Samsung’s Galaxy S5 video tour takes swipes at iPhone 5s and Apple’s Retina display

galaxy s5 iphone 5s

Yesterday, four new feature tour videos cropped upĀ on the Samsung Mobile USA channel on YouTube, showcasing the handset’s full HD Super AMOLED screen, the selective camera focus feature, its ultra-power saving mode and the bundled S Health app. Unlike some of the conglomerate’s previous promotional videos, theseĀ clipsĀ do a good job explaining howĀ the four aforementioned features enhance experience for the user.

However, Samsung being Samsung meant the firm couldn’t resist comparing its flagship to Apple’s iPhone 5s in terms of the display size, image quality and pixel count. I’ve included that clip, along with the remaining three videos, after the jump…

The 37-second video below, entitled ‘Full HD Display’, makes the case for the handset’s 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display by mentioning that it has “62 percent more screen size than the iPhone 5s,” so your viewing experience is “at a whole new level.”

Indeed, at full HD resolution of 1,920-by-1,080 pixels, the Galaxy S5 has 2.85 times more pixels for apps and content than the iPhone 5s’s 640-by-1,136 pixel Retina screen.

It’s interesting that Samsung felt compelled to highlight its screen size advantage at this particular point in time, when Apple is rumored to be bringing to market new iPhones with 4.7 and 5.5-inch screens later this year, the latter rumored to incorporate full HD resolution.

Next up, a video that focuses on the stock S Health app that taps the handset’s built-in pedometer and heart rate sensor – a first in a smartphone – to provide basic overview of a user’s heart rates, steps taken and more, in one central repository.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ghtwFKxjJk

Apple’s upcomingĀ iOS 8 is rumored to be bringing out a new app called Healthbook,Ā describedĀ asĀ the Passbook for health and fitness related data. It’s thought to collate dataĀ retrievedĀ from bothĀ the iPhone 6’s many sensors and third-party accessories while acting as a central data store forĀ fitness and health data for third-party apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmfmUWqlSA

The Apple-designed M7 motion coprocessor inside the iPhone 5sĀ measures steps taken in an energy-efficient manner. As for heart rates, Apple’s new iPhone 5s ‘Powerful’ adĀ (seen above) showcases an app called Instant Heart Rate (Free, $1.99 Pro).

The software tracks your ticker byĀ using the iPhoneĀ camera’s flashĀ to detect the pulse fromĀ afingertip placed on the camera lens,Ā leveraging similar technique as used in pulse oximeters.

The following video, entitled ‘Focus Features’, explains how Galaxy S5 users canĀ choose theirĀ focus and depth of field even after the picture is taken, using theĀ Phase Detection Auto Focus technology typically found in DSLR cameras.

And here’s the final clip outlining the handset’s ultra power saving mode.

“We’ve all been there: that moment when you need your phone but the battery is about to run out,” the video says before explaining a software feature that adjusts the screen to use grayscale and limits the phone’s performance to maximizeĀ battery life.

Samsung claims that evenĀ with just ten percentĀ juice left, Ultra Power Saving ModeĀ will still allow users to place phone calls and text others for an impressive 24 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA4QCjs1s4w

Just the other day, I was thinking this is exactly the kind of feature that I’d like to see implemented on the iPhone. For the sake of completeness, iOSĀ does perform certain optimizations when your juice level reaches 20 percent and more after it falls below ten percent.

For example, you may have noticed that your iPhone slows down when the battery is critical because iOS drops the clock rate of the iPhone’s processor in order to conserve power.Ā But in a typical Apple fashion, this feature is on auto-pilot and has no user-facing interface so we don’t really know whichĀ power-saving tricks Apple employs.

Galaxy S5 (Ultra Power Saving Mode)

I’d like to see a section in iOS Settings that would allow me to tell iOS when the power saving mode should kick in and what features should get automatically disabled when the battery reaches user-defined thresholds.

For example, dim the display and throttle the CPU when the battery falls to 20 percent, switch to grayscale display and disable Background App Refresh and Location Services when itĀ hits the 10 percent mark and so forth.

Anyways,Ā I want to know how you feel about Samsung’s videos so chime in with your thoughts down in the comments and, please – keep the conversation civil and on topic.