Samsung officially unveiled the Galaxy S5 to the world during an Unpacked 5 event it held at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Smartphones fans have been speculating for months on what Samsung would bring to the table with the Galaxy S5. Would Samsung match up and add Apple's iPhone 5s main feature, a rumored fingerprint scanner in its Galaxy S5's home button? Would the new flagship smartphone be offered in a premium "Prime" model and a "Standard" variant? Would it have the much hyped 2560 x 1440 display that many were expecting, despite recent rumors indicating that Samsung faced issues creating the high-resolution displays?
Samsung ended all of the speculation once and for all, as company executives took to the stage at the Unpacked 5 event to kick off Mobile World Congress and unveil Samsung's next-generation Galaxy flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. The device's specs fall in line with expectations and match the most recent reported specs. Samsung has also included a fingerprint scanner inside the Galaxy S5's home button in an attempt to keep up with Apple's iPhone 5s.
Samsung decided, however, that it wanted to go back to the basics with the Galaxy S5.
"With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers," said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. "Consumers are looking for mobile tools that inspire and support them as they improve their everyday lives. The Galaxy S5 represents an iconic design with essential and useful features to focus on delivering the ultimate smartphone on the market today through people inspired innovation."
The Samsung Galaxy S5 features a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 432 pixels per inch (ppi). It's powered by a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 800, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit (GPU), and 2GB of RAM. It will be offered in both 16GB and 32GB models, and it also includes a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 64GB microSD cards.
The Galaxy S5 will ship with Android 4.4.2 KitKat and an updated version of Samsung Touchwiz UI on board. Its camera capabilities include a 16-megapixel rear camera that has the ability to record Ultra HD video @ 30fps, HDR rich tone, selective focus, and more. It also has a 2-megapixel front facing camera for video chat. The smartphone includes an update to S health 3.0 and ships with a 2,800 mAh battery.
Lastly, a very notable feature is that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified, making it dust- and water-resistant. The new-generation flagship Galaxy smartphone will go on sale in April, but no pricing details are available at this point. Color options include Charcoal Black, Shimmery White, Electric Blue, and Copper Gold.
