The cat, or should I say cats, are out of the box. Samsung has officially unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, plus a number of new devices in the wearable tech market. But are these gorgeous gizmos as awesome as the rumors make them out to be?

The Galaxy S5

First off, the new device is larger and heavier than its predecessor, which has led some to describe it as looking more like the Galaxy Note III. The phone has a more rectangular look compared to the Galaxy S4 and S3, while for the back casing, Samsung has finally ditched its shiny plastic whilst staying away from faux leather look of the Note III. Instead, the casing’s still plastic, but it has a more ‘grippable’ feel to it, kind of like its rubberized with a slight matted look. Something reminiscent of the Nexus 4’s rear casing, only with dimples.

As far as major changes and new features go, the rumors turned out to be true – the Galaxy S5 does come with a fingerprint sensor/scanner embedded in its home button, which can be used to unlock the phone and even make secured payments, but more on that in a bit.

The phone is also water- and dust-proof, so the charging port is protected by a rubber flap to prevent internal damage if submerged in water. The Galaxy S4 delivered features that are health-focused and the S5 continues with that trend, and has added some more tracking features. Aside from the built-in pedometer, it has a heart rate sensor mounted adjacent to the LED flash at the back. All you need to do is place a finger on the heart rate sensor to see your heart rate displayed on the screen.

Another new feature is the ‘Emergency Mode’, which when activated sends out SOS messages to a user’s emergency contacts and emergency responders. It sends out an MMS message with a link that pinpoints your location on a map, an SMS with your raw coordinates, a message with a picture automatically taken with the rear camera, a message with a picture automatically taken with the front-facing camera, and a 5-second audio recording that begins right when you activated the Emergency Mode.

Other features include a 5.1-inch 1080×1920 SuperAMOLED display, a 16MP rear camera capable of taking photos in less than a second, wireless connections such as 802.11 ac 2×2 MIMO and 4G LTE Advance, and a 2,800 mAh battery.

As for the release date, Samsung said that the Galaxy S5 will be available globally in April. In the US, it will be available with the following carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular. The phone will cost around $650.

Secure payments

As mentioned earlier, the fingerprint scanner can be used to authorize payments, and that’s all thanks to PayPal and Samsung’s collaboration. Galaxy S5 owners will no longer need to input their their login details once they have tied their fingerprint with their PayPal account. Purchases online and in retail stores that accept PayPal payments can now be done securely with just a simple swipe of a finger.

“We spearheaded the Fast IDentity Online Alliance last year and predicted that the industry would soon move beyond passwords, and this announcement brings us one step closer to that reality,” said Hill Ferguson, Chief Product Officer for PayPal.

“By working with Samsung to leverage fingerprint authentication technology on their new Galaxy S5, we are able to demonstrate that consumers don’t need to face a tradeoff between security and convenience. With a simple swipe of a finger, consumers can still securely log into their PayPal account to shop and pay with the convenience that mobile devices afford.”

Wearable tech

Galaxy Gear 2

Aside from its phone, Samsung unveiled no less than three wearable devices; the Galaxy Gear 2, Galaxy Gear 2 Neo and the Galaxy Gear Fit.  All three smartwatches are IP67 certified, which means they’re water and dust-proof, able to withstand being submerged under three feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

The three devices come with optical heart rate monitors on the back bezel and are all running on Tizen instead of Android. Samsung stated that using Tizen was the reason it dropped the “Gear” nomenclature in its smartwatches.

Samsung claims the battery of its smartwatches can now last up to 2-3 days, but the downside is, the devices still require a snap-on attachment for charging, which when lost, will render your device unchargeable.

The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo feature power buttons on the front, rather than on the side as was the case with the original Galaxy gear. The 2MP camera is now located on the watch instead of the strap, and there’s 4GB of storage, while both watches support the WatchOn app which means they can be used as a remote for your TV, set-top box, or satellite box.

The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo can still be used to make or take calls, send messages, and perform many other functions of the Galaxy Gear.

The Gear Fit is more of a fitness band than a smartwatch, much like the Nike FuelBand. Because of the smaller screen, it can only display one reading at a time, unlike the other Gears.