Dubai Samsung has gone back to basics with the announcement of its much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S5 phone, that will hit UAE retail stores on April 11 at a price of Dh2,699
Speaking to XPRESS, during the announcement in Dubai, Haris Munif, head of marketing and retail telecommunications group, Samsung Electronics, said the emphasis this time around is to make the flagship Galaxy less gimmicky and more practical, with emphasis on improving features that matter most to consumers.
“Samsung has taken a very different approach with the Galaxy S5. We have done a lot of research and we found that what consumers really want from their smartphone is surprisingly simple stuff – they want something that helps them in their daily tasks, lets them do those things that they want to do much better – not having any extra bells and whistles that they may not need or use.”
Hayssam Yassine, Head of Telecommunications at Samsung Gulf Electronics, also stressed the back to basics approach: “With the Galaxy S5, Samsung has gone back to the drawing board to work on adding real value to our consumers’ lives, while giving them the best-in-class capabilities on the market.”
The dust and water resistant. Galaxy S5 features a 5.1” FHD Super AMOLED screen and combines an advanced camera, fast network connectivity, dedicated fitness tools and enhanced device protection features.
Munif said the enduring appeal of the Galaxy series is evident from the fact that the Galaxy S series has sold more than 200 million units (combined) till date.
Key improvements
Battery: One of the biggest improvements is the battery (2800mAh) with standby time of 390 hrs and Talk time: 21 hrs. “The ultra power-saving mode is an interesting feature, which gives you 22 hours of standby time and significant hours in basic operation. It converts the device into a simple black and white phone with access to six applications.”
Camera: The 16 megapixel camera (13 megapixel on S4) along with the world’s fastest autofocus on smartphones, (speed of up to 0.3 seconds) and HDR combine to deliver great pictures. “One cool feature is the selective focus feature which will appeal to the Instagram/social media crowd. With this feature you can focus on a specific area or object and simultaneously blur out the background,” said Munif
Security: The S5 features a finger scanner, for secure biometric screen-locking and safe mobile payment experience.
Fit and active: With the enhanced S Health 3.0, the new Galaxy S5 offers more tools to help people stay fit and well. The standout feature has to be the built-in heart rate monitor (a first for a smartphone). It provides a comprehensive personal fitness tracker to help users monitor and manage their behaviour, along with additional tools including a pedometer, diet and exercise records.
Phone specifics
The Galaxy S5 supports WiFi 802.11ac and 2X2 MIMO, and LTE Category 4 standard with support for other frequencies. The phone also features something called a download booster which taps into LTE and WiFi connections to give a significant push to downloads. There’s 2.5 GHz Quad core processor on board, with Inbuilt memory of 16GB (expandable to 64 GB). A 32GB device variant will be launched later.
Samsung Galaxy will retail in black, white, blue and copper gold. The S5 (LTE) 32GB is priced at Dh2,899, 16 GB LTE Dh2,699, and 3G model (16GB) for Dh2,599. Fitness-oriented wearables the Gear Fit, the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo will retail at Dh799, Dh1,199 and Dh799 respectively
