BARCELONA, Feb 25 — After an absence of two years, Samsung returned to the Mobile World Congress with style, unveiling a new iteration of its flagship Galaxy smartphone alongside a range of new smartwatches at its Unpacked event yesterday.

Unlike the theatrical unveiling of the S4 last year, the introduction of the Galaxy S5 was far more down-to-earth, with a heavy emphasis on the needs and wants of the consumer.

President and CEO of Samsung’s mobile division JK Shin said, “Our consumers do not want eye-popping or the most complex technology.” Instead, a survey of their consumers revealed that consumers were interested in simple, day-to-day enhancements: Durable design, a better camera, faster and more seamless connectivity, and to manage their fitness. Each of these aspects is catered to in the new S5.

Early rumours of a curved screen turned out to be unfounded, as the new handset sports a ramrod-straight 5.1-inch full HD Super AMOLED display. It weighs 145g, is 8.1mm thick, runs Android’s latest 4.4 KitKat operating system and comes with a 2.5Ghz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, and 16 or 32GB of on-board memory expandable with a microSD card slot up to 128GB.

The battery has been enhanced: At 2800mAh, it is expected to give 10 hours of web browsing or 12 hours of video playback.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes in black, white, blue and gold. Rumours of a special edition with an all-metal casing has also turned out to be untrue, as all the phones sport matte, textured polycarbonate backs.

One function correctly predicted was the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner. This layer of security can be used to lock and unlock the phone as well as individual data folders. More interestingly, it can be used to authenticate PayPal transactions as well, turning online shopping into an easy, one-swipe-to-buy experience.

The S5 supports the latest WiFi standards (802.11ac and 2x2 MIMO) — which is expected to double WiFi speeds and is also a first for mobile phone — and supports 21 bands of LTE Category 4 frequencies. A feature called Download Booster allows the S5 to simultaneously send data via mobile data and WiFi at the same time, cutting down the time needed to send large files, for example.

The S5’s 16-megapixel front-facing camera has several enhancements. The 0.3s autofocus is that fastest in a mobile phone. The S5 can also shoot in real-time HDR, another first for mobile phones. A function called selective focus uses software to let users choose a DSLR-like narrow focus after the photo has been taken.

Fitness is one of the key pillars of the S5 experience — a decision based in part from consumer feedback. The S5 comes with S Health 3, a suite of applications to manage every aspect of a person’s health and fitness, from a fitness tracker to a calorie counter. It even has a heart rate sensor, just under the camera, which can read a person’s heart rate from their finger.

Samsung has also tweaked a few things to enhance the phone’s usability. The phone is dustproof and waterproof up to 1m. Battery life has been boosted 20 per cent from the S4. There’s also an ultra-power saving mode in which the home screen is simplified to a few basic applications and everything runs in black-and-white, so that the phone can stay on with its most essential functions (calling, texting, etc) for a much longer period of time.

Samsung also announced a third smart watch device called the Gear Fit, in addition to the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo that were previously unveiled. The Gear Fit sports a long, narrow 1.84-inch screen touted to be the world’s first curved super AMOLED touchscreen on a wearable device.

Unlike the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, which have a number of standalone functions, the Gear Fit is primarily designed as a companion device for other Samsung smart devices. It can control the devices, delivers notifications, and also comes with a range of fitness functions and a heart-rate monitor.

The newly-announced devices will hit the shelves on April 11 this year. Prices are yet to be determined. — Today