News & Reviews:   Samsung Galaxy S5 Malaysia

While Samsung's Unpacked invite all but announced the coming of the Samsung Galaxy S5, it still didn't offer much in terms of tech specs or features. Rumours have cropped up from Eldar Murtazin who says he knows the exact details. According to him, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will have a 5.24-inch display with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution (2K display) which would give it a world's first record with 560ppi pixel density. Other features include a 3200 mAh battery, 32GB / 64GB storage, a 16MP rear camera, 3.2MP front camera and two versions with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 or Samsung Exynos 6 processor and chipset. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is expected to arrive with a companion S Band bracelet and not a Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch. Last but not least, do take this rumour with a healthy dose of salt, as Eldar Murtazin has been wrong about the Galaxy S5 before.

Samsung has already sent out invites for a Samsung Unpacked event happening on 24 February 2014, right on the first day of the MWC Expo 2014 in Barcelona. What makes this invite interesting is that the title is written as UNPACKED 5 which hints at a possible announcement for the Samsung Galaxy S5. Still unconfirmed tech specs for the Samsung Galaxy S5 include a 2GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 6 processor and a version packing a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor. Other tech specs and features include a 5.2-inch 2K display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution, 3GB RAM, 32GB / 64GB / 128GB storage, a 16MP rear camera and Android 4.4 KitKat. We're expecting other Samsung products and devices to be unveiled there as well but nothing is confirmed just yet. The event will be happening in Barcelona at 20:00 CET and may be screened on the Samsungmobile youtube channel as well, so feel free to check it out for yourself. 

New rumours about when the Samsung Galaxy S5 could be revealed have surfaced, this time around from Eldar Murtazin from Mobile Review. According to a recent tweet, he says we could see the smartphone come on 23 February at 6pm in Barcelona with a launch expected at end of April. According to the tweet, tech specs will be the same as previously rumoured which includes a 5.2-inch 2K display with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset or the latest Samsung Exynos, 3GB of RAM, a 16MP rear camera, fingerprint sensor and 3000 mAh battery. He also says that a new TouchWiz interface will also come with the smartphone. While Eldar Murtazin has been wrong before (the death of Tizen, etc), he was fairly accurate about the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch date previously. As always do take this rumour with a pinch of salt, because they are still rumours or at least until Samsung start sending out the Unpacked event invites.

Most of us are thinking that we could see the next Samsung Galaxy S5 in February 2014 when the Mobile World Congress or MWC is expected to happen. However, news reports from an official insider in Samsung has said that the Samsung Galaxy S5 would be unveiled at New York in March. The report seems even more credible as the Samsung Galaxy S4 was also introduced last March in New York as well, but do take this rumour with a pinch of salt. No Malaysia release dates or pricing just yet but we wouldn't be surprised if HTC is planning to camp outside with the HTC One+ like they did with the HTC One.

While it was originally sent in back in July 2013, a patent published from Samsung reveals that new head gestures could come to the next Samsung Galaxy device in line, which would be the Samsung Galaxy S5. We've already got the Smart Stay and vertical scrolling feature, but the new patent will allow users to turn pages with certain head movements, followed by a wink or nod to confirm the action. While we think this could make your head look like a typewriter the patent reveals that the Samsung Galaxy S5 could be watching your head a lot more than you think, making it even more likely that an iris scanner could also be coming for the smartphone. No exact Malaysia release dates or pricing were available for the Samsung Galaxy S5 but it should be coming soon, perhaps in February 2014 when the next Mobile World Congress happens.

We're all fairly curious about the Samsung Galaxy S5, so much so that there are quite a lot of concept renders, especially as Samsung have recently patented a smartphone which could be the Samsung Galaxy S5. Check out these renders below:

This is the leaked image from the US Patents Office, rumoured to be the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 4

As the rumour mill continues to churn for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5, we now have some confirmed details of sorts from an inside source. Coming courtesy of Lee Young Hee, Executive VP of Samsung's Mobile Division, the confirmation is about several things including that the Galaxy S5 would be released by April 2014. The company also said that it knew that the design of the Galaxy S4 was too similar with the Galaxy S3 which is why we can also expect a new design for the S5. While they haven't said if this could mean a metal chassis, kevlar backside or just plain polka dots, a different design would make the S5 stand out more. The other notable rumour is that instead of a fingerprint scanner, the Samsung Galaxy S5 could include an iris scanner or eye scanner for bypassing password screens and certifying purchases. This feature we feel wouldn't be all that difficult to implement as you don't really need a dedicated eyeball scanner to do this. Other rumours include a three-sided curved display and more. In any case, April is still a few months off, so do take this rumour with a pinch of salt.

We've seen quite a few Samsung Galaxy S5 concept renders, including one with a curved screen, but there are of course many designers in the world with variously different opinions. One of the latest to surface is a concept render for the Samsung Galaxy S5 that not only features a metal unibody design but looks like a combination of a Samsung Galaxy S4 with a HTC One. This concept render comes courtesy of Hasan Kaymak who has created other concept renders before. In addition to the smartphone render, he has also added on how he'd see TouchWiz 5 looking like, which to us looks like it's borrowing the flat look from iOS 7. While it does look nice, we find it rather unlikely that Samsung would go in that direction, but do enjoy the pictures in the article.

While rumoured to appear in 2014, the Samsung Galaxy S5 seems to be making the rounds as a mystery device going by the model name SM-G900F. Recently spotted on AnTuTu, this device was found to have a 2K display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution screen. Other tech specs and features included the 2.5GHz Snapdragon 800 MSM8974AC processor and chipset, 3GB od RAM and 32GB storage. Additional tech specs rumoured to come with the smartphone include a 16MP rear camera with Samsung's ISOCELL technology. Many are saying we'll probably see the Samsung Galaxy S5 in February 2014 during the MWC Expo. We're also a bit skeptical that this SM-G900F device really is the Samsung Galaxy S5 as it only manages an AnTuTu score of 29223, whereas other less highly clocked Snapdragon 800 powered smartphones tend to hit the 32000+ mark more often than not so do take this rumour with a big pinch of salt.

Samsung may be considering switching the current AMOLED displays in their smartphones to PLS-LCD displays. The move is supposedly because the price war is getting more cut-throat as lower cost Chinese smartphones are expanding into the market. The PLS-LCD displays offer more or less the same level of quality as AMOLED displays but offer a 20% cut in cost for a smartphone. On top of that, PLS-LCD technology is also owned by Samsung and could offer better yield compared to AMOLED displays. This doesn't mean that Samsung would stop using AMOLED displays completely though as they could be used in the rumoured premium Galaxy F Series of smartphones instead. However, such a move would result in the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 having PLS-LCD displays and not the current AMOLED displays.