INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

Samsung Galaxy S5 Release Date Set? Specs Rumors Claim 2K Screen, 2.5 GHz CPU

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 08:11 PST, Dec 5, 2013

Is the Samsung Galaxy S5 Release Date set already? Either way, the rumors are pointing to some pretty specs, and we may have a benchmark on the Galaxy S5 CPU already.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the latest Samsung Galaxy S news shows an iPhone 5S vs Galaxy S4 matchup favors Samsung’s best smartphone although the more recent Google Nexus 5 is still the overall winner.

Neither the Samsung Galaxy S4 nor the Note 3 has a fingerprint scanner, even though earlier rumors claimed Samsung might try to compete with Apple on this front. Unfortunately, the latest official Samsung Galaxy S5 news claims Samsung will take a pass on its Galaxy S5 lineup as well:

“We never officially admitted that Samsung was weighing the fingerprint system and Knox for Galaxy Note 3 for security functions. We are not yet developing the technology.”

But most of these rumors are based upon the leaked specs and benchmarks from a device calling itself the Samsung SM-G900S. Needless to say, the hardware specs were significantly better than current generation smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Screen

If the rumored specs are to be believed, the Galaxy S5 will feature a 5.0 or 5.2 inch screen running at a 2,560 x 1,400 resolution, which is the 2K specification. This means it would it produce 560 pixels per inch (PPI), which seems quite an overkill for a smartphone screen.

For example, even 1080p smartphones are a waste of money. When you look at your smartphone, the “apparent” visual clarity is largely determined by size of the screen, resolution, and the distance between the display and your eyes. Even those with 20/20 vision can’t resolve sharpness above 229 pixels per inch, so even a six inch screen with a 1080 by 1920 resolution has a 367 ppi, which is more than what is necessary for a smartphone. So a 560 PPI is way beyond what people actually need, although I’m sure Samsung will market the heck out of it.

Samsung Galaxy S5 CPU

The benchmarks seem to indicate the Galaxy S5 processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, which includes a 2.5 GHz quad core Krati 450 CPU and an Adreno 420 GPU. But earlier rumors indicated Samsung might try and make their own CPU.

The real question is whether the single-threaded performance has significantly improved. Some critics derided Apple for sticking with a dual core CPU for the iPhone 5S, but most mobile apps are dependent on single core performance.

But the iPhone 5S performance is faster than the Galaxy S4, although the iPhone GPU got spanked by the Google Nexus 5, which uses the Adreno 330 built into the Snapdragon 800. So, if the Galaxy S5 CPU is the Snapdragon 805 then you can guess it should win in all categories.

Whatever the case, Samsung has definitely confirmed they plan on releasing a 64-bit CPU for the future Samsung Galaxy S series. Expect better performance than the Galaxy S4 and 3 GB or 4 GB of memory, which would beat the iPhone 5S’s 2GB.

Other Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs

There’s nothing definite on this end but rumors are suggesting a 16-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, a 4,000 mAh battery (which makes sense if the screen size is large. since the case has room for a bigger battery), and it’ll run Android 4.4 Kit Kat. But the Samsung Galaxy S5 case design is the most interesting aspect of the rumors because some photos suggest there may a high end metal chassis design with a non-removable battery. Most experts seem to assume Samsung would also offer a cheaper plastic body design, as well.