Samsung Galaxy S5: Release date, rumours and specs

Summary: With reports appeared to lend credence to the theory that the next Galaxy flagship smartphone is just around the corner, we round up the latest batch of rumours and sort the wheat from the chaff.

With Samsung's Galaxy S4 now pushing one year since it was released, fans of the Android smartphone are gearing up for the launch of a successor — unsurprisingly, thought to be called the Galaxy S5.  

Release date

Last year, Samsung opted to unveil the Galaxy S4 in New York at its own event in March, but this year it looks as if Samsung may bring forward the release of the Galaxy S5 a little, piggybacking on another big mobile shindig.

While it's been rumoured the hardware giant may unveil its new flagship as early as this year's CES in Las Vegas next week, Chang Dong-hoon, Samsung VP and head of its design group has reportedly suggested the S5 will make its debut at Mobile World Congress, held annually in Barcelona during February. Korean news agency Yonhap reported today that Samsung will launch its Galaxy Camera 2 at CES instead.

Either way, the S5 looks set to be unveiled earlier than last year's Galaxy flagship, and comes as reports claim Samsung wants to get the phone out early to compensate for slowing profit growth.

Will Samsung ditch its plastic frame for a metal body?

The plastic frame Samsung has retained through to the Galaxy S4 has helped keep the device lightweight without apparently harming its popularity. But it's a feature that many fans would like to see swapped for metal, particularly given HTC's move to an aluminium body for the HTC One and Apple's ability to deliver lighter phones without going plastic for its higher end iPhone model.

If rumours from December are right, Samsung will give its flagship a premium feel with a metal unibody frame that brings it up to par with its main rivals in the over-$600-unlocked market.

On the other hand, some complained that the S3's plastic casing made the high end phone feel cheap yet Samsung barely changed a thing in the S4's design and materials, so why there is some doubt about whether it will feel compelled to now.

Another option for holding back from metal is if the company wants to reserve a higher-end casing for a new premium phone. Samsung is thought to be releasing a super-high-end Galaxy F around the same time as the S5, which also is said to come with a metal casing, alongside a QHD 2K display at 2,560x1,600 pixels, according to a recent report from Korean news site ETNews.

Although Samsung's Chang Dong-hoon mentioned "new materials" for the S5, such as the use of metal and a flexible display, the executive stopped did not provide concrete details about the materials that would actually ship with it.

So far Samsung hasn't released a curved display phone using its Youm technology to any market outside of Korea, and questions remain whether consumers see any value in it, so it would be an interesting move if it were actually to put such a display in its flagship phone. A metal frame however seems a more likely addition.

Display

One of the highlights of the Galaxy S4 was its five-inch Super AMOLED display that offered 1920x1080 pixel resolution at 441 ppi. As with previous its Galaxy S releases, Samsung could be expected to improve the specs with a new model.

Recently uncovered benchmarks for a mystery Samsung device running Android 4.4 KitKat — which Samsung is still yet to rollout to its current flagship — possibly point to large leaps on the S4's display specs.

The benchmarks indicated a device with a 2,560x1,440 pixel resolution or 2K HD, which seem to support earlier theories about the S5's display specs based on Samsung's plans to launch devices this year with 560 ppi displays for devices as small as five inches. However, as mentioned earlier, those specs could just as easily be for the Galaxy F rather than the S5.

Processor, RAM

Another tidbit released by Samsung that could point to improvements in the S5 is its new 8GB LPDDR4 mobile DRAM, which it plans to use for its premium 4K or UHD display smartphones and tablets. 

Bets are on that Samsung will at least bring the S5 in line with the 3GB RAM on the Galaxy Note 3, which would take it a notch up from the S4's 2GB RAM. Add the LPDDR4, and the S5 could come with 4GB RAM.

Another question is whether Samsung will retain a Qualcomm processor as it used in the S4 or replace it in the S5 with a homegrown Exynos chip. Though the S4's 1.9 GHz quad-core processor was one of its highlights, times have changed and rumours have it that Samsung's efforts on its own Exynos line will be put to use in the S5 to rival Apple's 64-bit processors in the iPhone 5s and latest iPads. Numerous reports claim that Samsung has prepared a 64-bit Exynos chip with 8 processor cores that will be ready for the S5.

Android, Tizen, skins and software

While fans love Samsung's hardware, few — even its own leaders — appreciate its software capabilities. As with the S4, it could be expected Samsung continues its tradition of bundling homegrown features like AirView, Air Gestures and Smart Scroll in with the device.

A rumoured feature  more unlikely to make an appearance in the S5 is the Tizen OS, the Linux-based operating system that Samsung and several other telecoms players have been investing time and energy in. There were rumours early last year that Samsung could ship the S5 with Tizen, but would it really be willing to risk a proven formula by forcing fans to a new OS detached from Google Play and Google's suite of apps? Unlikely. 

Battery?

With more grunt and improved display also comes the need for more power. Samsung swapped out the 2,100mAh battery in the S3 for a 2,600mAh battery in the S4, so could be expected to raise the bar again with its next Galaxy release — a 3,100mAh or above would sound reasonable.

As flowing links from http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-galaxy-s5-release-date-rumours-and-specs-7000024758/

Jerry's Command

S5 is first product form exchanged product line. As i wish do not compare with Apple.Just created own product line start since from 2014 to smartphone market to be succeed. As also right decision of changed metal case. Many user please welcome for more protect safe data. And more over i wish design and development model will take user define need.