The highlight of the Mobile World Congress has been revealed on the first day of this huge event for the mobile industry. The much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S5 has been revealed, and we now know what to expect when the smartphone hits the shops on April 11. So how does this new high-profile smartphone stack up against its predecessor, the Galaxy S4?
Display
Firstly, the display of the Galaxy S5 will be slightly bigger, although the difference is so negligible as to be essentially meaningless. Whereas the Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch display, the Galaxy S5 is precisely 2 percent bigger, featuring a 5.1-inch screen. This is smaller than expected, and the reveal also trumped a much-vaunted rumor that the Galaxy S5 would feature a 2K screen resolution, whereas in fact the device features a full HD 1080p AMOLED display.
Camera
The display in the Galaxy S5 will be able to display some pretty exciting images, though. This is due to the upgrade in camera spec that this new Samsung release features. The Samsung Galaxy S4 used a 13-megpixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with LED flash, and this is upgraded to a 16-megapixel snapper in the handset. There is also a 2.1-megapixel rear camera which deals with fingerprint recognition security features. Additionally, the Galaxy S5 can apparently capture 4K video, with so-called UHD set to become a significant feature of consumer electronics in the coming months.
Processor
The Galaxy S5 will also be a significant step up in processor speed from the S4. This will be an extremely fluid and speedy smartphone. Although the Galaxy S4 featured a variety of processors based on regional variations, but in the Western market the 1.9 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T was included in all devices. The new Galaxy S5 will feature a 2.5GHz Quad core application processor, making it quite a bit faster than its predecessor.
New features
A lot of effort has seemingly gone into making the Galaxy S5 stand out with new features, rather than simply being a niftier update of a previous model. Much was made in the Barcelona presentation of a new heart rate monitor, while the new fingerprint sensor is also being heavily pushed. This will enable retail payments to be made via a swiping motion, and will also double as a security feature. Samsung was keen to emphasize the value of this, and it has obviously been a big part of their preparations to produce a significantly new Galaxy.
Other spec
Aside from that, the Galaxy S5 launches with the same level of storage and memory as the Galaxy S4 – 16 / 32GB and 2GB respectively – but some greatly updated Wi-Fi capabilities. Wi-Fi combined with LTE will allows a GB of download in just 30 seconds; a pretty impressive speed for mobile connectivity. The battery contained in the device has been upped from 2,600mAh to 2,800mAh; allowing as much as 10-12 hours of web browsing, music playing and video gaming per charge (although the proof will be in the pudding here).
A worthy successor
Samsung has certainly shown enough in the Galaxy S5 to make it a worthy successor to the S4, although some will be slightly disappointed by no 2K screen. However, it will no doubt jump off the shelves come April.
