Samsung finally unpacked its long-awaited Galaxy S5 yesterday, launching a flagship that is perhaps the inverse of Apple’s iPhone 5S in more ways than one. While Apple has stubbornly refused (so far) to enlarge the iPhone screen size, Samsung is boosting the display dimension on its newest phone to 5.1 inches. While Apple resisted the “more cores” trend by launching the 5S with a dual-core processor (64-bit), Samsung is fully on board the quad-core bandwagon with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor inside the S5. (Of note, Samsung’s own Exynos processor was not inside the S5 models sent to reviewers.)
Perhaps the most striking difference between the two flagship smartphones is their use of fingerprint sensor technology. Samsung’s inclusion of a fingerprint sensor appears to be something of a “me-too” move, as the sensor requires a full swipe of the finger and, for most users, a rotation of the phone.
But in many ways, the Galaxy S5 does appear poised to set a new standard. Samsung details all the features and specifications below. The S5 is expected to come to all four major U.S. carriers, as well as U.S. Cellular and MetroPCS, this spring.
