Cool cam, nifty features jazz up Samsung's latest

Sherwin Loh

28 March 2014

LET'S take a close-up look at South Korean phonemaker Samsung's latest flagship model.

HARDWARE

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch high-definition Super Amoled display and is powered by a

Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz processor.

Both dust- and water-resistant, it has a heart-rate sensor and a biometric fingerprint sensor for a

secured log-in. This sensor can also be used to make secured payments via PayPal.

As with its previous flagship devices, Samsung will launch only the LTE version here. This will take

place next month.

Client : PayPal Country : Singapore

Publication : MyPaper Section : Lifestyle

Date : 28 March 2014 Type : Print

Topic : Cool cam, nifty features jazz up Samsung's latest

Circulation : 300,000

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IMPROVED REAR CAMERA

The sharper 16MP lens is actually not the most exciting thing about the camera.

Rather than introducing features that would lean towards the gimmicky, Samsung has focused on

what is important to users by introducing a new hybrid autofocus system.

Using a combination of traditional autofocus and phase-detection autofocus, the S5 can lock onto an

object far more quickly than other smartphones on the market. This makes it ideal for action shots,

such as your children or pets running around the park.

SELECTIVE FOCUS

Recently, a new feature - the ability to alter a photo's depth of field - has been making its way into

smartphones, including the upcoming HTC One (M8) and the Galaxy S5. After taking the photo, you

can choose, at the editing stage, to focus on objects in the background or foreground.

On the HTC, implementation of this function is supported by the use of a secondary lens.

Here, the feature is much simpler to use as the S5 provides a shift in focus based on three settings -

near, far and pan, which places the entire image in focus.

DOWNLOAD BOOSTER

Using a high-speed 4G connection on your smartphone makes downloading files and streaming

videos a snap. However, with telcos offering plans that start at just 2GB, such an easy flow of data

could end up eating into your monthly data allowance.

Download Booster, which combines the use of LTE and Wi-Fi, aims to increase download speed and

reduce download time. Once it is activated and the S5 is connected to a Wi-Fi network, it will initiate

a download over both channels at the same time.

This works on downloads that are larger than 30MB. However, it does not work on services that use

secured download protocols, such as Dropbox.

REAL-TIME HDR

To view a high dynamic range (HDR) photo, one usually has to wait until a camera or a software

program merges multiple shots taken using different exposure settings.

Samsung is changing this with "live HDR". Instead of previewing just shots of different exposures, the

software now shows users what the final HDR image will look like on-screen.

The software works very well. When I wanted to take an HDR photo indoors while sunlight was

streaming in from an open window, the display showed a final shot that struck a fine balance

between details of the objects indoors and those of the brightly lit outdoors.

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