Samsung Galaxy S5 released today: Price and specs

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With Samsung set to open pre-orders for its flagship device in days, we take a look at its specs and pricing.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 release date is here with the major networks and retailers annoucing pricing of the 5.1in device.

Samsung's flagship device has gone on sale today (April 11) and if you're looking for the best deal, we're got the low down on what the networks and retailers are offering.

Samsung Galaxy S5 best prices

Three is be offering the Samsung Galaxy S5 with an upfront cost of 29 across all tariffs. For 41 a month you will get unlimited data, minutes and texts, while 38 a month will either include unlimited calls and text and 2GB data or unlimited data and texts with free calls restricted to 600 minutes.

The Galaxy S5 is available on O2's business range of tariffs and on O2 Refresh for consumers. The network's top business tariffs include 35.83 a month with no upfront cost for unlimited calls and texts with data capped at 5GB or 40 a month if you require 8GB data.

If you'd prefer to lower your monthly outgoings, you can opt to pay 124.99 for the phone and then 19.17 a month for a rather upsetting 500 minutes of calls, unlimited texts and 500MB data. On consumer tariffs, the Galaxy S5 is free on options from 43 a month with unlimited texts and calls with 5GB data.

Vodafone is also offering the S5 with no upfront cost on tariffs from 35 per month on a 24-month Vodafone business contract. The entry-level tariff comes with 5GB data so you'll probably want to bump that up a little to either 9GB, which Vodafone has listed for 43.33 a month or go for the top-level 13GB for 47.50.

All these tariffs come with 24 months of free Spotify or Sky Sports access. Consumer tariffs will give you unlimited minutes and texts, but only 3GB data if you're willing to pay 99 upfront and 42 a month or if you want to get the device for free, you'll have to splash out at least 52 a month which also gives you 9GB data.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is not available without upfront cost on any of EE's plans. The cheapest you can pay for the handset is 19.99 with plans varying from 44.99 a month right up to 52.99. The lowest option will only give you 2GB standard 4G speeds, but for an extra 3 a month you can upgrade to 10GB of double speed service. The top-level option will also double the speed of your data and 20GB is included.

If you're happy to pay more from your device upfront, you won't be able to get such high data levels and will not be eligible for unlimited calls and texts on most tariffs. For example, pay 129.99 upfront and you'll only get 1GB data, 1000 minutes and unlimited texts.

Aside from the big networks, Tesco claims to have the best offer on the Galaxy S5 with its split-priced option. Like on O2's Refresh contracts, you will pay a fee for the handset itself and for the data, minutes and texts you select. The device is available for 21.50, while the tariff options start at 13 a month, meaning you could get the S5 for as little as 34.50 a month.

That particular tariff will give you 1500 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB data. Increase your monthly spend by 2 a month and boost your minutes to 2000 and data to 2GB or for a total of 38.50 a month you can enjoy 3000 minutes and 3GB data. If you're happy with the low data limits, this is the best deal in our opinion too.

Rather than getting your device direct from the network, some of the retailers are offering better deals to encourage you to switch. For example, the Carphone Warehouse is giving away 100 cashback when you exchange in your old phone. You will find some of the tariffs are slightly better via Carphone Warehouse than direct from the network and they do tend to waive the upfront cost for new signups.

Phones4U in comparison is giving away a free Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, one-year Gourmet Society voucher and 25 Google Play voucher to get you started. Its best no cost upfront deals are on EE and Vodafone with EE's 10GB data tariff costing 47.99 a month topping the charts in our opinion.

Key specifications

Contrary to reports, the device ships with a 5.1in Super AMOLED display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. The S5 is 8.1mm thick and weighs in at 145g. It's the first Galaxy device to include an IP67 rating, making it dust and water resistant.

Samsung will ship the flagship handset with Android 4.4.2 KitKat and the latest version of Knox mobile security.

It's powered by a Qualcomm 2.5GHz quad-core processor and is supported by 2GB of RAM. Users can choose between 16/32GB of internal memory and the S5 supports microSD cards up to 128GB in size.

Samsung has opted for a 16-megapixel camera on the rear. It is able to autofocus in 0.3 seconds and has selective focus built into it so you can concentrate the objects/people in the foreground or background of a shot. It's also got the ability to record video in 4K (3840 x 2160 resolution).

The battery has been increased to 2800mAh and Samsung claims this provides up to 10 hours of web browsing and 12 hours of video playback. The device also has an Ultra Power Saving Mode, which can be used to save battery. This shuts down all battery hogging features and turns the display to black and white.

Wireless connectivity

The S5 supports Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 2X2 MiMo and Category 4 4G - giving it download speeds of up to 150Mbps.

Samsung has also built in a Download Booster, which bonds Wi-Fi and LTE together and helps users to download files faster.

Other wireless connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.0 BLE / ANT+, NFC and Infrared Red.

Fingerprint scanner

Apple's iPhone 5s was the first smartphone to include an integrated fingerprint reader and Samsung has followed suite.

Built onto the home button, the fingerprint scanner is capable of unlocking the device and can also be used to authorise payments when making purchases via PayPal.

Health

The S5 comes with Health 3.0 software, to help users monitor their exercise. As well as the pedometer, the device also has a new, built-in heart rate monitor located on the back of the device.

Samsung also launched the Gear Fit smartwatch to accompany the handset.

TouchWiz UI

There was no mention of TouchWiz during the unveiling, suggesting that Samsung has taken on board feedback and toned down the in-your-face features.

Samsung has redesigned the app icons and the interface and the UI looks similar to Tizen.

Khidr Suleman
Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site  - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.