As part of the seven-day testing of the Galaxy S5, we were delighted with the latest flagship of the South Korean giant. Now the manufacturer has released an updated version of the smartphone with support for two SIM-cards. I will not write a full-fledged test of the novelty, but it is still worth comparing the flagship and its Duos version

Differences between Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos

Samsung engineers decided not to make a lot of changes to the Duos version of the Galaxy S5. The appearance of the tested model has not changed, the novelty has only “gained” 1.5 g in weight.

Depending on the market and model, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is based on Exynos' own eight-core chips and Qualcomm's solutions. The platform of this chipmaker is used in the hero of my mini-review. It has a Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC system-on-a-chip with four Krait 400 cores running at 2.5 GHz and an Adreno 330 graphics core.

The results in synthetic tests are consistent with the positioning of the flagship device.

The rest of the parameters remained unchanged - a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD resolution, IP67 water and dust protection, fingerprint and heart rate sensors, Android 4.4 KitKat with a proprietary TouchWiz UI shell, 2 GB of RAM and a drive for 16 or 32 GB expandable.

Also worth noting are the advanced wireless modules Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, infrared and GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS support.

Separately, I note two advanced cameras with a resolution of 2 megapixels and 16 megapixels, respectively. The Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos supports fourth-generation LTE networks, but the main feature of the smartphone is support for working with two Micro SIM cards.

This will make life easier for users who need a powerful and truly versatile device that supports the use of multiple SIM cards. After all, now you do not need to carry several devices at the same time and constantly shift them into your pockets.

Impression

Before us is still the same excellent flagship from one of the trendsetters in the world of electronics - Samsung. But now all its features can be attributed to the capabilities of a Duos smartphone without losing functionality and performance.

PECULIARITIES

Design.

Build quality.

Powerful filling.

Fingerprint scanner.

Heart rate sensor.

Protection against dust and water according to IP67 protocol.

Two advanced cameras.

Support for two SIM cards.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Model Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900FD
• Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA (3G) 850/900/1900/2100, LTE (4G) 800/850/900/1800/1900/2100/2600
• Dimensions 14.2 x 7.3 x 0.81 cm
• The weight 146.5 g
• CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC Quad Core 2.5GHz
• GPU Adreno 330
• Display 5.1", Super AMOLED
• Permission 1080 x 1920 pixels, 432 ppi
• RAM 2 GB
• Memory 16/32 GB + microSD up to 128 GB
• Food Li-Ion, 2800 mAh
• Camera 16 MP + 2 MP front
• Sensor size 1/2.6″
• Communications GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, DLNA, IrLED
• Connectors microUSB 3.0 (with MHL support), 3.5 mm output
• Additionally IP67 water and dust resistance, fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor
• OS Google Android 4.4.2 KitKat

The South Korean giant has already taken over half of the world of mobile phones with the Android ecosystem. And even the all-powerful empire of the good Google is unable to compete with the Koreans in terms of the release of mobile devices. The laudatory groans about the next flagship Galaxy S5 have just died down, and the brand's fans are already languishing in sweet anticipation of the announcement of another flagship Galaxy Note 4. But, unexpectedly, a very interesting modification of the S5 surfaced on the market.

If the original LTE-enabled S5 has a model index G900F, then the novelty that appeared on the market of the Middle East is coded by the index G900FD. And a small attachment D makes the phone unique at the end of 2014. In a nutshell, the G900FD is currently the only waterproof Android smartphone with LTE support and two SIM cards on board. Let's take a closer look at the phone.

At the time of writing the review, the G900FD is officially sold only in the Middle East, and in Russia this model is not officially available. And according to rumors, it will be available not entirely, but G900HD, i.е. model Galaxy S5 with two SIM cards, 8-core processor, but without LTE. About a year ago, I did a review of the Sony Xperia Z phone and complained that although it is equipped with LTE, it doesn’t make much sense, since 4G networks have just begun to roll out across the country. But, a year has passed, and life without LTE has become noticeably more difficult. The number of mobile Internet users has grown, and 3rd generation networks simply cannot cope with the flow of data and voice traffic requests. And the presence of support for 4th generation networks in the phone is a real outlet that saves you from communication problems.

Although the phone is "gray", but, in skillful hands, who can set it up as it should, it will only please its owner. By the way, some users who have purchased this phone claim that it has the G900MD code in the special service menu, as a phone made for the countries of South America. But in the downloaded firmware, the model is displayed as G900FD, a phone for EMEA countries (including Russia and the Middle East). I hasten to assure the reader that the firmware installed in the phone is multilingual as usual. And when activating the phone, it is enough to select Russian as the language of the system and subsequently there will be no problems in the form of Arabic script in the menu items.

The package is nothing special. The phone itself, a USB2 cable, headphones with a flat wire and replaceable silicone inserts, a couple of skinny books in English and other languages, and a monstrous multivoltage charger. As I understand it, impatient Arabs cannot wait for their favorite phone to charge for four hours. They need it much faster, so the kit comes with a charge for as much as two amp-hours with a tricky plug. Well, two, so two.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos. Charging for 2 "amps".

Functionality

So, what, besides the presence of LTE, the Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos is still remarkable? Well, the fact that it is a dustproof phone. The S5 Duos is certified to the industry standard IP67. The six in the index means that it is completely dustproof. Dust cannot get inside the machine in any way. And the seven, that he freely experiences a short-term immersion in water to a depth of 1 meter. I, like many others, lead a fairly active lifestyle and constantly find myself in situations where ordinary, unprotected electronics can fail due to getting wet. Either I get caught in the pouring rain on a hike, or I just drop my phone while taking a photo in a pond. Certification by the IP67 standard is a real lifesaver here, now all fears about the phone dying due to water getting into it are unfounded. And dust protection, it seems, is more needed by those very Arabs in the desert, they have a lot of sand, but, on the contrary, there is not enough water.

The seal on the back cover is responsible for ensuring the water resistance of the phone. The headphone jack has a built-in valve, and the USB connector is closed with a separate valve cap. All speakers, microphone, flash and camera are self-protected. You should not worry about them, but the USB protection cover gradually starts to piss you off. To charge it every time you need to open and then close. It's annoying, and how long the strap that holds it will last is unknown. According to the experience of Sony Xperia Z, a similar strap lasted about six months, and then went to the forefathers. Although, Sony acted wisely and equipped their phone with a complete charging cradle.

Two SIM cards

The presence of two SIM cards, and here microSIM-sized cards are used, allows, according to the plan of marketers, to separate personal contacts from work contacts or simply save on calls. This is all, of course, true, but there is also a more interesting application of two-SIM devices. As you know, a modern smartphone is almost nothing if it does not have a connection to the global Internet. And when traveling, especially abroad, you have to make painful choices. Either pay your operator incredible money for roaming the mobile Internet, or remain without your number and change the SIM card in the device to a local one, or rent a mobile WiFi router with 3G / 4G support. But with a phone with two SIM cards, you just need to buy a local SIM card with an Internet tariff and put it in a free slot. And voila! We have both IP telephony for calls home, and a normal Internet connection, we live in general! By the way, the phone itself, exactly like its close relative Galasy S5, supports the following frequencies 4G LTE FDD Cat. 4: 800 (Band 20) / 850 (Band 5) / 900 (Band 8) / 1800 (Band 3) / 1900 (Band 2) / 2100 (Band 1) / 2600 (Band 7). And limited support for LTE-A with data rates up to 150 megabits. So, in many countries of the world, there will be 4G access to the network. However, such speeds are unnecessary for a phone, the usual 3G speed is enough, it would only work stably and everywhere.

By the way, in more detail about the two SIM cards in the phone. Not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. Technical thought does not stand still and sometimes in its flight it takes engineers so far that mere mortals simply cannot understand what certain technologies do. This is exactly the case with Samsung's Duos technology. Earlier, in the good old days, when phones were with buttons, two SIM cards in the phone were served by two separate radio modules. In such phones, it was possible to call from one SIM card to another. However, this scheme has two significant drawbacks. It uses twice as much battery power and costs twice as much as a single radio implementation. Therefore, a technology was invented when two (and sometimes more) SIM cards are served by one radio module.

The trick of the method here is that, according to the standard, the phone and the cellular base station are not in constant contact with each other. The phone only occasionally connects to the station in order to register on it or simply confirm that the device is still in the coverage area. And it is on this assumption that most modern dvuhsimochnikov issued. A characteristic feature of such devices is that in the case of a telephone conversation on a line with one SIM card, it will be simply impossible to get through to the second one, it will be out of the access zone. The situation is not entirely pleasant, but not at all fatal. And everything was fine, exactly until the moment when phones began to consume mobile Internet. Before the invention of the 3G standard transmission protocols, the phone could not receive calls at all during the exchange of mobile Internet data, the line remained busy while the modem was working in the phone. After some more time, 3G networks entered the scene and here, in some cases, data transfer was turned off during a call, and in the latest modifications, data transfer was not interrupted for a second.

In S-Health, you can not only see statistics on your steps, but also measure your heart rate. To do this, you need to put your finger on a special sensor, which will count the number of beats per minute. Convenient, especially for monitoring active aerobic training. In the same way as with steps, the pulse is logged, when and how much.

But, the application is not limited to this. It can track not only walks, but also other physical activities associated with movement in space. But, most importantly, S-Health is the main application that supports numerous S-fitness gadgets. There are simulators, and special watches with a heart rate monitor, there are even scales. So, if necessary, all this can be purchased and used in conjunction with your smartphone.

Physical phone protection

By the way, a little more about protection in the phone, about the physical side. Unlike some previous models, such as Note 2, the Galaxy S5 has a metal frame around the screen, which protrudes a millimeter above the screen. But, thanks to such protection, the glass does not touch the surface when the phone is screen down, or does not hit it when it falls with the glass down. A pretty wise decision, since a broken screen is probably the most common and most costly breakdown that can happen to your phone.

To further protect the device from physical damage, I recommend using a case. It is categorically desirable to use the S-View branded book-case. Since such a book will provide reliable protection against moisture ingress into the phone and it will not cease to be waterproof. In addition, the closable top cover securely protects your phone's display from scratches and bumps. And on the back side, with a similar case, the camera now does not stick out of the phone, but, on the contrary, is recessed into the case and its glass is not so actively scratched by anything. True, along with the camera, the heart rate sensor is also recessed, and users with non-dystrophic fingers will have to look for a new position in which the pulse is read.

In addition, the edges of the case protrude a few millimeters above the phone's body from all sides, and also protect it from shock when dropped. And the window at the top allows you to view basic information about missed calls, SMS and more. Additionally, a branded case allows you to lock and unlock your phone by simply closing or opening the cover (of course, if more reliable protection is not enabled, such as a password). Last but not least, wireless charging cases allow you to charge your phone by simply placing it on a dedicated charging station. It is very convenient, especially considering that for each charge, you need to open and then close the USB protective cover. However, wireless charging, although convenient, is not as powerful, so it charges the phone longer than conventional wired charging. And there are very big doubts that such charging will be able to charge the phone in the car during navigation mode, when the device consumes a fair amount of energy.

But keep in mind that the S-View cases themselves are different. There are some that are just cases and do not support the function of opening and closing the cover (no contacts on the back cover), but there are cases that support opening and closing (two contacts on the back cover), and the most advanced version, with wireless charging (five contacts). So, when buying, you need to choose exactly the case that you need and not overpay for extra functionality.

And again about water. Without water, neither there nor here.

And a few more words about water protection. Yes, the phone works perfectly underwater. Water is not poured into it, it continues to function. Even the buttons are pressed, but, here, only the touch screen does not work. No matter how much you move your finger on the glass, the phone does not react to these movements in any way (but the Sony Xperia Z quite normally perceives touch input while underwater). So, normal underwater photography can only be organized by reassigning the shutter button to one of the volume control buttons (a standard Samsung camera function). But, surprisingly, under water, the phone only slightly lost the level of Wi-Fi reception, and cellular networks did not lose a stick at all (perhaps it was just necessary to wait longer). So, with the proper skill, you can take a call under water, talk about a working topic, for example.

It seems that the body of the phone itself is covered with some kind of hydrophobic impregnation, since the phone just pulled out of the water is practically dry, you don’t even need to wipe it, just shake off large drops and that’s it. However, I do not recommend bathing the phone in water for a long time, and after baths in sea water, it should generally be thoroughly rinsed in fresh water.

Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos and Samsung Galaxy Note 2. General.

I used the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for a very long time and did not switch from it to anything else for a long time. The reason was quite banal. The performance of the phone was quite enough for any of my tasks, the battery lasted convincingly for a long time, the large screen delivered comfort in use. That is why, I will now try to compare the Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos with one of my relatives. Although the devices are different, their application is very close, especially since I used the Note 2 stylus ten times at most.

The phones are very close in size. The S5 is only slightly smaller than the Note 2 both in body and screen size. We can say that they are almost the same in size. The only thing is that the screen resolution of the S5 is higher than that of the Note 2, so the loss on the diagonal pays off with a large amount of information that fits on the screen due to a smaller pixel and their denser packing. This means sharper and more detailed maps, finer detail in photographs, and finer text. Yes, in order to read books normally from the screen, and so that my eyes would not stick together after forty minutes of reading, I had to increase the font in the reader and turn the pages a little more often. But, otherwise, there was no particular discomfort from the transition from a large size to a smaller one, although at first some rejection was felt. The only thing is that it was not possible to use Yandex Maps directly, the letters and route lines are too small. In motion, it is not very convenient to look at all this trifle.

Comparison of SGS5 Duos and SGN 2. Camera.

But, the most remarkable thing that was and is in the Samsung Note 2 phone is its wonderful camera. For a long time I could not find a device with a camera of at least the same level and with the same photo and video quality that the camera in Note 2 gives. And I want to believe that the camera in S5 Duos is no worse than the camera in Note 2, even despite doubling the number of pixels on the matrix (16 megapixels for S5 versus 8 megapixels for Note 2). After several tests, I can say with confidence that, despite the technical progress in the field of telephone construction, the engineers of South Korea and Japan did not manage to spoil the camera in the S5. It works no worse than one of the flagships of the past.

from here.

Sometimes one frame is enough to understand that the camera is not bad, or vice versa, it is so disgusting that you should not use it at all. The photo above shows three photographs. The first one is from the S5 Duos we are looking for, the second one is from a Micro4/3 format camera and the one on the right is from the Galaxy Note 2. The photos are taken directly from the cameras, without any post-processing and in real size. All three photos were taken in fully automatic mode. Shooting conditions are the most common, not extreme sun, but not the darkest either. Nevertheless, a landscape with many small details makes it possible to evaluate the quality of the optics, as well as the actual detailing, noise reduction and sharpening.

Comparison of photos from SG S5 Duos, Panasonic GF1 and SG Note 2.
Download full size photo from here.

As you can see from the pictures, the photo from the S5 is not only just larger in size, but is in no way inferior to the photo from a normal camera equipped with some kind of, but still serious lens and a large photomatrix. And what? All three shots are good, but the S5's camera is definitely better than the Note 2's. And on par with a normal camera. If you reduce the image in the S5 to the size of the GF1 photo, the image quality will be almost identical. And, here, if we compare the picture taken by S5 with the picture of Note 2, then S5 obviously wins a little, including in detailing the picture. Of course, the GF1 will reach its potential and outperform the S5 in low light conditions and shooting in RAW format with subsequent manual processing, as well as when using a more advanced lens, such as Panasonic's "pancake" with aperture 1.7, but for most cases, photo quality is in S5 will be enough "for the eyes." The only thing I don't like about the shots of the S5 and Note 2 is the excessive "sharpening" of the picture. It is clearly visible on contrasting transitions, for example, between the roof of a house and a bright sky. But, in the case of S5, this defect is not so noticeable, since no one will consider such a picture at full magnification, it simply does not fit on any screen. And with a decrease, excessive "clarity" disappears. But, it's all about the photo.

SGS5 camera in video mode.

As you know, Note 2 also shoots good video. And then it became necessary to check the camera from S5 in video mode. True, after the photo test, it makes no sense to compare the video mode head-on, so the video shooting mode itself was tested.

Judging by the advertising claims, S5 and S5 Duos can shoot in the so-called 4K or UltraHD (UHD) mode. This mode is specially optimized for the new generation of television technology, which appeared on store shelves as early as 2014. These TVs have four times the resolution of a regular FullHD TV. True, such devices cost prohibitive money so far, and are far from accessible to everyone (however, there is nothing to look at them yet either). And on a computer monitor, this format also does not fit without reduction. Therefore, in the next few years, the feasibility of UHD video shooting is in question, there is nothing to watch anyway. And not far off is the emergence of devices class 8K, which have another four times the resolution of 4K devices.

S5 shoots video in UHD 4K format at 30 frames per second, of course, full "progressive", every second a full-fledged picture is taken. This is both good and bad at the same time. Detail is better when shooting in progressive than in interlaced, but large and fast movements on the screen turn into a kind of strobe light, which is overly annoying (and what it's like to watch on a huge 4K TV). But, I was not more interested in this at all, the real need for 4K video will only be relevant in a few years, but how this resolution is achieved inside the camera is already interesting. There can be two options, honest and not very. In the honest version, the video is shot in full resolution, encoded and recorded without any interpolation. And in a not very honest version, the video is shot, for example, in FullHD format, and then, when recording, it is programmatically stretched to the desired size. Detailing here, of course, suffers very much.

It turned out that it is quite easy to check this. I shot two videos of the same subject in UHD and FullHD. And in each video I increased one and the same detail of the landscape. The result is below in two frames from two videos.

Comparison of UHD and FullHD shooting in zoom.

The frames were taken in the maximum zoom mode on the camera, i.e. while shooting, the digital zoom was activated. As you can see, the FullHD mode suffered to the point of being completely unusable, while the UHD mode remained very, very clear. And if you reduce the picture from UHD to HD, then even with digital zoom it will be no worse in quality than FullHD without digital zoom. Accordingly, the use of the UHD mode is advisable when you need to shoot something closer, but it is impossible to approach it. Or shoot as detailed a plan as possible, followed by distillation of the video in a lower resolution format.

But, in addition to UHD, the manufacturer claims the ability to shoot in 1920x1080 60p and 1280x720 120p. The modes are actually very interesting and somewhat lacking in the Note 2. Shooting in 60p mode (60 full frames per second) is possible in FullHD resolution and with sound. Actually, this should be the main video mode.

Doubling the frame rate had a very positive effect on the smoothness of all movements in the frame. There is no longer that annoying strobe effect even with fast movements. This mode is enabled in the camera's "Rec Mode" menu and is called "Smooth Motion". Unfortunately, it is not compatible with either the video stabilization mode, or the audio zoom mode, or the effects, and other video settings are lost. Just simple, regular video recording.

But with the 120 frames per second mode, not everything is so good. It is available only as an 8x slowdown of the video sequence and is written not only in a lower resolution (HDReady), without any additional settings, but also without sound. In other words, you can shoot in this mode only some kind of slow-motion video, and not usually get super-smooth video. This mode is hidden in the same menu as shooting in 60 frames per second mode.

Customization for yourself

In general, the new phone successfully replaced my old and beloved Note 2. In all respects, if not worse, then at least better than the old one, although it also met my needs by almost 100%. But, I don’t use Android phones if they weren’t fully configured to the needs of their owner. And it, like its predecessor, the S5 Duos, received several special improvements, without which it would not be so convenient to use it.

Of course, the improvements are not related to the hardware, but to the software, because, in fact, a modern phone is just a portable portable computer equipped with the necessary interesting equipment. Many, buying a "gray" S5 Duos, intended for the market of the United Arab Emirates, reflash it with the official firmware intended for Russia. But, I didn't do it. Why? Yes, because the firmware, in general, is identical in functionality, only the Russian one is crammed with more unnecessary software from Samsung. Which cannot be deleted just like that, it takes up space, constantly reminds of itself, and which, if necessary, can be downloaded separately completely freely. The Arabic firmware is almost devoid of garbage (well, of course, if you compare it with the "Russian").

To my liking, I turned off Notes, Samsung Printer Plugin, HP Printer Plugin, pulling out ChatON Korean chat, ChocoEUKor Korean font, Dropbox, Flipboard, Goole Play Books, Google Play Movies, Play Games, Play Music, and S Voice. Applications are disabled by and large because I just don’t use them, and they annoy me because they want to update, and they take up space, both on the screen of all applications and on the system drive, especially when applications receive significant updates.

But, in order to get the best result for customization, I had to get root access to the phone. In general, the situation with the fact that I own my phone as a property, but cannot fully dispose of it, when I am not given access to some sections of my device, is a little annoying. But, on the other hand, it's understandable. Most users do not need such access at all, and protection against viruses and other software malware is just the way for them. But even here, you remember the winged saying that when freedom is taken away in the name of security, as a result, you lose both. But, with the release of new devices, Samsung and other manufacturers are increasingly complicating and complicating protection systems, mainly restricting users' rights. But, as long as there are enthusiastic hackers and programmers, then all these protections are removed from phones. After all, what is done by one person can be broken by another.

For more information on flashing your phone, on getting root access, as well as on other issues, it is best to contact the specialized forums of the very famous and popular w3bsit3-dns.com site for mobile electronics, for example, XDA-Developers. And in no case do not take on the "flashing" of your phone without the appropriate knowledge, because an unsuccessful firmware operation can not only turn the phone into a lifeless piece of silicon, plastic and sapphire glass, but also deprive the manufacturer's warranty!

But, and then the recording of telephone conversations from the line was installed, as well as BTSync for two-way synchronization of photos and videos between the phone and my other computers. The well-known ClockSync, which sets the time on the phone with particular accuracy, is not forgotten either.

The peculiarity of the fresh Android operating system is that it is for some reason? known only to its developers, by default blocks write access for third-party programs to the memory card. Actually BTSync is such a third-party software, and without getting root access, it is impossible to establish a two-way file exchange, no one will simply let the program write data to a memory card.

And including to correct this situation, root access is required. However, the problem is fixed quite easily by editing the system configuration file system/etc/permissions/platform.xml, where the parameters android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and android.permission.WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE are changed as follows:

conclusions

At the moment, the phone suits me personally and covers all my needs for communication, navigation and other things that I can require from a phone. Samsung once again turned out to be a very good device. And its dual SIM, LTE support and water resistance can make it a real bestseller on the market.

Update 1: regarding the transition to Android 5. An update to Android 5 is already available for S5 DUOS. And you can quite legally upgrade to this version by updating either using a computer or through the Samsung update service. Which I did in March 2015. However, the new operating system did not suit me for several reasons. Of course, it also has obvious advantages. At least increased battery life or a little more nimble work. But there are cons as well as pros. Firstly, the style of "material design" is, to put it mildly, an amateur. Square windows and completely blind menus will please not everyone. And secondly, the latest release of the next generation of Android is just full of annoying surprises. So, my device, hitherto unnoticed in independent reboots or freezes, on the new Android directly got into the habit of spontaneously rebooting and sometimes freezing. I had to roll back to 4.4.2, the time-tested version. And everything went back just fine.

Update 2 : Having rolled back to the previous version of Android (namely 4.4.2), I noticed that the device began to consume a little more energy than it should. But, since I prefer to have full control over my phone, with the help of root access and BetterBatteryStats, I was able to identify unnecessary consumers and freeze them. By and large, almost all applications from Samsung were frozen (ie transferred to inactive mode). It's amazing how much they consumed energy, constantly waking up the phone and preventing it from enjoying idle mode calmly. After the "cleaning" of the phone, I was a little struck by its gluttony, now, according to estimates, one charge should be enough for at least 1.5 days of work, which is almost twice as long as the work time from charging the phone "out of the box". And this is with always-on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile network and GPS.

* While this review was being written, Samsung managed to make a presentation of the new Note 4. The phone turned out to be quite stuffed with functionality and is also worthy of careful consideration. [

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Product Mentions 4

Hi all! Until recently, it was almost impossible to find a flagship smartphone from a well-known manufacturer with support for two SIM cards. There is an opinion that only a smartphone with one SIM card can be considered a flagship and be truly cool. HTC was the first to break this stereotype with the release of HTC ONE Dual Sim. Even now it is a very good smartphone with two active radio modules. In our country, Samsung resisted to the last and did not put on sale a truly flagship device with support for two SIM-cards. It is noteworthy that Galaxy S4, Note 2-3 with support for two SIM cards were released for China, but these options have not reached us. But this could not continue for a long time and the company introduced the Galaxy S5 Duos to the market. By the way, the appearance of this smartphone on the market was influenced by the requests of ordinary consumers of Korean brand products.

SPECIFICATIONS

General characteristics

Standard - GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, LTE.

Support for LTE bands - 1800, 2100, 2600, 800, 850.

Type - smartphone.

Operating system - Android 4.4.

Body type - classic monoblock.

Design - protected from external factors.

Management - mechanical / touch buttons.

Number of SIM cards - 2.

The mode of operation of several SIM-cards is alternate.

Weight - 145 g.

Dimensions (WxHxT) - 72.5x142x8.1 mm.

Screen

Screen type - color Super AMOLED, touch.

Touch screen type - multi-touch 10 touches, capacitive.

Diagonal - 5.1 inches.

The image size is 1080x1920.

Calls

Type of melodies - polyphonic, MP3-melodies.

Vibrating alert - yes.

Multimedia features

Camera - 16 million pixels, LED flash.

Camera functions - autofocus, face detection, smiles.

Video recording is available.

Max. video resolution is 3840x2160.

Front camera - yes, 2 million pixels.

Video playback - MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM.

Audio - MP3, AAC, WAV, WMA.

Connection

Interfaces - Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, IRDA, USB, NFC.

Satellite navigation - GPS/GLONASS.

A-GPS system - yes.

Internet access - WAP, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+.

Memory and processor

Processor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC, 2500 MHz.

The number of processor cores is 4.

Video processor - Adreno 330.

Built-in memory - 16 GB.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB.

Support for memory cards - microSD (TransFlash), up to 128 GB.

Food

Battery capacity - 2800 mAh.

The battery is removable.

Peculiarities

Degree of protection IP67; heart rate sensor; Ultra Power Saving Mode, Kids Mode, MIMO(2x2) support.

To be honest, all the protection against moisture and dust in the Salaxy S5 DS comes down to the presence of a small silicone gasket under the cover of the smartphone. It looks, to put it mildly, not very reliable, and besides, the back cover is removable. For example, I like SONY's approach to protecting their devices more, a monolithic, non-separable case inspires more confidence.

PACKAGE

The packaging of the smartphone is quite small. From year to year, the company packs all its flagships in the same boxes stylized as a tree.

The packaging itself consists, as it were, of two identical parts and is separated by a black insert. The information on the box says that this packaging is made entirely from recycled paper, and the ink is made from soy raw materials.

On the front of the package, only the name of the product can be seen. Brief technical information is printed on the reverse side.

EQUIPMENT

The delivery set does not shine with originality, but everything you need for work is there.

1. The smartphone itself.

2. Warranty card.

3. User manual.

4. Charger.

5. Rechargeable battery.

6. USB cable.

7. Headset.

8. A set of ear pads.

I would like to note the company's tendency to complete a black smartphone with white accessories. To be honest, a white charger and white headphones against a black smartphone look somehow not very good.

APPEARANCE.

If we compare the S5 with the S4, then the size of the five has become significantly larger and is almost "catching up" with the size of Note 3. In general, the dimensions of the S5 are on the verge of comfortable use with one hand, a little more and it will already be problematic. I would like to note the slightly increased screen bezels compared to the 4th model, a strange moment, usually everyone tries to reduce this figure, but in our case this is a small step back.

In general, when you hold the S5 in your hand, you don’t particularly experience any visual delight or enjoyment from owning an expensive toy. Samsung is in no hurry to somehow radically change the design of their devices or use advanced materials in the manufacture of at least the flagship line.

The corners of the smartphone are quite rounded and this does not make the device look expensive. If you expect to find metal elements in a smartphone for almost 30 thousand rubles, then they are not here, with the exception of a metal edging: the main camera, a heart rate sensor and a mechanical home button. As you can see, this is not enough for a status product.

A plastic insert runs along the perimeter of the smartphone, on which a silver coating imitating metal is applied. The insert itself is divided by two grooves and is rather slippery to the touch. The power button and volume control button are still made of metal, painted in the same silver color and completely merge with the edging of the case.

What you can praise Samsung for is experimenting with the design of the back cover of their devices. The line has matte, glossy plastic, leather imitation, and now here is a medical plaster. Perhaps only the lazy one has not yet ridiculed this coating, and indeed, upon closer examination, it is clear that the back surface has an embossing similar to a patch.

By the way, in the specifications, this color of the smartphone is declared as black, but the back cover has a pronounced silver tint, the front part is only black.

In general, in terms of tactile sensations, the back surface resembles a Soft-Touch coating. The smartphone holds very well in the hand, the risk of dropping it is minimal. It is worth noting the rather strongly protruding main camera module in the background.

The second speaker has a small protrusion that prevents the sound from overlapping when the smartphone is placed face up.

If you remove the back cover, you can see that the slot for installing the first SIM card and memory card are located neatly one above the other and are located to the right of the main camera.

The slot for installing a second SIM card is located on the left side.

The positive aspects are the preservation of the dimensions of the smartphone with a model for one SIM-card. Therefore, all covers are compatible from both models.

There were no questions about the build quality, this is understandable since our smartphone is protected. Nothing is pressed through and does not creak. The backlash of mechanical buttons is practically absent. All construction details are very well fitted. The 3.5mm connector is open and it is not afraid of moisture.

CONTROLS

I note right away that the flagship of this year is simply crammed with various sensors and connectors.

1. On the upper end, you can find the once forgotten infrared sensor for controlling household appliances. Next to the sensor is the opening of the first microphone, on the right side of the end there is a 3.5mm jack for connecting a headset.

2. On the right side is the power button.

3. On the lower end there is a hole for the second microphone. The USB 3.0 connector is covered with a metal-like plastic cover with a rubber gasket - it protects the smartphone from dust and moisture getting inside. It is noteworthy that every time you remove the charging plug, a message appears on the screen about the need to tightly close this connector with a protective cover (this message can be disabled in the settings).

4. On the left side is the volume key.

5. On the back side: main camera, heart rate sensor, "samsung" and "Lte DUOS" logo, as well as a second speaker.

6. On the front side: front camera, proximity sensor, auto brightness sensor, status indicator, earpiece.

At the bottom, under the screen, touch control buttons. The backlight of the buttons in the settings can be completely turned off / on or set the backlight time interval.

Traditionally, all Samsung smartphones are equipped with a mechanical home button.

Personally, this button seems to me simply irreplaceable, because with its help it is more convenient to unlock the smartphone, and you can also assign the "call answer" function to it, which is also very convenient under certain conditions.

SCREEN

The screen of the S5 is equipped with a Super AMOLED touch matrix. The screen size is 5.1 inches, the resolution is 1920×1080 pixels. Multi-touch for 10 touches.

The density of pixels per inch is 432 ppi - at this density, individual pixels are completely indistinguishable on the screen of the device.

Outside, the screen is covered with protective glass. There is an automatic brightness control.

You can control the screen with gloves. To do this, in the settings of the screen itself, you need to activate the corresponding item.

There is a fairly effective oleophobic coating. There is also a pretty good anti-glare filter, the image practically does not fade in the sun.

This screen has maximum viewing angles, the image is not inverted at any angle.

The brightness of the backlight is uniform without visible light, the color reproduction is at a good level.

In the screen settings, you can select such color balance functions as: optimize display, dynamic, standard, professional photography, cinema. Thus, everyone for himself can choose a suitable picture according to the saturation of color shades.

In terms of characteristics, the screen corresponds to the flagship of 2014.

CAMERA.

The main camera in the smartphone has a resolution of 16 megapixels and can take pictures with a maximum resolution of 5312 × 2988 pixels, the average "weight" of the picture is 7 MB. There is image stabilization, a single-section LED flash. Autofocus is very fast, the camera is also very fast, the pictures are almost instantaneous.

I liked the very convenient and informative camera settings menu. All values ​​are collected in separate windows and located on one screen.

The quality of the pictures is very pleasing. As such, noise and color distortions were not noticed by eye, the noise reduction works perfectly. Macro mode is perhaps the best on the market.

Photos for quality assessment:

In the camera settings, you can select different shooting modes: auto, retouch, sports, panorama, virtual tour, two-sided shooting.

If this is not enough, then you can immediately download additional modes of operation through the camera.

This camera can shoot video in the increasingly popular resolution of 4k (3840x2160) at 30 frames per second. There is a slow motion mode. And shooting in FullHD already at 60 frames per second. In all available formats, the picture is of very good quality.

Video from the main camera:

The front camera is 2MP and takes pictures with a maximum resolution of 1920 × 1080, and shoots video with the same resolution. Autofocus is missing.

SOFT.

For those who are thinking about purchasing a smartphone running Android OS and were not previously familiar with this mobile OS, buying a Galaxy S5 and mastering it can be quite difficult. The smartphone is simply overloaded with various settings, sensors and applications.

The smartphone runs on Android OS 4.4.2.

Upgrading to the fifth version is promised at the end of November, and for at least another year, the smartphone will receive various updates. Over the air firmware update is supported.

In all its smartphones on Android OS, Samsung uses its own proprietary shell called TouchWiz, many do not like it because of imperfect optimization, overload with various applications and too much consumption of device resources. I also don’t really like this shell, but as they say, you don’t have to choose.

The main menu of the smartphone uses the classic 4x5 label layout. Before us are three desktops with installed applications. Some of the applications are carefully collected in folders. Unnecessary applications cannot be completely removed, you can only stop their work.

Widgets are now installed from the main menu and there are six tables to choose from. The selection of wallpapers this time is rather uninteresting and we will not dwell on it separately.

Navigation and surfing through the smartphone menu is very smooth and fast, there is not even a hint of interface lags or brakes.

This time I will not describe all the applications installed in this smartphone, but only talk about the most interesting of them.

The fingerprint scanner. After Apple implemented this feature in their smartphones, many also rushed to add this feature to their devices. The fingerprint scanner itself is located in the mechanical home button. At the moment, the practical implementation comes down to unlocking the smartphone with your fingerprint. To activate it, you need to swipe the button 8 times during the scan setup so that the system remembers your data well.

After scanning, you will be prompted to come up with a password in case you are unable to unlock your smartphone with your fingerprint after 5 attempts. In total, the system can save data on three prints. Personally, I used scans of the thumb of the right and left hands, it is more convenient for me to unlock the smartphone. In general, the work of the scanner is quite good, of course, you need to practice for some time, choose the scanning algorithm for yourself, so to speak, and then unsuccessful scanning moments can be minimized.

Heart rate sensor. This sensor is strictly "tied" to the S Health program. The program has a set of useful functions for health: pedometer, training, heart rate, food, weight, sleep, stress, calorie counter.

To start working with this sensor, you need to launch S Health, go through a small program setup, then you need to put your finger on the recess on the back of the smartphone, and then the program will calculate your heart rate.

The received data is stored in memory, analyzed and displayed in the form of various graphs, and tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This program and the pulse sensor itself will primarily be useful to those who lead a healthy lifestyle, for everyone else it is just a toy and nothing more.

smart remote. With this application, you can control your TV or various household appliances using your smartphone. It is possible to select a pre-programmed remote control for different brands and alternatively you can set up your own remote control.

In addition, the program has a huge number of additional features. If you leave the app open and wave your hand over your phone, you can change channels (left to right) or sound (up and down). As a result, you can replace all the remotes in the house with one smartphone.

Of course, there are branded chips from Samsung that use the proximity sensor and the front camera. For example, using the proximity sensor, you can answer a call simply by bringing the smartphone to your ear, very convenient. You can use the sensor to turn pages by swiping your hand over it. The front camera follows your gaze and keeps the screen on while you look at it, pauses the video if you look away from the screen.

There is a proprietary power saving mode. When activated, all background processes are limited and the image on the screen turns into black and white.

IN WORK.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a quad-core processor (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. In fact, this is still the same Snapdragon 800 only with higher frequencies.

The video accelerator remains the same - Adreno 330, also with overestimated frequencies. 2GB of RAM, you won’t surprise anyone with such a volume, for example, in Note 3 as much as 3GB. After loading the system from 2GB, only about 750MB remains.

Declared built-in memory 16GB. For a long time now, 16GB has been some kind of magic number. In free access, we will have only 11GB. You cannot transfer applications to an external memory card. Supports microSD memory cards up to 128GB.

Games are in order. Any downloaded game from the PlayMarket, as they say, "flies", if you want, then there is still a performance margin for the future.

The smartphone supports connecting external devices via a USB-OTG cable, you can connect almost everything where there is a USB connector.

Synthetic test charts:

The loudspeaker of the S5 is above average in volume, but the reserve itself is quite enough not to miss a call in a noisy place. At maximum volume, the sound is not distorted and does not flicker. When playing songs, bass is clearly present, there are no problems with low frequencies. But the speaker is quite loud, in some cases the maximum volume has to be turned down, as others become unwitting witnesses to your conversation.

While many manufacturers stop packing their products with headphones, Samsung continues to include this accessory in the package. And in our case, these are pretty good headphones with a set of interchangeable ear pads. And the sound quality in them is quite decent. I especially liked how the instrumental compositions sound, the division of instruments into groups is clearly audible. For the first time, quite a decent headset.

The smartphone supports access to the network according to the LTE standard. I tested this mode with a SIM card from MTC.

Coverage in Vladivostok is almost the entire territory. The maximum download speed was sometimes more than 35Mbps, and the return reached 25Mbps. The average for the city was 15-20Mbps for download and about 7-12Mbps for upload. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise that the smartphone "found" an LTE connection 25 km away. from the city. Even at the dacha, we managed to catch the network, but of course the speed was not the same as in the city and the average download was 9Mbps, which, in principle, was enough for surfing the Web without problems and watching videos from various hosting sites.

I was pleased with the simply excellent work of the GPS / GLONASS bundle. The first "cold start" took just over one minute. Data was transmitted from 25 satellites out of 25 possible. The Chinese Baidu was also involved in navigation, which is a rarity in itself. Positioning accuracy on the ground was 3 meters.

With the playback of various video formats, the S5 has no particular problems. Videos in the formats: mp4, 3gp, avi, flv, mkv - in 1080p resolution and with the mp3 audio codec, the smartphone digests perfectly. There are already problems in 2k and 4k, but actually such a resolution is completely unnecessary when viewed on a FullHD screen.

WORK WITH TWO SIM-CARDS.

With their new S5 Duos, Samsung has come up with two interesting things in the SIM card manager settings. There are two items "Accept incoming calls" and "Active mode". The first item "Accept incoming calls" is responsible for the continuity of the active data connection when the call goes to the SIM card with which the Internet access mode is used. When calling to the second SIM card, data transfer will be disabled. This only works when the phone is in 4G or 3G mode. If the SIM-card with the Internet works in 2G mode, then the Internet will be disconnected for the duration of the conversation when calling to any of the two SIM-cards. When there is an incoming call, the phone switches to 3G network mode.

Active mode works a little differently. Since the smartphone uses one radio module, when talking on one SIM card, and in some cases when using the Internet, the second SIM card will not be available. This active mode implies that forwarding between two SIM cards is enabled when one of them is unavailable. If we talk about the first SIM-card, then the subscriber who called to the second SIM-card will be redirected to the first SIM-card. The active mode can be selected for both one and two SIM cards installed in the smartphone.

The dual-SIM functionality of the S5 Duos is pretty good, with a choice of SIM cards that will remain primary for calls, web and video calls. You can switch between them through the top tool bar of the operating system. When making an outgoing call or when sending an SMS, choose which card to use. In the call and SMS logs, it is displayed which card was used for a particular call, which is quite convenient. Of course, any SIM-card can be renamed and assigned your own ringtone.

AUTONOMOUS WORK.

Samsung has a 2800 mAh battery. Larger-capacity batteries in the company are installed in the Note line of smartphones. It is impossible to say that 2800 mAh is quite a lot. S5 has a rather serious stuffing, and against its background, such a capacity seems small.

Here are my results for offline work:

1. Playing a video clip in 720p resolution, screen brightness at 50%, sound at 75% - 9 hours 20 minutes.

2. Work in 3D applications - 6 hours.

3. MP3 file playback in headphones - 51 hours.

4. In the "only calls" mode - 46 hours.

5. Work in a mixed cycle: games, Internet, music, calls, video (not much in total) - 12 hours.

Of all the results, a good level of battery life shows the video mode. If you play the video with a low bitrate and in headphones, then this indicator can be stretched up to 12 hours, and this is already very good.

CONCLUSIONS:

So what did the Galaxy with two SIM cards at number 5 turn out to be? To be honest, the smartphone is purely for fans of the Korean brand. A completely plastic case and a simple appearance in an expensive and advanced smartphone inspire despondency. The competitors in this segment are quite strong: HTC One E8 DS, Lenovo K920 Vibe Z2 Pro, Sony XPERIA Z3 Dual, HTC One M8 DS - all these smartphones have a much more attractive appearance than the S5. In any case, the choice, as always, is yours!

PROS:

1. Protection from external factors.

2. Great camera.

3.LTE support.

4. Loud speaker.

MINUSES:

1. Fully plastic body.

2. Dull design.

3. Difficulty in mastering.

That's all ! Thanks to everyone who made it to the end of this post. Thanks to Samsung for the smartphone. Good luck to everyone and see you soon!

This year, Samsung offers its flagship smartphone in our market in the version with the Duos prefix, which, as you might guess, supports two SIM cards. We decided to take it for a review and see how it differs from the regular Galaxy S5.

As it turned out, the most important difference is not in the support of two SIM cards, but in the fact that the officially delivered Galaxy S5 Duos (G900FD) is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, and not Exynos 5 Octa. These solutions are about the same in terms of performance, but the Snapdragon 801 has integrated Adreno 330 graphics, which is better supported by the vast majority of Android games. In addition, it is commonly believed (and not unreasonably) that Snapdragon processors are more economical.

In my opinion, this alone makes the Galaxy S5 Duos a more attractive option, even if you don't need dual SIM support.

Both slots for SIM-cards, as well as a memory card, are under the cover, one of them is combined with a slot for microSD memory cards.

Support for Duos-functionality in the G900FD is implemented in the traditional way for Samsung. There is a SIM card manager in the settings, with which you can choose which card will be used for data transfer, set an icon for each SIM card and enable forwarding from one card to another (otherwise no one will be able to call you on one SIM card). card if you are using a second one for data transfer). In the "blind" when installing two SIM-cards, buttons appear for quick switching between SIM-cards, and in the dialer - two call buttons.

Despite dual SIM support, the Galaxy S5 Duos is close to the regular SGS5 in terms of battery life. I used it for a week as my main phone and consistently got one and a half to two days of work. Ultimately, if you're considering the Samsung Galaxy S5, consider the Galaxy S5 Duos as well. This smartphone has all the advantages of its "single" brother (excellent camera and performance, dust and moisture protection, fingerprint scanner), and in addition to them - a more respectable Qualcomm processor and dual SIM support. Recommended.