Mobile phone samsung galaxy s5 g900h. Review and testing of the Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900H) smartphone. Protection from dust and moisture

Contents of delivery:

Telephone
Charger with USB cable
Instructions
Wired stereo headset

Positioning

A parity situation has arisen on the global market - the market is de facto divided by two players, Apple and Samsung. Each company has its own flagship, for Apple this is actually the only product - the iPhone, you don’t have to take into account older models or the iPhone 5c, which appeared in 2013. For Samsung, the range of products is much larger, but the main focus is on the Galaxy S, which is its best-selling phone and competes with the iPhone. In 2013, sales of the Galaxy S4 came close to the iPhone 5, in some countries they even exceeded the iPhone for several months, but then a new model came out and everything returned to normal. Samsung quite rightly believes that the Galaxy S4 has become a successful product, although dreams that its sales will exceed those of the iPhone have not come true. Moreover, the potential of this device is very high; to this day, versions of it are being released that will live on the market for at least another year and a half. And here Samsung fell into exactly the same trap as Apple before them - the previous models began to look more attractive than the new ones. Let me remind you that with the release of iPhone 5 and new version iOS 7, many people suddenly began to buy the iPhone 4s, because the design of this device and its characteristics seemed better to them. There was no difference in the quality and size of the screen, there were no significant or big differences either. This happened for the first time for Apple when old model unexpectedly, after the release of the new one, it did not become a niche, but took up up to half of sales.

For Samsung model from Apple is not quite suitable, it is difficult to draw direct parallels - after the release of S4, sales of S3 remained high and noticeable, but these were products of completely different price classes. Unlike Apple, Samsung's flagships are constantly falling in price throughout the year, with a total loss of initial cost of 33 percent. Therefore, it will not be possible to transfer the situation to Apple; the companies are in different positions. But we can say with confidence that the Galaxy S5 tried to preserve all the features of the previous device, and also not make it a competitor to the Note 3, plus maintain sales of all S4 variants. Despite all the public statements, sales plans and the like, we can safely say that the Galaxy S5, despite its flagship status, does not play such a role for Samsung. It is possible that this is due to the release of an older version of the device, the presence of which is denied by the company, or the release of Note 4 in September, to which the focus is gradually shifting. Of course, the sales volume of this model will be at least at the S4 level, perhaps 10-15 percent higher. But sales will be boosted by cheaper S4 variants, and the bet is on them, as well as the Note line. This happened for the first time and looks like a conscious decision from which all the characteristics of the flagship flow.

First time on Galaxy S5 specifications are not superior to those for the model of the Note line, in our case it is Note 3. Formally, we can talk about an improved camera, but it does not offer striking differences in the quality of photos, the processor is about the same performance, the amount of memory, including RAM, is less in the S5. These are clearly products of different classes, and the Note 3 looks very advantageous compared to the S5; it has clearly been given a second life with this announcement.

For the buyer, this means that buying a Galaxy S5 is not at all as profitable as it might seem at first glance, since its alternatives look extremely attractive and interesting. First of all, this is the Galaxy S4, secondly – the Note 3. It is curious that there is almost no reason to choose the S5 over these devices - all these reasons are insignificant, and their totality will not be an outweighing factor for the majority. While it's possible that many consumers will change their phones out of inertia, this group of buyers has remained the same for many years. The release date of the new iPhone remains an unclear factor; if it happens in the summer, it will influence the choice of many people. It is also obvious that by increasing the screen size, Apple will eliminate one of the most serious complaints about these smartphones. These factors will certainly influence S5 sales and choice.

Many software features from the Galaxy S5 may not come to previous models, not because of the possibility of their implementation, but for purely marketing reasons; it is necessary to show the difference in the devices and draw attention to the new product.

An interesting question is whether it is worth changing the Galaxy S4 to S5. Such a replacement will be pleasant (a faster device, better camera, there are different chips), but you won’t notice much of a difference. Although there is still a certain sense in this. But replacing Note 3 with Galaxy S5, in my opinion, definitely doesn’t make any sense; these are products of different classes. However, let's take a look at what S5 is.

Design, dimensions, control elements

Samsung tries not to experiment with the design of its devices; it remains unchanged from year to year. While testing the Galaxy S4 Black and S5 for operating time, I kept getting confused which phone was in front of me. It is almost impossible to distinguish them by the front panel at a quick glance. You will be able to do this much better from the pictures, but in life they are completely similar - even slightly different sizes are not noticeable.

Phone size – 142x72.5x8.1 mm, weight – 145 grams. Let me remind you that for S4 these parameters were 136.6x69.8x7.9 mm, 130 grams. Slightly taller, slightly wider. You can't feel the difference in your hand, the grip is exactly the same - it fits easily in any pocket.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy S4

The designers have taken a shine to the back cover of the device – it has a leather-like structure, with uniform dots applied to the surface. Initially, 4 different colors are offered.

Two years ago I had an X-Drago Dash Dot case that had almost the same design as it looks back panel in S5.

I can’t remember a case where a manufacturer would copy someone else’s case when creating their flagship. This is another indicator of the crisis of ideas that exists on the market - the same solutions are being chewed over by many companies.

The back cover has a strange feeling, it is a little oily, as if soaked in some kind of solution. When you hold the device in your hands, your fingers begin to sweat on this cover (it is possible that this is an individual reaction of my body, but those around me also noted this after I asked a question about their feelings).

Another characteristic feature is warnings that you need to tightly close the lid of the charging connector; this appears after each charge. There are no sensors here, just common sense that tells you that to charge the device, you opened the connector. Also, after opening the case, you are asked to check its tightness.

On the left side surface there is a paired volume key, on the right - the on/off button. At the top end there is a 3.5 headphone jack, it is moved to the right (on the S4 on the left and next to the second microphone), this is done so that when the headphones are turned on it does not block the microphone. There is also an IR port window.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Apple iPhone 5S

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Above the screen you can see a 2-megapixel front camera, as well as a proximity sensor. The physical key under the screen is adjacent to two touch buttons - everything is unchanged here, except that the assignment of the keys has changed in accordance with how it is done in KitKat.

Display

Perhaps this is the biggest disappointment - for the first time, Samsung decided not to increase the screen resolution for its flagship, but only to slightly increase the diagonal - now it is 5.1 inches with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels (432 ppi, in S4 - 441 ppi). It is impossible to see individual pixels on the screen; the resolution of the human eye does not allow this. There are no barriers for superhumans, and they see pixelation even on this device. SuperAMOLED screen type, displays up to 16 million colors.

One of the user misconceptions is that Super AMOLED screens are too bright, the colors are saturated and unnatural. In the screen settings, you can choose any display option, including those typical for screens from other manufacturers (dimmer, natural colors). It’s interesting that other manufacturers’ screens produce the maximum possible, and it’s impossible to make them brighter, more contrast, or more saturated colors. Samsung offers maximum flexibility in settings.

Just like the S4, there is an “Optimize display” option. This is the most interesting setting, since the device analyzes the level of lighting around and, depending on the conditions, sets the contrast, brightness, and also adjusts the colors on the screen. It turns out that White color appears white in almost all conditions. Another setting is “Professional Photography” (previously called Adobe RGB), but it has almost no effect on the quality of the image display, the latter does not noticeably change compared to other settings (I was not able to notice this).

In the sun, the screen looks great, there are no problems, readability has increased slightly, this is due to changes in the screen itself, which I would like to mention separately. So, for the first time testing the video playback time on this device and the S4 Black Edition at maximum screen backlight, I noticed the white light on the S5; the picture looked much worse. This was a clear step back.

After playing with the settings, I discovered a rather funny thing - the picture quality is excellent and completely comparable to the S4 with automatic backlighting (the default setting), but trying to turn the brightness up instantly leads to negative consequences. Also, the quality of the Adaptive Display is such that it is focused on energy saving mode, the colors are muted. To get a picture like on the S4, you should choose one of the other display modes.

Everything became clear with brightness in the sun, with automatic adjustment, it turns up precisely in these conditions, readability in direct sunlight increases sharply. Although I couldn’t notice much difference in Moscow with the same Note 3 (Samsung Galaxy S5 in the photos above).

I have a strong feeling that the default settings are made in favor of a certain scenario in which people want not very bright, muted colors and average backlighting - plus, it saves battery. You should choose these parameters for yourself.

And here are some screen comparison photos with the S4. Let me remind you that the screen in the S4 was and remains the best on the market, in the S4 review there was a large comparison of displays, the situation has not changed in any way over the year.

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5 from below:

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S5 from above:

Fingerprint scanner

The function is quite interesting and appeared in response to the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5s, where you need to put your finger on the button. Unlike Apple's implementation, in the S5 you just need to swipe in the center of the screen and hit the center key. In the settings you can register up to 3 fingerprints, swiping with one hand while holding the phone is very inconvenient. Someone might be clever and it will work out, but it doesn’t work out that way for me - so only with two hands. Apple only needs one hand - and the device itself is smaller.

Almost always the scanner works perfectly, detects the fingerprint quickly and unlocks the phone. During operation, several times I saw a message that the surface of the device was wet, I was asked to wipe it. Apparently, this uses a sensor that is already present in the S4 and measures the ambient temperature and humidity.

It’s difficult to say anything special about the scanner; everything works and does not cause any complaints.

Battery and power saving modes

It's on the phone Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2800 mAh (the S4 has 2600 mAh), the manufacturer specifies for the device up to 390 hours of standby time, up to 21 hours of talk time, as well as up to 10 hours of watching videos and about 45 hours of listening to music. Separated from reality, these results are impressive, but you and I know very well that in practice, most Android smartphones do not last that long and show completely different results.

Before discussing the operating time of the device, let me remind you that initially only the S5 version, built on the Qualcomm chipset, appears on the market; the Exynos version will come later - so we are talking only about this version of the phone. But there shouldn't be any significant differences.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy S5

So, most in a simple way was to take the same FullHD video in X.264 and see how long the Galaxy S4 could play it (I took the Black Edition version from Qualcomm). The program for playing video is MX Player, without hardware decoding. The result with maximum screen brightness, sound off and in offline mode was typical - about 9.5 hours.

For most modern smartphones This is an unattainable result, for example, MTK devices play a similar video for about 4-5 hours (with comparable battery capacity). The S5 test revealed an interesting point - the device worked for about 12 hours and 40 minutes. Unfortunately, during playback, he went to the main menu once, so I had to start playback again - but the impact of this incident is minimal, it can be ignored, since the screen time shows how long the video was playing.

Many people are impressed by the raw numbers, but how often do we watch videos non-stop and not use other features? Of course, not often, because the phone is a universal harvester in which we use literally all the possibilities. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate collectively how the battery works and how long it allows the phone to last. Here we can say that the S5 is not much different from the S4, the operating time is comparable - with heavy use of the device, it will run out around lunchtime (3-4 hours of screen operation and a couple of GB of data). With not very heavy use it can survive until the evening. Unfortunately, I was not able to notice any particular difference from the S4; the device is definitely inferior to the same Note 3, which remains at the same level in terms of energy consumption this moment record holder and easily survives until the evening with any profile of use.

However, in the phone settings, two more energy saving modes were added to the already existing ones, and a quick power button was created for them. There is a regular power saving mode in which you can limit background work applications, turn on gray colors for the screen (for AMOLED this is a trick - gray color consumes almost no energy). Moreover, in gray tones you can work almost anywhere, even watch videos - but it will be gray, which is not very pleasant and convenient.

I was interested to see if it was possible to live a whole day in this energy consumption mode. I managed to do this easily, you can say that the device will last for two days, but it won’t give you any pleasure. It is unlikely that there will be people who will use a screen in this color scheme. There is also one more limitation - Whatsapp and other programs that use a background connection stop working and you stop receiving messages. For social networks, which Samsung and the SNS program know, as well as access permissions obtained on the phone (Facebook, Instagram, 4square, Twitter), you receive push messages from Samsung service. That is, the energy saving mode also has a software feature - instead of push messages from different services/programs, they arrive at a certain interval from only one. This interval cannot be configured; all settings are hidden from the user. Look at the phone usage graphs in this mode.

This saving mode is good when your battery is running low, but you need all the phone's functions. Then, on 10 percent charge, you can easily live for about two hours, without denying yourself almost anything. Two hours is an active use of the device; it just can last much longer in your pocket.

In early firmware of the device, the widget for starting the energy saving mode showed the approximate operating time in two modes - normal and maximum. TO commercial version The first mode has been removed; it can be activated from the menu, but you cannot see the estimated operating time.

The maximum power limit mode cuts down almost everything; at 35 percent of the battery charge, the phone can work in standby mode for at least 4 days. But, of course, it all depends on how you use it. The gray scale is also turned on, but all communications are cut off, list running applications is limited only to those that you have allowed, all background processes are turned off. This is a very deeply redesigned procedure, since many system functions are disabled, you will not be able to take a screenshot in this mode, many built-in options will be unavailable (but you don’t need them).

I liked this mode because when the battery runs out, by activating this mode with one touch, you can calmly live until the evening - SMS and voice will be available to you.

The bottom line is that we have a fairly typical and power-hungry Android, which, however, performs quite comparable to the iPhone 5s on the same tasks. To avoid unnecessary disputes and battles, I want to emphasize that each of us has our own set of applications, work profile, backlight brightness, and so on. A phone that works for one person for two days may be dead for another by lunchtime. Therefore, you should not give operating graphs of your devices, they say absolutely nothing, you need to compare devices at the same time, with the same load. For the S5, you should focus on a full day of work, taking into account the fact that you will use certain energy saving features without, however, denying all the pleasures of this device.

Camera

There is a separate material dedicated to the camera, in which you can learn everything possible about it.

Hardware platform, memory, performance

The phone uses Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8974AC chipset, also called Snapdragon 801. This is the fastest chipset from Qualcomm at the moment, its previous version MSM8974AB was used in such a device as LG G2. Quad-core processor, maximum frequency 2.45 GHz, graphics coprocessor has a frequency of 578 MHz (previously 450 MHz). The LPDDR3 memory bus frequency has also been overclocked - from 800 to 933 MHz. In many ways, this is what gives the increase in productivity.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB (half is free after loading), internal memory is 16 GB (there is a 32 GB version, but it is unlikely to be widely available on the market). The amount of memory occupied by programs is about 4 GB. Memory card – up to 64 GB.

In synthetic tests, the device shows excellent results, outperforming the Note 3, despite the smaller amount of RAM.

Before the advent of commercial firmware, performance was lower, the device was inferior to Note 3. Now it is slightly higher in performance. But these are synthetic tests that are of interest to fans of virtual parrots. There are a few more tests for them.

In the usual Everyday life The speed of the device is excellent. The interface is extremely responsive and fast. Those who can see lag will see it everywhere - but this is one of the fastest devices at the moment. There is no difference from the iPhone 5s in terms of speed.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Bluetooth. Bluetooth version 4.0 (LE). When transferring files to other devices that support this technology, Wi-Fi 802.11 n is used, and the theoretical transfer speed is about 24 Mbit/s. Testing the transfer of a 1 GB file showed a maximum speed of about 12 Mbit/s within three meters between devices.

The model supports various profiles, in particular Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial Up Networking, File Transfer, Object Push, Basic Printing, SIM Access, A2DP. Working with headsets does not raise any questions, everything is ordinary.

USB connection. In Android 4, for some reason, they abandoned USB mode Mass Storage, left only MTP (there is also a PTP mode).

USB version – 3, data transfer speed – about 50 Mb/s.

When connected via USB, the device is recharged.

The microUSB connector also supports the MHL standard, which means that using a special cable (available at electronics stores), you can connect the phone to the TV (to the HDMI output). In fact, the standard describes the ability to connect via microUSB to HDMI. This solution looks preferable to a separate miniHDMI connector on the case.

Maximum speed data transfer in LTE is 150 Mbit/s.

WiFi. The 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standard is supported, the operation wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember selected networks and automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router in one touch; to do this, you need to press a key on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Among the additional options, it is worth noting the setup wizard; it appears when the signal is weak or disappearing. Can also be customized Wi-Fi work Scheduled.

Also for the 802.11 n standard, HT40 operating mode is supported, which allows you to double throughput Wi-Fi (requires support from another device).

Wi-Fi Direct. A protocol that is intended to replace Bluetooth or begin to compete with its third version (which also uses Wi-Fi version n for transmission large files). On the menu Wi-Fi settings select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone starts searching for devices around. We select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. Now in file manager You can view files on another device and also transfer them. Another option is to simply find the devices connected to your router and transfer to them necessary files, this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

NFC. The device has NFC technology, it can be used with various additional applications.

S Beam. A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes in size to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring up and authorize phones, but the second is already used to transfer the files themselves. The creatively redesigned way to use Wi-Fi Direct is much simpler than using a connection on two devices, selecting files and so on.

IR port. Necessary for using the phone as a remote control for various household appliances. Automatically configures for almost any model of equipment.

Software features - some features and children's mode, S Health

I described all the features of the new version of TouchWiz, pre-installed programs and all the new features in a separate and voluminous material. This is done with intent so as not to be repeated here.

The Galaxy S5 pays a lot of attention to new operating modes for people with impaired motor coordination, hearing or vision impairments. In terms of the set of built-in capabilities, this is one of the most powerful models, along with technology from Apple. But usually during the test you skip this menu (it appears during the first boot), and then you don’t go there. However, it has another non-trivial function: a baby monitor. You can place the phone next to the child, and then it will detect his cry, and then the camera flashes will notify you about it. Since my children have already grown up, I could not test this function in practice. The phone does not respond to the recorded cry of a baby, and if you want to see how Murtazin howls, then watch the video below - this device also did not respond to my howl. This does not mean that the baby monitor does not work, but most likely it is useless.

2 years ago

I bought it for 22 grey. As a former owner of s2 s3 s4 I write, the camera has definitely become better on the back, the plastic is better, the quality of materials is generally the same, the speed of operation is the same, in the games above it’s really fast inner memory, does not glitch like on 4

2 years ago

much better than galaxy s3 and s4, the battery lasts significantly longer better processor I like exinos better than snap, no creaks, no backlashes, no, and can’t be, iphone is resting, everyone scolds tachwiz, but we all like it, even the child, and the naked android is terribly infuriating

2 years ago

Qi charging, charging lasts 2-4 days, omaled display - the colors are the purest and most monochrome like precious stones, fast camera + hdr mode

2 years ago

Powerful hardware, excellent design, high-quality assembly, fast interface, big battery, cameras, price, fingerprint scanner, screen, extreme energy saving, memory card slot, heart rate monitor, etc.

2 years ago

Fingerprint scanner. I personally used it. Waterproof. I dived a lot in the sea and in the river and in the pool and in the shower and filmed videos.

2 years ago

Not Chinese

2 years ago

The camera is excellent, the battery lasts a day of use

2 years ago

camera again camera camera display bright battery keep the day stable under load internet surfing 4 hours about twenty camera shots wifi

2 years ago

Doesn't slow down, doesn't sink, pleasant to the touch, camera more or less, maximum energy saving mode (black and white), 4G.

2 years ago

the F version has a price
buggy touch visa - change the launcher right away
there is no button for the camera, it’s really missing
The fingerprint scanner doesn't work well - I don't recommend it
The heart sensor is also crooked. Doesn’t understand my arrhythmia at all, either 48 or 84 (software problem)
I don't feel like it's a flagship
extreme energy saving, not 10% per day but will save you for the evening
ordinary savings - nonsense, everything is just buggy

2 years ago

stub

2 years ago

Terrible sound and speaker placement. Sound rating.

2 years ago

They simply don't exist!!!

2 years ago

Plastic, performance, design are not very good. When the body is cast as chrome, but in reality it turns out to be plastic, it is depressing..
The light sensor here is bad - I personally turned off auto-brightness because it happened that in the brightest sun the sensor gave me the minimum brightness.
The camera is bulging and its glass is covered with scratches. This problem has apparently been unsolvable since the first note, I advise you to put on a bumper.
The headphone jack was drizzling a little after apparently frequent immersions in water (it remains open to water.) Apparently clogged
And finally, the worst drawback is the Samoled screen, or rather the cost of replacing it. I broke it. replacement price is 15,000. I bought the phone brand new for 20,000 in Makhachkala :(

Detailed testing of one of the most anticipated smartphones of the new season

Of course, one of the most long-awaited and anticipated new products among mobile devices of the coming year should be considered the next update to the flagship line of Samsung smartphones - the Galaxy S5. The new product does not need any special introduction - in recent years, the Korean Samsung company Electronics managed not only to become scandalously famous due to countless lawsuits with rival American Apple, but also to occupy, along with it, one of the leading positions in the world market for the sale of tablets and, of course, smartphones.

From left to right: Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Apple iPhone 5s

By the way, in recent years the Koreans have firmly accustomed users to the idea that Samsung always has two flagship smartphone. They are representatives of two top product lines moving in parallel courses - Galaxy Note and Galaxy S. Not so long ago there was another update to the line of tablet phones - the Samsung Note 3 smartphone, about which we wrote so much at one time, went on sale. Now it’s time for a series of smartphones to be updated with a more “civilized” design.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4

The Galaxy S series smartphones have always been very different from their semi-tablet counterparts from the Note line precisely in size - they were quite elegant devices in terms of dimensions. However, with the release of the Galaxy S5, it must be admitted that the distance separating them is shrinking more and more. Moreover, not only the sizes of each successive representative of the Galaxy S line are becoming larger, but also in the Note line they are consistently decreasing. Galaxy Note 3 has become the smallest among its brothers, and the Galaxy S5, on the contrary, has acquired such large dimensions that it’s time to think: what, exactly, is the difference between the modern representatives of the two lines? Their performance is absolutely the same, the design is similar, the price is the same, and we have already said about the sizes. Is the whole difference now just the presence or absence of an electronic pen?

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3

In any case, you shouldn’t expect a special technological breakthrough from the new flagship of the Galaxy S line. New technological discoveries have not yet been made, but everything discovered has already been put into practice, and now they are sharpening, finishing, polishing - improving functionality. And we’re not just talking about Samsung devices - the entire market as a whole is now waiting for something new. This, by the way, is clearly visible in the example of the last two world IT exhibitions, held at the beginning of the year in Las Vegas and Barcelona. The products of the Korean company are no exception: hardware and technically new flagship not much different from the previous one (Samsung Galaxy S4) - now the focus is on improving functionality. Ultra-fast data transfer capabilities, an updated camera control program interface, a wide selection of fitness applications, a heart rate monitor, a fingerprint scanner, as well as agreements with the world's leading content and service providers to pre-install a host of various applications with a long-term prepaid subscription - that's what , which is what Samsung is now working on. Gigabytes and gigahertz somehow suddenly faded into the background, which is probably for the best. Surprisingly, the Koreans didn’t even add RAM to their new flagship - the Galaxy S5 still has 2 GB of RAM, although the new product still has some changes in hardware.

Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S5 (model SM-G900F)

	Samsung Galaxy S5	LG G2	TCL Idol X+	Lenovo Vibe Z (K910)	Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (N9005)
Screen	5.1″, Super AMOLED	5.2″, IPS	5″, IPS	5.5″, IPS	5.7″ Super AMOLED
Permission	1920×1080, 432 ppi	1920×1080, 424 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1080, 400 ppi	1920×1080, 386 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.5 GHz		MediaTek MT6592 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @2.0 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.2 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (4 Krait 400 cores) @2.2 GHz
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Mali 450MP4	Adreno 330	Adreno 330
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	16/32 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16—64 GB
Memory card support	microSD	—	—	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.3
Battery	removable, 2800 mAh	non-removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 2500 mAh	non-removable, 3050 mAh	removable, 3200 mAh
Cameras	rear (16 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP)		rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP, video 1080p)	rear (13 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP, 1080p video)
Dimensions	142×73×8.1 mm, 145 g	139×71×8.9 mm, 143 g	140×69×7.9 mm, 120 g	149×77×7.9 mm, 147 g	151×79×8.3 mm, 168 g
average price	T-10725078	T-10505130	T-10632117	T-10516952	T-10545574
Samsung Galaxy S5 offers	L-10725078-10

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC), 4 Krait 400 cores, 2.5 GHz
GPU Adreno 330, 578 MHz
operating room Android system 4.4.2 Kitkat
Touch display Super AMOLED, 5.1″, 1920×1080, 432 ppi
RAM(RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
Map support microSD memory up to 128 GB
Networks 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE Cat.4, up to 150/50 Mbit/s)
Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+
USB 3.0, OTG, MHL
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac HT80, MIMO (2x2), point Wi-Fi access
NFC, infrared
GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
16 MP camera, autofocus, LED flash, UHD video (4K) 30 fps
Camera 2 MP (front)
Accelerometer, gyroscope, distance sensor, compass, barometer, Hall sensor ( magnetic field), light, gestures (infrared), fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor
Dust and moisture protection according to IP67 standard
Li-ion battery 2800 mAh
Dimensions 142×72.5×8.1 mm
Weight 145 g

Appearance and ease of use

As already mentioned, the new model of the Galaxy S series has become significantly larger in size than the previous one. It feels like the smartphone in your hand has finally crossed that invisible line called “a little more and it will be too much”: now the device has become really bulky and surprisingly heavy. For the breast pocket of a shirt, for example, this is now certainly an inaccessible guest, although, of course, people who are firmly decided to follow the path of life with a “shovel” at the ready, in sizes new Galaxy S will not feel anything unusual. Still, it is smaller than the Galaxy Note 3, although the difference is already minimal. And yet, it is still not clear why it was necessary to do new model so much more than the previous one. On the Galaxy S4, for example, the side frames are only 3 mm wide, but on the Galaxy S5 they suddenly grew to 4 mm, the same goes for the top and bottom parts of the frame - they also suddenly became much wider, although the screen itself is practically the same size. changed.

Concerning appearance, then here the developers clearly adhere to a single design line: metal and leather, leather and metal - they are now used in all mobile devices companies (including numerous wearable gadgets). It’s just a pity that at the exorbitant prices at which current flagships are sold, the company was greedy to provide real leather - maybe then these devices would look truly stylish. But no, as in previous times, ordinary molded plastic is used here to create the appearance that the back wall of the smartphone is made of leather. The texture on the plastic is different from that of the Galaxy Note 3: here they used a kind of pseudo-embossing, as if a pattern of numerous dots was pressed into the leather. It looks nice and fresh, at least better than the glossy plastic that has adorned the surfaces of all Galaxy S and Galaxy Notes for a long time.

As for metal, there is none here either: the shiny “chrome” rim around the entire perimeter of the case (exactly the same as on previous models, only with a different pattern) is a coating on plastic, not real metal. This bezel, by the way, has also become much wider and even thicker, adding bulk to the smartphone as a whole.

The surface of the rim is quite slippery - due to it, as well as due to its considerable mass, it is rather inconvenient to lift the device from the table surface, since the fingers do not feel a confident grip.

The back cover is easily removed from the case and just as easily put on - it is traditionally attached to several plastic latches, with a barely noticeable ledge for hooking with a fingernail. Under the cover are hidden slots for SIM cards and memory cards, located in a “sandwich” one above the other.

Below there is a compartment for a removable battery- it supports the cards, but the memory card can still be replaced “hot”. The device uses only one SIM card, Micro-SIM format; a microSD memory card can be used here with a capacity of up to 128 GB.

On the back of the smartphone there is a square window for the camera module, it is quite large in size, and there is an LED flash next to it. Below in the recess you can see the eyes of the sensor for measuring the pulse. The heart rate sensor chamber is recessed into the body, and it also has its own backlight - a small LED element illuminates the blood vessels of the finger applied to the camera, while it counts heartbeats. Even lower is a hole for sound output from the ringing speaker with a slightly curved rod, and the whole thing is decorated with a silver chrome-plated company logo.

The front panel has not undergone significant changes - this is a completely recognizable element of all Samsung mobile devices. It stands out, first of all, for its elongated mechanical key under the screen, which this time has received additional functionality. This button is also responsible for scanning a fingerprint - now no one can blame Koreans for not having a golden smartphone with a fingerprint scanner. Unlike the iPhone scanner, here you can’t just put your finger on it: you need to move it along the key, and even at the right speed - if you rush, you can fail. In this plan iPhone scanner looks preferable: not only do you not need to move your finger, but you can also put your finger on the button at any angle, which allows you to hold the device with any comfortable grip. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S5 scanner, you will have to hold the device with one hand and swipe the sensor with the other, which is very tedious, and most users will most likely simply disable this function.

The touch buttons next to the mechanical ones have a bright white backlight with an adjustable glow time, which is commendable. Above, above the screen, you can see a longitudinal slot in the protective glass for sound output from the earpiece, with little eyes visible next to it front camera and sensors. There is also an LED alert indicator that lights up in different colors depending on the charging status and incoming events - its functions can be configured: disabled or enabled individually.

There are two buttons on the side faces of the device: on the left - volume control, on the right - power and lock. The large metallic keys of all Samsung smartphones have a soft stroke and distinct pressing, they are perfectly located blindly, and in general, in this regard, the products of the Korean company are one of the best on the market.

At the top end, a headphone jack (3.5 mm) and an infrared transmitter eye, which serves to control various equipment as a remote control, are comfortably located next to each other. The corresponding proprietary software called Smart Remote moves from model to model - naturally, it is also available here. The functionality of the Smart Remote program is excellent: it is not only capable of connecting a smartphone using an infrared port with any equipment, but can also act as an interactive program guide.

At the bottom end, the USB 3.0 connector is covered with a metalized cover with a rubber gasket - it protects the smartphone from dust and moisture getting inside. Yes, yes, the new flagship of the Galaxy S line has finally acquired dust and moisture protection according to the IP67 standard. In principle, the previous model also had it, but there it was a separate branch of the line called Galaxy Active. The protection in the Galaxy S5 is arranged in the same way as there: a rubber gasket is glued to the inner surface of the back cover, and the connectors are closed with special plugs. It's nice that every time you put it on back cover or the plug is removed from the Micro-USB connector, the smartphone itself reminds you to close the protective covers (the reminder can be turned off).

And finally, about the best part: now the Galaxy S line has a new color - gold. In addition to this, there are three more colors on sale that have previously graced Samsung’s flagship devices (for example, the Galaxy S3). By tradition, they were given romantic names: Charcoal Black (black), Sparkling White (white), Electric Blue (light blue) and Copper Gold (golden). For additional jewelry, in particular a keychain or strap, no fastenings are provided.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone is equipped with a Super AMOLED touch matrix. The screen dimensions are 63x113 mm, diagonal - 5.1 inches, resolution - 1920x1080 pixels. Such a parameter as the pixel density per inch is equal to 432 ppi here - the pixel density is very high.

The outside of the screen is covered with protective glass. The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the body is approximately 4 mm; the frames are not very narrow; they were smaller in the previous model.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually, or you can use automatic adjustment. Multi-touch technology here allows you to process up to 10 simultaneous touches. The screen can be operated with gloved hands, and it becomes more sensitive to any touch, so the settings prudently leave the option to disable this function. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

Detailed examination using measuring instruments conducted by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the brightness of reflected objects, there is a very effective anti-glare filter that is superior in reducing reflection brightness to the screen filter of Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy S5, then they can be distinguished by size):

Due to the slight difference in the color tone of the reflection and frames, it is difficult to visually assess the amount of reduction in the brightness of the reflection, however, statistics from graphic editor shows that the S5's screen is indeed slightly darker than that of the Nexus 7. The ghosting of reflected objects is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, maybe a little better than Google Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 340 cd/m², the minimum was 2 cd/m². Despite the not the highest brightness value, you can use the smartphone even in bright daylight, as an effective anti-glare filter helps out. You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. For example, when outputting white on half the screen, the maximum brightness with manual adjustment increases to 360 cd/m². Low brightness mode allows you to use your smartphone even in complete darkness without any problems. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the setting slider away from −5 before +5 units. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for −5 , 0 And +5 . In complete darkness in automatic mode the brightness is reduced to 4, 9 and 16 cd/m² respectively (generally a bit dark), in an artificially lit office environment (approximately 400 lux) the brightness is set to 100, 180 and 270 cd/m² (acceptable), in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - rises to 420-425 cd/m² for all three correction values, which is above the maximum for manual adjustment and should be enough to ensure readability in the sun. In principle, the result of this function is as expected. When brightness decreases, modulation appears at a frequency of 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for three brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum brightness there is practically no modulation (the amplitude is insufficient for flicker to be visually distinguishable), but at medium and low brightness the relative modulation amplitude is high, so image flickering can be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This smartphone uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix based on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

(For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.)

For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is similar to that in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. For example, when displaying a black-and-white map every pixel (the original can be taken from here), the vertical lines look uneven, and the horizontal ones are low-contrast and separated not by white, but by a greenish gap. A fragment (the original photo is available at the link) of the macrophotography reveals the reason:

It can be seen that the vertical lines have a black gap and that the sum of the colors of the subpixels can be considered white, but due to the red subpixels on one side there is some unevenness of the lines. In the case of horizontal lines, there is neither a white gap (there are green subpixels) nor a black gap (there are red and blue subpixels). However, these artifacts are of purely academic interest, since in conditions mobile use It is extremely difficult to visually distinguish such small details. As a result, the resolution margin cancels out the “features” of the PenTile RGBG matrix.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although the white color acquires a slight tint when deviated to relatively large angles, but the black color is simply black at any angle (although the reflection from bright objects has a bluish halo that is more elongated horizontally, which is why there are black areas in the light may lighten slightly and acquire a “metallic” tint). So black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photographs in which Samsung screens The Galaxy S5 and the second competitor displayed the same images, with the screen brightness set to approximately 210 cd/m². There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

One can note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (in mode Standard):

Color rendition is clearly not bad, but despite all the conventions of forced color balance in the camera, set to 6500 K, it is clear that the colors of the S5 are clearly “cooler” and have too high saturation. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen. White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed was doubled compared to the previous two photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors did not “float” on all screens and the brightness of the Samsung S5 at an angle is noticeably higher.

Switching the state of the matrix elements is carried out almost instantly, but at the front of switching on (and less often, switching off) there may be a step (or two) with a width of 16.7 ms (corresponding to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to a shade of 25% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are almost impossible to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The ability to customize color rendering is implemented on the page with a selection of profiles, one of which involves some kind of automatic adjustment (profile Adapt Display):

In case one of the three fixed profiles is selected, except the profile Dynamic, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.28-2.30, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2 , while the real gamma curve practically does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

For profile Dynamic The gamma curve has a slight S-shape, which increases the apparent contrast of the image. Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images and increases for dark ones. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. This image dynamism increases when you select the option Auto tuning screen brightness. Below are the dependences of brightness on time obtained when switching from a black field to a white field and back with the option turned off and on Auto tuning screen brightness:

In the second case, the brightness begins to decrease after some time. The picture is slightly darkened, but energy is saved a little.

Color gamut for profiles Dynamic, Standard And Professional photography very wide and almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:

When selecting a profile Cinema The coverage is tightened to the sRGB boundaries, but still remains a little wider:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Cinema with maximum correction, the color components are already slightly mixed together:

Note that on wide-gamut screens, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. This can be seen in the photographs above. However, a visual assessment showed that when choosing a profile Cinema saturation is noticeably reduced, and colors become close to natural. The screenshot taken after selecting this profile is shown below:

Unfortunately, the most recognizable shades - skin, for example - still remain slightly oversaturated.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, but, in general, acceptable. Color temperature in profiles Dynamic And Standard significantly higher than 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in the area of the gray scale from white to dark dark gray this parameter does not change very much. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) over most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and a very effective anti-glare filter, so the smartphone can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable, and in bright light it is even recommended to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works more or less adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating and a color balance close to standard (if you select the appropriate profiles). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color, excellent uniformity of the white field, less drop in image brightness than LCDs when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include screen brightness modulation, which appears at medium and low brightness values. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is approximately the same as the Galaxy S4. The sound is moderately bassy, low frequencies not deprived, clean throughout the entire range, but not so loud - there were louder devices ( HTC One or Oppo Find 5, for example). The sound output grille here is cut into the back wall, so the sound is muffled when the device is lying on the table. IN conversational dynamics the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, lead telephone conversations Samsung Galaxy S5 is quite comfortable.

To play music, the device offers a choice of three pre-installed players: Google Play Music, Yandex.Music and Samsung's own player. All sound effects when playing melodies with a proprietary player are combined with a technology called SoundAlive - although some of them are only available with connected headphones. The same applies to the sound optimization function. There are a lot of different virtual effects, they are combined into a matrix of squares, you can experiment for a very long time.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 16 and 2 megapixels. The front camera takes pictures with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080, and also shoots video with the same resolution.

The main rear camera is equipped with a new 16-megapixel module with ultra-fast autofocus (focusing in 0.3 s), stabilization, single-section LED flash and the ability to shoot video in UHD resolution (4K). In addition to one fancy feature - 4K video recording - it also uses another: just like the latest Sony Xperia Z2, here comes the possibility of selective focusing, which allows you to highlight a certain part of the image, leaving the background blurred. That is, now you no longer need to use special lenses to create a shallow depth of field (DOF) effect.

When shooting in automatic mode, which is set by default, photos are 5312x2988 in size. I really liked the design and organization of the new camera control interface. Here, as in the case of the audio settings menu, everything is divided into equal cells, each of which is always visible, interactive, their drawing is clear, the entire menu is clearly visible even in the brightest sunlight. In general, the camera control settings menu turned out to be perhaps the best on the market in terms of ease of access to all functions and overall clarity.

The camera can shoot video in UHD resolution (4K), with a choice of several resolutions up to a maximum of 3840x2160. The settings are traditional for the latest top models mobile market There are also slow and fast shooting modes. Examples of test videos are presented below.

Video No. 1 (189 MB, 3840×2160, 4K)
Video No. 2 (58 MB, 1920×1080, 1080p)
Video #3 (123 MB, 3840×2160, 4K indoors)
Video No. 4 (71 MB, 1280×720, slow motion)
Video No. 5 (4 MB, 1920×1080, accelerated)

Examples of photographs with our comments are presented below.

	The sharpness of the photo is good.
	The sharpness across the frame is also quite good.
	Small details are worked out quite well.
	The camera doesn't cope so well with backlight, but the exposure is well chosen.
	On thin lines you can notice small waves from the noise reduction - but only upon closer inspection.
	In low light conditions, noise can be seen, although it is relatively small.
	The camera handles shadow noise well. True, the detail suffers a little from this.
	The camera does macro well in low light, but it's worth using a focus lens due to the relatively long shutter speeds.
	In good lighting, the camera does macro photography well.
	Another example of a good macro.
	The text is well done, but a little damaged. However, it is possible that the camera works more accurately with smaller text.
	Panorama stitching is almost perfect. Only dynamic objects suffer, which is quite natural.

	Lighting ≈1300 lux. The camera does a very good job.
	Lighting ≈460 lux. The situation remains virtually unchanged.
	Lighting ≈240 lux. Noise becomes noticeable, especially its processing.
	Lighting ≈240 lux, flash. The flash noticeably improves the situation, almost returning the original resolution.
	Lighting<1 люкс. В темноте камера не справляется.
	Lighting<1 люкс, вспышка. И в темноте вспышка отрабатывает очень хорошо.

First of all, it is worth noting that now the camera has a 1/2.6″ format sensor, and not just a higher resolution, while previously smartphone cameras were only awarded with 1/3″ format matrices (not counting Nokia), or even less, Until Sony decided to install a 1/2.3″ format sensor in the Xperia Z1. So Samsung, following Sony, began a slow but steady movement towards improving the quality of images. And, I must say, the result is already noticeable to an inquisitive eye.

Firstly, you can already see good work with noise. Their processing still leaves much to be desired, but if you do not look at the images pixel by pixel, then noticeable strong color noise in the shadows is practically not visible. Of course, this is the result of the noise reduction, but the higher resolution allows it to work more subtly, and the increased sensor size slightly reduces the likelihood of strong noise. Of course, we won’t go into discussions about pixel size (like HTC) and the supposed qualities of the camera that follow from this, but enlarging the sensor definitely brings its benefits. Secondly, image detail has improved, which is also due to the higher resolution and larger sensor.

I would like Samsung to further improve the noise reduction, then the camera can be compared with ordinary compacts. Although even without this, she shows herself very worthy, and it is clear that they worked hard on her. The camera optics operate quite smoothly across the entire field of the frame and in all plans. Of course, it would be strange to see a flagship with shortcomings in such places, but we have already encountered this. Sharping can only be found if you know where to look. The only thing that really cannot be called ideal is the work of the noise reduction - such a processing result looks very archaic in photographs of a modern flagship.

Based on the results of shooting the stand, we can conclude that the actual resolution of the images may not be the highest, but we have already stated that in this case this is far from the main characteristic, especially in the vicinity of such values, since the resolution can be high, but not quite natural. However, the camera resolution is quite decent. It is also worth noting the good performance of the flash and the sensor, which works quite consistently in different lighting conditions.

In general, the camera is made very well, almost at the level of compact cameras. Of course, there is something to work on, and in general there is room to strive. But even in its current form, it is well suited for shooting documentary and feature stories.

Telephone and communications

The developers place special emphasis on the communication capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S5: the smartphone operates in the fifth generation of Wi-Fi 802.11ac networks with support for 2x2 MIMO mode - in this mode, data can be received and transmitted in two streams, that is, up to two times faster than in the first generations of 802.11ac compatible devices. In addition, the device provides support for a large number of 4G (LTE) frequencies and speeds corresponding to the LTE Category 4 standard - up to 150 Mbit/s. With a SIM card from the domestic operator Megafon, the smartphone in practice confidently finds and works with the LTE network.

In addition, the smartphone supports the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band and the NFC standard. As a standard, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; there is a Wi-Fi Direct mode. The navigation module works with both the GPS system (with A-GPS) and the domestic Glonass. The speed and quality of operation of the GPS module is not satisfactory: the system works quickly and flawlessly, the navigation module finds the first satellites almost instantly, and even indoors.

No spontaneous reboots/shutdowns were observed during testing. The screen of the smartphone is large, so drawing letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. It’s very convenient that there is a dedicated top row with numbers - you don’t have to switch the layout every time. But the layout itself and the location of the keys are not the same as others: instead of just pressing the dedicated button with the image of a globe, here you have to switch language layouts by scrolling sideways on the spacebar, which is certainly less convenient. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. There is support for continuous writing by sliding, but there is no option to move the keyboard closer to one of the edges, as on the Galaxy Note series tablets.

OS and software

The system uses the latest version of Google Android software platform 4.4.2 (Kitkat) and the proprietary graphical user interface TouchWiz, the appearance of which has undergone changes. He became, according to the new fashion, more “flat”, which clearly benefited him, although the traditional Asian clumsiness remained. The appearance of the settings menu has changed: now all icons look like exactly the same circles and they are arranged in the form of a single long list. But, of course, the display of the menu can be changed, leading to the old view with vertical tabs. In this case, there will no longer be four of them, as before, but as many as six. In general, I liked the new look of the interface and the settings menu more than the old one: everything is neat, orderly, symmetrical, working with various subsections of the menu has become more intuitive. The menu of installed applications has not undergone significant changes, but now you can display a special button on the home screen, which, when clicked, opens a context menu with quick access to the most popular applications. The notifications menu received two additional dedicated oval buttons for quick access to searching throughout the smartphone and enabling the function of quickly connecting to familiar devices.

To the various ways to lock a smartphone, another one has now been added: you can lock the screen using a fingerprint, the scanner of which is built into the central key under the screen. To successfully memorize the texture of your fingertip, you need to swipe the sensor at least eight times, after which you will also have to come up with a standard digital code in case your finger remains unrecognized after five attempts. It’s a shame when the developer also imposes restrictions on the personal password you create: an attempt to limit yourself to a digital password failed - you need to alternate numbers with letters.

By the way, the issue of security has been strengthened in the Samsung Galaxy S5 by another innovation: now, due to the appearance of the “Children” mode, you can open access only to certain permitted programs, after which you can safely entrust the device to a child for 30 thousand rubles to play with.

Speaking of games, it is worth noting that we tested games such as Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8 on the smartphone - we did not find any problems with playing them.

Another specific operating mode has been added to the smartphone, which the developers themselves talked a lot about at presentations. In fact, this is a regular energy-saving mode that any built-in program for saving energy in mobile devices has, it’s just that Samsung brings its smartphone to the point of complete “exhaustion” in this mode. When the maximum power saving mode is activated, not only all network interfaces are disabled, but also the graphical interface of the shell becomes black and white, and the number of applications allowed to run is strictly limited. Naturally, in this mode, the smartphone can “work” much longer (who would doubt it), but this work will be carried out within a very limited framework.

One of the central applications pre-installed in modern top-end Samsung smartphones, which developers constantly remind you of, is a program for monitoring your own health called S Health. The program has a wide range of health-promoting functions: pedometer, exercise recording, nutrition monitoring, etc. Now the application has not only received the new version S Health 3.0, but has also acquired additional functionality in the form of a dedicated hardware heart rate counter. In principle, some programs have previously tried to count heartbeats using an ordinary smartphone camera, but now a whole block with a small camera and backlight has been allocated for this. You need to put your finger on the recess in the back of the smartphone, and then the program will count your pulse. Naturally, this data is saved, processed and displayed in the form of graphs and tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S5 hardware platform is based on a single-chip quad-core system (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. The new platform has the functionality of the Snapdragon 800 with a slightly higher frequency of processor cores: the Snapdragon 801 can operate at frequencies up to 2.45 GHz, while the core frequency of the previous The chip version was limited to 2.36 GHz.

The processor here is supported in graphics processing by the same Adreno 330 video accelerator, but here too there is an increase in frequencies: the GPU is already overclocked to 578 MHz instead of 450 MHz. About 12 GB of RAM (out of 16) are initially available for the user's needs in the device; the amount of RAM here is 2 GB - in this regard, surprisingly, no expansion occurred, while Sony equipped its newest flagship with three gigabytes random access memory. MicroSD memory cards are supported in this model; you can also connect external flash drives, keyboards and mice using a special adapter in OTG mode.

Since the most powerful and most productive of the competing serial platforms is now SoC MediaTek MT6592, the configuration of which includes eight full-fledged processor cores [simultaneously] operating at frequencies up to 2 GHz, it is logical to include its results in the comparison first of all. Let us remind you that we recently released a review of the powerful TCL Idol X+ smartphone, which is built on the maximum version of this platform. Also, naturally, it is worth adding to the comparison the results demonstrated in the same tests by the previous version of the Qualcomm platform - Snapdragon 800, on which all the top smartphones of last year run. However, the most important battle today will still not take place, because the main competitor of the hero of today’s review, the flagship smartphone Sony Xperia Z2, also built on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, has not yet reached our test laboratory. In the near future, we will definitely compare it with the Samsung Galaxy S5 data obtained today.

To get an idea of the performance of the platform of the smartphone under test, we will conduct a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing in MobileXPRT, as well as in the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

The results of testing are as follows. As for the competing MediaTek MT6592, the latest Qualcomm system (Snapdragon 801) coped with it in all respects. In general, this is not at all surprising, considering that the previous version of Snapdragon 800 coped with it. As for the comparison with the Snapdragon 800, according to the results of all tests, there was practically no real increase: the same maximum 35K points in AnTuTu, and in other benchmarks the difference is negligible - within the margin of error.

By the way, as for these very resulting figures: since the smartphone being tested today is a landmark device, and the rest will be compared to it throughout the year, it is probably worth recalling the fresh balance of power. If you rely on the numbers of the popular AnTuTu benchmark, it looks something like this: eight MediaTek MT6592 cores with a frequency of 2 GHz demonstrate 31K points in this test (26 thousand points for the eight-core Zopo 998 and THL T100S with a lower frequency of processor cores - 1.7 GHz), and about 35 thousand - for top smartphones such as LG G2, Sony Xperia Z1, Acer Liquid S2 and now Samsung Galaxy S5, built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800/801 hardware platform. Two main conclusions emerge as a result of all these comparisons: TCL Idol X+ is the first smartphone on the MediaTek platform, which managed to come close to the leading solutions from Qualcomm, albeit at the expense of twice as many processor cores. And second: the new version of the top Qualcomm platform brought virtually no increase in performance, although this microscopic superiority allowed it to gain an even stronger foothold on the podium as the undisputed leader among platforms for mobile devices. According to the above, the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 platform is currently one of the most powerful smartphones on the planet.

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

The lag in the operation of the Mali-450MP4 video subsystem is still noticeable: this video accelerator produces approximately 47 fps in those test modes in which the Adreno 330 produces 60 fps.

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can be truly correct only in the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

With video playback, things are not as smooth as we would like for the Samsung Galaxy S5. Amazingly, this is one of the rare smartphones in which the popular MX player flatly refuses to run with the Hardware+ decoder, and most often only this option saves the situation when the standard player cannot play the audio track of a file. That is, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S5, in order to normally play three of our five test files (MKV), you will have to use a software decoder (at least for audio decoding - video can be decoded in hardware) - neither Hardware nor Hardware+ , nor, of course, the decoder of a standard video player are capable of playing these types of files with sound that are common on the network. And this is an obvious drawback, because we have a solution with an excellent large and high-quality screen in all respects and maximum performance, which could become an excellent multimedia assistant. By the way, similar problems occur with the Galaxy Note 3 - we hope that with the release of updates for MX Player the situation will somehow change. By the way, the top smartphones from LG and Sony always have complete order in this table, because even with their own hardware they are able to play all the presented files, not to mention supporting all modes of the MX player.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally, sound only with software decoder (Hardware+ is not supported)	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally, sound only with software decoder (Hardware+ is not supported)	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after switching to software decoding (mode Hardware+ is not supported); The standard player does not have this setting

Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used an LG IPS237L monitor that supports direct MHL connection using a passive adapter cable from Micro-USB to HDMI. Let us recall that Samsung has implemented its own version of this interface at the physical level. As a result, to connect an external device via MHL, you need to use special adapters or connect standard MHL adapters through simple passive adapters. In this case, we carried out the test using a proprietary Samsung adapter, and output via MHL was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels with a frequency of 60 frames/s.

When the smartphone is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and wide black fields are displayed on the right and left. In this case, the actual resolution on the monitor screen is, of course, lower than the resolution on the smartphone screen. When the smartphone is in landscape orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor fits within the boundaries of the screen and exactly matches the image on the smartphone screen. The exception is the start screen, which is displayed only in portrait orientation:

Sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and is of good quality. At the same time, at least multimedia sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is controlled by buttons on the smartphone body. In principle, in the smartphone settings you can select the sound output mode - stereo or surround. However, in our case, the monitor only received stereo sound, so there was no choice. The smartphone connected via MHL is charging.

To test the output of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In our tests, we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode, since there were a lot of artifacts in the “Hardware+” mode. The results of this test (block entitled “Smartphone screen”) are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is high, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals, and there are no skipped frames. The smartphone can even display files with a resolution of 4K up to 30p inclusive. However, uniform alternation of frames is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct alternation of intervals between frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution (adjusted for some PenTile features). The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed. However, dark scenes may not look very good, as the darkest shades vary too much in brightness and color tone, which can lead to compression artifacts being too noticeable.

With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing a video with a standard player, the image of the video file is displayed only in landscape orientation, while only the image of the video file is displayed on the monitor, and only information elements and virtual controls are displayed on the smartphone screen.

The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the “MHL (monitor output)” block. The output quality is very good. When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the monitor screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, maintaining true proportions, and the resolution corresponds to Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the monitor is equal to the standard range of 16-235, that is, all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights.

The conclusion is typical: an MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages and other activities that benefit from multiplying the screen size. True, you will have to purchase an adapter specifically for Samsung or find an appropriate adapter.

Battery life

The lithium-ion battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a capacity of 2800 mAh, which is good by modern standards, but not a record one. Accordingly, in terms of battery life, the device showed very good results, which we traditionally summarized in a comparative table.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Samsung Galaxy S5	2800 mAh	17:20	12:30 pm	4 hours 30 minutes
TCL Idol X+	2500 mAh	12:30 pm	7:20 am	3:00 am
Lenovo Vibe Z	3050 mAh	11:45 am	8:00 am	3 hours 30 minutes
Acer Liquid S2	3300 mAh	16:40	7:40 a.m.	6:00 am
LG G Flex	3500 mAh	23:15	13:30	6 hours 40 minutes
LG G2	3000 mAh	20:00	12:30 pm	4 hours 45 minutes
Sony Xperia Z1	3000 mAh	11:45 am	8:00 am	4 hours 30 minutes
Samsung Note 3 N9005	3200 mAh	22:30	14:00	4 hours 45 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted until the battery was completely discharged for more than 17 hours, and when continuously watching videos from YouTube in high quality (HQ) with The device lasted 12.5 hours at the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network; in 3D games mode, the smartphone lasted 4.5 hours, decent for such a screen, and really pleased with such stability: its predecessor Galaxy S4 at first overheated greatly and with these tests were performed poorly, and only with a firmware update the situation returned to normal. With the new flagship, no problems in this regard have been found before the start of sales, and by the way, the device heats up significantly less than its predecessor.

Bottom line

Summarizing the Samsung Galaxy S5 review is both easy and difficult. It’s easy, because, perhaps, no one needs to explain why the flagship smartphones of the Korean company are deservedly among the best on the market. And it’s not just the combination of top-end technical characteristics and maximum performance that makes them stand out, there’s also something else. It seems to us that the company is one of the few who are not ashamed to spy on the desires of users. For most manufacturers, this always remains only unfulfilled pretentious promises and slogans, but in practice, no matter how much users cry about something, they will never get it. But the Koreans have a completely different point of view on this matter; they readily satisfy any desires of customers. Want a removable battery? - Get it. Need a memory card slot? - For God's sake, we don't feel sorry! Suddenly fell in love with the golden color? - So, we now have a golden smartphone. And with such simple actions, coupled with high-quality products and huge production volumes, the Korean company managed to climb to the very top of the mountain, pushing many along the way, and simply throwing some off the cliff. Those who know how to adapt survive, and this is what Koreans do best.

As for the hero of today's review, we can say with confidence that he has become a worthy successor to the flagship line. An excellent screen, powerful hardware, complete technical equipment, good battery life and maximum functionality, several added features like a heart rate monitor and a fingerprint scanner - all this is worthy of praise. Although, it is worth admitting that the fifth Galaxy S did not have so many noticeable innovations that it could rightfully be called a completely new model, in terms of design and appearance (in this regard, by the way, there was even a kind of decline: the smartphone has become heavier, larger, rougher - everyone admits this). It’s even surprising that the Koreans didn’t call this model Galaxy S4s - such a “letter modifier”, which has already become generally accepted, denoting an improved version of the model, would be more appropriate here. But all this is just a little confusing.

But what’s really depressing is how much Samsung jacks up the prices for its top-end smartphones. It seems that the Koreans no longer remember that prices can sometimes be varied somehow - they reached the 30,000 mark with the previous flagship and now put the same price tag on all subsequent models as a matter of course. The tricky thought in the minds of entrepreneurs is obviously this: “They will complain the first time, but the next time they will be happy that they did not raise the price even higher.” This, by the way, is what happened: now users are happy that the price of the new flagship at the start of sales was not raised higher than the previous one. This is very alarming, and of course, against this background, it is difficult to recommend such a device for purchase: it is certainly very worthy, but for many, Samsung products may already be unaffordable. Did we think five years ago that we would talk like this in the future about the products of this Korean company?

I loved few people
I'm tired of the second one, I forgot the third one,
The fourth disappeared on Tuesday.
I remember almost nothing about the first one.
Viagra. Attempt number five

Preliminary sensations from each new Samsung flagship, probably starting with the Galaxy S3, are approximately the same. Looks almost the same as the previous one. The technical specifications do not look too revolutionary, the design is “as usual”. But already the first impressions indicate that this is a flagship smartphone created with the latest technology. The same thing happened with the Samsung Galaxy S5. If the technical characteristics did not seem impressive to you, then as you get acquainted with the device, you realize that it contains many interesting ideas. And it is certainly a significant phone (and, if you like, an event) on the market.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S5

What you need to know about the technical characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S5? The fact that its screen diagonal has slightly increased compared to its predecessor (5.1 inches versus 5), but the resolution remains the same - FullHD. That an 8-core processor simultaneously uses only 4 cores (either high-performance Cortex A15, or for simpler tasks Cortex A7). That the 16-megapixel camera has learned new tricks and is capable of recording video in 4K resolution. But the main feature of the flagship smartphone of this generation is, perhaps, the resulting water resistance, which allows you to stay under water for up to half an hour at a depth of one meter. There is also a biometric sensor that recognizes fingerprints and is built into the Home key. And a heart rate monitor placed next to the LED backlight.

Technical Samsung specifications Galaxy S5
operating system	Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
SIM card type	microSIM, one
Dimensions and weight	142x73x8 mm, 145 g
Display	Super AMOLED, Gorilla coating 3, 5.1 inches, 1920x1080 pixels (pixel density 432 ppi)
CPU	8-core (4+4), Exynos 5 Octa 5422 (clock frequency 1.9 GHz)
Graphic arts	Mali-T628 MP6
Memory	2 GB RAM, 16/32 GB, microSD cards up to 128 GB
Camera	16 MP (5312x2988), ISOCELL 1/2.6 matrix, video recording 3840x2160
Front-camera	2 MP, video recording 1920x1080
Battery	2.8 Ah
Additionally	biometric sensor, heart rate monitor, dust and water protection IP67

Video review

For those who want to see everything quickly:

Design

The design of all Galaxy smartphones, in my opinion, played a cruel joke on their creators. It must maintain continuity with previous generations of smartphones. As a result, according to all the canons of business logic (if everything works perfectly, don’t change anything), drastic changes in the design cannot be expected. Although every year ordinary people wait for these changes with new hope. However, not everything is as bad as it might seem to those who have only seen the smartphone in photographs. In life it looks thinner than it appears, judging by the illustrations. The ends resemble the design of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. And the back cover, which I myself was quite skeptical about during the announcement, turned out to be very pleasant to the touch, not at all “plastic”. Although this type of plastic cannot be called rubberized either. - he's too tough for that. Also different from its predecessors is the plug at the bottom, the purpose of which is to protect the electronics from water ingress. Skeptics have already noticed that the headphone jack does not have such a plug. Which, however, does not in any way affect its dust and water resistance. By the way, protected Sony smartphones look similar - they also have an open headphone jack, that is, water always gets into it when immersed.

Display

One of the advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S5 camera (and a consequence of its high performance) is the ability to record video in 4K resolution (3840x2160). Since YouTube already supports this resolution, you can see a minute-long video of an airplane taking off recorded in this resolution. And watch it, for example, on your TV with 4K support. Well, or on a high-resolution monitor.

And this is the center of Warsaw. It’s a beautiful city, and even if you don’t have 4K resolution on your monitor, you can still appreciate how high the clarity and detail the picture is.

Bottom line

Despite numerous discussions on the Internet that there is little new in the Samsung Galaxy S5, it is worth admitting that there is quite a lot of interesting things in it. First of all, this is an excellent camera that can be called a reference, capable of shooting video in 4K resolution, performing flawlessly in low light conditions (just remember to turn on HDR). Then there are the user-interesting fingerprint recognition functions and a built-in heart rate monitor, complemented by the S-Health application with a pedometer, calorie counter and training programs. And, of course, the application-specific IP67 certification ensures dust and water resistance. And if the question of replacing the Galaxy S4 with the Galaxy S5 still has the right to exist (in essence, its decision depends on the financial capabilities of the buyer), then replacing the Galaxy S3 (or a similar smartphone of the same generation) with the Galaxy S5 can be called a completely pragmatic step. One way or another, the Samsung Galaxy S5 deservedly receives the editors' award gg"we recommend." But its disadvantages include only excessive power consumption, which Samsung will still have to deal with.

4 reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy S5

record high productivity;
dust and water protection;
best camera;
display is too bright.

2 reasons not to buy Samsung Galaxy S5

not impressive autonomy;
boring design.

This year (February 24, to be precise) the new flagship smartphone of the Korean company was presented - in the first month of sales, the new product sold more than 11 million copies. Thus, surpassing the performance of its predecessor (Samsung Galaxy S4) for the same period by 10%. Note that it took the company as much as 50 days to reach this level of sales for the Samsung Galaxy S3 model, while similar volumes of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Samsung Galaxy S models were sold in only five and seven months, respectively.

We suggest starting the review of the new product with technical characteristics:

Manufacturer	Samsung Electronics
	Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900H)
Type, form factor	Smartphone, monoblock
Communication standards			850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
			850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz

High speed data transfer	GPRS (32-48 Kbps), EDGE (236 Kbps), HSDPA+ (up to 21.6 Mbps), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mbps)
SIM card type
CPU	Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (5422): ARM big.LITTLE microarchitecture, Cortex-A15 (4 cores, 1.9 GHz) + Cortex-A7 (4 cores, 1.3 GHz)
Graphics adapter	ARM Mali-T628 MP6, up to 695 MHz
	Super AMOLED, 5.1", 1920 x 1080 pixels (432 ppi), touch, capacitive, multi-touch (up to 10 touches), Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protective glass
RAM
Persistent memory
Card reader	microSD (up to 128 GB)
Interfaces	1 x micro-USB 3.0 1 x 3.5mm mini-jack audio jack
Multimedia	Acoustics
	Audio processing
	Microphone

	Main	16 MP ISOCELL module S5K2P2XX (1.12 µm, 1/2.6"), autofocus, electronic stabilization, face detection, LED flash, video recording in 4K Ulta HD format (30 FPS)
	Frontal	2 MP, video recording in 1080p format
Communication capabilities		802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), VHT80 MIMO (2x2, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot)






	Gesture Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Monitor, Accelerometer, Hall Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, Barometer, LED Indicator
Battery	Li-ion: 2800 mAh
Charger	Input: 100~240V AC eg at 50/60 Hz Output: 5 VDC e.g. 2 A
	Protection against dust and moisture according to IP67 standard
	142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm

	Jet black
operating system	Android 4.4.2 KitKat
User interface	TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0
Official guarantee	12 months
Products webpage

Appearance, arrangement of elements

Despite the fact that a large number of users complained about rather minor differences between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy S3, especially in terms of design and materials used, and the company announced a change in strategy for the production of flagships (even changing the chief designer), Samsung Galaxy S5 never moved far from its predecessor. At first glance, we are looking at the same Samsung Galaxy S4, but with a number of significant improvements in almost all respects. On the other hand, the manufacturer can understand: if everything is so good, then why change anything. A similar approach to the release of flagship smartphones is used, for example, by Sony (all representatives of the Sony Xperia Z series are visually quite similar to each other) and the same Apple itself. While we can expect something new from the latter in terms of design with the release of the iPhone 6, we'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks to the improvements, the design of the Samsung Galaxy S5 has acquired a more rectangular and severe appearance, the curves have become less smooth, glossy plastic with its inherent shortcomings has disappeared, and the design of the chrome edging of the case has also changed. By the way, in addition to the usual color variations (charcoal black, shining white, electric blue), copper-gold was added.

In place of the glossy back is a matte panel with a dotted texture, which is very reminiscent of leather, but is not it. The material has a rather pleasant tactile sensation and does not collect fingerprints at all, and also does not allow the new product to slip out of your hands. Although subjectively, leather styling, as in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy S4 Black Edition, seems more advantageous.

The chrome edging, which protrudes somewhat above the protective glass, remains plastic, but has become more prominent and looks quite interesting. However, it has become more slippery compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has grown slightly in size, which is partly due to the slightly larger display. The new product has also become heavier: 145 g versus 130 g in the Samsung Galaxy S4. At the same time, such heaviness is quite pleasant and does not burden the pockets at all.

The entire front panel of the smartphone is covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The frames around the display are noticeably larger than those of its predecessors, but this is due to the presence of protection from dust and moisture according to the IP67 standard. If you look closely, you will notice a special seal that extends at the very edge of the glass panel along the entire perimeter. Taking into account the chrome edging, the width of the frames is: on the sides - 4 mm; top - 14.5 mm; bottom - 13.5 mm.

Above the display are located (from left to right): an event indicator (when charging - lights up in red; when discharged - flashes in red; missed event or voice recording in progress - flashes in blue), which can be turned off in the settings; the hole for the speaker, located at the level of the glass and covered with a harmonious black metal insert, and not chrome, as in previous models; proximity and light sensors; door peephole of the face camera. At the bottom, the mechanical Home key attracts attention, which has a silver edge and is covered with glass that protects the fingerprint scanner. Nearby are the touch keys “Back” and “Menu” (when pressed, the “Running Application Manager” is called up, and the context menu is launched when held, which corresponds to the standard KitKat Android design).

On the top edge there are: a universal audio connector (mini-jack 3.5 mm), an IR transmitter (for controlling multimedia equipment) and a noise-canceling microphone. The bottom edge contains a micro-USB 3.0 connector (securely covered with a sealed cap) and a hole for the main microphone.

On the right side of the Samsung Galaxy S5 case there is a “Power/Lock” key (you can also unlock it using the “Home” key) and a place to open the rear panel, and the volume rocker is on the left.

The back panel is characterized by smooth and comfortable curves on the sides. On top is a rather large and somewhat protruding main camera lens. Below is a bright single-section LED flash and a heart rate monitor, which consists of a diode (illuminates the capillaries) and a photocell (records heart rate data). In addition, there is a silver company logo, and almost at the very bottom there is a double hole for a multimedia speaker with a small bulge.

The back cover is traditionally removable and made of plastic, like almost the entire structure of the smartphone. It is quite thin, but fits very tightly to the body without any backlash or gaps. On its inner side there is a special rubberized seal, as in the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, which prevents liquids from seeping into critical elements of the smartphone when it is immersed in water or accidentally gets water on it. Under the cover (one above the other) there are two slots: Micro-SIM and microSD, as well as a replaceable battery. The latter supports the connectors, so “hot” replacement is not expected.

The new product is assembled very well and feels monolithic: without any gaps or backlashes. The smartphone does not flex or change its geometry with moderate torsion, and the glass does not press through and there are no streaks on the screen.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is quite easy to use, although it does feel a bit bulky. In principle, it can be operated with one hand when performing everyday tasks. You can reach the opposite corner of the screen, but it all depends on your grip and the size of your palm. The controls are located in their proper places, so it doesn’t matter which hand the smartphone is in: everything is quickly located and easy to press.

Protection from dust and moisture

One of the most interesting advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is its full compliance with the Ingress Protection (IP) 67 protection standard. This means that the body of the new product is protected from dust and partially protected from water. The first number (6) tells us that dust cannot get deep into the device. The second digit (7) guarantees that the new product will remain operational during short-term (up to 30 minutes) immersion to a depth of 1 m. We have already tested the Sony Xperia Z smartphone, which also boasts protection from moisture and dust.

As our experiments have shown, everything is fine with the moisture protection of the devices. The main thing is not to forget to first check the tightness of the plug of the micro-USB 3.0 connector and the battery cover. By the way, the smartphone itself reminds you of this every time it is charged. The audio jack does not have a plug, but it will not allow water to seep further inside the new product. However, the manufacturer does not recommend using it for 2-2.5 hours after immersing the smartphone in water.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S5 won't be damaged by being exposed to heavy rain or taking a bath. And in case of severe contamination, you can safely rinse it with running water. If you remove the cover and see drops of liquid, do not be alarmed, since the IP67 standard does not provide for complete sealing. The main thing is that the battery contacts and slots for SIM and microSD are dry.

Fingerprint's scanner

Another interesting feature of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the presence of a fingerprint scanner, which is located in the mechanical Home key. It is designed to more reliably protect user data. Fingerprints can be used not only to unlock your phone or activate “Private Mode,” but also in the PayPal payment system. True, the latter does not work fully in our area. The smartphone can remember up to three fingerprints.

Unlike the implementation of the Apple iPhone 5S and HTC One Max, where you need to put your finger on the scanner, here you need to move it smoothly from top to bottom without deviation. When using one hand, it is quite difficult to unlock a smartphone using this method, since the likelihood of it falling increases, so you have to use your second hand. Although the sensor itself works very well: an incorrect reading occurs about 1 time in 10 attempts. Complications with reading may occur if your fingers are wet (as indicated by the smartphone itself) or if your finger deviates from the vertical.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with a Super AMOLED touch matrix based on organic LEDs with subpixels arranged according to the proprietary Pentile scheme (RGBG, that is, Red-Green-Blue-Green). There is no air gap between the glass and the sensor (OGS technology is used - “One glass solution”). The screen itself is protected by tempered Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which has an excellent oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating. Additionally, this ensures a fairly pleasant and easy sliding of fingers and no accumulation of fingerprints, and those that appear are easily removed. There is also a very good anti-reflective coating.

The resolution of the 5.1-inch screen is 1920 × 1080 (Full HD), which, in our opinion, is optimal for such a diagonal. At the same time, the pixel density is 432 ppi, which is more than enough to display very smooth fonts and produce a fairly detailed image overall. It is unlikely that you will be able to examine individual pixels even with a very strong desire.

The main disadvantage of the display, due to the peculiar placement of subpixels according to the RGBG scheme, is a noticeable predominance of green shades, although Samsung managed to minimize this effect in the new flagship. So, instead of white shades we see a very light green, but this can only be noticed when directly compared with other displays. In all other respects, the screen is simply wonderful and allows you to perform any task on your smartphone. That is, you can count on comfortable Internet surfing, gameplay, watching videos or favorite photos.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 display traditionally offers maximum viewing angles, an ideal level of contrast and, as a result, deep black color (due to the fact that organic diodes can hardly glow), very high backlight brightness with a wide range of adjustment, as well as fairly rich color reproduction. The maximum brightness is more than enough to view information on a bright sunny day, and the minimum brightness is enough for comfortable work in the dark, since it can be almost turned off. In addition, OLED displays are known for consuming less power (especially when displaying dark colors) than other options, so there is less strain on the battery.

It should be noted that there are traditionally wide display customization options in Samsung’s flagship smartphones, allowing you to individually select the optimal color rendering option. Thus, five display modes are available: “Adapt Display” (adjusts quite adequately to environmental conditions), “Dynamic”, “Standard”, “Professional Photography” and “Cinema”. In practice, the “Professional Photography” profile demonstrated optimal color reproduction, although with some deviation towards warm tones. But the “Standard” mode conveys a somewhat “colder” picture. The most saturated colors are provided by the "Dynamic" mode, while the "Cinema" mode offers rather soft shades. The display brightness can be adjusted manually or activated automatically. The proximity sensor locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

The touch display substrate recognizes up to 10 simultaneous touches, and their processing is carried out without any complaints. There is support for a high sensitivity mode for working with thin gloves.

In general, according to subjective impressions, the display of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is one of the best on the smartphone market: very bright, extremely contrasty, with maximum viewing angles and a wide color gamut, although somewhat oversaturated.

Sound

As already mentioned, the new product is equipped with only one speaker, which is located at the bottom of the rear of the case and has a small bulge. Due to this placement, the sound is somewhat muffled if the gadget is lying on a flat horizontal surface, but this is not critical.

The multimedia speaker produces quite pleasant sound across the entire frequency range. Depending on the style of the composition, you can hear only a slight presence of low frequencies, but the mids and highs can boast of good detail without any “blockages” even at maximum volume. However, due to the design features of the protected case, the volume itself became a little lower than in the Samsung Galaxy S4. Although this speaker is quite enough for games, video and speakerphone. And you are unlikely to miss the entrance call.

The sound in the headphones is very good (we used the Technics RP-F600 model for testing), especially when listening to music in a proprietary player, which has a wide range of functions for customizing it. The new product also uses an interesting and quite effective SoundAlive technology. It includes a number of different effects, which, in combination with an equalizer, provide fairly high-quality sound.

In addition, the “Adapt Sound” option (available only in the branded player) looks quite interesting. After passing a special test, it optimizes the sound in the headphones used. For example, in our case, the sound has become more vibrant and rich, regardless of the style of the composition being played.

The new product also has a standard voice recorder, which is useful when creating audio notes, but it is not capable of recording telephone conversations. There is no built-in radio module, therefore, you will not be able to listen to radio stations.

The speaker is also quite good: the quality of speech transmission is clear, moderately loud and quite detailed, but depends on the operator and the phone of the interlocutor. Subjectively, it seemed a little muted, but perhaps this is just a feature of the test sample.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S5, as befits a flagship, is equipped with two digital cameras. The front module of our own production (Samsung S5K8B1YX, 1.12 micron, 1/7.3") has a 2 MP sensor and a lens with an F2.4 aperture. It is capable of capturing photos and videos with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, that is, Full HD.

The camera allows you to get videos and photos of fairly high quality. Its capabilities are enough for video communication and self-portraits. The main drawback is the lack of autofocus, since it is fixed here. Image detail is quite good. The viewing angle is not very large, but quite sufficient and does not cause complaints.

The main camera received a Samsung S5K2P2XX ISOCELL module (1.12 micron, 1/2.6") with a resolution of 16 megapixels and a fairly fast lens with an F2.2 aperture. The focal length in 35 mm equivalent is 31 mm, which gives a fairly large viewing angle There is also a bright single-section LED flash, fairly accurate and fast autofocus (focusing in 0.3 s) and electronic image stabilization in photo and video modes.Additionally, there is support for HDR mode for photos and videos, and a rather interesting “Selective Focus” mode (allows you to select part of the image that will be in focus, and the rest will be blurred after taking the photo), continuous shooting (up to 30 fps), face recognition and geotagging. Video shooting is possible up to the now fashionable 4K Ultra HD format ( " Slow motion shooting mode. The acceleration and deceleration rates can be selected from the following values: 1x, 4x, 8x and 1/2x, 1/4x, 1/8x respectively.

Note that the light receiving matrix is quite large, like for a smartphone (1/2.6" versus the more usual 1/3"). Similar matrices can be found in entry-level cameras, which should have a positive effect on the quality of the resulting images (the larger the matrix, the better). In addition, ISOCELL technology is noteworthy - this is a proprietary development of Samsung Electronics, designed to increase light sensitivity and control efficiency of electron absorption, which leads to more accurate color reproduction even in low light conditions. The essence of its work is to shield individual pixels (photodiodes), which reduces crosstalk and thereby improves color accuracy and image saturation.

With a maximum resolution of 5312 x 2988 and an aspect ratio of 16:9, the photo quality is simply remarkable, one of the best among smartphones. A special role in this is played by advanced algorithms for processing data obtained from the photomodule, which Samsung is intensively developing and improving. Overall very good color rendering is achieved. The picture comes out bright and saturated, with good contrast, excellent sharpness and detail. Good pictures can be taken in artificial or even low light conditions. There's practically nothing to complain about.

In general, the same applies to video shooting, but the slow motion mode is a little disappointing, as it cannot boast decent picture quality, especially at maximum slowdown. The sound quality is also not very impressive (there is some extraneous noise, detail is at an average level, but this is probably a drawback only of our test sample or the quality of sound recording was affected by the security of the case).

HDR shooting deserves special attention (available for photos and videos), which significantly expands the dynamic range of the photo module. You can get a decent quality photo or video even in very difficult conditions.

The camera software is proprietary and has a wide range of functions, options and settings. The appearance is nice, quite simple and intuitive. On the right side of the screen there are conveniently located video and camera buttons for quick start. Below is a mode switch, as well as a rectangle where a thumbnail of the last frame is displayed. In the upper left corner there is a button to switch between the main and front cameras. In the lower corner there is a settings menu (gear), which gives access to a large number of additional parameters: from changing the resolution to controlling exposure metering or white balance. The ISO value in manual mode can be set in the range from 100 to 800, and in automatic mode - from 50 to 1600. There is the possibility of voice control for taking photos and videos (Russian language is supported). The two most used functions can be brought to the quick access panel on the left side of the display by simply holding and dragging their icons.

Let’s note the available shooting modes: “Auto”, “Retouching” (allows you to improve the color and texture of your face), “Shot & more” (allows you to take a series of pictures with the ability to edit and overlay each other), “Virtual Tour” (allows you to create virtual tours , which are stored as videos in MPEG4 format without sound), “Panorama” (shooting up to 360 degrees is possible), “Two-way shooting” (allows you to take frames from both cameras at the same time). If you want to expand the list of modes, you should visit the Samsung brand store.

Examples of photography

Video examples

Example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at 4K Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160) at 30 fps with basic settings

An example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at 1080p resolution at 30 fps with electronic image stabilization

An example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at 1080p resolution at 30 fps in HDR mode with electronic image stabilization

An example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at 1080p resolution at 30 fps with 8 times acceleration

Example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone at 720p resolution at 15 fps with 1/8 slowdown

An example of daytime shooting from a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone with a resolution of 1080p at 60 fps

User interface

Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a pre-installed Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system, on top of which the latest version of the proprietary TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0 shell is installed.

Her design became simpler, flatter and more concise, which worked to her advantage. In addition, TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0 is less loaded with a variety of widgets and applications. But the number of additional functions has increased, but this time Samsung practically does not mention them, limiting itself only to the innovations of the new version of the shell. Unfortunately, TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0 continues to take up quite a lot of space in the internal memory. Only 9.64 GB of the 16 GB installed is available to the user, and the rest of the space is reserved for installed applications.

Let us dwell in more detail on the most interesting points and innovations. So, to unlock a smartphone, in addition to the usual passwords, pattern keys or facial recognition, a fingerprint scanner has been added, as we wrote about above. The solution is quite interesting and relatively convenient.

The lock screen displays the clock, weather, missed events and has the ability to quickly launch the camera. Having unlocked the smartphone, we are taken to the main screen, where traditionally you can place widgets, program icons, or group them into folders.

To the left of the main screen is a news hub called MyMagazine. It is based on the fairly well-known and popular Flipboard service. There are quite flexible settings for displaying news. In addition, you can link user profiles on social networks, which is quite convenient. If desired, this service can be turned off.

As always, the notification curtain has a large number of icons for quick access to main functions. An interesting innovation is the S Finder and Quick Connect functions. The first serves as a quick search, both in the phone itself and on the Internet, which is quite convenient, given the large number of functions and settings of the new product. The second is designed to speed up the exchange of files between devices that are nearby.

In addition, for quick access to the most necessary applications, there is a “Toolbar”, which can be activated in the settings. It allows you to create a vertical strip of five icons, which will always be in the foreground of the screen. If necessary, the panel can be collapsed and moved to any convenient location on the display. This makes it possible to quickly launch the required application.

The multi-window capabilities inherent in Samsung smartphones and tablets have not disappeared, allowing you to launch and work with two applications simultaneously.

The well-known voice assistant S-Voice is also in place. It can be launched either by voice (by saying “Hi, Galaxy”) or by double pressing the “Home” key. S-Voice allows you to search the web, launch applications and control smartphone functions. In addition, artificial intelligence is capable of answering questions in a rather humorous manner, which should appeal to many users. There is support for Russian language recognition.

The following application should appeal to people who lead an active and healthy lifestyle. S Health was first introduced back in the Samsung Galaxy S3, and since then it has been actively improved and redesigned. At the moment we have version 3.0. Using the built-in heart rate monitor, which is located on the back side next to the flash, you can monitor your heart rate. To do this, you need to bring your finger to the sensor and hold it for a while. Then the program will report the result and compare it with the previous one. This way you can track your results by day, hour and month in a graph. In addition, the application can count the calories you receive by entering data on the foods consumed. If the database does not contain the desired dish, you can add it manually. And thanks to the presence of a gyroscope and accelerometer, the program is able to track your steps and physical activity (running, cycling, walking). S Health records the user's activity and provides data on the distance traveled, time spent, average and maximum speed, pace, and most importantly, calories burned. Based on this information, the program makes recommendations that will allow you to always be in shape. Note that support for the ANT+ protocol and a large number of compatible smart electronics (like the Samsung Galaxy Gear) will expand the functionality of the application, for example, it will allow you to track your sleep phases. In general, a rather interesting tool that will help the user monitor their health.

Another interesting innovation to improve the security of smartphone information is “Private Mode”. It is designed to hide your personal information from unwanted eyes. The mode is available in the following applications: “Gallery”, “Video”, “Music”, “Voice Recorder” and “My Files”. To hide the necessary content, you need to go to “Private Mode”, select the necessary files and, by clicking the “Advanced” button, select the “Move to private mode” option. Now these files are available only in this mode, which can be protected by selecting one of the unlocking methods (password, fingerprint, etc.).

Parents should love the Kids mode, which gives you control over the content your child can use. It has a rather bright and pleasant appearance. In this mode, you still have access to the camera (in a very simplified form with a number of special effects), drawing, the music application and reviewing photos. In addition, you can select available games or applications and limit their use by time. A password is used to exit the mode, so a child cannot accidentally close it.

Thanks to the presence of the Smart Remote application and an infrared port, the smartphone easily turns into a remote control for multimedia equipment (TVs, multimedia players, air conditioners - the list is extremely long). In the application, you can save different rooms and a considerable number of devices in order to quickly switch between them.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a well-implemented gesture control feature. So, to move between pages or scroll through a list, just move your palm over the sensor in the direction where you want to make the transition. And to accept an incoming call, just bring the smartphone to your head. If you pick up the device from the table and you have missed calls or messages, it will notify you of this by vibration. To mute an incoming call, alarm, or pause multimedia playback, just cover the screen with your hand. Using the front camera, the new product can track whether you are looking at the screen, stopping the video review in those moments when you look away. To take a screenshot, just swipe the edge of your palm over the screen from left to right.

Two energy saving modes deserve special attention. The first - “Energy Saving” - allows the user to independently limit background data, CPU performance, switch the display to black and white mode, turn off the key backlight, vibration or GPS, thereby extending the battery life of the smartphone. But “Advanced Energy Saving Mode” looks much more interesting. After activating it, the screen is automatically switched to monochrome mode, data transfer is turned off and the number of applications used is limited. The following remain available to the user: phone, SMS and browser. In addition, it becomes possible to select three more applications from the presented list: “Dictaphone”, “Notes”, “Calculator”, “Clock”, “Chaton” and “Google+”. In this mode, with 65% of the battery, the smartphone promises to work for up to eight days. Of course, this is only in theory and depends on the further use, but it is still very interesting. “Advanced power saving mode” is useful if the battery charge is very low and there is no way to recharge, but you still need to stay connected under any conditions.

The settings menu has a simply colossal number of items. In addition to the usual list, all parameters can be displayed as thematically separated icons or tabs. The latter option has the ability to manage the “Quick Settings” tab, where you can group the most used items. In addition, a fairly convenient search for the required item by name has been implemented, but you need to know its correct name.

Overall, the interface is quite nice, bright and colorful, but it all depends on personal tastes. Some people may not like such colorfulness. But the speed of the interface has undoubtedly moved to a new level: during testing, no slowdowns or twitches were noticed: everything works quite quickly and smoothly. The only exception is the My Magazine panel, where the scrolling animation does not look smooth enough.

The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5422 processor is based on the ARM big.LITTLE with GTS microarchitecture and includes 4 high-performance ARM Cortex-A15 cores clocked at up to 1.9 GHz and 4 energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.3 GHz . Samsung does not disclose the volume of L2 cache memory, but the technical process is known - 28 nm HKMG. The role of the graphics accelerator is performed by the ARM Mali-T628 MP6 - 6 graphics cores with a clock frequency of 695 MHz. There is support for OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenVG 1.1, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectX 9.0c.

The volume of dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM is 2 GB (although the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has 3 GB installed), and the permanent memory is 16 GB (9.64 GB available to the user). This volume can be expanded using a microSDXC card with a capacity of up to 128 GB.

The performance of the platform used is very high, so the new product is expected to take a leading position in benchmarks, although it is not always the first step in the overall standings. However, it is almost impossible to find a task that the Samsung Galaxy S5 cannot cope with. Thus, in some of the most demanding games and complex graphics benchmarks, the frame rate may drop below a comfortable minimum, but there are only a few such applications so far. Almost all games run without any problems and show a high FPS level. For example, Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8: Airborne run without complaints at high graphics settings. But GTA San Andreas and Real Racing 3 slow down in places, but this is most likely more due to the optimization of games for the ARM big.LITTLE microarchitecture.

The heating of the smartphone body during active use becomes quite unpleasant, although subjectively it cannot be called critical. However, the Samsung Galaxy S5 heats up noticeably more when shooting video in 4K Ultra HD format (even there is a limit on the shooting time - only 5 minutes) and in the “Smooth Motion” mode.

It is worth noting the capabilities of the micro-USB 3.0 port (compatible with micro-USB 2.0), which allows not only to speed up the process of charging the device’s battery, but also to increase the speed of information transfer. True, the port itself is quite large, which is wonderfully hidden using a special plug.

Communications

The smartphone works in all modern mobile networks: GSM, WCDMA / HSPA+ (this modification does not have LTE). Note that the model with the SM-G900HF index has support for LTE Category 4 with data transfer rates of up to 150 Mbit/s. There is only one radio module, just like the number of SIM cards. Call quality is at a high level: there are no interruptions or self-drops, and voice transmission is clear, but depends on the user’s location and the quality of the network itself.

The range of communication capabilities is represented by NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi modules. The latter has support for 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac protocols, Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Hotspot functions, and is also capable of operating in two frequency bands: 2.4 and 5 GHz. In addition, the module supports the “Download Booster” function, designed to speed up file downloads by parallel operation of Wi-Fi and the mobile network. Traditionally, there is DLNA support. And thanks to support for the MHL standard, which combines the functionality of HDMI and micro-USB interfaces, the smartphone can be connected to shared monitors or TVs. However, the interface cable is not included in the package.

Data transfer speeds via Wi-Fi (wired connection 100 Mbit/s, router supporting the 802.11 n standard) reach an impressive 70 Mbit/s for receiving by the standards of mobile devices and up to 56 Mbit/s for sending. The operation of the wireless network modules is quite standard: everything connects quickly and holds the connection well.

The global geopositioning navigation module supports work with satellite systems GPS, GLONASS and even the Chinese Beidou. The first of them in an open area (possible connection indoors) simply instantly detects about 22 satellites and just as quickly connects to them. Communication is stable with most of them. Under the tested conditions, the detection accuracy was up to 8 meters.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is powered by a replaceable lithium-ion battery with a fairly large capacity - 2800 mAh (10.78 Wh, 3.85 V). With an average and moderate load, this should be enough for the user for one to one and a half days of uninterrupted operation. In principle, if you do not run resource-intensive applications and games, and also wisely use energy saving modes, you can extend the operating time of the device to two days.

As a result of watching HD video using MX Player (50% display brightness, Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on), the phone was discharged in almost 8.5 hours (to be precise, in 8 hours and 28 minutes). A gaming simulation using the Epic Citadel application (Guided Tour mode) with 100% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on was repeated for 4 hours until the battery charge was exhausted. The estimated operating time of the smartphone according to the GFXBench benchmark is 250 minutes, that is, 4 hours and 10 minutes. It should be noted that we tested with a pre-sale version, so the results of the retail versions should be slightly better.

Let us once again note the “Advanced Energy Saving Mode”, which was already mentioned above. In it, the screen switches to black and white mode for displaying information, all unnecessary background processes are closed, leaving only the most necessary ones (phone, SMS, browser and several applications from the list proposed to the user). In this way, it will be possible to make the most efficient use of the battery charge, which, even at 10%, should theoretically be enough for the whole day.

The charging time of the battery from the supplied power supply is unknown (since our test unit arrived without the delivery kit). Charging from a USB 3.0 port with a base current of 900 mA is approximately 4 hours.

is a worthy successor to the traditions of the flagship line of Samsung Galaxy S smartphones. It harmoniously combines traditional and familiar style (albeit with some changes) with excellent build quality. The list of advantages can be continued with the presence of one of the best Super AMOLED displays, pretty good sound (especially in headphones), a high-performance Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5422 processor, which is more than enough for any everyday tasks, an excellent main 16-megapixel camera that can take high-quality photos even in difficult conditions and is capable of shooting video in 4K Ultra HD format, and supports power saving modes. In addition, the new product boasts dust and moisture protection according to the IP67 standard, a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate monitor. All this is “seasoned” with the current version of Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS in combination with the latest proprietary shell TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0, which can offer excellent functionality and flexible customization options. Such a wide range of functions and modes included in the smartphone simply cannot leave anyone indifferent. Among them, it should be noted: the MyMagazine news hub, which will not let you miss any interesting event; the S-Voice voice assistant will not only help you with your work, but also lift your spirits; The S Health app will always help you monitor your health; the “Private Mode” function will protect personal data; thanks to the “Children” mode, you don’t have to worry about what your children are currently playing with; “Advanced power saving mode” is useful when the battery charge is low and there is an urgent need to stay connected for a long time.

The smartphone does not have any objective shortcomings, but some may not like the unchanged design, increased dimensions or the lack of truly revolutionary innovations. But this does not particularly change the overall essence, since this is one of the best smartphones of our time. It wonderfully demonstrates how a top-end hardware platform is correctly complemented by a software component, turning the device into an interesting and balanced product.

Advantages:

high-quality body assembly;
protection against dust and moisture according to IP67 standard;
Fingerprint's scanner;
high performance;
excellent main 16-megapixel camera with support for 4K Ultra HD video;
bright and contrasting Super AMOLED display with high pixel density;
Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protective glass with high-quality oleophobic coating and anti-glare filter;
possibility of working with thin gloves;
support for energy saving modes to increase autonomy;

support for GPS / GLONASS / Beidou global positioning systems;
the presence of NFC, IrLED, Bluetooth 4.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi with support for the 802.11ac standard;
support for microSDXC memory cards up to 128 GB;

functional proprietary shell TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0;
ability to control media equipment;
support for micro-USB 3.0 and MHL standard.

Flaws:

noticeable heating of the body, especially when shooting video in 4K Ultra HD format;
Insufficient video quality in Slow Motion mode.

We express our gratitude to the Ukrainian representative office of the company Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. for the smartphone provided for testing.

All prices for Samsung+Galaxy+S5

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