At the MWC 2014, there was first, anticipation, then LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! And the show went on and the announcements were made and what was at first anticipation turned to excitement and was quickly followed by Meh. Such was the case of the newest flagship from Samsung – the Galaxy S5.
In the hardware department, they upgraded the camera to 16MP, enlarged the image sensor, quicken the focus to 3/10 of a second, and updated the user interface, making it more intuitive to use. They added a fingerprint scanner that ties in with the physical home button and added a built-in heart rate monitor that sits right beside the LED flash. The processor was also a big upgrade, the screen jumped from 4.8-inches to 5.1-inches, and Samsung threw in a larger, 2800mAh battery.
But was perhaps the biggest news is that Samsung has finally made so changes to its infamous TouchWiz user interface (UI) that were long overdue…it still may have a way to go, but at least we are seeing some progress. Once Alex gets a chance to review the Galaxy S5, he will be able to give us a hands-on insights to just how much improvement was actually made. In the images below, the new TouchWiz is always on the right or the bottom. You can look through the gallery, thanks to our source, and visual see the differences, and I will mention a few things as we go along.
Image 1 and 2 – show that there are slight changes to all icons. They are the same size, but markings are slightly larger in some cases (Email), others are more colorful or detailed (Messages), and most seem flatter and plainer with less detail (Clock & Gallery).
Image 3 – shows a much easier to understand and use method to add/remove Homescreens, Widgets, Apps or Wallpapers.
Image 4 – really shows how the settings screen has changed with larger icons and less complicated option bars that allow you to have twelve icons or options on one page.
Images 6 through 8 – here you can see the new Stock Dialer, Contacts and Logs (the old Recent) from within the Dialer, adding more color (black) and larger pictures…which are always nicer.
Image 9 – shows a new twist on the browser that shows more detail and hopefully it will adjust the word-wrap when you tap on it.
Images 10 through 12 – Show the new camera area which was done over extensively and it looks like it should be a cleaner and more efficient experience.
Image 13 – Shows us the old Health board vs the new S Health. Samsung has worked to make this an integral part of the Galaxy S5 and ties in with the Heart Rate Sensor on the back of the device.
