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Samsung Reveals Galaxy S5 With Home Button Fingerprint Sensor, Accompanying 'Gear Fit' Band

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Samsung today revealed its next-generation Galaxy S5 flagship phone at its Unpacked 5 event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. As rumored, the 5.1-inch Galaxy S5 includes a fingerprint sensor built into the device's home button, mirroring Apple's own Touch ID introduced with the iPhone 5s.

galaxys5.jpg
Unlike Touch ID, which utilizes a round home button that captures a motionless fingerprint, Samsung's sensor is activated using a swiping motion that scans the finger from base to tip as the phone utilizes a rectangular home button. SlashGear has a demonstration of the fingerprint scanner.

Samsung is working with PayPal on integrating it into mobile payments, too, so that you could effectively buy apps, products, and services and authorize the transaction with a fingertip rather than a password or PIN. We found the hit-rate for the scanner recognizing our fingers was relatively high, though you do have to line your fingertip up properly: the Galaxy S5 prefers a clean downward swipe, not a sideways movement such as if you're holding the phone one-handed and sweeping your thumb across the sensor.
Click to expand...
Design-wise, the polycarbonate Samsung Galaxy S5 looks similar to previous models, though it has a unique soft-touch textured backing, a water resistant casing, and it comes in both blue and copper gold along with black and white.

The 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and the phone offers a 2.5GHz quad core processor with 2GB of memory. It runs Android KitKat 4.4.2 and includes an upgraded 16-megapixel camera with quick autofocus and real-time HDR. It has a 20 percent better battery life than the previous generation phone and includes a built-in power saving mode that will activate a black and white display with limited app access when the battery is low.

Taking a cue from Apple's reported interest in health-related applications, Samsung has included a heart rate sensor next to the camera's flash, able to measure heart rate with a finger on the sensor. The heart rate sensor accompanies the standard accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass and an IR-based gesture sensor.

Samsung's Galaxy S5 is also designed to work with a new fitness device, the Gear Fit, which accompanies Samsung's recently revealed Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smart watches. The Gear Fit is smaller than Samsung's other offerings and focuses on measuring heart rate and counting steps. It incorporates an AMOLED touchscreen panel and offers smartphone notifications and alerts, but it does not include a camera, a microphone, or a speaker.

gearfit.jpg
The Galaxy S5 and the Gear Fit will both be released in April, but Samsung has yet to announce pricing.

Article Link: Samsung Reveals Galaxy S5 With Home Button Fingerprint Sensor, Accompanying 'Gear Fit' Band
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/24/samsung-galaxy-s5/
T

tann

macrumors 68000
Apr 15, 2010
1,944
813
UK
I do hope that Apple 'copies' Sony and Samsung and makes the iPhone water resistant to some degree... That'd be badass!
 
A

allistera

macrumors regular
Sep 17, 2012
183
57
I feel that Samsung do the following timetable these days:

  • Watch rumors coming from Apple - Develop & Release a wide range of these hoping they will get a hit
  • Watch apple come out with latest tech
  • Copy that tech - Fingerprint sensor, gold?
 
T

trecb

macrumors newbie
Feb 12, 2014
15
0
Well, it’s official: the iPhone 6 will not have a larger display. For a 4.7” screen, it would need a 555 PPI. If Samsung could not increase their PPI beyond 441 for the S5, in fact they even lowered it by a little (and let’s not forget they design and manufacture their own screens, thereby lowering component costs), then Apple will certainly not be able to do so while keeping their high profit margins on their flagship product. I guess we’ll have to put up with the 4” size for at least the next 2 years...
 
AngerDanger

AngerDanger

Graphics
Staff member
Dec 9, 2008
5,452
29,002
I must applaud Samsung's efforts to throw everything Apple might do at the wall and see what sticks.
 
S

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
On the software side - I like that it has a protected mode based on fingerprint access. You can have separate photos, etc.

You can also (with one click) turn over your phone to a child and they only have access to apps you've designated - nothing else.
 
A

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
allistera said:
I feel that Samsung do the following timetable these days:

  • Watch rumors coming from Apple - Develop & Release a wide range of these hoping they will get a hit
  • Watch apple come out with latest tech
  • Copy that tech - Fingerprint sensor, gold?
Click to expand...


these phones take 2-3 years to bring to market and the parts makers shop their wares at trade shows and to everyone so everyone has an idea of the features in upcoming phones. no one is copying anyone
 
M

MacLC

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2013
414
272
Cyclops?

That clock on the Gear Fit seems 90 degrees off... unless it were a headpiece and then you could look like Cyclops when you wear it :p
 
A

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
Meh, looks rather boring and unimaginative to me personally? Nice to see it is waterproofed, something they should ALL be doing, following Sony's lead.

But the S5 has nothing to offer above my Nexus 5 which looks a lot better I think, also Samsung HAS copied the idea of a finger print scanner, NOT in the implementation of one, but with the fact it's been placed into the home button.
 
F

flash84x

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2011
189
132
Looks pretty difficult to use the finger print scanner without two hands. Once again, Apple did it the right way.
 
E

everything-i

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2012
827
2
London, UK
That watch look almost as bad as the first one. The new Pebble looks amazing in comparison. In fact even the original Pebble looks amazing in comparison.;)
 
S

sjjordan

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2003
296
1
United States
Did anyone notice that he never tried a finger that wasn't programmed?

Strangely, he used BOTH his thumb and index finger during fingerprint learning. Would have thought that would have given an error message, but didn't.

Makes you skeptical as to how reliable the scanner is at detecting non-self fingerprints.
 
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