Samsung Unveils Galaxy S5 Smartphone

Today at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Samsung unveiled its latest flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S5.

The phone is also water- and dust-resistant. Samsung says you can watch videos in the tub, for instance, but that you shouldn’t submerge the phone underwater. Tough but fair.
On the back of the phone, right under the camera sensor, there’s an integrated heart-rate monitor — the first of its kind in a smartphone. Hold your finger against the monitor and it’ll tell you your pulse.
Data Connections
The Galaxy S5 sports fifth-generation Wi-Fi (a first for
smartphones, says Samsung) that can be paired with the LTE cellular connection to accelerate overall download speeds.
Security
There’s an integrated fingerprint scanner appears on-screen above the home button. You’ll have to actually swipe your finger, so it’s different from Apple’s TouchID sensor. You can use the sensor to unlock the phone, log in to a handful of apps (such as PayPal), and to protect certain files and settings on the phone from others.
Software
The modifications made to stock Android (it’s running the latest version, 4.4.2 — Kit Kat) look flatter and somewhat less overwhelming than past efforts, with a thin, modern font and simple graphic app circles. Things generally look more grown-up than in past years. Not too grown up, though. It looks fun but not hokey.
Processor, Memory and Storage

Samsung

Samsung didn’t really touch much on the Galaxy S5′s processor during its MWC presentation, so it’s likely that horsepower might vary by market: some phones might ship with Samsung’s own Exynos chips, while others might ship with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, for example (the main offering is apparently a 2.5 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon). We’ll see 16- and 32-gigabyte storage options, but the amount of RAM hasn’t been revealed (it’s believed to be three gigabytes). We’ll know more once we get closer to launch.
Speaking of a launch date…
Availability
The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be available starting April 11 in 150 countries. No word on pricing, but here in the U.S., it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the phone to start around $200 with a two-year contract and to be available on all major carriers.