Monday morning, at a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Samsung finally took the wraps off the much-anticipated Galaxy S5, its newest flagship smartphone.
Though it's not the major overhaul from the Galaxy S4 that we expected, the shiny new phone sports a sharp and bright 5.1-inch screen, a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, and a 16-megapixel camera. The device is also waterproof, inspired by the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active from 2013, and comes with a new fingerprint scanner similar to the iPhone 5S.Samsung also gave the S5 a heart rate monitor, which is built into the camera's flash. You get four color choices with the phone; black, white, blue, and coppery gold. However, color choices will vary by market, so you might not be able to pick up the gold version depending on where you live.
We compare the new phone with two of its top competitors, LG's newly announced G Pro 2, and the wildly popular iPhone 5S. Take a look at the specs below and decide for yourself which phone fits your needs.
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | Apple iPhone 5S | LG G Pro 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 5.5 x 2.85 x 0.31 inches; 5 oz. | 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 inches; 4 oz. |
6.22 x 3.22 x 0.33 inches; 6 oz |
| Screen | 5.1-inch full-HD IPS; 1,920x1,080 pixels; 431ppi | 4-inch Retina Display; 1,136x640 pixels; 326ppi |
5.9-inch full-HD IPS; 1,920x1,080 pixels; 373ppi |
| Operating system | Android 4.4 | iOS 7 | Android 4.4 |
| 4G LTE | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WiFi | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz) | 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) |
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz) |
| NFC | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bluetooth | v4.0 | v4.0 | v4.0 |
| IR Blaster | Yes | No | Yes |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes | Yes | No |
| Rear camera and recording | 16-megapixel | 8-megapixel; 1080p full-HD video |
13-megapixel; 4K HD video |
| Front-facing camera | 2-megapixel | 1.2-megapixel; 720p HD video |
2.1-megapixel |
| Processor | 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 |
Proprietary A7 (64-bit) with M7 motion processor |
2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor |
| Capacity | 16GB and 32GB | 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB | 16GB and 32GB |
| Expandable storage | Yes | No | Yes |
| Battery | Removeable 2,800mAh | Embedded: Up to 10 hours on 4G LTE; standby time up to 10 days |
Removeable 3,200mAh |
| Carriers | AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular | AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and global | Not yet announced |
| Color options | Black, white, blue, and copper | Gray, white, and gold | White, silver and titan |
