Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, mini And Zoom Rumored To Be Released This Summer
Samsung Galaxy S5 was unveiled last month at this year?s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but it won?t be available until the second month of April, as its release date is set for April 11 2014, even though as we just reported, South Korean carriers decided to release the Samsung Galaxy S5 earlier, due to sanctions imposed on them by the South Korean government following illegal subsidies offered by the three South Korean carriers.
While the Samsung Galaxy S5 has yet to be released worldwide (excepting South Korea as we mentioned above), we can’t help but wonder if it will receive any variants. As you know, the Samsung Galaxy S4, which was released last year, received not one, not two, but three variants, these being the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom and? the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is a water and dust proof variant of the original Galaxy S4, with an IP67 rating, designed for ‘rough use’. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is a mid range model of the original Galaxy S4 and also a successor to the Galaxy S III Mini. It also features similar hardware and software to the Samsung Galaxy S4. Finally, Samsung also released the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, with Optical Zoom 10x (24?240 mm eq. 35 mm in film camera) with a f/3.1-6.3 aperture and optical image stabilizer and a standard xenon flash. Hardware wise, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom features the same hardware as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. The Galaxy S4 Zoom can be seen as a mid range point and shoot camera with smartphone capabilities.
Less than a week ago, on March 24th, reputable leaker @evleaks : “Samsung SM-G870x is the Galaxy S5 Active. Coming to AT&T and Sprint, among other carriers“. If the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active will indeed have model number SM-G870x and if it will be released (most likely to be offered not just by Sprint and AT&T but also by T-Mobile and Verizon), the question is why? Why would Samsung release a dust and water proof variant of a smartphone that is already dust and water proof. That would be a bit pointless, so we think that if Samsung will indeed release the Galaxy S5 Active, it will have a new feature that will make it stand out from the original Galaxy S5. Otherwise, there would be no point to the Galaxy S5 Active.
Another hint comes from case maker Noreve, which has set up webpages for two upcoming leather cases: one for the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and the other one for the Samsung Galaxy S5 Zoom. The leather cases for the two Galaxy S5 variants that have not been unveiled at the moment, are not available, instead offering the following message: “This product is either in the manufacturing process or out of stock. It will be available on-line very soon“. These leaks are consistent with previous rumors that suggested Samsung would release three Galaxy S5 variants (the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, the Samsung Galaxy S5 Zoom and? the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini) just as it did with the original Galaxy S4. Rumors suggest these variants will be released in late Spring – early Summer (May – June).
Samsung did not make any comments about these rumors and the South Korean company will likely not unveil any of them before the fifth Galaxy S5 is released. However, we can see these variants being released, as Samsung is a company that loves to release many variants of its flagship devices, variants aimed at niche users. Only one of the three variants seems unlikely and that is the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, in the context that the original Galaxy S5 already features an IP67 rating and is dust and water proof. But if Samsung will indeed release the Galaxy S5 Active, we are sure it will come with new features to make it stand out from the original. What do you think about the three rumored Samsung Galaxy S5 variants? Are you interested in any of them, or do you think they are pointless? Leave your comments in the dedicated section below.
About the Samsung Galaxy S5
The Samsung Galaxy S5 keeps the design of the fourth Galaxy S almost intact. The Samsung galaxy S5 features a Super AMOLED panel capable of a Full high Definition resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The fifth Samsung Galaxy S is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad core Snapdragon 801 System on Chip with 2 GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU. It will also be released in a variant with an octo core Exynos 5422 System on Chip that will feature two CPUs (a 2.1 GHz quad core Cortex-A15 and a 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7), 2 GB of RAM and an ARM Mali T628MP6 GPU. It also features a removable Li-ion 2800 mAh battery that is larger than Galaxy S4’s 2600 mAh Li-ion battery and it also offers a low power mode that is enabled when battery life is low.
One of the new additions is a home button that, just as the iPhone 5S, integrates a fingerprint scanner. The swipe based fingerprint sensor is inspired by iPhone 5S? similar sensor, but unfortunately first impressions were not very good: due to the swipe based nature of the fingerprint sensor it is almost impossible to activate it when using the Galaxy S5 with a single hand. The fifth Galaxy S also integrates a heart rate monitor placed on the smartphone?s back, next to the camera?s flash. The heart rate monitor can be used from within the S Health app and after placing your finger on the sensor, it will grab your pulse in about ten seconds, with very good accuracy.
Also, as we mentioned above, just like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active (and the rumored Galaxy S5 Active), the fifth Galaxy S features an IP67 (Ingress Protection) rating, which makes it dust proof and water proof as it is ?totally protected against dust? and is ?protected against the effect of immersion between 15cm and 1m?. The Samsung Galaxy S5 also comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box and Samsung?s own front end touch interface, TouchWiz, over it plus the usual S branded apps and features. All in all, it is a high end smartphone, worthy of the Galaxy S brand.
