Thursday 10 April 2014

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 LONDON LAUNCH 10 APRIL 2014

This is one time I was glad to be a part of the crowd! Photo taken with the Galaxy S4.
SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 LONDON LAUNCH
10 APRIL 2014
#Samsung #GalaxyS5 #GS5 #Gear2 #Gear2Neo #GearFit #London #Stratford

Good early morning / late evening, Synapse Circuit Readers! How are you tonight? I hope that all is well and that you had a brilliant day!

Earlier on – yesterday evening I went along to the Samsung Galaxy S5 launch in London’s Olympic Stratford City!

18:00
I managed to get to the Samsung store located in Stratford within the massive mall that is Westfield! “The first 100 people get a prize...” Yeah, right! Lol! There couldn’t have been more than 50 in the queue at the time of my arrival and it was about 18:50 when I was able to get into the store.

Once I got in the atmosphere was jubilant! There were drinks in the form of champagne and orange juice. And there were some nibbles too – balls of vegetables with cheese and meat alternatives.

Note: There were many people in the queue with iPhones! Gosh! Hahaha! It seems that all the publicity that Apple is giving Samsung through the constant lawsuits has paid off! Hee hee hee...

19:30
The Samsung store was packed out and a vast number of the attendees came to pick up their handset! It was quite astonishing to see people queuing up inside to collect their pre-ordered Galaxy S5. But there again it is the one of the most innovative handsets on the planet right now!

The store floor, as you’d expect, was filled with Galaxy S5s and the Gear 2 wearable devices! I spent quite a bit of time with the Galaxy S5!

MISLEAD?
I’ve been reading up on the so called appraisals by the usual tech-media suspects that have the GS5 as “not much of an improvement on the GS4...” WRONG!!!! VERY!!!!

I am the proud owner of the GS4 and when I compared the two I was pretty much blown away by how different the GS5 actually is!

SIZE MATTERS
For starters the Galaxy S5 is substantially bigger without while retaining its identity as a handset and not a phablet.

VELVET GLOVE
Gone is the shiny plastic back plate that houses the battery, etc and in its place is the velvety perforated material that will prove to be fingerprint (and all the greasiness that comes with fingers) resistant. The velvet texture makes the GS5 so much nicer to handle – so much so that the size increase is not an issue at all!

DAZPLAY
“DazPlay” is what happens when you combine the words “dazzling” and “display”! The 5.1” full HD Super AMOLED screen is probably one of – if not – the best screen I have ever seen thus so far! The display goes beyond superlatives! The screen is really that brilliant (see what I did there?)! 



DON’T SAY CHEESE

Above is a picture taken with the Galaxy S5; I didn't have enough time to set the camera up. I did record some 4K and full HD video that I couldn't send as the files were way to big! The other pictures were taken with my GS4!

The 16MP camera is definitely a huge improvement – especially as the focus is almost instantaneous! I managed to take a few shots and I was suitably impressed with the results although I would welcome the opportunity to test the camera thoroughly!

FINGERED?
Yes, the Fingerprint Unlock really works! Don’t be fooled by the media claiming that it’s “dodgy”. Uh-uh! I saw a demonstration whereby it was fingerprint locked and it couldn’t be unlocked by some of audience – including me – invited to test it. When the GS5 got back to the demonstrator he was able to unlock it without a hitch!

BENCHMARK SCORES?
Let me tell you right now that the 2.5GHz quad-core processor shifts! The interaction was snappy and I couldn’t detect any lag in the interface.

Websites launch instantaneously as does apps. Ok, I couldn’t test everything but from what I saw I was very happy with it!

TOUCHWIZ MELTDOWN?
The TouchWiz overlay is somewhat subdued and that makes TouchWiz less intrusive to those who like the minimalist vanilla Android feel; it’s a good compromise between the two. I like that I can say, “Ok, Google” and up pops Google Now!

There again, I can’t say that I have any complaints about TouchWiz post GS3. I thought TouchWiz on the Galaxy S2 was a tad heavy and I had to replace both Google Android and TouchWiz with a CyanogenMod custom ROM that has extended the life of my GS2! Anyhoo... ...the combination of Android KitKat and TouchWiz Nature UX is sweet! There’s even a magazine-type of interaction that is similar to the news feed of HTC Sense. But the way Samsung has done it is very pleasing; it doesn’t dominate but fits in to the scheme of things.

CONCLUDING FIRST IMPRESSIONS
WOW!!!! The Galaxy S5 should do well!

EVENT EVALUATION

Venue: 10 / 10.

The Samsung Stratford City store is a very grand and spacious venue.

Officials: 8 / 10.
The Samsung team were very knowledgeable and helpful. I wasn’t impressed with not getting my free prize for being amongst the first 100 people through the door! Ha!

Materials: 10 / 10.
We didn’t have to wait long to have a play with the Galaxy S5 and Gear 2 wearable devices.

Check out the pics and video from the event here: Media

I will leave you with the specifications once more!

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

What do you reckon?

Full review coming very soon....

Take good care!


Thank you for watching and reading!

Please check out the Synapse Circuit website for video, i-PDF and more! 

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