Samsung Galaxy S5 unveiled with more power, improved camera and a refined design

Barcelona: Samsung has unveiled a new ‘refined' version of its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone at the World Mobile Congress. As usual, the device is bigger, faster, and more powerful than ever.The new Galaxy S5 smartphone has been promoted as a lifestyle product, as it has an enhanced rear camera, a built-in heart-rate sensor and has biometric functions like identifying iris and a fingerprint scanner.Looks-wise, there's hardly something new. The Galaxy S5's design is a minor upgrade from the Galaxy S4. Surprisingly, you can't distinguish between the two devices from the front. But the S5 is slightly larger, measuring 5.1 inches across instead of 5.The new Galaxy S5 retains the same 1080p Super AMOLED panel as the GS4. Below the display is a new home key with integrated fingerprint scanner and capacitive keys for multitasking and Android's back button. Built-wise too, Samsung has retained the familiar metal-looking plastic surround on the S5, but now the charging port (now USB 3.0) comes with an integrated port cover for waterproofing. The S5 is IP67-rated for water and dust resistance, meaning it can be submerged in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes at a time.On the back-side, there are minor changes. Samsung has replaced the S4's glossy plastic battery cover with a dimpled soft-touch finish. The Korean company calls this a "modern glam" look. The new back gives the phone a softer feel as it is now more comfortable to hold and doesn't slide off of surfaces like the S4. The S5 is offered in black, white, blue, and gold.However, despite the refined design and new patterned finish, the S5 retains much of the signature pieces of the Galaxy line. The phone has a 16 megapixel camera, sharper than the 13 megapixels in its predecessor. It promises faster auto focus and the ability to blur the foreground or background of an image to emphasize a subject. The smartphone also supports real-time HDR processing for better results in mixed lighting.Samsung says the new device can adapt its screen to changing external conditions so as to dim it to avoid disturbing others nearby.The S5 has a fingerprint sensor to use in place of a passcode to unlock the phone or make payments through PayPal. It's a feature still rare in phones, though Apple introduced it in last fall's iPhone 5s.Internally, the device sports a faster, 2.5GHz quad-core processor, and 2GB of RAM. That's not necessarily a huge jump from the Galaxy S4, which had a 1.9GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, but it's enough to put the S5 on par with most of the latest flagship phones.It is expected that the processor will vary from region to region based on LTE requirements. We figure North America to get a Qualcomm processor, while the rest of the world -- or at least part of it -- gets a Samsung Exynos processor.Samsung has included S Health app on the device, which leverages a heart-rate sensor on the GS5's back. The sensor is located just below the device's rear camera and reads your pulse from your fingertip; it can give users a reading in only a few seconds.Samsung has also incorporated Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5s, which is located on its home button. It requires users to swipe their finger downward to read the digit.The device will ship with Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Samsung's user interface fully intact.Overall, it appears, that the Korean handset maker has tried to retain the success formula of the S4 device, and for the most part, the company seems to be carrying it to the new device. The device is pretty much smooth in processing speed, has nicer feel to it, and offers all the amazing things that the Samsung Galaxy range is capable of doing.The Galaxy S5 is scheduled to launch globally on April 11th and will be available on all major US carriers.