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Galaxy S5 has an octa-core variant

by on25 February 2014



Not that we are surprised

Samsung launched the Galaxy S5 last night and the phone did not live up to fanboy expectations. The trouble for Samsung is that it’s gaining quite a few followers, including heaps of fanboys. That’s what you get when you emulate Apple too much.

Being fanboys, the looney fringe of Samsung’s consumer base often engages in misinformation and churns out copious amounts of FUD. This is pretty much why many in the community view every new Galaxy S as a huge disappointment, since it can’t live up to fanboy expectations. At Fudzilla we simply don’t cover Galaxy rumours – we stopped last year and we’re not going to start. Ever.

The S5 is a nice upgrade. Although it doesn’t feature a metal unibody, a 1600p display or any of the nonsense expected by some fans, it does pack a somewhat faster processor, fingerprint sensor, 4K-capable 16-megapixel camera and it’s waterproof. The panel measures 5.1 inches and it’s a 1080p unit.

galaxys5

The default SoC comes from Qualcomm and it’s a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 with integrated LTE. Although it wasn’t announced at the event, the S5 will also come in octa-core flavour, with a tweaked Exynos 5 big.LITTLE chip.

It’s not groundbreaking, but neither was the S4, or the iPhone 5S for that matter. The design looks like the spawn of an unholy coupling of a Galaxy S2, Nexus 7 and the Note 2. The back is matte, with a dotted texture reminiscent of the Nexus 7, so it should bit more robust than the glossy S3 and S4. However, it still doesn’t look premium, not next to an iPhone or HTC One.

We would like to bring up another issue. The old Galaxy S3 is still on sale and it’s cheap, although availability is limited. The same fate probably awaits the S4 – and this is quite interesting. Since the S5 doesn’t bring much to the table, the S4 might be a steal, provided Samsung keeps selling it. For example, the old S3 can be bought for as little as €270 in European retail, making it an interesting alternative to mid-range phones.

If the S4 sticks around and ends up with a similar discount it will be a steal.

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