If Samsung really is pushing the arrival of the Galaxy S5 Smartphone to divert attention from the fast-fading S4, they’re doing a seriously admirable job of it!
Barely a day goes by right now without another sneak peek at what’s to come from Samsung’s next flagship…albeit largely the wholly unofficial work of the rumor mill. Nevertheless, it’s still possible to assembly the pieces we’ve been lavished with to date and begin to get a decent idea of what’s on and off the cards for the S5.
2014 looks set to be a year in which Smartphone standards are revolutionized like never before, so what do we know to date about the Samsung Galaxy S5?
Launch Schedule
Optimistic types are still insistent that the S5 will hit the market in January, but this sadly isn’t all that realistic Instead, the smart money is now on an official unveiling of the S5 in the early days of March or late February ahead of a public launch in April. Given that the 2014 Mobile World Congress will be taking place as of late February, chances are the S5 will coincided with the event itself, or make an appearance shortly before or afterward.
Design
If looks are your bag…and why wouldn’t they be…the good news is that the S5 could finally take a much-needed step in the right direction. Not in love with the fantastic plastic makeup of the S4? No problem – the S5 is unanimously expected to be the first in the series to arrive with a superb aluminum unibody – as has become standard across the top end of the market as a whole. There’s also talk of a lower-cost version of the S5 being launched with a similar plastic body to the S4 – which is fine, just as long as the range-topper doesn’t wear the same jacket.
Hardware and Features
Leading the charge in terms of hardware rumors for the S5 is compelling…if a little far-fetched…talk of a 2560 x 1440 touchscreen of 5.2-inches, which would equate to 520ppi pixel density. Other than this, a 16-megapixel ISOCELL camera to the rear has become a widespread expectation, as has the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU at the heart of the operation…if not Samsung’s own 64-bit Exynos chip.
And finally, falling in line where the rest of the market is heading, you can expect to see a fingerprint security scanner appear on the S5. Apparently the technology was supposed to feature on the Galaxy Note 3, but Samsung couldn’t get it ready in time.