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We didn’t need a Samsung exec to make us believe that the Samsung Galaxy S5 would be launching this April with all the rumors swirling about saying as much, but one of them confirmed that any.
According to Bloomberg, Samsung’s vice president of mobile Lee Young Hee confirmed that, just as with all of their first flagship phones of the year, the Samsung Galaxy S5 would launch around the typical March-April timeline we’re used to. The executive actually name-dropped the “S5,” so they’re not just beating around the bush about what they’re talking about.
What’s more is that they also revealed they’d be dropping the next generation Samsung Galaxy Gear around this same time, a rumor that was flying about before the original Galaxy Gear even went on sale.
Samsung admitted that the original wrist watch wasn’t exactly what they’d want for their first release, but reports say they were pressured into rushing out a consumer product as they feared Apple would beat them to it. Now that they know they were first (well, first in their own little Samsung-Apple war bubble), they have been able to breathe easier and take the time they need to make the product they really wanted to make.
Young Hee says they see huge potential in the wearables space in terms of health and fitness, which likely means the company’s next Galaxy Gear could have some vital-recording sensors on board (not unlike their competitors next door LG unveiled at CES 2014). They’d already shown an interest in helping folks keep healthy lives with the likes of a pedometer app and other fitness apps on the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Whatever Samsung has to announce will likely be at Mobile World Congress next month, so we’ll be look ahead to that to get more details about what they’ll bring. Samsung admitted that the Galaxy S4 didn’t make a big splash because it didn’t do enough differently than the Galaxy S3, so look for the company to challenge that with whatever they’ve cooked up for the 5th entry into this dominant series. They even admitted they’re looking into iris-scanning technology, though they can’t say whether or not it’ll make it into the final release.
I’ve been rocking the Galaxy Nexus since its release date, but my phone now resets 10 times a day and isn’t what it used to be (not blaming the model – first of all it’s been 2.5 years – great years, and secondly I’ve been a high-intensity user, so to speak). It’s about time to move on. I’ll be strongly looking at the S5 – and if it doesn’t “wow” me over the S4 or Note 3, I’ll be looking to buy one of those used or at a further discounted price once the S5 launches.
As someone who travels globally with the phone, I’ll be looking at battery life, the ability to insert a spare battery, and how great the camera is. The new doohickeys I don’t find to be very important, but perhaps I’m only saying that because I don’t have experience with them
If the spare battery isn’t an option, take a look at some of the great external battery options available. Makes charging up anywhere super easy without the need to swap out batteries.
Swapping batteries takes a whole 30 seconds on my S4.
My Battery Charger charges my phone and ALL my other devices that can charge via USB. I see that as a better investment. Especially since the 3DS only has like 3-5 hours of play time.
Nintendo really doesn’t want me to catch them PKMN. =.[
Yeah, but it’s a forced reboot, which interrupts whatever you’re doing that distracted you to the point of draining your battery in the first place. I prefer the more passive approach that an external extended battery provides.
And I can just buy a new one after it inevitably degrades over the course of my two-year contract. It also allows me to change the capacity without having an unsightly charging brick hanging off the end. Removable batteries FTW.
What you call a brick is much smaller than you think. I’ve got a 3000 mAH external that’s no bigger than a lipstick case. I can charge my phone without being tethered to a wall.
I had 2 spare batteries for my last phone and can count the number of times I used them on one hand. I use my external all the time when I travel.
Thanks for the advice!
A 2nd gen Galaxy Gear…to only work with Samsung products…and have an inferior pedometer functionality to Fitbit. Well that is just what I expected. As a fitness gadget enthusiast, I am not at all enthused. They’ll focus on a flashy color screen (that you can’t see outside running) and will rely on API connectivity only through a tethered phone (and it will have to be their phone) to make it work. I don’t want to carry a phone or burn through a battery to “track” my fitness. If I’m running a marathon (and let’s be honest, I mean yogging because I am not fast) using Bluetooth and GPS on my phone with tracking would kill even the “best” phone’s battery. I want to keep my phone battery for if I get hurt or have to find someone at the end of a race for my ride….not for tracking. I suspect this next gen Galaxy Gear will only have pedometer “sensors” aka 3d accelerometer or something. Their analyzation of the movement and formulas to derive number of steps being that it is wrist worn will be highly inaccurate no doubt and there’s no way they’ll do it as well as Fitbit. Anyone that uses fitness gadgets for that purpose will have no use for it. For the casual person maybe kind of sort of counting steps, it will be a nice gimmicky bonus, but this will serve as nothing ground breaking or reason to buy the product by anyone that uses other devices today.
Samsung, if you’re listening…this is what you should be doing if you want to focus on the “fitness market” with your watch:
1. E-ink screen – it’s better on the battery and if someone is tracking outdoor activity, they can actually see it.
2. It needs to be durable. So if you have a glass screen that is all sleek and cool and the edges are such that if you drop it, the whole thing cracks, it will be useless. You can use a MotoActv as a prime example of this, because I had one and dropped it putting it on and the whole screen was broken. Also, it should be waterproof…it’s for sports, make it durable with water. As long as you’re doing a 3d accelerometer you may as well have swim tracking as one of the sport tracking methods too.
3. BUILT IN GPS – none of this using the phone crap to get that data…. build it into the watch. You shouldn’t need a phone to use the watch (bonus stuff when using with phone, but for sports, it needs to be IN THE WATCH).
4. Bonus points for altimeter.
5. If you want useful metrics and body feedback, you should go beyond the pedometer concept and have sensors like a Basis (optical heart rate monitor, galvanic skin response, skin temp) built into the back side of the watch.
6. Full API and sync to every fitness website out there. Not sure how you could if you could make it play well with fitbit, but that would be a bonus, but here’s a short list, which is just a few to consider…basically work with all of them though (Nike+, Runkeeper, Edomondo, MyFitnessPal, SparkPeople, Fitbit, MapMyRun(Fitness) and a ton others. For anything without direct sync/integration, you should have the ability to export TCX/GPX so people can pull the data into whatever they want. Standardization of format is key. This is where Nike+ is a pain. They however, have great community features.
7. Make the design work for sports. Look at the Nike+ watches…the way they look and how the wristband has 2 columns of holes and the tail end locks down is awesome. If your strap can get caught on anything like a sleeve etc…then it’s not good for sports. This is one of the annoyances of the Basis and I’m pretty sure TomTom, while looking a lot like the Nike+ (which they partnered on) did totally wrong with their new watches. I don’t want the little slidey thing that goes over the tail. They slide up and more importantly, they break. It is useless on a sport watch!
8. Bluetooth connectivity to sensors (like cadence sensors for a bike). Make it so it can evolve to work with things going forward.
9. Major bonus points to integrate private calling type capabilities like the HotWatch. Another feature HotWatch will have is when you stray too far from your phone that it will alert you, so you don’t forget it. I’m looking forward to that (yeah I am set to get one of those within the month, though sadly they won’t have the sports stuff I mentioned above that I’m ultimately looking for…again this is a support them now with hopes of future development kind of backing).
So Samsung, if you’re basically releasing another GG like the first with a crappy pedometer feature integration that is not even close to as good as fitbit and you continue only to support your Samsung phones…then buh….because I have 0 interest.
If it had just your first 3 points, I’d buy it.
The built-in GPS is a good point – if I’m wearing a fitness watch, I should need to carry my phone. The phone should play music to my Bluetooth headphones, too (not sure if the current one does this or not).
Yeah, I’d think most bluetooth capable phones can do the BT headphones (though if they aren’t stereo, I find you have to use a 3rd party thing to make it work…only know this because of a headset I use at work that if I want to use it for non-phone-call audio that it doesn’t inherently work since it’s a mono headset). That being said, I haven’t found bluetooth headphones I like since they either are uncomfortable or heavy. My bose MEI and SEI headphones are my goto ones….the way the ear silicone things fit is so comfortable. i was never able to stand an earbud type headphone prior to these. They also don’t fall out. It would be nice to have that comfort and wireless, but I’ll take wired/comfortable over wireless/uncomfortable.
Oh and for points 1, 2, and 3…if you are looking at it for running, the Nike+ is a good watch for now then. It stinks that you can’t do multi-sport…well you can still track a bike ride with the GPS, but it would screw up your running stats as far as personal bests and such, but if you don’t care about comparing pace/distance to historical runs and and just want pace/distance etc from either running/biking, then it’s totally usable for it. You can toggle wether to do GPS with the foot pod, just GPS, or just foot pod on any given “run” so you can do GPS only for bike.
I’m going to bookmark this page and read this when I work Saturday since no one is ever at school in need of IT help. =.P
As of now, no. I’m not reading your latest novel, “You Know What Really Grinds My Samsung Galaxy Gears?”. LoL!!
Haha, well it’s more me sick of everybody an their brother saying they’re making a “fitness” device, which is neither groundbreaking nor conducive to actually getting metrics from fitness or rugged enough for it. Samsung is extra special since they do all the common stupid things and then make it proprietary as an added bonus. It certainly grinds my galaxy gears. :) If you’re a fitness type, the novel is worth the read if you haven’t gotten into acquiring gadgets that collect dust..so you can save your $ on what doesn’t work :)
You know what really grinds my Galaxy gears. That’s one of the best things I’ve ever read on Phandroid. Kudos for turning a Family Guy gag into a tech-related gag.
Yeah… I’m gonna have to go ahead ask you to keep your comments to a single screen limit and if you could rant about a piece technology that has a function beyond fitness that’d be great.
Making the next GEAR easily compatible (non-root/ROM) w/other mfgs handsets would be a no-brainer improvement.
I think the 1st attempt has shown that people aren’t going to buy their handsets just to have a functional Smartwatch. Make it compatible, as the rest of the competition has w/their smartwatches & you’ve got a winner.
I really don’t understand the bad press the GEAR has received. It’s arguably the best Smartwatch available, in the top 3 easily.
Just make it compatible w/all ANDROIDS, or, for that matter, w/the i-Phone as well……
You’d be surprised about people buying a phone just for the watch
I do think it is one of the best, if not the best. but compatibility, battery life, clunkiness(imo), and the outrageous price tag have really held it back. if I had the money for a smartwatch, I would rather go with the pebble metal, it looks gorgeous
~5” screen wit 2k rez/3gb ram/13mp cam/kitkat/loads if new touchwiz bloat. pass.
Todays challenge: Try to comment on this post without using the word BLOAT!
Bonus points for not bleating about Alooominummm is preeeeemium “duuurrrrrr”.
LoL!! You’re still on that, are you? I don’t think it’s premium, I just prefer heavier phones.
If plastic were heavier, I wouldn’t mind it.
My E4GT (GS2) was uber light. Especially since I came from the G2.
I’ll sell you a lead case for $10 :)
I would buy that if I weren’t afraid of being poisoned. LoL!!
plaaasssstic is fantaaaaassstic “durrrrr.” I can make silly statements too.
That was pretty silly, McMilliVanilli…
ok jason Farrell Apparel…. wait, Farrell Apparel isnt half bad.
Awesome. I’m going to open a store today! Thanks.
He was trying to say people are harping on about the whole “plastic phones are and feel cheap vs plastic ones” way too much. Shape up (your issues with devices) or shut up, dickweeds.
*vs metal ones*
I’ve seen him post before, he is pretty anti “metal” phones, so my comment was literal NO different from his comment…. it was just from the opposite perspective. I actually have no issues either way. I used to own a Note 8.0, it was good, it got the job done, but it didnt feel like a $400 device. I’m not gonna ave a hissy fit if the thing is made out of “samsung plastic” but i can understand when people are asking for a little more.
Also, name calling isnt a substitute for backing up your argument in an articulate way.
You’re preaching to the choir, Jesus Sunglasses. Metal as a material shouldn’t be nearly as much of an issue for people as it is.
I’m hype for this. I want a new phone badly.. But it’s a new year. Can’t be scooping up that brand old lol.
Methinks this series is about to jump the shark…
WTF!? If anything, Apple knows when to release a new product. WTF was that Galaxy Gear? Too soon. And what’s with Samsung and their propriety stuff? Are they planning on stopping that?
I like to mix my tech around. I may like a Samsung phone, but that doesn’t mean I like their TV’s, =.=
Eh…? Oh well… This is still good news. I can’t wait to see what they’re bring to the table with the S5. Every year is ALWAYS interesting.
#NerdModeOn
If Samsung lowers the price and makes their watch compatible with Android/iOS/Windows it’ll be a hit. That’s where they screwed up.
Eh, I dunno… if Apple could release the iPad 3 and then the iPad 4 a few months later, I think I can give Samsung a pass this time. Not like anybody actually bought that smartwatch anyway :)
The only thing they need to improve is the low-light performance of the camera and the battery life (pretty good right now, but it could be even better). Since 4.4.2 phones no longer need the latest hardware in order to run smoothly. Samsung should really put more effort towards streamlining the interface, instead of focusing solely on the hardware aspect.
it will be a really cool phone….that will be out of date in 4 months like every other phone.
My Galaxy S3 still kicks ass after 18 months. Root, Cyanogenmod and the Tasker app. Pure bliss.
so does mine,
while the hardware may be outdated it can still do just about anything these latest phones can do. software is way behind hardware right now.
I’m just excited for the ART runtime to come out of beta.
I would’ve kept Cyanogenmod on mine had they went with the updated camera/gallery app and the ability to move apps to the sd card. Everything else about it was great though.
So this will come to Tmobile when?
I’ve been a Samsung fan since the Galaxy S1 (really windows mobile before that…) for the hardware and screens.
I think I may be done with them from here on out thanks to Knox.
What’s wrong with Knox? I’m genuinely curious.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2447832
I seriously got down voted for asking a question? Wow some people are pathetic.
#fedorarage
Can’t hax0r up your phone
Physical home button (or just non-virtual in general) + microSD + removable battery = I’m sold. I don’t care about the materials because I use a case. I really hope they don’t get rid of the physical button to cater to the people who want every phone to look the same. Not everything should be a physical clone of the HTC ONE ffs.
Wow..really great news. But there’s a Galaxy F rumor floating as well. It could release with the Galaxy S5.
http://www.gadgetflip.com/samsung-galaxy-f-news-confirmed/
Admitted they released something rushed and not what they’d want?
Wake up people, Samsung is milking you, its cash cow. Look at how bad some products like the note 2 are functioning due to poor product support and control. They have too many devices and can’t keep up with them. Spend a lot of money, wait for them to hopefully fix it partially.
Because every other manufacturer doesnt want your money? I get so tired of people that single out one company when its at its most successful. Of course they want your money. Do you think any other manufacturer wouldnt want Samsungs spot in the market? No of course not.
Bad products! you might not like samsung but they have produced quality working products! Your statement doesn’t make any sense. The s series and note series phones have been top 5 top 10 rated phones.
interesting – I bought the S4 and it works perfectly fine with me in fact it works so fines its the first phone I’ve used that I didn’t feel like it was lacking something. I get that tech writers and the like want that metal feel (some kind of S&M fetish going on there) but i’ve not encountered any glitches, i’ve seen no time lags, it works beautifully. That’s all i need my phone to do. Watching videos is beautiful and large enough for me to enjoy and music sound clear me.
I don’t know what else you need your phone to do (maybe an extra palm?). but it works beautifully for me
The Note 2 was/is a great product, as is the Galaxy Gear. Milk me dry Samsung can’t wait to get the Gear 2 and 3 and 4 and the Note 4 etc. If you don’t like it don’t buy it.
lol…after my galaxy nexus and the s3 i had for a few weeks after i couldnt be more done with sammy…moto x is such a great built piece of tech samsung needs to get a clue
I said this when S4 was to release and I say it again … If it’s just an upgrade of your screen size, processor speed or camera … And u leave the design of the phone the same then don’t call it the S5….Just call it the S4+. Galaxy lines need a design change.
Well maybe when there comes a time when they don’t sell tens of millions of them every time they release a new one, they’ll hire you because you clearly know better than their teams of engineers, designers, executives and marketing staff
I purchased the S3 and the S4 and if there’s not a radical design change especially with Touchwiz I’m done with Samsung. Samsung can’t afford to do what Apple does with the iPhone. There’s just way too much competition in the Android space for them to do that. Moto, HTC, Sony, LG and even the smaller OEMs are all stepping up their game.
I loathe the Touchwiz interface. It’s like a bunch of kids threw their left over lego at the screen… not to mention the bloatware. I’ll wait to see what HTC’s next offering is, otherwise I might have to get the Nexus 5, despite the shoddy battery life.
I think its a well known fact S4 has not lived up to their expectations and that is why another phone is being launched so soon. S3 was a great device and being a S2 n S3 owner I did not go for the S4 and so didn’t many S3 owners . I have the HTC One now and miss touchwiz .. it may be overly bloated for some but I liked it. Comparatively I find the sense bland and unimmaginative and unless I root phone I will not get more out of my phone.
So who else is looking forward to the Note 4! lol, I’ll be ready to upgrade my Note 2. It’s been serving me so well. Thank you Sammy!