Journalist picks up Galaxy S5, discovers it is, indeed, larger than the iPhone 5
In a shocking turn of events that is sure to send ripples through the technology world for years to come, Business Insider's Jim Edwards has confirmed that, as has long been rumored, there are smartphones out there with displays larger than that of the iPhone 5.
"Until recently, I was a loyal Apple customer," Edwards writes in a new exposé that is sure to send Apple stock tumbling and iPhone users questioning their faith. Everything changed when he decided to examine something called a Galaxy S5.
But what exactly is a Galaxy S5? It turns out it's a smartphone, and not only that, it's made by a company that appears to be completely separate from Apple. Clearly puzzled by the discovery, Edwards pushed the device's power button and found that the screen was actually -- brace yourselves -- larger than the screen of the iPhone 5.
"The big screen makes a huge difference," he explains. "When I went back to my old iPhone I was struck by how bizarrely small it is." Indeed. Further testing confirmed Edwards' "Larger Screen" theory, and officials currently estimate the display on the device to be as large as 5.1 inches, though that has yet to be firmly nailed down.
Curious as to what such a screen could be useful for, Edwards began testing the Galaxy in a number of ways. "I can actually see my pics once I've taken them now," Edwards claims, referencing his inability to actually view photos on the impossibly tiny 4-inch screen of the iPhone 5.
But what about video? Can this so-called Galaxy S5 play those as well? Edwards claims it can. "On the Galaxy, video just plays." That sounds pretty slick, especially once Edwards reminds us what video is like on the diminutive iPhone. "First you can't see anything because the screen is small," he once again notes, puzzled as to why Apple would even bother putting such a minuscule display on a smartphone. "Instead of just playing the video on the screen, the background goes black and then the video boots up in full-screen mode. The experience is... OK." A shocking account.
Edwards clearly has Apple's number here. Why would anyone want to watch a video on the entire screen? It's a pointless feature. Obviously, if you have a big-screen gadget like Edwards' new Galaxy S5, you'll surely want to use the massive display real estate to watch videos in a tiny window embedded on a mobile web page. For Apple to just assume we want to watch the videos in as large a format as possible is presumptuous, and, if I can speak personally here, a bit insulting.
He goes on to speak of something called "Swype," but as he accurately points out, "iPhone users have no idea what this is." He's right, and frankly I have to admit that I didn't even understand this part of his article because it literally blew my mind. "You swish your fingers across the board instead of pecking out letters one by one." I don't even know how to process that level of majestic amazingness.
To wrap things up, Edwards brings things back to the key point of it all -- which we never really left to begin with -- and that's the fact that the Galaxy S5 is, again (again, again... again) bigger than the iPhone 5. "Size matters," he says succinctly. Quite.
"The Galaxy S5 isn't perfect, but it's probably better than Apple's iPhone are right now," Edwards adds at the very end. I don't really think he's giving himself enough credit here. "Probably better" is the understatement of the century. Clearly Samsung is prepared to dominate Apple's smartphone business in every conceivable way once Edwards' discovery of the larger screen hits the mainstream.
Years from now, when electronics archeologists look back on when smartphones really evolved, we'll remember the day that Jim Edwards discovered the Galaxy S5 and showed us all the light.
