“Metal body design? Nope. Eye-wateringly crisp 2K+ display? Nuh-uh. Overhauled Android interface? Only a little,” Jessica Dolcourt reports for CNET. “After all the rumors and hype, the Samsung Galaxy S5 revealed with much fanfare at Mobile World Congress is more an iteration on the Galaxy S line… Yet the been-there, done-that design isn’t novel enough to trample rivals the way Samsung might hope.”
“Samsung still has a ways to go to reinspire jaded followers and fans, and those who value luxury materials and crafted designs over Samsung’s stamped-out phones should keep the door open for Apple’s iPhone 6,” Dolcourt reports. “In designing the Galaxy S5, Samsung didn’t go very far for inspiration. In fact, the Galaxy S5’s body looks event more like the Galaxy S4 than the GS4 did the Galaxy S3.”
“At the end of the day, the phone still feels like it always has: like plastic,” Dolcourt reports. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if Samsung is at all striving for loftier ambitions, it hasn’t reached those heights.”
“The GS5 is only a fraction larger than the Galaxy S4 — 5.1 inches versus the GS4’s 5-inch display,” Dolcourt reports. “The Galaxy S5 measures 142mm by 72.5mm by 8.1mm — or 5.59 inches tall by 2.85 inches wide by 0.32-inch deep — and weighs 145 grams, or 5.1 ounces. It’s taller and heavier than the Galaxy S4 as a result of its extra hardware.”
Read more in the full article here.
“In general, the Galaxy S5 looks similar to previous models and is made from polycarbonate plastic. Samsung did try to “glam” it up by adding a perforated pattern to the back cover and offering the phone in electric blue and copper gold, in addition to black and white. Glam isn’t exactly the word I’d use, but it does make the phone feel less plasticky. The texture is similar to the faux leather used on the Galaxy Note 3,” Bonnie Cha reports for Re/code. “”
“The Galaxy S5 now has a heart-rate sensor built into the camera’s flash. Users can simply touch their index finger to the sensor to monitor their heart rate,” Cha reports. “The Galaxy S5 now has a fingerprint scanner. It’s not built into the Home button like the iPhone 5s; rather, you swipe your finger on the bottom of the screen. I got a demo of it, but it seemed a little temperamental and took a couple of tries to work.”
“The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be available worldwide (except in Japan) on April 11,” Cha reports. “Though the company didn’t announce pricing today, I’d imagine it would fall in the usual $200 range on contract.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Alternate headline: 32-bit antique dealer fails to impress with latest effort.
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