Samsung Unveils Galaxy S5, With Home Button Fingerprint, and Gear Fit Wrist Band (Videos)

At the “Unpacked 5” event in Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Samsung revealed its next-generation Galaxy S5 flagship phone. As rumored, the 5.1-inch Galaxy S5 comes with a fingerprint sensor thats integrated in the home button, mirroring Apple's own Touch ID introduced with the iPhone 5s. 

Unlike the iPhone 5s, however, the Galaxy S5’s sensor requires you to swipe over the home button, SlashGear has a demonstration of the fingerprint scanner.

Samsung is working with PayPal on integrating it into mobile payments, too, so that you could effectively buy apps, products, and services and authorize the transaction with a fingertip rather than a password or PIN. We found the hit-rate for the scanner recognizing our fingers was relatively high, though you do have to line your fingertip up properly: the Galaxy S5 prefers a clean downward swipe, not a sideways movement such as if you're holding the phone one-handed and sweeping your thumb across the sensor.

The Galaxy S5 has the same design as its predecessor, including the plastic body, though it has a unique soft-touch textured backing, a water resistant casing, and it has a new perforated back which Samsung calls the “modern glam” look. The device comes in both electric blue and copper gold along with black and white.

The resolution of 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display is 1920 x 1080, the device is powered by a 2.5GHz Quad core processor under the hood, with a 2GB RAM, and 16/32GB storage options. It runs Android KitKat 4.4.2 and includes an upgraded 16-megapixel camera with quick autofocus and real-time HDR, it has a 20 percent better battery life than the previous generation phone, a standby time of 390 hours, a talk time of 21 hours, 10 hours of LTE browsing and 12 hours of video playback. and includes a built-in power saving mode that will activate a black and white display with limited app access when the battery is low. The device is IP67-rated, which means it can be submerged in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes without being affected.

Taking a cue from Apple's reported interest in health-related applications, Samsung has included a heart rate sensor beside the camera’s flash. able to measure heart rate with a finger on the sensor. The heart rate sensor accompanies the standard accelerometer, proximity sensor, gyroscope, compass and an IR-based gesture sensor.

Galaxy S5 is also designed to work with a new fitness device, the Gear Fit, which accompanies Samsung's recently revealed Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smart watches. The Gear Fit is the industries first wearable device that includes curved Super AMOLED touch screen display. The device features among other things a heart rate sensor, counting steps, and keeps users up to date with instant notifications from their Galaxy smartphone. The Gear Fit is smaller than Samsung's other offerings, and doesn't include a camera, a microphone, or a speaker. 

 

The full product specifications include:

• Display: 1.84” Curved Super AMOLED (432×128)

• Connectivity: Bluetooth® v4.0 LE

• Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Heart Rate

• Dimension: 23.4 x 57.4 x 11.95 mm, 27g

• Battery: 210mAh with typical Usage 3~4 days, Low Usage up to 5 days

• Additional Software Features: Pedometer, Exercise, Heart Rate, Sleep, Stopwatch, Timer, Notifications (SNS, Call, E-mail, Apps), Schedule, Smart Relay, Media Controller

• Additional Hardware Features: Changeable Strap, IP67 Dust and Water Resistant

The Galaxy S5 and the Gear Fit will both be released in April, but Samsung has yet to announce pricing.

Source: via MacRumors