The Samsung Galaxy S5 is an Android-based

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

unveiled, produced, released and marketed by

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

as part of the

Samsung Galaxy S series The Samsung Galaxy S series is a line of high-end Android smartphones produced by Samsung Electronics. Together with the foldable Galaxy Fold and the now discontinued Galaxy Note series, the lineup serves as Samsung's flagship smartphone lineup ...

. Unveiled on 24 February 2014 at

Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the Fir ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, it was released on 11 April 2014 in 150 countries as the immediate successor to the

Galaxy S4 The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succes ...

. As with the S4, the S5 is an evolution of the prior year's model, placing a particular emphasis on an improved build with a textured rear cover and

IP67 The IP code or ingress protection code indicates how well a device is protected against water and dust. It defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) under the international standard IEC 60529 which classifies and pro ...

certification for dust and water resistance, a more refined user experience, new security features such as a fingerprint reader and private mode, expanded health-related features including a built-in heart rate monitor, a

USB 3.0 USB 3.0, released in November 2008, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB 3.0 adds the new transfer rate referred to as '' ...

port, and an updated camera featuring speedy auto-focus through phase-detection as well as video resolution upgraded to

2160p 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...

(4K) and framerate at

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...

doubled. The Galaxy S5 received mostly positive reviews; the phone was praised for its display, hardware, camera, long battery life, and incorporating water resistance while retaining a removable battery and

MicroSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

card slot, making it the final in its series with the former. However, the S5 was criticized for bloated software, its unresponsive

fingerprint scanner Fingerprint scanners are security systems of biometrics. They are used in police stations, security industries, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Function Everyone has patterns of friction ridges on their fingers, and it is this pattern t ...

, and its ostensibly non-"premium"

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...

in light of rival smartphones' metal or glass bodies. In August 2015, following the release of its then-latest flagship, the

Galaxy S6 The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and ...

, Samsung released an updated version called the "

Galaxy S5 Neo The Samsung Galaxy S5 is an Android-based smartphone unveiled, produced, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. Unveiled on 24 February 2014 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, it was rel ...

" which has an Exynos 7 Octa (7580) processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. It has 2 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

, 16 GB of internal storage, USB 2.0 port, comes with Android 5.0.2 "Lollipop", and lacks fingerprint unlocking and 4K (2160p) video recording.

Release date

The Galaxy S5 was unveiled on 24 February 2014 as part of the company's presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung Electronics president JK Shin explained that consumers did not want a phone dependent on "eye-popping" or "complex" technology, but one with "beautiful design and performance", a "simple, yet powerful camera", "faster and seamless connectivity", and fitness-oriented features. Samsung announced that it would release the S5 on 11 April 2014 in 150 countries—including the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On 18 June 2014, Samsung unveiled an

LTE-Advanced LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standar ...

version of the S5, exclusively released in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Unlike other models, the LTE-A version also upgrades the display to a

quad HD 1440p is a family of video display resolutions that have a vertical resolution of 1440 pixels. The ''p'' stands for progressive scan, i.e. non- interlaced. The 1440 pixel vertical resolution is double the vertical resolution of 720p, and one-thir ...

, 1440p panel. Shortly after the release of the S5, it was discovered that some Samsung Galaxy S5 devices—particularly those on

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divi ...

—were suffering from a major bug that caused the device's camera hardware to permanently cease functioning, and display a "Camera failed" error on-screen whenever users attempt to use the camera. Both Samsung and Verizon confirmed the issue, which affected a limited number of Galaxy S5 devices; Samsung instructed users affected by the bug to contact the company or their carrier to have their phone replaced under warranty.

Specifications

Hardware and design

Changes

The design of the S5 evolves upon the design of the S4. It features a rounded,

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

carrying a "modern glam" look with a dot pattern similarly to that on the 2012 Google Nexus 7

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

, faux metal trim and a removable rear cover. Unlike past models, the S5's rear cover uses a higher quality soft plastic and is dimpled to improve grip. The S5 is

certified for dust and water resistance. As such, the phone is able to be submerged in water up to for up to 30 minutes. The S5's

Micro-USB The initial versions of the USB standard specified connectors that were easy to use and that would have acceptable life spans; revisions of the standard added smaller connectors useful for compact portable devices. Higher-speed development of t ...

3.0 port uses a removable cover. The S5 is available in Charcoal Black, Electric Blue, Copper Gold, and Shimmery White color finishes. The S5's screen is a

Super AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...

panel, which is slightly larger than that of the S4, and allows for automatic brightness and

gamut In color reproduction, including computer graphics and photography, the gamut, or color gamut , is a certain ''complete subset'' of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circ ...

adjustments. Its minimum dimmable brightness level has been lowered to facilitate vision in dark environments without the need for third-party screen filter overlay apps which would interfere with screen captures.

Front panel

Below the screen are three buttons. The physical "Home" button in the centre contains a swipe-based

. There is a "Recent apps" key (also known as "task key") on the left side and a "Back" key on the right side of the home button. As with all main models from the Galaxy S series, the navigation buttons left and right to the home buttons are capacitive. However, in accordance with

Android 4.0 Android Ice Cream Sandwich (or Android 4.0) is the 9th major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google. Unveiled on October 19, 2011, Android 4.0 builds upon the significant changes made by the tablet-only release Androi ...

human interface guidelines, the S5 no longer uses a "Menu" key like its predecessors (left side of home button), although its button layout is still reversed in comparison to other Android devices with the S5's button layout (such as the

HTC One X The HTC One X is a touchscreen-based, slate-sized smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC. It was released running Android 4.0.3, (upgradeable to 4.2.2) with the HTC Sense 4.0 skin (later upgradeable to 5.0). The One X is powered by the NVIDI ...

and

Galaxy Nexus The Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9250) is a touchscreen Android smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung Electronics. It is the third smartphone in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer devices built by an original equipment manufactu ...

, whose "Back" buttons are to the left of "Home"). However, holding the new task key for one second simulates pressing the menu key.

Camera

The S5 includes a 16

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

(5312×2988) rear-facing camera, which offers 4K (2160p) video recording at 30

fps FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...

, phase detection

autofocus An autofocus (or AF) optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus on an automatically or manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system ...

(which Samsung claims to be able to focus in around 0.3 seconds), real-time HDR photos and video (of which the latter is available for the first time in a Samsung flagship mobile device), and an

image sensor An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to make an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curr ...

with Samsung's "

Isocell The ISOCELL CMOS camera sensors are a family of sensors produced by Samsung and available for purchase by other companies. They are used in a wide variety of products including mobile phones, computers and digital cameras. Design These sens ...

" technology, which isolates the individual pixels inside the sensor to improve its ability to capture light and reduce crosstalk. The model number of the image sensor is ''S5K2P2XX''. Compared to conventional BSI sensors, this reduces electrical crosstalk by about 30 percent. The camera is also able to record 1080p@60fps for smoother

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

playback. It can also record

slow-motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use o ...

videos with 720p at 120fps, but only encoded using the '' menial method''. The front camera uses a

Samsung CMOS The ISOCELL CMOS camera sensors are a family of sensors produced by Samsung and available for purchase by other companies. They are used in a wide variety of products including mobile phones, computers and digital cameras. Design These sensor ...

''S5K8B1YX03'' image sensor, an aperture of 2.4 and captures both photos and videos at

; the latter at 30 frames per second.Gems Hidden in Samsung Galaxy S5 In-House ISOCELL Sensor
– WCCF Tech – 5 April 2014 Related section: ''Camera and gallery software''.

Miscellaneous

Next to the camera's flash on the rear of the device is a new heart rate sensor, which can be used as part of the S Health software. The top of the device has an IR blaster and

headphone jack A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog signal, analog audio signals. A plug, the Gender of connectors and fasteners, male connect ...

. The IR blaster is a transmitter only and it has a built-in database of devices that can be controlled by Samsung's Smart Remote application. The Galaxy S5 lacks the

thermometer A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a merc ...

(temperature) and

hygrometer A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale. A hygrometer is an instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor in air, in soil, or in confined spaces. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other qu ...

(humidity) sensors that both 2013's flagships, the

and

Galaxy Note 3 The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an Android phablet smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy Note 3 was unveiled on September 4, 2013, with its worldwide release beginning later in the month. S ...

were equipped with.

Internal specifications

The S5 is powered by a 2.5 GHz

quad-core A multi-core processor is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit with two or more separate processing units, called cores, each of which reads and executes program instructions. The instructions are ordinary CPU instructions (such a ...

Snapdragon ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...

801 system-on-chip with 2 GB of RAM. Although not mentioned during the keynote presentation, a variant (SM-G900H) with an octa-core

Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. Exy ...

5422 system-on-chip was also released in multiple markets. Like the previous model, it uses two clusters of four cores; four

Cortex-A15 The ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore is a 32-bit processor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture. It is a multicore processor with out-of-order superscalar pipeline running at up to 2.5 GHz. Overview ARM has claimed t ...

cores at 2.1 GHz, and four

Cortex-A7 The ARM Cortex-A7 MPCore is a 32-bit microprocessor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture announced in 2011. Overview It has two target applications; firstly as a smaller, simpler, and more power-efficient succes ...

cores at 1.5 GHz. Depending on resource usage, the SoC can use the power-efficient A7 cores for lighter processing loads, and switch to the A15 cores for more demanding loads. Unlike previous iterations, however, the Exynos 5422 can run both sets of cores at the same time instead of only one at a time.

Battery

The S5 contains a 2800

mAh ''Mångha'' (') is the Avestan for "Moon, month", equivalent to Persian ''Māh'' (; Old Persian ). It is the name of the lunar deity in Zoroastrianism. The Iranian word is masculine. Although Mah is not a prominent deity in the Avestan script ...

lithium ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

battery, which is user-replaceable despite

water resistance. It is Qi compatible (requires an optional Wireless Charging Cover) and also contains an "Ultra Power Saving" mode to extend further battery life; when enabled, all non-essential processes are disabled, and the screen switches to grey scale rendering. Samsung claims that with Ultra Power Saving on, an S5 with 10% charge remaining can last for an additional 24 hours in standby mode. Another improvement in power efficiency comes from the use of Qualcomm's envelope tracker, which reduces the power used in connectivity.

Software

The S5 shipped with Android 4.4.2 KitKat but has received updates, the most recent being 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It has Samsung's

TouchWiz TouchWiz was a user interface developed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd with partners, featuring a full touch user interface. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as an operating system. TouchWiz is used internally by Samsung for smartphones, ...

software, which for the S5 has a flatter, more geometric look than that found on the S4. Certain aspects of the changes were influenced by a recent patent licensing deal with

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, which requires that Samsung's TouchWiz interface follow the design of "stock" Android more closely. The S5 adds the

's "My Magazine" feature to the leftmost page on the home screen, the Settings menu was updated with a new grid-based layout, a Kids' Mode was added, while the S Health app was given expanded functionality, integrating with the new heart rate sensor on the device, along with the new

Gear 2 The Samsung Gear 2 and Samsung Gear 2 Neo are smartwatches produced by Samsung Electronics. Unveiled on February 22, 2014 at Mobile World Congress, the Gear 2 line is a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Gear. In comparison to the Galaxy Gear, the m ...

smartwatch A smartwatch is a wearable computer in the form of a watch; modern smartwatches provide a local touchscreen interface for daily use, while an associated smartphone app provides management and telemetry, such as long-term biomonitoring. While ea ...

and Gear Fit

activity tracker An activity tracker, also known as a fitness tracker, is a device or application for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It is a type of wearable comp ...

. The "Download Booster" tool allows internet usage to be split across LTE and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

to improve download speed. Due to carrier policies, Download Booster was not available on Galaxy S5 models released in the United States running KitKat 4.4.2, excluding

T-Mobile US T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...

and

U.S. Cellular United States Cellular Corporation (doing business as UScellular) is an American mobile network operator. It is a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (which owns an 84% stake). The company was formed in 1983 and is headquartered in ...

. The precluded telephone application is equipped with additional options for

noise cancellation Active noise control (ANC), also known as noise cancellation (NC), or active noise reduction (ANR), is a method for reducing unwanted sound by the addition of a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. The concept was first develop ...

, call holding, volume boosting and the ability to personalize the call sound. A disk space analyzer tool is included. The Galaxy S5 inherits the interaction functionality of the Galaxy S4, such as finger

Air View The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succes ...

, air gesture and motion gesture controls, and Samsung ''SmartScreen''. For Air View, a self-capacitive

touch screen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

layer is used to detect the floating finger. The "Quick Glance" feature from the Galaxy S4 was succeeded by "Air wake-up", where hovering above the front proximity sensor next to the "Samsung" wordmark wakes the phone up from stand-by mode rather than just showing the clock and status.

Security

The S5 contains a number of new security features. The fingerprint reader can be used to unlock the phone, while an SDK is available so third-party developers may offer fingerprint-oriented functionality in their apps; for example,

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

integrated support for the fingerprint sensor to authenticate online purchases. The S5 also adds "Private Mode", which allows users to maintain hidden apps and file folders that cannot be accessed without additional authentication.

Camera and gallery software

The camera app was updated with a new "Shot & More" menu that captures eight still photos in quick succession stored into a single ''

JPG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image ...

'' file, allowing users to make edits to photos after they are taken using Samsung's gallery software. It incorporates camera features from earlier Samsung phones (''Best Photo'', ''Best Face'', ''Drama Shot'', ''Eraser'' and ''Action panorama'') into a single camera mode. The camera software is also equipped with a new ''selective focus'' mode that captures multiple photos at different focus settings (also known as focus bracketing, albeit being stored in a single file), allowing the user to choose the desired focus setting (near focus, far focus, pan focus) any time after capture, and allows users to export the photo at the desired focus settings into a separate file. Additional camera modes are downloadable from a store provided by Samsung. The camera software is equipped with a ''remote viewfinder'' feature, which allows using the display of one unit as the viewfinder of a second phone paired through

Wi-Fi Direct Wi-Fi Direct (formerly Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer) is a Wi-Fi standard for peer-to-peer wireless connections that allows two devices to establish a direct Wi-Fi connection without an intermediary wireless access point, router, or Internet connection. Wi- ...

. Next to the S5, only the

, Galaxy S4 Zoom,

Galaxy K Zoom The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is a phone with camera hybrid with a 10x optical zoom (24–240 mm 35 mm equivalent) with f/3.1-6.3 lens with built-in optical image stabilizer and a standard xenon flash. It was introduced in July 2013. The ...

and

Galaxy Alpha The Samsung Galaxy Alpha (SM-G850x) is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics. Unveiled on 13 August 2014, the device was released in September 2014. A high-end device, the Galaxy Alpha is Samsung's first Android-powered smartphon ...

are equipped with this functionality.Video: Demonstration of the ''Remote Viewfinder'' feature on a Galaxy S5 paired with a Galaxy Note 3 – by ''GottaBeMobile''
/ref> Two new features, ''Virtual Tour'' and ''Spherical (360°) Panorama'' have been added, respectively allowing to capture photos stitched together to a navigable 3D environment and to a spherical view of the surroundings, both inside the precluded gallery software. 360-degree panoramas are navigable with both touch and gyroscope sensor (device movement). The camera setting shortcuts on the left (horizontal) side of the screen are customizable, allowing the user to select four shortcuts to more frequently accessed camera settings. The camera software has been criticized for over-

sharpening Sharpening is the process of creating or refining the edge joining two non-coplanar faces into a converging apex, thereby creating an edge of appropriate shape on a tool or implement designed for cutting. Sharpening is done by removing material ...

photos in post processing. The gallery software is able to show

Exif Exchangeable image file format (officially Exif, according to JEIDA/JEITA/CIPA specifications) is a standard that specifies formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras (including smartphones), scanners and other system ...

meta data of pictures such as

exposure time In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light (that is, when the camera's shutter is open) when taking a photograph. The amount of light that rea ...

exposure value In photography, exposure value (EV) is a number that represents a combination of a camera's shutter speed and f-number, such that all combinations that yield the same exposure have the same EV (for any fixed scene luminance). Exposure value is a ...

light sensitivity Photosensitivity is the amount to which an object reacts upon receiving photons, especially visible light. In medicine, the term is principally used for abnormal reactions of the skin, and two types are distinguished, photoallergy and phototoxicity ...

(ISO),

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

focal length The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foca ...

, flash status and a

histogram A histogram is an approximate representation of the distribution of numerical data. The term was first introduced by Karl Pearson. To construct a histogram, the first step is to " bin" (or "bucket") the range of values—that is, divide the ent ...

Updates

An update to Android 5.0 "Lollipop" was first released for S5 models in Poland in December 2014. The update incorporates performance improvements, an updated "Recent apps" view that utilizes a card-based layout, access to notifications on the lock screen, and modifications to the TouchWiz interface to adhere to

Material design Material Design (codenamed Quantum Paper) is a design language developed by Google in 2014. Expanding on the "cards" that debuted in Google Now, Material Design uses more grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and d ...

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

. In April 2016, Samsung released an update to Android 6.0.1 "Marshmallow" for international S5 models. It enables new features such as "

Google Now on Tap Google Now was a feature of Google Search of the Google app for Android and iOS. Google Now proactively delivered information to users to predict (based on search habits and other factors) information they may need in the form of informational c ...

", which allows users to perform searches within the context of information currently being displayed on-screen, and "Doze", which optimizes battery usage when the device is not being physically handled. Using a custom ROM such as

LineageOS LineageOS is an Android-based operating system for smartphones, tablet computers, and set-top boxes, with mostly free and open-source software. It is the successor to CyanogenMod, from which it was forked in December 2016, when Cyanogen Inc. a ...

Android 11 Android 11 is the eleventh major release and 18th version of Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. It was released on September 8, 2020. The first phone launched in Europe with Android 11 ...

can be installed on Samsung Galaxy S5 devices.

Variants

Rugged variants

Samsung released two

rugged ''Rugged'' is a 2019 Indian Kannada-language romantic action film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate ...

versions of the S5, the S5 Active and S5 Sport. Both models feature a version of the S5's design with a full set of physical navigation buttons and do not include the fingerprint scanner, but are otherwise identical to standard models of the S5. Both devices also include an exclusive "Activity Zone" app, which contains a

barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

, and

stopwatch A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time that elapses between its activation and deactivation. A large digital version of a stopwatch designed for viewing at a distance, as in a sports stadium, is called a stop clock. ...

. The S5 Active adds an "Active Key" to the side of the device, which can be configured to launch certain apps on short and long presses; by default, the button launches Activity Zone. The Sprint S5 Sport has additional Sprint Fit Live software, which acts as a hub for health-oriented content and S Health, along with the

Under Armour Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European hea ...

-owned MapMyFitness MVP service and the music streaming service

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

—the device comes with complimentary subscriptions to both services. Both models come in different color schemes (grey,

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

green, and red for the S5 Active, and blue and red for the S5 Sport), and the S5 Sport is slightly lighter in weight than the S5 Active, at instead of . The S5 Active and S5 Sport were released in the United States in June 2014, and are exclusive to

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

and Sprint respectively. The S5 Active was released in Canada in October 2014. In June 2014, Samsung also released a dual SIM version of the Galaxy S5, called Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos, model SM-G900FD. The Duos has the LTE specification of the Galaxy S5.

Neo variant

A hardware revision called the Galaxy S5 Neo was quietly released in August 2015. The S5 Neo is a lower cost variant of the original Galaxy S5 that downgrades the SoC to an Exynos 7580 Octa system-on-chip, while improving the front camera to a 5-megapixel unit. Other changes include the removal of a fingerprint sensor and a conventional USB 2.0 port in lieu of a USB 3.0 port with a water-resistant cover, the latter of which had been a source of complaints from users who found the cover was easily broken from regular use, compared to the previous year's model. A noticeable design distinction is the finer dot pattern on the removable rear cover. Samsung also released Android 7.0 Nougat with

Samsung Experience Samsung Experience (stylized as SΛMSUNG Experience) was a software overlay for the Android "launcher" by Samsung for its Galaxy devices running Android 7.x “Nougat” and Android 8.x “Oreo”. It was introduced in late 2016 on a beta build ...

which the original S5 did not have. The S5 Neo was initially made available in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(SM-G903F) and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(SM-G903W). While the original Galaxy S5 is able to record videos at

at 30fps,

at 60fps and

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...

at 120fps, the camera of the Galaxy S5 Neo can only record videos at

at up to 30fps and lacks

slow motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use o ...

video recording entirely. The Galaxy S5 Neo lacks wireless charging support entirely and can not be retrofitted with a

wireless charging Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices. Inductive charging is also used in vehicles, power tool ...

back cover.

Comparison table

Reception

Critical reception

The S5 received mostly positive reviews; critics acknowledged that the S5 was primarily a technological evolution of its predecessor with few changes of significance. Although praised for an improved appearance and build quality, the design of the S5 was panned for retaining a nearly identical appearance and construction to the S4, and for not using higher quality materials such as metal or a higher-quality plastic. The display of the S5 was praised for having a high quality, not being as oversaturated as previous models, and having a wide range of viewing angles, brightness states, and gamut settings to fine tune its appearance. ''

TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online publication owned by Future and focused on technology. It has editorial teams in the US, UK and Australia and provides news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2007 and expanded to the US in ...

'' also noticed that, despite the high power of its processor, some apps and interface functions suffered from performance issues, indicating that the S5's operating system may not have been completely optimized for its system-on-chip. The S5's interface was praised for having a cleaner appearance than previous iterations—however, it was still criticized for containing too many unnecessary features and settings. The S5's camera received mostly positive reviews for the improvements to image quality provided by its Isocell image sensor, but was deemed to still be not as good as its competitors, particularly in the case of low-light images. While the S5's camera interface was praised for having a streamlined design, it was criticized for taking too long to load, and the Selective Focus features were panned for being inconsistent in quality. While praised for providing more uses than the

Touch ID Touch ID is an electronic fingerprint recognition feature designed and released by Apple Inc. that allows users to unlock devices, make purchases in the various Apple digital media stores (iTunes Store, App Store, and Apple Books Store), and aut ...

function on the

iPhone 5s The iPhone 5S (stylized and marketed as iPhone 5s) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the seventh generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, and unveiled in September 2013, alongside the iPhone 5C. Th ...

, the fingerprint sensor was panned for requiring an unnatural vertical swiping gesture, having inconsistent and unforgiving results, and for being inconvenient in comparison to a password or PIN in most use cases due to these shortcomings. The Berlin-based Security Research Labs found that because the S5's fingerprint sensor could easily be spoofed, allows unlimited chances and does not require a PIN after 48 hours of inactivity or on startup like Touch ID, and can be used for more than just unlocking the phone, it "gives a would-be attacked an even greater incentive to learn the simple skill of spoofing fingerprints." ''

Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...

'' considered the heart rate sensor to be similarly unforgiving and sometimes being inaccurate in comparison to other heart rate trackers, while ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'' felt that it was a redundant addition due to the concurrent introduction of the

Samsung Gear Fit The Samsung Gear Fit is a fitness wristband made by Samsung Electronics, and forms part of their Samsung Gear family of smartwatch devices. It features a curved AMOLED display. Its design was developed to appeal to people interested in fitness and ...

, which includes a heart rate tracker of its own, and is likely to also be purchased by those wanting to take full advantage of the S Health software on their S5.

Sales

The S5 shipped to retailers 10 million units in 25 days, making it the fastest shipping smartphone in Samsung's history. Samsung shipped 11 million units of the S5 during its first month of availability, exceeding shipped units of the S4 in the same period by 1 million units. However, 12 million units of the S5 were shipped in its first three months of availability, which is lower than the S4's sales. Due to the lower sales of the S5, in July 2014, Samsung reported its lowest profits in over two years, and a drop in market share from 32.3% to 25.2% over the past year. The loss in market share was attributed primarily to growing pressure from competitors – especially in the growing low-end smartphone market, and an already saturated market for high-end smartphones. By the end of 2014, it was reported that sales of the S5 were 40% down on the previous S4 model, prompting management changes at Samsung.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Android (operating system) devices Discontinued flagship smartphones Samsung mobile phones Samsung Galaxy Mobile phones introduced in 2014 Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery Mobile phones with infrared transmitter Mobile phones with self-capacitive touch screen layer Mobile phones with 4K video recording Discontinued smartphones