Samsung Galaxy S 5 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on April 8, 2014 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S 5
WiFi, Cellular & Download Booster
At MWC this year Broadcom announced its BCM4354 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO WiFi combo chip for smartphones/tablets, which found its way into the GS5. The result is a smartphone capable of negotiating with an 802.11ac AP at 867Mbps, and transferring data at up to 436Mbps.
Although peak performance is nice, there are also power benefits to being able to transfer data quickly over WiFi (race to sleep applies to network interfaces as well).
The Snapdragon 801 features Qualcomm's integrated category 4 LTE 9x25 modem core. As I mentioned in our power analysis, Samsung also chose to include Qualcomm's QFE1100 envelope tracker (just like in the Galaxy Note 3). The GS5 is also the first flagship Samsung device to include support for 2 carrier aggregation on supported LTE networks. Samsung doesn't appear to be using Qualcomm's antenna tuner or any other RF360 components in the Galaxy S 5.
Seamless transition between network interfaces is one component of Qualcomm's vision of the future of connected devices. The problem is presently more of a software one than a hardware challenge. Samsung is beginning to explore software abstraction of underlying network interfaces with the GS5's software stack. There's now an option to prevent transitioning to WiFi networks that don't offer an improved network experience compared to your broadband connection. I haven't had a ton of time to test this feature out yet but it's something I plan on messing with more over the coming weeks.
The other big feature is what Samsung is calling Download booster. If enabled and under the right conditions, download booster allows you to combine WiFi and cellular network interfaces to accelerate large file downloads. All you have to do is enable download booster and you'll get a notification if it's active and working:
Download booster uses HTTP range requests to divide up files between the two network links. The feature can migrate data sessions from one link to another (WiFi to LTE, LTE to WiFi). Supported apps include the Play Store, YouTube, Facebook photo/video downloads, Samsung apps and standard HTTP web browsing (both Samsung's own browser and third party browsers). FTP and UDP aren't supported, nor is HTTPS.
There are other limitations as well. File downloads smaller than 30MB won't trigger download booster. Similarly, if one of the interfaces is substantially faster than the other download booster won't activate either. My home internet connection can regularly pull files down at 50 - 60Mbps, compared to < 10Mbps for T-Mobile LTE. When I was getting ~7Mbps over LTE and 50Mbps over WiFi, download booster automatically turned itself off. If I throttled my home network to 22Mbps however, download booster did its thing and gave me a healthy combined download speed of 30Mbps.
Download booster is a neat feature, although of limited use for those of us without truly unlimited high speed data plans. That being said, if you need to speed up a download in a pinch it's a great way to do that. I'm often at a press event wanting to download a benchmark onto a device as quickly as possible, usually without great WiFi or cellular reception - I can see download booster being very useful there at least.
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Blairh - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - link
* 30 grams less than the M8. Substantially shorter too.az06093 - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - link
Where's the video analysis?xmen77 - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - link
S5 bestDisplay
S5 improved super amoled
z2 ips on the color RGB lighting with the addition of red and green phosphorus in diodes
All new one ips on the white backlight
M8 have the same quality as in the display М7
Cool backlight Z2, expanding the color gamut and "improves the shades",
actually distorts the color because all the images are designed for
standard sRGB and an extension will only be in the negative. Although
the display is still better than the HTC M8.
Amoled gradually improved and now he has lost almost all the shortcomings, there was only slight, noticeable only during the rapid motion of the screen (in front of screen) "modulation" at low brightness at maximum (it is comfortable in all conditions) this "modulation" No, I do not know why samsung does so in LG G Flex is no such (there is also amoled)
In OLED (Amoled) white whiter IPS, faster response in comparison to LCD
(hundreds of times better than LCD), contrast and black level is perfect
(hundreds of times better than LCD), colors
do not mix with each other,, ideal viewing angles.
Oversaturated color removed using a cinema mode
blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-details-new-galaxy-s5-display-panel/
phonearena.com/news/Samsung-details-its-new-Galaxy-S5-display-the-brightest-most-efficient-OLED-screen-to-date-can-hit-698-nits_id54767
phonearena.com/news/Display-Mate-Samsung-Galaxy-S5-has-the-best-performing-smartphone-display-that-we-have-ever-tested_id54583
i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/116013-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-HTC-One-M8-Sony-Xperia-Z2-LG-G-Pro-2-0122.jpg
i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/116012-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-HTC-One-M8-Sony-Xperia-Z2-LG-G-Pro-2-012.jpg
i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/116009-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-HTC-One-M8-Sony-Xperia-Z2-LG-G-Pro-2-009.jpg
ixbt.com/mobile/images/samsung-galaxy-s5/vs-pict-angle-l.jpg
ixbt.com/mobile/images/samsung-galaxy-s5/vs-white-angle-l.jpg
hi-tech.imgsmail.ru/hitech_img/source/cf/dc/746f7c86490ffdb8e93c035d5e62.jpg
Camera
S5 1/2.6 isocell phase autofocus 6 lenses
z2 1/2.3 bsi 5 lenses
one 1/3 bsi 4 lenses
At S5 even crude firmware (new sensor) better color, detail and less noise
The rest of at the final firmware is very bad, especially in HTC
eprice.com.tw/mobile/talk/124/4899661/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/
eprice.com.tw/mobile/talk/124/4899662/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/
4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=515584&view=findpost&p=30435226
Waterproof
S5 ip x6
Z2 ip x7
one ip x3
Bezels
S5 is more or less thin bezels
Z2 more or less thin bezels
one big bezels
Performance
S5 2048 MB RAM (Dual-channel) LPDDR3
Z2 3072 MB RAM (Dual-channel) LPDDR3
M8 2048 MB RAM DDR2
phonearena.com/news/HTC-admits-its-High-Performance-Mode-pumped-up-benchmark-scores-for-the-HTC-One-M8_id54509
Body
Metal is bad for the connection know about it all in the industry, aluminum is not a premium material, it is used for beer cans. At s5 soft touch texture like nexus7 instead of glossy plastic s4
doobydoo - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Troll post. You say plastic is used for beer cans - plastic is used for trash bags.Aluminium is preferred.
TheSailorMan - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link
"Preferred" for what? For helmets?? For car bumpers??? .......Aluminum is is the WORST material for smartphones. In many ways.
And YES , same drink in plastic bottle cost more than , if it is in cans. Check it out.
Plastic is MORE expensive than ALUMINUM. Check out this , too
Streamlined - Thursday, April 17, 2014 - link
Samsung Fanboy alert. Metal is far superior to plastic for heat dissipation alone. Not to mention it's more durable. And on what world is plastic more expensive than Aluminum?doobydoo - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
And the metal phones have no problem with connections, either.ESC2000 - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link
You just keep telling yourself that. The iPhone has documented connectivity problems. See eghttp://m.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-5-problem... That list further notes that the aluminum chassis is prone to scratches (an apple VP says it's normal and to be expected... Not on my $800 device... Figure out how to prevent it). That list also notes the extreme battery drain problem I experienced on my iPhone 5, which died overnight the first night I owned it (failing to wake me up in the process). Owning an iPhone was a very underwhelming experience for me. After six months I dumped it for a note 2 and then a nexus 5 and have been much more satisfied. And my phone doesn't look like it's been to war like, for example, my stepfather's which has many dents and scratches.
pandemonium - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - link
It seems silly to me that you don't have a Lumia 1020 and a DSLR in your photo bench marking.crbandiera - Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - link
Very solid r review. Thanks for the useful balanced review. The information and your style as writer is refreshing as I am often times caught forced to ignore reviews due there extreme bias. I feel better equipped to make a purchase and that my expectations of what ever device I choose will be more realistic. Thank you for doing your job well.