SYNAPSE CIRCUIT UNPACKED 5 PART 1

The Galaxy S5: I like the design. It's growing on me already!

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

UNPACKED 5 PART ONE:
THE AFTERMATH!
#Samsung #GalaxyS5 #GS5 #MWC2014 #GalaxyS5Prime #Unpacked #Gear

Good very late evening / early morning, Synapse Circuit Readers! Are you ok? Did the Samsung Unpacked 5 leave you feeling a little shell-shocked? I am feeling shell-shocked and feel compel to write my way back to a calm reality...

"With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers."

JK Shin
President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung

SAMSUNG EAT HUMBLE PIE???
Noooooo! That’s not the Samsung I know! The Samsung that I know are innovators; and the Galaxy S4 was and still is brilliant! It is said that the sales of the GS4 was a bit of a disappointment but I find it hard to believe. Could it be that Samsung actually believes that their Air Gestures / View and Smart Stay / Pause, etc were a failure and that’s why the GS4 didn’t sell as well as they had expected? C’mon! That can’t be right because the GS3 started it off and that is still a great seller!

I really think that Samsung is suffering from being... Er... Uhm... Great! Look, my GS2 is still going like the day it came out of the factory (thanks to CyanogenMod 11, KitKat custom ROM). I would have gotten the GS3 only it didn’t coincide with my upgrade. Greatness could be a major problem for Samsung as the GS3 is still selling like hotcakes – especially as it has been reduced in price and will probably come down a tad further now that the Galaxy S5 is here!

Again, like I said in my coverage of the Unpacked 5 event, Samsung appears to be looking to keep it powerful and accessible for the masses who like their technology invisibly powerful. In other words: easy to use through intuition. This is how Apple makes the iPhone appealing.

But what about the people who love technology and wants it anyhow Samsung delivers it?

I LOVE TECHNO
I don’t know if I am in a minority... I probably am... But I LOVE technology and I love Samsung’s innovations! Literally, I fell in love with the GS3 after my initial shock regarding the design. And I am of the opinion that Samsung hasn’t done enough by the way of design and, like Apple, they have become a little precious about not wanting to rock the boat just in case people don’t like it. But design is one of Samsung’s many strong suits! When the GS2 came out I was so impressed that I had to have it right away! I loved and still love the design – it’s like it was chipped out of some black crystal! I guess that’s why I was initially shocked by the GS3! That was a great leap in design! But the leaps from GS3 to 4 and 5 have not been so wide.

What about me, Samsung? What about me? What about my love for all things tech-tripped out? I can’t help but wonder about this Galaxy S5 Prime... It has been inadvertently leaked by a third party protective case manufacturer. By the process of logical elimination, the Galaxy S5 Prime must be the one without the ‘Home’ button. Check it out here:

http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/synapse-circuit-samsung-galaxy-s5-prime.html

There’s still a possibility that the, potential, GS5 Prime model could look quite different from what is shown in the picture. What I have noticed from revisiting the picture is that there is no Heart Rate Monitor where the flash is (on the back) on either of the models. In fact not only is the ‘Home’ button missing on one of the models, there is no ear receiver grill too! Now what does that mean? Does it mean that the protective case manufacturer does not have the design of the GS5 Prime?

What I have noticed with Samsung is that they put out their premium handset i.e. the Galaxy S4 and then they dilute it with the GS4 Active and Zoom. So, I think this time around, Samsung have put out what they see as the Standard GS5 and will probably release more advanced models such as the much rumoured GS5 Prime with the 2K screen further along down the line. I would love to see Samsung either scrap the Galaxy S Zoom device in favour of putting it into a top notch handset. I felt that the Galaxy S4 Zoom was a good idea but wrapped up in an average handset. Please do not do that again, Samsung! Give me – us, a higher spec than the GS5 handset and whack a tripped out camera on it! 20MP? If you are reading, Samsung... I don’t suppose you can turn the headphone socket into a dual external microphone socket for decent video sound? Is that what you have in store with the GS5 Prime?

Anyhoo, let’s not get ideas above our station! But look at the Galaxy Note 3 - it has all that lovely techno-whiz-bang stuff that people love so much! People are buying it! I would get one if I could! But I guess I am in line for a Galaxy Note 4! It’s fine by me!

Let me close this article with a positive from a GS3 user:

“Guess I'm going from the GS3 to the GS5. Its upgrade time! It’s definitely a big jump up from my GS3 which I love dearly...”

GS5 SPEC:-

NETWORK
LTE Cat.4 (150/50Mbps)

DISPLAY
5.1” FHD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080)

AP
2.5GHz Quad core application processor

OS
Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat)

CAMERA
16MP (rear), 2.0MP (front)

VIDEO
UHD@30fps, HDR, video stabilization
Video Codec : H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, MP43, WMV7, WMV8, VP8
Video Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

AUDIO
Audio Codec : MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/ AAC+/ eAAC+, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC
Audio Format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA

CAMERA FEATURES
HDR (Rich tone), Selective Focus, Virtual Tour Shot, Shot & More

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
IP67 Dust and water Resistant
Ultra Power Saving Mode
Download Booster
S Health 3.0
Quick Connect
Private Mode
Kids Mode

Google Mobile Services: Chrome, Drive, Photos, Gmail, Google, Google+, Google Settings, Hangouts, Maps, Play Books, Play Games, Play Newsstand, Play Movie & TV, Play Music, Play Store, Voice Search, YouTube

CONNECTIVITY
WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac HT80, MIMO(2x2)
Bluetooth®: 4.0 BLE / ANT+
USB: USB 3.0
NFC
IR Remote

SENSOR
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, Hall, RGB ambient light, Gesture (IR), Finger Scanner, Heart rate sensor

MEMORY / STORAGE
RAM: 2GB
Internal Memory: 16/32GB
microSD slot upto 64GB

DIMENSIONS
142.0 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145g

BATTERY
2800mAh
Standby time: 390 hrs / Talk time: 21 hrs

What do you reckon?

Review coming very soon.... Stay tuned (pun unintended but works so well)...    

Take good care!

Thank you for watching and reading!

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