Back in May I had the risk to review the Samsung Galaxy S5, and equally expected information technology performed fantastically. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC is one of the fastest smartphone fries out there, and its inclusion in the Galaxy S5 G900F allows it to hands power through any task.

Yet, the G900F isn't the only Milky way S5 model bachelor. Like with previous high-end Samsung smartphones - including the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note three - the company has released an Exynos-powered model alongside a Snapdragon-powered model. The Exynos Galaxy S5 is known as the G900H, in keeping with the standard classification for S5 SKUs.

The G900H is typically sold in regions where 4G LTE networks aren't equally prevalent, such every bit Latin America, Africa and the Middle East (which is where the model for this review was sourced). This is likely considering the Exynos model costs less to produce than the Snapdragon-equipped version and that makes it a more than affordable option for buyers in these markets.

Despite not being available in the U.s., information technology's still possible to import a Galaxy S5 G900H if you really desire i. Our friends at Expansys will sell you lot one for $fifty less than the Snapdragon-powered G900F, which is a good deal if you're in the market place for an unlocked high-end handset.

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Merely before you become ahead and brand a purchase, it'southward worth reading on to discover how the Exynos Galaxy S5 stacks up against the Snapdragon Galaxy S5. With previous Galaxy releases I've checked out both versions, and the Exynos model never stacked up from a functioning or feature standpoint. Notwithstanding with the Galaxy S5, it looks similar Samsung has airtight the gap further between the two models, making the Exynos variant more bonny than ever.

G900F vs G900H: The Chief Differences

The majority of the hardware found in both versions of the Galaxy S5 is identical. Both have the same five.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080; both come up with a sixteen-megapixel rear photographic camera capable of 4K video recording; both devices take upwards to 32 GB of internal storage plus a microSD bill of fare slot; and both accept a 2,800 mAh, 10.78 Wh removable battery.

Previous Galaxy devices had some slight differences in image quality between the Exynos and Snapdragon models, but that'south non the instance with the S5. Unlike with the Note 3, the Exynos Galaxy S5 is capable of 4K Ultra Hard disk video recording, a first for Samsung's in-house SoC.

It goes without saying that the two versions feature the aforementioned external blueprint design, both certified for IP67 water resistance. In fact, if I hadn't received a black G900H I probably wouldn't be able to tell it apart from the white G900F I already had.

Samsung'due south Exynos 5 Octa 5422 SoC pairs four ARM Cortex-A15 CPU cores, clocked at one.nine GHz, with four ARM Cortex-A7 CPU cores clocked at i.iii GHz. On the GPU side, there's a Mali T628MP6 clocked at under 695 MHz, and we also become a 32-flake dual-aqueduct LPDDR3 retentiveness controller providing xiv.9 GB/s of bandwidth to 2 GB of RAM.

If you lot take a look at the spec sheet for the Exynos 5 Octa 5422, you lot'll notice the maximum clock speeds are rated at 2.i GHz for the Cortex-A15 cluster and 1.five GHz for the A7 cluster. For whatever reason – information technology likely has to do with bombardment life and heat output – Samsung has decided to run each unit of measurement at the same clock speeds as we saw in the Exynos Milky way Note 3, which packed an Exynos five Octa 5420. I doubtable the GPU is also downclocked to beneath the rated 695 MHz.

The inclusion of two quad-core CPU units is due to the implementation of ARM'due south large.Fiddling heterogeneous compages that uses the more powerful, energy-hungry "big" A15 cores when tasks demand high levels of performance, while the "Little" A7 cores are saved for low-power tasks. The CPU scheduler manages which tasks are allocated to which cores and when.

Unlike previous iterations of the Exynos 5 Octa, the 5422 supports heterogeneous multi-processing (HMP) with global task scheduling and information technology appears as though Samsung has enabled information technology. This means that all eight cores can exist used simultaneously, instead of needing to migrate between clusters, which should result in improved functioning and no stutter to speak of.

I'm hoping for a greater level of efficiency too, equalling longer bombardment life, but there are no guarantees. The Exynos Galaxy Note 3 couldn't match the Snapdragon variant on battery life, so hopefully it'due south a little closer this time around.

Aside from the differences in CPU and GPU performance, the Exynos five Octa doesn't come with an integrated cellular radio, and Samsung hasn't paired information technology with an LTE-capable modem. The maximum download and upload speeds you can expect from the G900H are 42.2 Mbps and 4.76 Mbps respectively, a far weep from the 150/50 Mbps over LTE that the Snapdragon 801 supports.

Both the G900F and G900H back up HSPA+ on the 850, 900, 1900 and 2100 MHz 3G bands, so there's no advantage to getting the G900H from a cellular perspective if y'all're in a 3G-just area. Some variants of the G900F will add the 1700 MHz band for Northward American networks, or even remove the 900 MHz band, so I'd advise checking with your local carrier earlier ownership.

In short, a lack of LTE is the only principal divergence in connectivity between the Galaxy S5 SKUs: the G900H still packs Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/north/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, USB 3.0, infrared and GNSS. A full chart comparing both models tin be found beneath.

Specs Galaxy S5 G900F Galaxy S5 G900H
SoC Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC Exynos v Octa 5422
CPU 4x Krait 400 @ two.45 GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A15 @ ane.9 GHz + 4x ARM Cortex-A17 @ i.three GHz
GPU Adreno 330 @ 578 MHz ARM Republic of mali-T628 @ ~695 MHz
Retention 2 GB dual-channel
LPDDR3 @ 933 MHz
Storage sixteen/32 GB internal + microSD
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.0
LTE Category four None
Other NFC, Infrared LED, MHL, GPS, HSPA+, 2G
Display 5.1" 1080p Super AMOLED
Battery 10.78 Wh (two,800 mAh)
Camera 16 MP 1/2.6" sensor with f/2.two lens