Samsung drew back the curtain on its new hero device the Galaxy S5 which includes an improved camera and a fingerprint reader built into the home button.
The device has stuck to the design of the Galaxy S4 but most of the enhancements will be found under the hood.
Also announced by Samsung at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the Gear 2 Neo and Gear 2 smartwatches and the Gear Fit activity band.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S5
The new Galaxy S5 has a slightly larger 5.1-inch Super AMOLED full high definition screen than the previous model.
It is 8.1mm thick and weighs 145g and has a leather-like perforated removable back cover that will be available in four colours – charcoal black, electric blue, shimmery white and copper gold.
The device is running Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system and is powered by a 2.5Ghz quad-core processor.
The home button on the Galaxy S5 conceals a finger scanner to provide a biometric locking system that can also be used to authorise mobile payments.
On the camera side Samsung has upped the ante to 16-megapixels with a new user interface and enhanced menu to offer even more capturing, editing and sharing options.
Samsung says the Galaxy S5 has the fastest autofocus speed on a smartphone at 0.3 seconds.
The S5 supports the largest number of 4G/LTE frequencies and is compatible with the latest 802.11ac wi-fi standard.
Also included is a new feature called Download Booster – a new wi-fi technology that improves download speeds by combining wi-fi and LTE at the same time.
There are also more health tools including apps to monitor your fitness along with activity trackers, pedometers, diet and exercise records and an all-new heart-rate monitor.
And top it all off the Samsung Galaxy S5 has an IP67 rating which means it is also dust and water resistant.
It even has a small cover to seal off the microUSB port on the bottom edge of the device.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be available across all carriers when it goes on sale in mid-April.
GEAR 2, GEAR 2 NEO and GEAR FIT
It’s been less than six months since we saw the first Galaxy Gear smartwatch and already Samsung has introduced two new versions along with an all-new activity bracelet.
The Gear 2 (notice they’ve dropped Galaxy from the name) has been slightly re-designed with a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED screen and a new wearable operating system called Tizen.
The Gear 2 Neo has its own styling and design as well as its own range of colours. Both devices now have a camera built into the top of the watch rather than strap as we saw the original Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
They can be used to accept or ignore calls as well as provide notifications for your daily activities.
Gear Fit fits comfortable to a user’s wrist and has a 1.84-inch curved Super AMOLED display.
It can not only track your movements, steps and heart rate but it’s also a stopwatch and timer.
Gear Fit can also act as a smartwatch and provide notifications for calls and emails and app as well as offering a way to control your music or movie playback.
The Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit will also be available in April.
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