Australia will be one of the first markets in the world to get the Galaxy S5 when it launches on April 11. The local roll out of Samsung’s latest Galaxy will take place a whole 10 days after HTC’s One M8 is released.
Samsung has revealed the Australian version of the Galaxy S5 will come with a quad-core 2.5GHz CPU--and not the eight-core Exynos 5 CPU--at its Australian launch event held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.
What’s new, Galaxy?
Several innovations separate the next generation Galaxy S5 from its predecessor, including IP67 certification, a higher resolution camera and biometric features.
Samsung has taken a page from Sony’s books by giving the S5 tough credentials. The Galaxy S5 can be plunged into water one metre deep for thirty minutes, and it is protected from the ingression of dust. Customers would traditionally have to settle for the less capable (and less attractive) Galaxy Active for such ruggedness.
Photos will be captured at twice the resolution with a new 16MP camera. The improved S5 camera can autofocus in 0.3 of a second, benefits from phase detection and has advanced shooting modes such as high dynamic range (HDR).
Videos captured with the Galaxy S5 can be recorded in the upcoming Ultra high-definition (UHD, aka 4K) standard. Ultra high-definition videos capture four times the detail of the current Full HD standard.
Biometrics is a strong focus of the Galaxy S5. A finger scanner safeguards data housed on the smartphone in a fashion similar to that of Apple’s TouchID. However, Samsung has taken it one step further by allowing S5 owners to make payments with the swipe of a finger.
Samsung has continually innovated the connectivity repertoire of its Galaxy range. The Galaxy S5 continues this tradition by bonding the latest Wi-Fi ac standard with cellular 4G LTE technology in a new a feature called ‘Download Booster’. The result is the downloading of a gigabyte movie in just thirty seconds, Samsung claims.
5.1in screen, Australia’s Quad-core CPU
Samsung has made little changes to the display used on the Galaxy S5. The Super AMOLED panel supports a 1920x1080 (Full HD resolution) over a marginally larger 5.1-inches. This gives the smartphone a density of 432 pixels-per-inch.
Android’s latest version 4.4 KitKat will be used on the device, along with a less cluttered version of Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz overly. Simplifying the user interface of the Galaxy S5 is one way Samsung is going “back to basics”.
Powering the Galaxy S5 in Australia will be a quad-core 2.5GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM and up to 32GB of internal storage. Support for microSDXC memory cards make it possible to expand storage by an additional 64GB.
Interestingly, Samsung has not increased the RAM in its Galaxy S5. This is contrary to flagships from Sony and LG opting for 3GB of RAM.
The Galaxy S5 has a new perforated back cover that can be removed. Under it is a 2800 milliamp-hour battery that, when in ‘ultra power saving mode’, can deliver up to 24 hours of standby battery from just 10 per cent charge, Samsung claims. The new mode achieves this by deactivating superfluous features and reverting to a black-and-white only display.
Samsung will be offering its Galaxy S5 in four colours locally: Electric Blue, Copper Gold, Shimmer White and Charcoal Black.
Australian availability
Australians will be able to walk into a store empty handed and walk out with a pristine Galaxy S5 on the 11 April. Australia’s big four carriers have already announced they will be ranging the smartphone. Click here for information on how to pre-register a Galaxy S5 from Telstra, Vodafone, Optus, Virgin, Kogan, Dick Smith and Harvey Norman.
Samsung is offering the Galaxy S5 outright for $929.
