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Rumors that Samsung would be introducing an upgraded version of the Samsung Galaxy S5 have been running rampant for quite some time. Those rumors are rumors no more, though, as the device — which early rumors opted to name the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime — seems to have been officially unveiled (as early week rumors suggested it would be).
It’s the Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A, and alongside those upgraded LTE radios (which would make it the fastest smartphone in the world with the ability to download data at up to 225 megabits per second) there are a few other powerful bits under the hood. The Snapdragon 805 chipset (2.5GHz quad-core Krait SoC with Adreno 420 GPU) and 3GB of RAM inside are a vast improvement over the Galaxy S5’s Snapdragon 801 and 2GB of RAM. And let’s not forget the 5.1-inch 2560 x 1440 Super AMOLED HD display.
Rounding out the specs are 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that can hold cards up to 128GB. Beyond all that, though, this is the same device you can buy from nearly every carrier and store in existence right now.
It houses the same 16 megapixel ISOCELL camera as the original, as well as a fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, IP67 water-resistant and dust-proof certification, NFC, USB 3.0 and more. Software brings us Android 4.4.2 KitKat and Samsung’s fitness-focused TouchWiz user experience on top.
Unfortunately Samsung claims to have no plans to sell the device outside of Korea right now, which is somewhat expected if judging by past history. Can’t be mad at them coming out with this improved version of the smartphone if you can’t even buy or use one, eh? But on the off-chance that Samsung does introduce it in more markets let us know if you’d be willing to ditch your original Galaxy S5 for this substantial upgrade in the comments below!
[Samsung Tomorrow Flickr via SamMobile]
Why in the hell didn’t they come out with this phone in the first place? I am waiting for the Motorola X +1. Samsung can suck it.
They do this for their home country every year. No reason to get pissed about it now.
Yup. I’ve pointed this out in several threads/articles already. Some people just don’t understand that a trend happens. These same people will die of shock if Apple announces a new iPhone in September/October. “I didn’t see it coming!!!”
Also Japan, they got their own version
There wasn’t that much difference between these versions and the i9506 though,
probably because they wanted to meet their yearly schedule for the s5 release, and they didnt want to release the s5 and the note 4 too close together. Also, letting HTC get a 3 month head start on a launch would have probably been a bad idea.
Plus they do this every every year in Korea.
They do this every year. Here’s last year’s revision to the S4 with higher end processor and LTE-A.
http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-lte-announced-becomes-world-s-first-lte-advanced-phone
Money grab
They didn’t have Snapdragon 805 when the S5 dropped
“2560 x 1660 display” – is 1440 not enough already? ; )
I want to be able to see images without having to zoom out. I hate that. >,.,<
It's funny, I was being sarcastic as I wrote that, but that's a pretty legit reason right there.
2560*1440 would make text tiny on a 5″ display, when browsing you can fit more on the screen which for a larger display is an advantage but for a 5″ display it just means you need to zoom in otherwise you can’t read the text or will have difficulty seeing low resolution images.
The regular S5 is over priced off contract in the states. Imagine how much more the newer version will cost.
Zero is my guess, since it won’t be offered in the states.
Just but the gold version so you can be buddies with John Legere!
This is ridiculous, the GS5 just came out a couple months ago. This is a huge slap in the face to anyone that bought that monstrosity to begin with. ONE PHONE PER YEAR AND SUPPORT THE THING. 2560×1660 in a phone when you already can’t see pixels at 400ppi? This makes me think that Apple is one of the only companies that actually understands how to design a phone.
Every single thing about this from TouchWiz, to the near instant replacement of GS5, to the over-sized and over-pixeled display pisses me off. Will anyone make a phone anymore besides Apple and Motorola? You know something I can hold in my hand? If there was a way for me to completely block Samsung news at this point I would.
Getting the Moto X+1.
its a Korean ONLY release. It does not affect “anyone who bought the gs5.” And they do this every year, so if you actually live in Korea you know the gs5+ is coming out mid summer.
Also, 2 phones per year is perfectly fine. Flagship in the spring, and a flagship in the fall… like they do. And they have no problem supporting their phones… isnt even the GS3 getting kit kat?
I know right! This has never happened before! Samsung has NEVER released a mid-cycle refresh of the Galaxy S phone, and certainly not in Korea!
They didn’t do this last year!
http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-lte-announced-becomes-world-s-first-lte-advanced-phone
Well, ok, but they certainly didn’t do it in 2012 with the Galaxy S III!
http://www.gsmarena.com/the_lte_galaxy_s_iii_has_2gb_ram_in_korea-news-4362.php
Well, dammit. But in all seriousness, they do this every year.
If you do some research you’ll see that Samsung did the same thing after they released the S4. If that’s too hard for you here’s a clue; google “Galaxy S4 LTE-A. This new GS5 is not going to be introduced anywhere in the USA so it won’t be a ” huge slap in the face to anyone that bought that monstrosity to begin with.”
Stick with your Apple mentality fanboy!
Baaaaaapple
Add everyone has said, it doesn’t matter unless you live in Korea. And Samsung makes a ton of phones, and honestly, the S4 mini compares very favorably to the Moto X. Both have their trade offs.
You wouldn’t have bought the S5 anyway, since you’re well known around various android forums for complaining about “big” phones relative to your freakishly small hobbit hands.
Um…? Be happy you have choices. I don’t think you realize what you just said in your very last statement.
Don’t like the size of the GS5? Get the Moto X phones.
I don’t like how small the iPhone is, but too bad if I wanted one. I’d be forced to use that phone.
Though you were probably just ranting and expressing your opinion anyways. LoL!!
grrr….only thing I don’t like about the lg g3 is the 5.5 screen (got the Note 2 and want a smaller phone this time)….this would have solved that.
The g3 may have the same screen size, but it is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than the Note 2
5.76 x 2.94 x 0.35 inches (146.3 x 74.6 x 8.9 mm)5.94 x 3.17 x 0.37 inches (151 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm)not to argue but .2 isn’t significant enough for me…granted I’ll probably still get it for the speed difference and the camera.
You’d be surprised at that .2. That .2 may make the difference from being able to type in landscape mode or not.
It’s always the little things. =.P
good point…I’ve been telling my girlfriend for years that .2 is actually and inch.
Yes, I have specifically been waiting for this phone to launch in the US. I will wait another month or so to see if Samsung changes their plans before committing to a different device.
Don’t bother waiting. It won’t be released here. Move to Korea if you want this. I don’t know why this isn’t clear-as-day to everyone.
They were asking if people were interested if it were brought to market. I’ve been part of user petitions that have made a difference, though it wasn’t with Samsung.
Oh.
Although I see that I was responding to your comment that you are actually waiting another month for it, not that you would be interested if it was offered. I was just saying might as well not wait the month, if that is the only reason you were waiting.
You stupid, moron Samsung. God, can’t you not wait little longer as I bought your so called recently available flagship Galaxy S5. I need to switch to iPhone so don’t have to worry next new iphones until next year and can sell old iphone at good value. My Galaxy S5 is now old, absolute within couple of months. Now, not many people will want/buy my used Galaxy S5.
Wait, why are you hating on all of android when one oem does this to you?
Get a life, I’d bet you never bought a S5, you’re still worshiping your IPhone 3G. This LTE version is for Korea only.
I smell iSheep who never owned an S5…
You mad, bro?
this is assuming of course you plan on moving to Korea… since that is the ONLY place this phone will be available. Your phone is still the flagship, just like last year. The Korean only GS4+ had little to do with anything. People even forgot it existed 2 weeks after the announcement. This too will pass.
GS4+? You mean the i9506 with snapdragon 800 which is an international version released in many countries.
true, it did have a limited launch, but that launch was so delayed it came out only 2 months before the gs5 announcement. I hardly think thats something worth crying about.
Hah. funny troll downvoted.
Seriously? You’re telling me you were planning on selling your phone you got this year, this year? Because if you were to wait next year to sell it then you took too long since that year’s phone would be on the horizon.
Never buy a phone with the idea of resale in mind. The value is lost within a month. Prices and sells happen. Mobile tech advances too fast. The iPhone retains a value because it’s the only of it’s kind. You can easily get another Android phone. And believe me, no one is getting the GS5 because of TouchWiz.
Lots of people selling S5s for 450 or less
Do some research next time or ask, everyone was talking about prime version of the Galaxy S5 even before it was released and considering competition has released a device with a QHD display it’s natural to assume Samsung would counter with something.
This device is region specific anyway, most likely will never reach your country.
You should have waited for the Galaxy F. :p
We have enough variants of a phone that was newly released recently. Just stop Samsung.
That awkward moment when the battery is still the same in both GS5s.
Its probably the same battery from the S2 with more capacity.
We don’t even know how battery usage compares yet.
Wait, are people assuming it’s coming to the US or has there been evidence it’s coming to the US because it would be an ease of mind to the original GS5 purchasers?
Are you kidding me? IT IS NOT COMING TO THE US! South Korea only.
Is this still plastic back cover?
Who cares if it is?
Me. Metal phones are heavier and feel better to hold without a case.
Hah. Funny how “heavier” has become a pro in some peoples’ minds now.
It’s been that way for me since the Nexus 1. I liked how heavy it felt. I had the GS1 (Vibrant) and I didn’t like how light it was. IDK, but I just always preferred heavier phones.
*patiently waiting for the HTC G3*
The lighter the phone is the cheaper it feels to me at least, the HTC G2 was awesome I loved it through Tmobile. The battery lasted and the z slide keyboard was awesome too
I really don’t understand this mentality. You and other people know you are carrying an expensive flagship with some of the most technologically advanced features on the market. How are you still associating value with weight?
Growing up, the cheaper toys were lighter, from yoyos to toy cars. Your no name yoyos were lighter than you Duncans and omegas. Matchbox has always been lighter than Hot wheels. Growing up I was thought heavier is more premium. I use my phone like no other and I love how heavy the M7 is.
Lighter the better, if you use your phone a lot you won’t appreciate heavy devices.
For me, I can do without less reception.
A lot of ppl actually care. I was merely just wondering if all the rumors about this version having metal cover are true or not, quit being so defensive.
2.5% of mobile users care as that’s what HTC’s market share was last time I checked, it’s probably lower now.
Obviously I’m excluding iPhone users here. :p
Can we just stay on the phone itself, not how the users like plastic or metal in the world?? All i want to know is if the back cover is metal or plastic, that simple.
Those specs means nothing if games aren’t even optimized to use them. As vast as the improvement may be, you don’t notice a difference.
But would that stop me? Hail no!! That’s what Tmo Jump is for. LoL!!
But I’m on the lookout for that HTC One M8 Prime.
They don’t need much if any further optimizations as the GPU architecture is very similar to the previous generation, either they run at 1440p which Adreno 420 can handle just fine or they run the games at 1080p and the framerates will be higher with no optimizations necessary.
I prefer the second option myself as most demanding Android games run like crap compared to iPhone versions and you don’t really get much benefit from 1440p on a 5.1″ display.
Don’t much care either way for QHD on these “normal-sized” phones, but I can’t wait for QHD on the next Note, or the next phablet that betters it. Contrary to popular opinion, I can in fact SEE the pixels on my Note3’s 1080p display, especially when reading small fonts up close.
The same with me. I may sell the note 3 if the Note 4 has these specs with a close to 6 inches QHD screen and smaller bezels
We need a GPE version of this. I know, it’s never gonna happen, but I can dream right?
Wait 6 months and the S6 will be just like this one (SoC, memory, display) with maybe a better OIS camera and a metal coating case
Perhaps with the introduction of Android Silver later this year? *continues dreaming*