First impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo
Having recently introduced Galaxy S5 Neo via quick preview based on the official information from Samsung. Now it’s in our hands and we’re preparing it for a series of tests, the results of which you can find in our upcoming review. As usual, before we start testing the device, we like to share our first impressions of the model, even though we haven’t had that much time with it yet.
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Despite the fact that the device was officially announced last month, Galaxy S5 Neo strongly resembles its older brother – last year flagship – Galaxy S5. There are similarities in both – the design and most of the specs. The phone’s thickness is 8.1 mm excluding the protruding 16MP rear camera. It weighs just about the same – 145 g. The overall appearance and shape remain unchanged as well as the removable back cover with specific texture. However, the physical home button lacks the fingerprint sensor, but the IP67 dust and waterproof certification is present.
The main difference between Galaxy S5 Neo and its predecessor is in the SoC of the device. The newer model boasts Exynos 7 Octa 7580 and we are eager to test in the next couple of days. The mobile chip has eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.60GHz and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on battery life. We have high expectations for the battery’s performance since again the capacity is 2800mAh. The option to greatly extend the remaining battery life, by reducing the functions of the device to only the basic ones, or in other words – Ultra Power Saving mode, can be found here too. The difference between the GPUs of the phones will also be interesting, as the Galaxy S5 boasts Adreno 330, while the Galaxy S5 Neo – Mali-T720.
The main camera of the device is 16MP, just like the one is the classic S5, but this time it isn’t capable of recording video in 4K resolution, but only Full HD. We will check the quality of the shots and videos made by Galaxy S5 Neo’s camera soon and share the results in a separate article. The camera menu offers a couple of shooting modes like Panorama, Continuous shooting, HDR and manual mode, in which you can manually adjust settings like ISO, white balance etc. It would seem that the Selfie trend has gotten some influence over at Samsung, because the new model boasts a 5MP front-facing camera with “wide selfie” shooting mode.
Galaxy S5 Neo has 16GB of internal storage, but keep in mind that 5GB of those 16GB are occupied by the OS and UI, meaning you will probably need to expand the memory via the microSD card, located under the back cover. You shouldn’t have any worries about free space since the device supports up to 128GB memory cards.
The smartphone comes with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS and Samsung’s UI – TouchWiz. You get a bunch of pre-installed applications including a separate Microsoft app folder as well as many neat features and useful gesture commands. For example, the phone will vibrate as soon as you lift it up from the surface if you have a missed notification. We will take a deeper look at Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo’s software capabilities in our upcoming in-depth review.
Specs sheet
OS | Android 5.1 (Lollipop) |
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CPU | Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7580 (8-cores, 1.60GHz, Cortex-A53) |
RAM | 2GB |
Storage | 16GB |
GPU | Mali-T720 |
Display | 5.1-inch Super AMOLED capacitive multitouch screen with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution |
Connectivity | Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, EDR, LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, A-GPS |
Cameras | 16MP with autofocus and LED flash (rear), 5MP (front) |
Freatures |
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Battery | 2800 mAh |
Dimensions | 72.5 x 142 x 8.1 mm |
Weight | 142 grams |