With Samsung naming its upcoming event at Mobile World Congress “Unpacked 5”, it’s become almost a certainty the Korean manufacturer will be unveiling its next flagship, the Galaxy S5, earlier than expected, but many folks still have reservations about the possibility of Samsung not holding a dedicated event of its own. However, if a report from The New York Times is accurate, those reservations might be for naught, as a source familiar with the matter has reportedly confirmed that the February 24th event is indeed being held for the Galaxy S5.
The same source also claims that Samsung has decided to keep it simple in terms of new software features, after many of the new features (such as Air View) on the Galaxy S4 (and Note 3) were considered gimmicky by critics. Instead, the company will focus on other features to make the device more attractive to relatively untapped audiences, such as business users, with features such as the KNOX security suite. While that’s certainly good news, as it could mean the S5 won’t add too heavily to the already existing bloat on Samsung devices, it might also come as disappointment to those who like to modify their phones’ software, as Samsung’s current implementation of KNOX has already caused enough problems with simple things such as getting root access.
Furthermore, the report suggests that Samsung will be keeping the Galaxy S5 event a relatively low-key event, and will cut down on the “theatrics” it displayed during the Galaxy S4’s announcement, meaning we won’t see as much dancing and music as before. This probably has more to do with the fact that Samsung is holding the event at MWC instead of a private venue, but it should still come as relief to those who cringed and hissed at the melodrama at the Galaxy S4’s Unpacked event last year.
The Galaxy S5 is expected to sport a 5.25-inch display of 2K resolution, an Exynos 6 octa-core / quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16-megapixel rear camera, 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera, 32/64 GB of storage and a microSD slot, a 3,200 mAh battery, and Android 4.4 KitKat with a refined user interface. It will come in both a metallic and plastic variant, most likely with a fingerprint scanner on-board, and launch in markets sometime in March.
