Items tagged with Galaxy S5
Samsung has issued a list of smartphones that it plans to upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow and unfortunately for Galaxy S5 owners, their device isn't on it. That doesn't mean that the Galaxy S5 is destined to live out the rest of its days with Lollipop, but for now, the previous generation flagship handset isn't on the roadmap.As you might expect, Samsung's Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, and Galaxy S6 Edge+ are all on the list. Other devices Samsung plans to upgrade include the Galaxy S6 Duos, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 4 Duos, Galaxy Tab A, and Galaxy Alpha.We can only assume that this isn't yet complete, as there's no real reason to leave out the Galaxy S5. It certainly has the...
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In an effort to lock down our devices with better security, fingerprint scanning is growing in popularity. Unfortunately, as it exists in many current smartphones, including Samsung's previous generation Galaxy S5 device, this type of biometric security may have a severe security flaw, as researchers from security outfit FireEye will present in more detail this week at RSA.According to a report in Forbes, FireEye is planning to talk about how affected handsets encrypt fingerprint data in a separate secure zone. Once the information is in there, it's virtually untouchable by hackers, but it's the ability to hijack the data along the way that has FireEye's researchers concerned about the overall...
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Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S5 Mini back on July 1, 2014. That seems like eons ago in tech terms, but AT&T it just now getting around to bringing the smartphone to its network. AT&T’s glacial progress when it comes to adding the Galaxy S5 Mini was even slower than Verizon’s hesitance to bring the Nexus 6 onboard. With that said, the Galaxy S5 Mini will be available for $99 with a new, two-year contract or you can select from one of three NEXT plans. Acquiring the device via NEXT 24, NEXT 18, and NEXT 12 will cost you $14.30, $17.88, and $21.48 respectively per month ($0 down). Alternatively, you can just buy the smartphone outright for $428.99. I must say that the pricing...
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There's good news today for those of you rocking a Samsung Galaxy S5 on T-Mobile's network. The spunky wireless carrier has begun pushing out an over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 5.0 Lollipop , which is also available through Samsung Kies. That means you no longer have to give your Verizon brethren the stink-eye, who have been running Lollipop for a couple of weeks now.It's a roughly 900MB package, so do yourself a solid and make sure you're on a fast and reliable Wi-Fi connection (having a charging cable handy wouldn't be a bad idea, either). If you're not seeing the update, you can try forcing the issue by navigating to Settings > About phone > Software updates. Once you get it, expect...
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For the past few years, Samsung has been riding high atop the smartphone leaderboard when it comes to units shipped. However, during 2014, we started to see a bit of weakness in Samsung’s smartphone portfolio. Its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone was little more than a warmed over version of its Galaxy S4 predecessor, and sales were more than disappointing for the company. Samsung saw its sales lead in China wither away as local OEMs like Huawei and Xiaomi attacked its smartphones with cheaper alternatives. It also recently lost its smartphone sales lead in India and the U.S. Samsung is looking to right the ship with more premium smartphones — as witnessed by the Galaxy Note 4, the Galaxy Alpha...
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With all the news and rumors surrounding the upcoming launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S6, it’s easy to forget about the company’s current flagship smartphone: the Galaxy S5. The Galaxy S5 may not have lived up to Samsung’s sales expectations, but there are still millions of the devices out in the wild. And a large subset of those smartphones can now access an upgrade that users have been craving for months: Android 5.0 Lollipop. According to Droid-Life, there are actually two updates to download. The first one is a small prerequisite update to prepare the phone for Lollipop. The second update is the actual VRU1BNLC build of Android 5.0 Lollipop. The changelog from Verizon points out the following...
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If you’ve been eying Apple’s iPhone 6 and haven’t yet taken the plunge, Wal-Mart is offering a holiday promotion that might prompt you to get off your lazy butt. The retail giant normally sells the iPhone 6 for $179 with a new two-year contract, which already represents a $20 savings over what you’d pay direct from Apple. However, starting tomorrow, Wal-Mart will discount the entry-level iPhone 6 even further to just $129 with a new, two-year contract. Likewise, the supersized iPhone 6 Plus has seen its price of entry cut from the usual $279 to $229. The price cuts extend to all members of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus families. In addition, Wal-Mart will also offer a discount on the year-old...
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If you own a Samsung Galaxy S5 and don't want to muck around with third party ROMs, hang tight, it looks like Google's latest and greatest version of Android is headed your way in the not-too-distant future. More specifically, Android 5.0 Lollipop (apologies to those of you who were hoping it would be called Lemon Meringue Pie) is said to drop on the Galaxy S5 in December. That's according to SamMobile and its trusty unnamed sources. Unfortunately they weren't able to give a precise drop date, though as we hit the home stretch in October, you're looking at a 1-2 month wait, assuming the sources are providing accurate information. Android 5.0 Lollipop is a major update that brings about a bevy...
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So you've been tempted by Apple's new big, beautiful 5.5-inch computer-in-your-pocket known as the iPhone 6 Plus. I mean if you're going to get a new smartphone, surely anything labeled "Plus" by Apple must be all that and a bag of Fritos, right? And #bendgate? You couldn't care less about what a few clumsy types are squawking about. You take care of your devices and don't plan on sitting on your phone anytime soon. Then again, the iPhone 6 Plus is expensive and it sure is big. There are so many smartphones to choose from these days and when it comes to Android, Google and their multitude of manufacturing and software developer partners, have done a nice job of empowering an ecosystem and...
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Google's next major version of Android, currently called Android L and likely to be named Lemon Meringue Pie, isn't far off in the distance, at least not as a mobile operating system release. As for when it will drop on your Android smartphone or tablet, well, that's another story -- bear in mind that only a quarter of all Android devices are running KitKat, which was released a year ago. That said, Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 (up for pre-order today) owners might not have to wait very long. Apparently some "insiders" told SamMobile that both the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 will receive the Android L system update by around the end of November or in early December. They also said it's...
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One of the few criticisms attached to Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone is that it doesn't sport a premium construction like some of its rivals. Unlike the iPhone 5S or HTC One M8, Samsung decided against a metal chassis in favor of plastic -- hardly a deal killer, but still a buzz kill of sorts, especially when several rumors leading up to the Galaxy S5's launch suggested it might have a metal body. Well, it may still happen. Citing a Korean-language news report, The Times of India says a metal-body version of the Galaxy S5 is headed to retail on August 13, undercutting Apple's rumored iPhone 6 unveiling by a full month. This is something that's been loitering around the rumor mill for...
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You could make a strong argument that Samsung's Galaxy S5 is the top handset on the market right now -- we certainly thought highly of it in our review. That said, we were surprised to learn that Samsung just launched an upgraded version of its flagship smartphone that boasts a higher resolution display and faster processor. The Galaxy S5 has only been on the market for around four months, yet Samsung apparently felt compelled to swap the display for a Quad HD (QHD) screen with a 2560x1440 resolution -- up from a 1920x1080 resolution -- and trade the processor for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 System-on-Chip (SoC). If you're looking for a caveat, it's that these tantalizing upgrades are only available...
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Though it didn't ship with every fancy new feature that was rumored and speculated prior to its official launch, the Galaxy S5 smartphone from Samsung isn't having trouble finding an audience. A Korean news website is reporting that Samsung shipped around 10 million Galaxy S5 devices in just 25 days. If that's accurate, it means the Galaxy S5 is outpacing the previous generation Galaxy S4, which itself was (and remains) a highly popular handset in the Android space. It took the Galaxy S4 slightly longer -- 27 days -- to reach the same number of shipments. And in case you're wondering, the Galaxy S3 reached 10 million shipments after 50 days, versus the Galaxy S2 and S taking 5 months and 7 months,...
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All Samsung's mobile division has done in recent years is build wildly popular handsets and tablets in the mobile space to the point where it now sells twice as many smartphones as rival Apple, but if you think those accomplishments come with job security, think again. Chang Dong-hoon is reportedly stepping down as head of Samsung's mobile design team amid criticism of the recently launched Galaxy S5. According to Reuters and the spokesperson it chatted with, he'll be replaced by Lee Min-hyouk, vice president for mobile design. Other than that, Samsung isn't saying why Dong-hoon is out and Min-hyouk is in, leaving us to speculate on what's going on. It could be that Samsung is starting to view...
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For a company that's ultra obsessed with asking, "Can you hear me now?," Verizon Wireless is unusually quiet about getting its paws on the Developer Edition of Samsung's Galaxy S5 smartphone. Nevertheless, Big Red has it and it's yours for the taking if you have a spare $600 weighing you down. It's pricey, no argument them, but hey, it comes with free 1 business day shipping. The Galaxy S5 Developer Edition also brings an unlocked bootloader to the mobile party. This makes it a little easier to install third-party firmware (ROMs). Otherwise, it's pretty much the same awesome handset that's available everywhere else. Features include a 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragoin...
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The Android smartphone wars are heating up here in Q2 with Samsung, HTC and soon LG releasing flagship devices targeted at luring in enthusiasts and mainstream consumers who might be looking to upgrade to the latest technologies and screen sizes. We just gave you a detailed evaluation of HTC's One (M8) for 2014 and today we're here to bring you our view of Samsung's new Galaxy S5 Android superphone... At Samsung's Unpacked event in February, we got some early hands-on time with the Galaxy S5 and what impressed us then is what impresses us now, now that we've had a few weeks to live and work with the device in house. The first thing that stands out is its beautiful 5.1-inch Super AMOLED...
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The Android smartphone wars are heating up here in Q2 with Samsung, HTC and soon LG releasing flagship devices targeted at luring in enthusiasts and mainstream consumers who might be looking to upgrade to the latest technologies and screen sizes. We just gave you a detailed evaluation of HTC's One (M8) for 2014 and today we're here to bring you our view of Samsung's new Galaxy S5 Android superphone. At Samsung's Unpacked event in February, we got some early hands-on time with the Galaxy S5 and what impressed us then is what impresses us now, now that we've had a few weeks to live and work with the device in house. The first thing that stands out is its beautiful 5.1-inch Super...
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Remember Tizen, the Linux-based mobile operating system that's backed by Samsung and Intel, among others? There hasn't been much noise about Tizen lately, but rest assured, if you're hoping for another player in the mobile software space, Samsung still has plans of launching Tizen-based handsets later this year. Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy, says the company is planning to introduce at least two Tizen smartphones in the second quarter of this year. How the market reacts remains to be seen, but ultimately Samsung hopes to build an entire ecosystem around Tizen so that it doesn't have to rely on Android so heavily. Samsung admitted that Android "still needs...
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It appears that smartphone makers have been watching too many spy flicks, hence the sudden fascination with fingerprint scanning as a security measure. While that may seem like a fine and dandy idea on paper -- and in Hollywood -- the truth is, the biometric technology that's available for consumer handsets just isn't secure. This was again demonstrated on the Internet -- like Apple's iPhone 5S phone, the fingerprint scanner on Samsung's Galaxy S5 is susceptible to fingerprint spoofing. Never heard of the term? As long as handset makers insist on implementing hackable fingerprint scanners, it's a term you're going to hear over and over again. One way to do this is by taking a photo of a fingerprint...
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You have to admire Samsung's ability to clown the competition in advertisements and social media, though not everything the company puts out there is intended to draw laughs. Samsung has a serious side as well, which is on display in a couple of new and informative videos showing off the Galaxy S5, Gear 2, and Gear Fit. They're a nice change of pace from the usual fodder, be they humorous or over hyped. Samsung lays out detailed specs, so if you decide to sit through the 3 minute and 45 second YouTube video showing off the Galaxy S5, you'll at least come away knowing all the technical details without having to hop around websites. Have a look: If you'd rather not sit through the video, we'll...
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Today we were on hand at Samsung's Unpacked press event in New York City to see the live unveiling of the upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone, and Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit smartwatches. If you haven't already seen our coverage of the original announcment, the Samsung's upcoming flagship features a 5.1-inch (1920x1080) Super AMOLED display and a quad-core 2.5GHz SoC paired to 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of storage, and a microSD card slot that supports up to 128GB of additional storage. Right out of the box, the Galaxy S5 will run Android v4.4.2 (KitKat). We had a chance to get a little hands on time with the Galaxy S5 and the Gear 2 and have some video of it in action as well. Take a...
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It's getting about time for Samsung to launch new Galaxy devices, and sure enough, there are documents floating around the web suggesting the South Korean device maker is getting ready to do that very thing. At minimum, it looks like Samsung is getting ready to release two new tablets -- 8 inches and 10 inches -- and at least one new smartphone. Of course, the impending launch of new products is hardly a secret. Mobile World Congress (MWC) is just around the corner, and Samsung has sent out invitations to members of the press to attend its "Unpacked 5" event on February 24, 2014. It wouldn't be much of an Unpacked event if Samsung didn't bring anything new to show off. That said, a pair of Samsung...
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