Quick hands-on preview: the Samsung Galaxy S5

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Yesterday, I paid a quick visit to the Galaxy S5 launch event here in Hong Kong and had my 60 minutes of fun with the S5 itself and their smart looking…smartwatch, the Gear Fit.
The event itself was anti-climatic but the devices were definitely impressive. So let’s have a look at the test notes.

– lots has been changed graphically. Samsung has moved things around a bit- i.e. the Settings page is unrecognisable.

– Externally, there’s nothing spectacular. The front looks much like the S4 of yesteryear and the back.. is like the Nexus 7. Gone is the faux leather design, there is now a rubbery-ish grippy back with some dotted things.

– the usb port is now covered by a (presumably) faux metallic flap. It’s definitely a nice addition and it’s gotta be one of the things that’s keeping the S5 water tight.

– the infrared still hasn’t received any sort of discreet integration like the HTC One. It sits on the top edge of the device.

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– the Ultra low power mode is very interesting as it forces everything to switch off, and even changes the display to black and white.

– display is gorgeous and not saturated, will require further testing

– download booster! where you can use both wifi AND mobile network to boost download speeds. yet to be tested

samsung galaxy s5 settings page download booster

– excellent camera, really god lowlight performance (from limited test samples)

samsung galaxy s5 photo sample indoor samsung galaxy s5 photo sample lowlight

– tried heart rate monitor but didn’t quite have the desired result at the time

 

Bonus:

Gear Fit hands-on

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– one smart looking device.

– it’s not Android and it’s not Tizen, apparently. So then what about apps compatibility?

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– curved display!

– elongated display and fixed orientation means the Gear Fit could actually be rather difficult to work with, Archille’s heel?

– gesture and motion detection

– heart rate monitor!

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