if you try really hard it is quite possible.

In general, the quality of the materials of the S5 pleasantly surprised; you can use the smartphone without fear that in a couple of months it will appearance will fall into disrepair.

Music

One of the main functions of a smartphone for me is the ability to listen to music. The player built into the Galaxy S5 now looks nicer than previous versions, and does its job well.

It implements standard system sorting songs by albums, artists and genres, there is a good SoundAlive equalizer, as well fine tuning sound in headphones via the AdaptSound function.

However, since all my music is already uploaded to the Google Music cloud, I used this application on the Galaxy S5. Unlike the built-in player, it collects track listening statistics, and based on this data it can create automatic playlists.

It turns out something like a radio, only from own songs user. In addition, the cloud player Google Music now allows you to add music directly through Chrome, you can drag it directly from Explorer or simply synchronize it with a specific folder.

In general, organizing a media library does not take much time and your smartphone will always have the same list of music tracks as on your computer.

Google Music is not officially available in Ukraine, although it has a Ukrainian localization, but if you use a proxy, upload at least one track to the service website, then Google will allow you to add and listen to music from anywhere in the world.

Books

Seven years ago I had a Qtek S200 communicator with a 2.8-inch display, and then it seemed incredibly large. The Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch display, which is even larger than my first e-reader, the Sony PRS-300. While using the S5, I read books only on it; the large high-resolution screen is comfortable enough for reading so as not to take other devices with me.

Moreover, if you select the AdaptDisplay function in the display settings, it automatically adjusts the brightness and colors to the surrounding conditions. Not always, but in most cases, it works correctly, and you can read a book even outside on a sunny day.

To read books on the Galaxy S5, I use the Bookmate service application. It allows you to add books to your library and read them for free, or you can pay 50 UAH per month and use the service’s large library.

The most interesting thing about Bookmate is the social component. You can add other users of the service as friends and see what they add to their library. In addition, Bookmate synchronizes data between different devices, so if you read a book on one, you will open it in the same place on the other.

Photo

The 16-megapixel camera in the Galaxy S5 is simply excellent, it can be clearly seen both.

For me, this is, in principle, an important parameter when choosing a smartphone, since sometimes I have to use the camera for work. I used the S5's camera a couple of times for product photography and was pleased.

But in general, as you can see, the Galaxy S5 takes pictures very well.

I store the pictures taken with the camera on the memory card of the smartphone itself, as well as in the cloud; I have automatic photo export enabled on Google+. Google has implemented this function very well; you can take a hundred photos in a day, and as soon as the S5 is on the Wi-Fi network, it automatically sends them to the server in the original resolution.

Education

It's never too late to learn, and in our time there are a lot of opportunities for this. You can literally get an education from your smartphone. On the Galaxy S5, I used the Coursera app, which offers free courses from more than 80 universities and organizations.

The bulk of the materials are taught in English, but Lately Courses in Ukrainian and Russian are beginning to appear.

Actually, for the most in English on the S5 I used the Duolingo app. It allows you to learn a language in a playful way, dividing the entire course into levels, through which the user earns points.

In the app, just like in the game, there are three lives for each level, and they disappear if you make mistakes. Thanks to its ability to work with a smartphone's microphone, Duolingo also helps improve pronunciation.

Video

The video player built into the Galaxy S5 supports .avi and .mkv formats; in the latter case, everything is played except for files with the Dolby AC3 codec. At the same time, a productive platform, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory (expandable up to 128 GB with microSD cards), as well as fast wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, allow you to download videos to the Galaxy S5 directly from the Internet. As long as there is free space in the smartphone’s memory, you can download 8-10 GB movies in .mkv, they load as quickly as on a computer.

In addition to the built-in player on the Galaxy S5, I often used VLC, despite the beta version, this omnivorous player works well on the Samsung flagship.

Documentation

I have never been able to work with documents on a smartphone; I think that, despite the increased diagonal of the display, they have never become suitable for this. However, when you don't have a laptop at hand and have time to work, typing text on the Galaxy S5 is quite possible. In fact, part of this article was written in it.

To do this, I used the new Google Docs app, which just recently split off from Google Drive. It is convenient to work with the program; all changes, if there is an Internet connection, are immediately saved in the cloud.

News

I still think the best application for news content on a smartphone is Flipboard, it turns ordinary sites into something like magazine pages.

In the Galaxy S5, the My Magazine application is based on it; you can also read news in it, but there is no access to your Flipboard account, and therefore no synchronization of your feeds.

Along with the Galaxy S5, Samsung is giving away a one-year subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek, as well as 6 months of The Wall Street Journal. This is a good bonus for smartphone buyers.

Navigation

For car navigation on my smartphone I usually use Yandex.Navigator, and not so much for the navigation itself, but to avoid getting stuck in traffic jams.

The application works on the Galaxy S5 without any problems; I have never encountered a loss of GPS signal or data transfer.

Until the end of May, you can also install navigation from Navitel on the Galaxy S5 for free; the company gives smartphone owners a license for a year.

The Navitel application has good functionality, a large database of points of interest and can build a route taking into account traffic jams. However, its interface is cluttered and feels like it was drawn in the late 90s.

As a result, Navitel never caught on with me, but it is a traditional navigator, and it has undeniable advantages over the Yandex application, so it’s worth a try, especially since it’s free.

Virtual assistant

Since our last conversation, the S Voice voice assistant has improved significantly. On the Galaxy S5, this service works faster and understands more commands. With it, you can find out the weather forecast, set an alarm, create a reminder, write an SMS, dial a number and much more. Voice recognition works very well.

But the Galaxy S5 has problems with voice acting. S Voice, although it can respond in Russian, does not know how to put accents correctly. Typical problem with machine voice acting.

With S Voice you can perform a whole range of tasks much faster, because saying a command with your voice is much faster than typing it on your phone. virtual keyboard. But this is only natural for fast internet. As soon as you switch from Wi-Fi to the unfortunate Ukrainian EDGE, S Voice instantly freezes. The fact is that the application processes voice commands not on the smartphone itself, but sends them to the server.

Water protection

At first glance, a water-resistant smartphone case does not make much sense, because similar models began to appear for the mass market quite recently, and before that, no one drowned their phones en masse. But having used the Galaxy S5, I can say that protecting the case from water gives a very pleasant feeling of security for your smartphone.

I appreciated this after the baby was born, when we started bathing him in the bathtub. This is very convenient when you don’t have to think about the fact that a child might throw your smartphone into the water, or damage the speaker when he wants to try what the Galaxy S5 tastes like. I believe that protection from water and dust should become a standard feature in smartphones, like Wi-Fi or vibration alert, because this is a very good solution.

Autonomy

Using the Galaxy S5 with all of the above features, its 2800 mAh battery lasted me an average of a day and a half.

This is a good result; I had to charge my first Android smartphone twice a day. As you can see, progress still does not stand still.

Eventually

Actually, this is the model of use I got with the Galaxy S5. Today, you can do almost everything with a Samsung flagship that you can do with a computer, and in some cases even more. If tomorrow I had to choose a smartphone, as they say, with all my money, I would definitely start with the Galaxy S5.

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Samsung Company releases new flagship smartphones every year. GALAXY S5 is the main model of 2014, which includes latest achievements Korean technologies. Moreover, it is the main one not only in the Samsung line, but also among all Android smartphones in general, given the company’s dominant position. No other manufacturer can compete with Samsung in terms of the number of devices sold. But quantity and quality do not always coincide, let's take a closer look at the GALAXY S5 model, which we managed to get before the start of sales, and understand how high quality it was and whether it is worthy of a purchase.

At the moment there are two undisputed leaders in the smartphone market - and. They achieved these results largely due to marketing efforts. But the products of each company are also very interesting. However, the approach is completely different. If Apple focuses on design and ecosystem, then for Samsung features are at the forefront.

The new GALAXY S5 is no exception to this rule. The main interest remains in the technical parameters. There are a lot of new things here compared to last year. A fingerprint scanner has appeared, moisture protection has been added, and there is a new energy saving mode (see the photo below for how it works). And these are just the main changes, there are a lot of small modifications, especially in software.

But the appearance of smartphones is not traditionally a strong point of Samsung’s mobile division. In this they are inferior not only to, but also to other Android manufacturers -, etc. Let's see how fully the Koreans were able to take into account the errors of previous versions in the new flagship.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Network: EDGE/GPRS/GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), LTE
• operating system: Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat), interface
• Processor: Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 clock frequency 2.5 GHz
• Memory: 16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM, support for microSD memory cards (up to 64 GB)
• Display: 5.1" FHD Super AMOLED(1920 x 1080), 432 ppi
• Camera: main 16 MP (1/2.6”), flash, UHD@30fps video recording, front 2.0 MP
• Communications: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac VHT80, MIMO(2x2), Download Booster (LTE + WiFi), NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE / ANT+, USB 3.0, IR port
• Other: Heart rate monitor, IP67 water and dust protection, new power saving mode
• Battery: 2800 mAh, removable
• Dimensions, weight: 142.0 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm, 145 g
• Recommended price at the start of sales (April 11): from 29,990 rubles

DESIGN, ERGONOMICS

The appearance of the GALAXY S5 is what was discussed the most after the official announcement in Barcelona. And in general the opinions were not at all positive. Indeed, the new Samsung flagship turned out to be very controversial in design and materials. The case is plastic, and the back cover is rubberized and has a texture that either resembles a plaster, or resembles the interior of a Lada, or... In any case, against the backdrop of a cool exterior Apple flagships, HTC, Sony and others, this Samsung design looks cheap. The explanation for this is very simple: Koreans do not use metal and other refinements in mass-produced models. Will appear later premium version, but for now we have what we have. In my opinion, appearance is the main drawback of the GALAXY S5.

The flip side of the external simplicity of the GALAXY S5 is practicality. The smartphone, like its predecessor, is well balanced. True, due to moisture protection it was necessary to use additional seals, as a result both the dimensions and weight increased (compared to ): 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm, 145 g. The frames around the screen could also be smaller. The record holder for this was released last year, but it does not have moisture protection. Samsung had to increase the frames due to the rubber layer (the same one was in). The next generation of Sony (model) got rid of this drawback due to a new frame design. The Koreans went the route, and as a result, the frames are not only larger than those of Sony, but even larger than those of last year’s GALAXY S4. This is a fee for moisture protection. The speaker should also be included here; it is quieter and of lower quality compared to the GALAXY S4 (not to mention the HTC One).

Left Samsung GALAXY S5, right Samsung GALAXY S4

Top Samsung GALAXY S5, bottom Samsung GALAXY S4

An important addition The new flagship has protection against moisture and dust according to the IP67 standard. This means that the model can withstand immersion in water to a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Samsung has previously used IP67 in the GALAXY S4 Active and a number of less expensive models. We tested the new product during water procedures and are completely satisfied with the result. You won't be able to make calls underwater (and is that really necessary?), but otherwise the device can withstand everything up to total immersion. In my opinion, this, along with the fingerprint scanner, is the main advantage of the GALAXY S5 and a serious blow to Sony (considering that Samsung smartphones are much more popular).

Samsung followed the path of Apple and not only offered its flagship in gold color, but also built a fingerprint scanner into it. It is located in a mechanical button under the screen (which is much more convenient than the sensor on the back under the camera of the HTC One Max). In addition to the function of unlocking the device, it also works when making purchases on a smartphone to protect the owner; it can be used to hide personal data. If you do not want to touch the button, then in this case you need to swipe it with your finger. Unlike the test samples, the function worked correctly in our device. An important, necessary and useful innovation.

Another interesting feature of the GALAXY S5 is the heart rate sensor. The sensor is located behind the camera and is combined with the flash. If you put your finger on it, you can see your pulse within a few seconds. Of course, there is software that allows you to monitor your health. This works with low accuracy and is unlikely to be of practical value. In particular, for the same person, the scanner at the same moment shows a completely different pulse. About the same situation as was with thermometers in old phones (for example, Pantech G670).

The controls are the same, the only changes are in the key block under the screen. The Home button with a pair of touch pads on the sides remains in place, the controls are still convenient and well thought out. The Koreans finally removed the button that was responsible for the auxiliary menu, replacing it with a much more relevant task manager. The screen lock and volume keys are located in places that are easy to press.

Initially there will be several colors available: , and . Subsequently, the range is likely to be expanded, as could be seen in previous years. The plastic polycarbonate body still features a collapsible design, and it's one of the few flagships with a removable battery. To prevent the smartphone from getting wet, the microUSB port is protected by a plug. But regularly opening it up for charging is inconvenient; as an option, a case is offered that supports wireless charging.

Comparison Samsung dimensions GALAXY S5, HTC One Dual Sim and LG G2:

SPEED AND RUNNING TIME

Samsung GALAXY S5 is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. It is noted that the new version guarantees faster processor performance by 14%, graphics by 28%, and camera sensor performance by 45% compared to the Snapdragon 800. Interestingly, the processor modifications are different. Qualcomm has moved two chipsets that previously belonged to the Snapdragon 800 into the Snapdragon 801 category - these are MSM8974-AB and MSM8974-AC. The first of them received the Sony Xperia Z2, the second - the Samsung GALAXY S5. They differ from Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 in the frequency of processor cores and graphics accelerator. Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor frequency - 2.26 GHz, QS 801 (MSM8974-AB) - 2.36 GHz, QS 801 (MSM8974-AC) - 2.45 GHz. Adreno 330 graphics frequencies are 450, 550 and 578 GHz, respectively.

Samsung is expected to soon introduce a version of the GALAXY S5 with an eight-core processor with a frequency of 2.1 GHz. Most likely, it will not be the new Exynos 6, but the Exynos 5422. This chip, in fact, is an overclocked version of the Exynos 5420, which is used in the GALAXY Note 3. Only now the frequency of the four productive Cortex-A15 cores has been increased from 1.9 to 2. 1 GHz, and economical Cortex-A7 - from 1.3 to 1.5. An important point is that all eight cores can work simultaneously. The new chip supports displays with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and video recording in 4K resolution. Its mass release will begin before the end of March, so there is a high probability that the Exynos version of the GALAXY S5 will appear on the market in the coming months.

As for the Qualcomm version of the GALAXY S5, it demonstrates good performance, but the amount of RAM of 2 GB looks strange. Even in last year’s version it is 3 GB, similar to the recent Sony Xperia Z2. In general, everything works quickly, but sometimes there are stutters. Considering our sample wasn't jam-packed with programs and content, this isn't the most pleasant surprise. In benchmarks, our hero looks confident and demonstrates good results. In my opinion, the reason for the stuttering is purely software; Samsung's proprietary interface does not always work smoothly. For comparison, HTC Sense is less powerful filling more smooth.

Now about the operating time. The battery capacity has increased, now instead of 2600 mAh, as in the GALAXY S4, it is already 2800 mAh. Samsung talks about 12 hours of video playback and 10 hours of Internet browsing. In our tests it still worked for about a day with average use, there are no big changes here. The smartphone plays video (Full HD, maximum brightness, Wi-Fi on) for more than 10 hours. The result according to AnTuTu Tester is 566 points. In general, nothing special. Much more interesting is the new special Ultra Power Saving mode, when the smartphone shows a black and white image on the screen, while it only allows you to make calls and send messages, turning off the Internet. It is stated that with 10% of the remaining energy the device can last a whole day. In our tests it turned out a little less, but comparable. This is a very interesting feature of the Samsung GALAXY S5.

CAMERA

Samsung announced its ISOCELL photo sensor technology last year, but only now admitted that such matrices are used in the new flagship GALAXY S5 smartphones. As you know, the quality of photosensors is determined by the amount of light that the pixels located on them capture. Under market pressure, manufacturers increase the number of pixels, thereby reducing their sizes, making it more difficult to obtain high-quality photographs. Current photosensor technologies focus on increasing the light absorption of each individual pixel. Until recently, BSI technology did an excellent job of this, but as pixel sizes get smaller, its use becomes less and less effective.

ISOCELL technology forms a physical barrier between adjacent pixels, isolating them (ISOlated CELL, isolated cell). Isolation allows pixel LEDs to receive up to 30% more photons, minimizing unwanted electrical interference between pixels. Compared to BSI technology, ISOCELL pixels reduce noise by approximately 30%, resulting in higher color accuracy and richer, more contrasty images, even in low light.

In practice, we have a powerful 16 megapixel module with the ability to shoot UHD video. Compared to the GALAXY S4 (and Note 3), the software and interface have been significantly updated. The camera has become noticeably faster - focusing, HDR, etc. On the other hand, there are now fewer modes, they need to be downloaded separately. In particular, there is no separate night mode, and in Auto the quality of the pictures is not the highest. In other conditions, the quality is roughly comparable to the GALAXY S4 and Note 3, sometimes a little worse. Most likely this will be fixed in future updates. But even now it is one of the best mobile cameras with excellent detail, high speed(the stated focusing and shooting time is only 0.3 seconds) and many settings.

What's interesting about the settings is the improved HDR mode, which allows you to see in real time what the photo you plan to take in this mode will look like. In its Windows Phone models, Nokia offers an interesting application in which you can change the focus even after the photo has already been taken. Now you can get the same opportunity in Samsung. The idea is simple: after a frame is taken, you can change it and “blur” the desired area, without having to reshoot the object again.

Examples of photos of Samsung GALAXY S5 in maximum quality (16 MP):

SCREEN

The screen of the new product has increased to 5.1”; it is an FHD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) matrix with a density of 432 ppi. The specimen is very nice, has excellent viewing angles and performs well in the sun. I liked the display in the Samsung GALAXY S5, and there is slight progress compared to the S4, our expert Mikhail Kuznetsov will tell you in more detail.

Comparison of Samsung GALAXY S5 (left) and S4 (right):

Samsung GALAXY S5 screen - as usual, the brightest detail of this smartphone. The diagonal has grown to 5.1 inches, which with Full HD resolution provides a high pixel density of about 432 ppi. Despite the PenTile subpixel structure, it, like its predecessor GALAXY S4, can hardly be blamed for image blur. Small fonts or thin contours practically do not suffer from pixelation, unless you equip yourself with a magnifying glass or microscope. Obviously, the screens of the two generations are generally quite similar, but we found a few interesting nuances.

For example, compared to the GALAXY S4, the screen of the new S5 is approximately 18% brighter. We are talking about the brightness of the white fill across the entire screen at maximum brightness in the smartphone settings. The indicator has increased to 332 cd/m2, and this brightness margin can already be considered quite sufficient for most scenarios. More importantly, the anti-glare properties of the screen have also improved. In direct sunlight, the Samsung GALAXY S4's screen backing gives off a bluish tint, while the GALAXY S5's screen remains close to black or neutral gray. The same thing happens with the image: the GALAXY S5 screen demonstrates excellent viewing angles, where any significant distortion begins only at the very end, when the eye rests on the smartphone exactly from the side. Let me remind you that on the GALAXY S4 screen the image acquired a blue-green tint even at a not very wide angle. In general, there has been some progress in the behavior of the image on the GALAXY S5 screen under different lighting conditions or from different angles.

Another strong property of the screen has not been lost - the incredible contrast of the AMOLED display, which gives a breathtakingly deep image. Formally, the concept of contrast ratio is not even applicable here, thanks to the ideal black color. It's a pity, but you can really feel this advantage in the dark, since in a bright environment the screen still reflects part of the incident light. Nevertheless, in this parameter, the GALAXY S5 screen, like other types of OLED, is far ahead of conventional LCD displays.

The gamma curve of the screen is close to optimal, the average value is 2.3. In practice, the differences from the reference gamma 2.2 are invisible, shadow detail does not suffer.

Color reproduction, as usual, depends on the selected screen mode. There are several options to choose from: “Dynamic”, “Standard”, “Professional Photography” and “Cinema”. The “Dynamic” mode is overly saturated, which not everyone will like - after all, the colors are fairly distorted.

“Standard” mode combines a cool-toned image with an average color temperature of around 7600K and bright, saturated colors. This is a setting in the spirit of “classic” AMOLEDs, where color profiles were not provided.

Professional Photography mode is an attempt to emulate the expanded Adobe RGB color space that is sometimes used by professional photographers. The attempt is not very successful: the compliance of the color gamut with the Adobe RGB standard is rather conditional, since the green color (which is the main difference between Abobe RGB and sRGB) is greatly shifted in hue. At the same time, the white balance is not bad - the color temperature ranges from 6500K to 7000K, but in general the deviations are low.

The Cinema mode, as usual, offers the most adequate color reproduction. The color balance here is almost identical to the previous mode. The average color temperature is about 6700K, and the color gamut exceeds the sRGB standard only in the green area.

Analysis of colors within the color gamut shows acceptable results, and the average error on 24 ColorChecker targets is only 3.58 units. Consequently, in the “Cinema” mode the image has fairly natural colors, the saturation of which, compared to other modes, is within reasonable limits. This option is really good for watching videos and photos. The “Cinema” color profile is the best way to dispel misconceptions about the “broken” color reproduction of AMOLED screens, which are still passed down from old memory.

In addition, there is also an adaptive display mode, which automatically selects settings based on the content - be it photos, text or games. Typically, it uses the "Standard" profile as a base, and the colors are muted less often than they should be. Therefore in everyday use you can get by with a single profile that suits your taste best.

In general, the Samsung GALAXY S5 screen continues the traditions established in previous generations. There have been no radical improvements, but there is a progressive evolution. For example, the new generation has more effective anti-glare and wider viewing angles. Color rendition, as before, strongly depends on the selected screen mode: the user is offered 4 options for taste and color, in addition to the adaptive mode. Everyone can choose an option to their liking - either calm and natural colors, or, conversely, the most “flashy” ones. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, unlike the design, the screen of the Samsung GALAXY S5 is unlikely to be the subject of heated debate. Most likely, the vast majority will agree that he is very good. In any case, from a technical point of view there is little to complain about here.

COMMUNICATIONS, MEMORY

Communications have also been improved. MicroUSB 3.0 is used, and everything you need is also there: NFC, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0. In the event that you urgently need to send something quickly, and the amount of data is large and amounts to more than 30 MB, the Download Booster function is activated, when the device sends data directly via Wi-Fi and LTE. Declared Wi-Fi support 802.11ac with 2xMIMO.

The memory is also in perfect order: the built-in volume is 16 or 32 GB, plus there is a compartment for microSD, where you can install up to 64 GB inclusive, i.e. the total volume is up to 96 GB. For most users this will be enough.

SOFTWARE, INTERFACE

Samsung GALAXY S5 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with a new version of the proprietary TouchWiz interface. The latter has undergone many changes, has become a little faster, but overall it has not changed radically. New effects and animation have appeared. What remains is the Korean beauty. The gurgling sounds and familiar melodies, unfortunately, also remain. But there are new wallpapers, some very nice.

Samsung sees its new interface more simple and understandable. In particular, the settings menu has been completely updated. Now this is the only vertical list with bright large icons in the style of Simbian or (iOS7). In my opinion, this looks like an attempt to collect everything in one place at once. The result is a mess of styles that you need to get used to. However, if desired, this can easily be changed with third-party launchers (like a case with covers).

Compared to the GALAXY S4, the interface has changed noticeably. The widgets section was moved from the menu to the main screen settings, a new unlocking effect and desktop changing animation appeared, and the S Finder and “Quick Connect” buttons were added to the notification center. Most applications have been updated - gallery, player, phone, messages, etc. The S Health fitness application (version 3.0) has been significantly improved, which now takes into account heart rate. Knox security functionality has been enhanced.

The new economy mode, which I already mentioned, deserves a separate discussion. With one touch, you change the screen image to grayscale, limit the number of available applications, disable background work, and disable all communications such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As a result, you get a simple dialer with basic capabilities. Other manufacturers have nothing like this, the opportunity is interesting and useful.

As I wrote above, two more interesting functions are the unloading accelerator and fingerprint user authorization (Finger Scanner). I am sure that GALAXY S5 owners will like them. Also interesting are the different operating modes - private and children's. As always with Samsung, everything can be customized and changed. In general, the functionality of the company's software now has no equal in Android. If the Koreans do something else with the design and content, we will get a great shell.

List of subscriptions and services that the owner of Samsung GALAXY S5 receives for free:

• Wall Street Journal: 6 month subscription ($160);
• Linkedin: 3 month subscription ($75);
• PayPal: $50 off in-store purchases with PayPal;
• Skimple: 6 month subscription ($42);
• Lark: 1 year subscription ($36);
• Bloomberg BusinessWeek+: 1-year subscription ($30);
• Bitcasa: 1 TB for 3 months ($30);
• Runkeeper: 1 year subscription ($20);
• Evernote: 3 month subscription ($15);
• Cut the Rope 2: $10 credit;
• Blurb: $5 off;
• EasilyDo Pro: unlimited download ($5);
• Flick Dat: no download limits ($2);

OPINION HI-TECH.MAIL.RU

GALAXY S5 is an evolution of the line. Accordingly, the wildest expectations were not justified. Here you will not find metal in the case, there are no breaks in the camera or screen, there is still no FM radio, and the same amount of RAM. The latter is quite strange, given the 3 GB of RAM in last year's Note 3. At the same time, the size, weight and frame around the screen have increased slightly.

On the other hand, the device turned out to be solid and balanced. A fingerprint scanner has appeared (which also works well), a new energy saving and moisture protection mode is interesting. The latter is full-fledged IP67, and not splash protection, as our tests have proven. The software in the GALAXY S5 has been improved and supplemented, but this is still a controversial point - on the one hand, it is very functional, on the other, it is not the most stylish and smooth (like HTC Sense, for example).

In most respects, the GALAXY S5 is comparable to its predecessor (performance, battery life, features, design, etc.). There are both pros and cons to this. If everything is clear about the shortcomings, then the traditional advantages of Samsung are a removable battery, a memory card slot and hardware Home button- all this remains in the new flagship. Unfortunately, the typical design remained (only the back cover was made not glossy, but soft-touch). Therefore, fans of Samsung products will be pleased.

In high price segment Samsung GALAXY S5 does not have many competitors for Android smartphones - these are Sony and HTC. In my opinion, the devices are close, but still different. Samsung is practical and functional, but also more fashionable and stylish. So choosing between them is primarily a matter of personal priorities. An indirect alternative is also , which has fallen in price and can now be a good buy for lovers of large screens.

Every year, users hope that this time Samsung will definitely present a completely different flagship Galaxy S, radically different from all previous ones. There have been a lot of rumors this year about the incredible features of the Galaxy S5, but not all of them came to fruition. After the announcement of the new product, many analysts and users were even disappointed with its characteristics. Of course, the device offers a lot of truly new, interesting and useful things, but it would be surprising to see in it everything that was rumored: a metal case, an Exynos 6 processor, a frameless display, more RAM, and more.

Why is it remarkable? Samsung Galaxy S5 and what its shortcomings are, read below in our review.

Appearance

High hopes were placed on the appearance of the new flagship. After long and persistent rumors that it would receive a metal case, everyone was already 100% confident in this information. As a result, I had to experience annoying disappointment, since no one saw the long-awaited metal. The model looks nice and solid, but we must admit that it doesn’t really look like a flagship; moreover, resourceful users immediately found in the back cover of the new product a resemblance to a patch and the famous interior of the Lada, especially in the gold version of the model.

The manufacturer himself, of course, has a completely different opinion. According to his vision, back panel The smartphone is decorated with perforations, creating a modern, dynamic image. This cover is available in four colors: black, white, blue and gold. By the way, there is currently an exclusive blue smartphone on the American market, which not only has a cover made in this color, but also the front side.

The back cover is very flexible and easy to remove; there is even serious mistrust regarding moisture resistance: will water really not penetrate inside if the cover snaps off so easily and quickly? But don't panic, the smartphone actually meets the international IP67 protection standard, thanks to which it is not afraid of water and dust. Of course, you shouldn’t say so categorically, let’s clarify: the body of the device is completely protected from dust, and it can only be under water for a very short time (no more than 30 minutes), and the depth should not exceed a meter. In other words, if you dropped your brand new Galaxy S5 into a bathtub, toilet, or deep puddle, it’s no problem! Wipe and enjoy further use. Another amazing benefit is that you can take pictures underwater. You will definitely stand out from those around you at sea when you take your phone out of your shorts pocket and go take pictures of the lovely fish right under the water!

Along the perimeter of the case we see a type of metal frame. Why "kind of"? Because, as we said above, this is not metal, but plastic stylized as it. But we have to admit that it turned out great, we ourselves knocked on it for a long time to check.

Samsung decided to award each of the faces with at least some button or connector. On the right is a device lock/power button (metal), on the left is a volume key (also made of metal), at the bottom is a microUSB connector version 3.0, hidden under a flap, and a microphone, and at the top is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, IR port and microphone.

The downside is the lack of a camera button, plus it’s somehow more common for the volume and power buttons to be on the same right side, although this is an individual thing. And it’s also inconvenient to constantly open the cap when you need to charge your smartphone. By the way, after turning off the charging and after turning on the phone, it will remind you to check the tightness of the plug and the back cover so that water does not penetrate through the cracks.

On the front of the device there is a large 5-inch display, under which there are two touch soft keys (the left one is the button for recently used applications and calling up additional parameters, the right one is to return to the previous screen) and one central physical one (to return to the main screen, launch the application S Voice by double-clicking or launching the Google application with a long tap), which hides a fingerprint scanner.

Above the display there are light sensors, proximity sensors, a front 2-megapixel camera, speaker and a light indicator that flashes blue to indicate the receipt of new letters, white to indicate the receipt of new messages/missed calls, red to indicate a low charge level, etc.

On the reverse side Samsung Galaxy S5 we see a beautiful “Samsung” inscription recessed into the lid, a main 16-megapixel camera, under which there is an LED flash and a heart rate sensor. Bottom left is a traditional-looking external speaker.

The case dimensions are 142x72.5x8.1 mm, it weighs 145 g. In actual dimensions, the smartphone is really thin, but thanks to the thin “metal” frame, it visually seems even more compact. The weight is excellent for such dimensions: not big and not small. It fits well in the hand, pleasantly due to the soft-touch plastic of the back cover. It’s just uncomfortable to hold the phone in your left hand and trying to reach the “Back” button is an impossible task. We also note that on the black case, fingerprints are practically invisible.

The display is simply amazing. It is made according to Super technology AMOLED, its diagonal is 5.1 inches and the resolution is 1080x1920 pixels. The displayed picture pleases the eye with high contrast, brightness, saturation, and realism.

Samsung likes to push up the colors, but at the same time it gives you the opportunity to customize the picture solely to your needs and preferences. When you lower the status bar from above, you will immediately see a brightness adjustment slider (automatic mode or your own settings). Additional parameters should be found in the smartphone settings.

In the "Display" item you can customize the font style (select from several suggested ones or download new ones) and its sizes (as many as 7 levels - very useful for far-sighted users), screen timeout time (from 15 seconds to 10 minutes), mode screen (Adapt Display, Dynamic, Standard, Professional Photography and Cinema), key backlight time (from 1.5 sec to always on or off).

Also in the settings you can enable or disable screen rotation depending on the position of the phone in space. There is a feature intriguingly called "Smart Shutdown" - the screen remains on as long as you look at it. The function is controlled by the front camera, which constantly monitors your face. There is also a “Screen saver” that allows you to display a screen saver when charging your smartphone.

In the "Indicators" item you can activate red or blue indicators. The first is responsible for notification of the charging process and for low level battery charge, the second - for the presence of missed calls, messages, events in applications and for the process of voice recording when the screen is off. If you want to use your smartphone with gloves, pay attention to the very last item on the list - “Increase sensitivity”.

Even under direct sunlight, the information on the screen is readable. We compared the Galaxy S5 with Microsoft's flagship Nokia Lumia 930. We saw no difference: both phones behave great in the sun and the picture is equally beautiful.

In today's world with a huge number of needs, smartphones have a hard time. Every day we load them with various tasks: we call, write, read, play, listen to music, watch movies, use a browser, take photographs. To fulfill all our needs, the phone must be equipped with a good battery, and Samsung Galaxy S5 This is exactly what is installed - with a capacity of 2800 mAh. Official data says that on one charge we will be able to surf the Internet with a 3G connection for up to 11 hours, with a 4G connection for up to 10 hours, with a WiFi connection for up to 12 hours, watch videos for up to 13 hours, listen to music for up to 67 hours and talk until 21 hours. Of course, all this is separate.

In real conditions, when we call, write, and everything listed above every day, the phone, as a rule, lasts about a day. Naturally, everyone has their own daily standards for “using” the phone, so we’ll try to be more specific. Having fully charged the Galaxy S5, we used it for almost 56 hours (55 hours 50 minutes), which is equivalent to 2.3 days. During this time, the smartphone was almost always connected to the WiFi network, about 55 minutes were spoken, 46 photos were taken, 4 minutes of video were recorded in maximum resolution, Viber was constantly turned on with active communication for about 40 minutes, and very often active screen, since the smartphone was studied at the time of writing the review.

The powerful battery is complemented by maximum energy saving technology. When we activate this feature, the phone goes into super-saving mode: it repaints the image in black and white, turns off almost all applications and features, and in general, tries in every possible way to save precious battery power. There is no desktop in this mode, there is only a screen with icons for launching basic things: the dialer, messages, browser. As a result, according to official data, with 10% charge the phone can last a day. When we had 9% charge left, the smartphone calculated that we could use it for another 1.1 days. So, if you just need to stay connected, this mode is a genius design.

To find out how the smartphone charging process works, we conducted a small test. He showed that for a 100% charge from a 1.5A charger you need to charge for 158 minutes, while the phone itself says about fully charged at 118 minutes.

By the way, the smartphone supports wireless charging, but this requires a special case.

Performance

Of course, Samsung's new flagship is one of the most powerful devices on the market at the moment. For high performance, you can thank the quad-core 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 graphics chip and 2 GB of RAM. I would like more, for example, 3 GB of RAM, as in last year’s and, but we have what we have.

The smartphone works quickly, the menu, launching applications and their operation itself are all excellent. Even the traditionally “difficult” Samsung touchscreen did not remind me of itself during the entire time I worked with the device.

Our tests indicate high performance. So, AnTuTu showed the following results:

The Basemark OS II benchmark test reported the following:

Basemark OS II (bigger = better)

And below are the results of a test to measure JavaScript performance: SunSpider 1.0.2 (less = better)

User interface

When purchasing a Samsung Android smartphone, you should always remember that here you will not see “pure” Android (in this case Android version 4.4.2 KitKat). We are greeted by the manufacturer's proprietary shell called TouchWiz. It has been updated, compared to the previous version, new wallpapers, effects, animations have appeared and, it seems, it has begun to work faster. However, in our humble opinion, there is an overabundance of various types of information, icons, and notifications. And happiness is that this whole thing can be configured in the way that is convenient for you, removing all that is superfluous and unnecessary.

So, let's figure out what we get when we take the device out of the box. The interface is presented three work tables, completed by the manufacturer. So, on the main screen we see the usual time, date, search engine widget from Google, four icons just below the center, small navigation buttons between tables (plus the personal magazine “My Magazine” - more on that later) and five more icons below: phone, contacts , messages, internet and applications. On the second desktop, the search engine widget is already from Yandex, the widget native application from Samsung "S Health", icons of our various applications and the bottom row of the same icons that were on the main screen (and will be on the third table). The third screen is dedicated to the Galaxy Essentials and Galaxy Gifts widgets.

The screensaver on all tables is the same. As usual, to edit an area you need to long tap on it. If we click on a widget or icon, the mini-buttons of the desktops change to schematic images, from which we can understand exactly where we can drag our object. By the way, if three screens are not enough, you can add another one.

To delete elements of our desktops, you need to drag them up to the trash can with the corresponding “Delete” label. To change the background, go to Settings - Wallpaper. Here you can select a picture for the home screen, lock screen, or both screens at once. The choice is presented by a standard set of 11 options; if you don’t like anything, you can download new ones (from the gallery, photo or Dropbox).

Additional options that allow you to customize our desktops, can be called up in two ways: by long pressing the left soft key or by pinching your fingers together directly on the home screen. The possibilities are quite wide. We can delete desktops, rearrange them, quickly set new wallpapers, add widgets and go to home screen options.

There are many widgets available. Both native ones and those purchased with the installation of new applications on the smartphone. In the main screen parameters we can disable the button display for "My Journal" and select the effect of transition from one desktop to another (deck of cards - when transitioning, one screen is beautifully superimposed on the second, 3D rotation - as if we are pushing away one screen and moving to yourself another).

At the very top of the screen (status bar), where the menu with notifications, quick access to applications, etc., a number of different icons are displayed next to the time and battery level indicator, the meaning of which is not always clear.

By swiping your finger across the screen from top to bottom, we bring up the notifications and quick settings panel. The main thing here is not to get confused by what you see. In the upper right corner there are two icons: go to the smartphone settings and all quick settings buttons.

Just below are five icons (ten in total, that is, you can scroll left and right) for quick start and turning off certain options. A long press on these icons will take you to the advanced settings of the selected option. Below them are icons for launching the S Finder application and for launching the Quick Connect function. Even lower is a slider for quickly adjusting the brightness, which disappears when the battery is low. And below it our notifications are displayed, which can be deleted by swiping left or right.

By opening all the quick settings buttons, we can change their display in the notification panel according to our needs. To do this, you need to use a “pencil” and then drag the ones we need into the active buttons area.

IN Applications screen we get there through the lower right icon on the desktop. Here are all installed on our Galaxy S5 programs, services, and settings. This list is quite long, because they took care of us and immediately installed everything we needed and didn’t need.

Three dots on the top right open a menu through which you can change the location of application icons, create a folder (and drag everything you don’t need/need there), change the view type, see only those programs that we ourselves have installed, delete or hide some applications, and also read the help.

Settings

One of the disadvantages of the device is the settings. No, not their very existence, but the way they are presented. A long list of items, divided into several parts according to their meaning, can get tired of scrolling through. Fortunately, these parts can be folded.

At the head are quick options, like the most in demand. Next come “Network Connections”, some “Connect and Send”, “Sounds and Display”, etc.

We, of course, will not dwell on every parameter; we will pay attention to only a few. Download accelerator It seems to allow you to download large files faster by simultaneously using WiFi and LTE networks. We have not yet been able to test this ability in practice, so we will take his word for it.

Paragraph Lock screen allows you to set protection for our phone using a pattern, PIN code, password or fingerprint when unlocking. The first three options require memory: remembering a fictitious pattern, numbers for a PIN code and a combination of different characters for a password. But with fingerprint In this regard, everything is simpler, although you will still need a password for insurance.

If you don't have a phobia that your fingerprint will be given to secret organizations and generally unknown to whom, register it by swiping your finger on the central key. How to organize the process correctly is described in the hint instructions. True, the example shows one thing, but says something else. In general, we swipe the button slowly from top to bottom, holding the device in front of us, eight times.

Of course, we were incredibly interested in how we would be able to unlock the screen using a fingerprint: how everything would go, how long this unlocking option would take, and what would happen if we swipe the wrong finger. While conducting the experiment, we got too carried away with the process, “slipping” all our fingers into the smartphone. As a result, after the fifth finger, the phone said to rest for 30 seconds. We obeyed and carried out the unlocking procedure a couple more times. There have never been any problems with the right finger. It turns out that if you value security, you may well use this option for gaining access to your device. There is only one downside - it takes a long time.

You can also set the clock, date, display information about the owner, additional information in the form of weather and pedometer, help text, and a camera shortcut on the lock screen. To make the unlocking process more entertaining, several effects are supported: bursting colors, pancakes, watercolors, waves.

Maximum power saving mode allows you to save energy consumption as much as possible. This is achieved by changing the screen color to grayscale, limiting the operation of applications, disabling data transfer, Bluetooth, WiFi. In short, everything that can be turned off is turned off, and as a result, the smartphone can work for a very long time. Let us remind you that with the remaining 9% charge, the phone was able to live in standby mode for about 1.1 days. These figures are approximate, but correspond to reality. The feature is simply amazing.

Multiple windows mode allows you to display two applications on the screen at once. At the same time, they work without brakes, which is simply super. A semicircle with an arrow appears on the left of the screen; click on it and a number of applications available for use will appear. If you've decided on a couple of applications that can't live without each other, you can save them as a window group.

Toolbar- this is a small circle that will always loom on the screen. If you click on it, a list of several (maximum five) programs and features that are most important to you will appear. On the one hand, it’s convenient to quickly switch to the desired program, on the other hand, sometimes this icon is annoying and interferes, or at least interferes and thus irritates.

Also, one cannot fail to mention “Hover” (the smartphone responds to the pointing of a finger, and not to its touch on the screen), “Private mode” (you can hide certain files), "Movements and gestures" (calling an open contact by holding the phone to your ear; vibration when picking up the device if there are missed calls/SMS; muting the sound by turning the phone over or covering the screen with your hand, etc.)

Standard Applications

The alarm clock is hidden in the clock. By the way, there is also a stopwatch and timer here. When adding a new alarm, we can select specific days for it with weekly repetition, set the type (sound, vibration, selection and melody) or melody of the alarm, volume, pause, smart alarm (also an increasing alarm, which starts sounding a few minutes before the appointed time) and name.

When the alarm goes off, we can turn it off or snooze it (if provided by the settings we have chosen). To turn it off, you need to drag the “x” icon outside the circle (to the right), and to take another nap, drag the “Zz” icon outside the circle (to the left). You can deactivate added alarms by clicking on the alarm icon on the right.

The calculator has a simple appearance in portrait mode, allowing you to perform ordinary operations, be it addition, multiplication, division, etc., although it cannot be said that there is support for operations with parentheses. The area for numbers can be said to be huge, plus as their number increases, they become smaller and smaller in order to fit as much as possible. There is a journal that stores the history of our calculations, and this is very convenient.

By switching the smartphone to landscape orientation, we will see an additional area with new functions. Here there are sines, and cosines, and the value of "pi", and powers with roots - in general, to a simple user You definitely don’t need that much, but for some school student or a person whose work involves such calculations, it is an irreplaceable thing. You don't even have to bother searching additional application in the store, the standard functionality is quite decent.

The calendar here is represented by the "S Planner" application, when we enter it for the first time, we will see the current month with today's date/day highlighted. In the upper left corner there are three stripes sticking out next to the word “Month”. By clicking on them, we will proceed to selecting the displayed view: year, month, month+agenda, week, day, list of events and tasks. The selected view is saved, that is, you will not need to change it to the one you like every time you launch the application. In our opinion, the most acceptable option is a month with current events: both the days are clearly visible and planned activities.

In "S Planner" you can search for events and tasks, delete them, go to the desired date or current date, and synchronize events with accounts. The settings allow you to choose the first day of the week that is convenient for you, hide rejected and completed tasks, show week numbers, select the type of notifications (by sound or via the status bar), the sound for them, and more.

When creating a new event, you can give it a name, color, determine the location, beginning and end, plus you can additionally set a reminder, add participants, write a description, even choose a sticker. With tasks, everything is somewhat simpler: name, date, reminder, description and priority.

Created events can be copied and transferred via disk, Dropbox, email, Bluetooth, etc. Our opinion about the calendar: everything about it seems to be simple, but there is still some discomfort. Perhaps you should pay attention to third-party applications and choose the best one for creating tasks, reminders, etc.

In the Gallery, our photographs are presented in small squares, sorted by date. A minimum of three images and a maximum of eight can be displayed in one row - this can be changed with a pinch-and-spread gesture of two fingers. We can traditionally scroll through them by moving our finger up and down, but there is another option - a slider appears on the right with the date indicated. If you scroll with it, all the images tilt, and the date of the images is shown in the center of the screen. Here you can see both the photos we have and the videos we have made. If we want to watch any of them, we will be asked to go to the corresponding multimedia application.

The display mode can be changed via the top left icon. There are only two options: time and album. It is clear that in the first case, all our files will be sorted by time, and in the second - by albums (camera, screenshots, downloads, photos from other applications, for example, from). In landscape mode, while you are in an album, the screen can be divided into three columns: our albums are shown on the left, and photographs are shown in two columns on the right. To expand the area for photos and vice versa to display albums, you need to swipe your finger across the screen left or right.

There are also filters: event, people, landscape, documents, food, vehicles, flowers. At the same time, sorting by filters is carried out by the smartphone independently, which, frankly speaking, surprised us.

Also in the Gallery, you can search using suggested tags, quickly go to the camera application to create photos/videos, watch content in slideshow mode, and more. It is possible to process pictures and videos through the Studio application.

“Studio” allows you to decorate a photo with a frame, sticker, drawing, picture, change brightness, saturation, contrast, add effects (vintage, smoothing, fading, sepia, etc.), remove red-eye, brighten the face, and more. The program is simple and convenient; in fact, it allows you to seriously transform a not entirely successful photo or make a successful one even more amazing.

When you go into the Video application, your eyes begin to run wild, since all the videos we have are played simultaneously (in the “grid” display mode). Not completely, but a small segment of them. The application itself consists of two tabs: personal and devices. That is, these are the sources of our video files. There is a search, selection of type, sorting and more.

Going to the “Devices” tab, we saw the devices available on our network. The smartphone itself scanned all the files and made it possible to easily and quickly watch movies stored on the home server. The only problem is that it did not catch the folders, but simply displayed all 720 files found.

The video expands to full screen, and you can adjust the volume by moving your finger up and down across the screen. The external speaker, it should be said, is very loud, plus the sound is clear. By touching the screen, we call up functions such as playing next/previous files, pause/play. You can scroll through the video with the slider, change the image format (icon on the bottom left), and reduce the image (icon on the bottom right). An additional menu (three vertical buttons) displays items such as edit, send via, delete, preview chapters, listen via Bluetooth, subtitles, settings and properties.

In the settings you can set the brightness level, playback speed, activate the mini-controller (a block that controls playback while watching), enable subtitles, tag assistant, and configure SoundAlive (normal or voice).

For the test, we loaded several films and TV series into the smartphone. As a result, the video started ( avi file 1.5Gb and mkv 3Gb), but there is no sound. Note that the smartphone supports video playback formats such as FLV, M4V, MKV, MP4, WEBM, WMV, 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI. And the audio formats are 3GA, AWB, FLAC, MID, MXMF, OGA, OTA, RTX, RTTTL, XMF, AAC, AMR, IMY, M4A, MIDI, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA.

Fortunately, the problem of the inability to watch some films is solved by installing third-party software. So, we installed it and without any problems we were able to view everything that we downloaded for testing.

Available in smartphone and Music player , the content in which can be displayed in a grid or list. The tabs are represented by playlists, tracks, albums, artists, a certain music square, folders and devices.

Thanks to the "Music Square" item, songs are automatically sorted by mood. To do this, you need to touch the mood cell or drag several cells to listen to music from them.

Albums, compositions and artists are sorted alphabetically; it is convenient to navigate by letter through the right alphabet menu. When listening, the album picture, song title, and album name are displayed. You can add your favorites to favorites, set random playback, repeat and more.

In the settings, you can select a playback effect, adjust the equalizer, set the playback speed, activate the song lyrics function, and more.

Email

The first time you launch the native email app called E-mail, you'll be prompted to set up an account. To add another one, you need to go to "Settings - Account Management - Click on the plus sign."

In the future, when we launch the program, we will immediately go to the inbox. The icons at the bottom allow you to create a new letter, check the receipt of new letters, use the search and go to the main menu, which shows the folders we have: inbox, drafts, sent, trash. You can create your own folders.

When creating a new letter, we can either manually enter the recipient or add it from the contact book. There is also a natural field for entering the subject of the letter and the text of the message itself. There is an arrow icon on the text input field; clicking on it brings up a menu of text settings: you can set the font size, make it bold or italic, etc. At the very top there is a paperclip icon - adding attachments to a letter, a floppy disk icon - saving a letter , a cross - deleting a letter, an envelope with an arrow - sending a letter. You can also send a message to yourself, schedule the message (choose when it will be sent), set priority and security settings.

Mailbox settings offer to mark our emails as read, marked, etc. (this is the Filters item), change the type of mailbox: standard or view by conversation, - create an invitation to an event, change the font size, add addresses to spam and more.

The browser works properly, but is inferior in terms of usability and functionality. third party applications type , (pre-installed on the smartphone).

To be able to quickly access the sites we need, there is quick access. When you type a URL, the address bar offers previously visited sites from memory. It also has two icons that allow you to add a site to your favorites and refresh the page. Near the left is a button for reading an article using the Reader application, and on the right is an icon for adding a new tab. We have reached 21 tabs and are tired; by the way, they are displayed in the form of a column with the ability to close unnecessary ones in one click. For beauty, the current window is displayed next to the left at an angle.

At the bottom there are arrows for moving back and forth between pages, a home button (to the main page), saved and a bookmarks menu with a magazine.

In the parameters, attention is drawn to such items as anonymous mode, PC version and brightness. Oh yes, there is also a page search.

S Health. Heart rate sensor

Samsung has equipped its flagship with a serious S Health application, in which we find the use of the acclaimed heart rate sensor. For those who do not know how to translate the name of the program, we will help: it is translated as “S Health”, that is, it is clear that the main goal is to take care of our loved ones. So, we will not go into the details of the work of this creation, we will only say in general terms why it is needed at all.

It helps us count how many calories we have consumed and how many we have burned, suggests exercises and gives tips to protect our health. The functionality is represented by a pedometer (counts how many steps we have taken), training (set a goal, count calories), food (calorie consumption). Here you can measure your heart rate.

Of course, we are warned that the heart rate sensor should not be used for serious purposes. And they are right: readings sometimes vary greatly within a minute, so you should not believe such information. Rather, you can use the “trick” as entertainment with friends and acquaintances.

Contacts

The Contacts and Journals applications are intertwined. When we enter one, we also enter the second, we just immediately get to the desired tab. IN magazine you can display all records, that is, simultaneously incoming, outgoing and missed, as well as sent/received messages and more. You can limit yourself to only calls, missed calls, incoming, outgoing, etc. On the left is a photo of the contact, then the type of entry in the icons (over time you begin to figure out which one means what), the contact name, and the time of communication. A very large amount of data fits into the list, it even gets boring to scroll through. And it’s worth noting that when the list is large, launching the phone application may be accompanied by slowdowns.

“Three dots” make it possible to select entries, delete them, search in them, view the call duration and go to call and contact settings. The call itself from the magazine is easily and quickly carried out by swiping to the right; swiping to the left causes an SMS message to be written to the subscriber. If we simply click on a contact, we will be taken to a detailed window with a detailed description of calls made, messages written, etc. From here you can make a voice or video call, as well as write an SMS. An interesting "feature" - when there is a missed call or unread message, the device vibrates when you pick it up. The call quality is excellent: the speaker is loud and clear, the microphone also perfectly transmits our voice, eliminating unwanted noise.

In general, the first tab in the application is dialer. The letters and numbers are large; if not everyone, then almost everyone can see them. In addition to just dialing a number, here you can enable silent mode(long press on the grille), make a video call (handset with photo). Can also be customized speed dial and again quickly go to the call and contact settings. When we start entering a number, the phone searches for a match using the entered numbers in the phone book.

IN favorites, of course, it is logical to place those contacts with whom we communicate most often. If you find it difficult to choose who to add there, your smartphone will tell you by counting who you call more often than others.

"Contacts" is headed by our card, in which we must write our number, name, email, organization and various other information if we wish. Below, accompanied by a photo or placeholder picture, our contacts are listed in alphabetical order. On the right there is the alphabet itself, to make it more convenient get to any of the letters. There are groups, the ability to combine our accounts, link contacts, etc. Everything seems to be quite simple and familiar.

Messages

The main menu is represented by conversations. You can immediately proceed to writing a new SMS, to search and an additional menu, behind which drafts, blocked and scheduled messages, spam, and settings are hidden.

In the new SMS, we enter the recipient or select him from the contacts, enter the text, and next to the icon for sending the message, it is indicated how many characters are left before the message is split into another one. You can attach files and add emoticons to better convey your emotions. There are a lot of emoticons and other small pictures, you will get tired of choosing and you will forget what and to whom you wrote.

In Settings, you can choose your default messaging app. Initially, there are two options: messages and Hangouts.

Impressions from the camera are somewhat ambiguous; of course, it all depends on what you compare the shooting results with, and do not forget that this flagship is not positioned as a camera phone. If we think in this vein, then the pictures and videos turn out excellent, especially when daylight. However, before demonstrating the abilities, let's dive into the characteristics and abilities. So, the main camera here is 16 megapixel with a 1/2.6" sensor, equipped with an LED flash. The front one is 2 megapixel.

The main menu of the camera is represented by the viewfinder, as well as various button icons. On the left is a column of five buttons, the three central ones can be replaced with something you need (open settings and move the desired item with a long tap). On the right are four icons (starting video shooting, creating photos, modes and going to the Gallery). The current shooting mode is written in the top center.

The settings are quite extensive, so we recommend that you study and test them before using the camera; it’s even useful to read the instructions. There is the usual white balance, exposure value, flash, ISO, as well as not everyone is familiar with measurement modes (center-weighted, matrix, spot metering), selective focus (for blurring the background/foreground), remote viewfinder, effects (sepia, faded light, vintage, fisheye, dull and others + the ability to download new ones), sound focusing.

Initially, six modes are offered with the ability to download new ones from Samsung Apps. We can choose from auto, retouching, panorama, snapshot and other options, virtual tour and two-way. To zoom in, you need to touch the screen with two fingers and move them apart and vice versa.

One of the distinguishing features of the Galaxy S5 camera is its super-fast focusing speed. According to the manufacturer, the process takes only 0.3 seconds, and this is, of course, an impressive result. The smartphone actually focuses on objects very quickly, allowing you to create new photos incredibly quickly without missing the right moment. Also, in many cases, the HDR mode is useful, improving photos in bright sun or in the shade.

As for video, the device is capable of recording it in UHD resolution - 3840x2160 pixels. The detail in this type of photography is excellent. The picture is clear, rich and smooth. If you don't need to shoot something in such a high resolution, you can choose something simpler, for example, 640x480 pixels. There is no switching between photo and video modes; pressing the video camera button immediately starts the shooting process. In this case, video recording can be paused.

EXAMPLES PHOTOS

without HDR/with HDR

Conclusion

Despite the fact that it failed to meet the expectations of some analysts, journalists and users, it turned out to be an excellent device worthy of the name “flagship”. Even though there are no long-awaited metal elements in the case (not counting the side buttons), the smartphone looks beautiful and solid, you won’t be ashamed to take it out of your bag/pocket/case and turn it around in front of others. The gold version looks even more luxurious.

Thanks to the implementation of protection against dust and moisture, you can not be afraid to take the Galaxy S5 with you to the bathroom or to the beach. A heart rate sensor will allow you to monitor your pulse, however, you should not 100% trust the data received. A fingerprint scanner will protect your device from third parties, but will add some inconvenience to the unlocking process.

The screen is incredibly bright, rich and clear. The picture can be read without problems even in bright sunshine, viewing angles are as wide as possible. It responds well to touch, plus it is possible to work with gloves. The 16-megapixel camera actually catches focus very quickly, thereby allowing as soon as possible create a snapshot of an interesting moment. A large number of settings and filters are supported; you can immediately edit photos, making them even more perfect. Video in maximum resolution (UHD) is clear and smooth.

In general, the smartphone works quickly, does not freeze or slow down. While writing the review, we noticed slight “slowdowns” only in the magazine when the list was very long. If you are not satisfied with the functionality of a native application, you can always replace it with something else from the Google Play app store. For example, you will probably feel the need to replace your pre-installed video player.

The maximum energy saving mode deserves special attention, in which the device can work for more than a day with 9% charge. Yes, you will be deprived of almost all smartphone benefits, but the most important things will remain: calls, SMS, browser and several other applications you have chosen.

In general, you can sit and figure out the Galaxy S5 for a long time, since there are a huge number of functions and capabilities. You can simultaneously display two applications on the screen, you can pin a toolbar with the five most needed programs on the screen, you can speed up the loading of large files, and much, much more.

Minuses:

• lack of a camera button on the body
• no optical image stabilization
• plastic non-flagship case
• poor placement of external speaker
• limited number of supported formats and codecs (solved by installing third-party software)
• the need for a wireless charging case
• cluttered settings
• Incorrect operation of the heart rate sensor

pros:

• powerful battery, long operating time on a single charge
• dust and water protection
• Large, stunningly bright, rich and clear display
• excellent 16 megapixel camera with super fast focusing
• maximum energy saving mode
• powerful productive processor
• heart rate sensor
• fingerprint scanner
• multi-window mode
• toolbar
• control your smartphone without touching the screen
• S Health app
• a huge number of pre-installed and third-party software

We are waiting for your comments and questions!