Samsung finally took the wraps off of its brand new Galaxy S5 smartphone on Monday and we took an in-depth look at the handset right after the company’s Mobile World Congress press conference was over. Long story short: we think it looks like a solid iterative effort from Samsung but overall, it lacks key features that scream “buy me.” There are a few new additions that future S5 owners will find particularly interesting though, and for us, the Galaxy S5’s new “ultra power saving mode” is somewhere near the top of the list.
As we explained briefly in our Galaxy S5 hands-on preview, Samsung’s new hero phone will ship with a new ultra power saving mode that extends battery life when users are on the go with nowhere to plug in. The S5 features very impressive battery performance in standard mode, according to Samsung, with a battery pack that will supply an estimated 10 hours of web browsing or 11 hours of video playback per charge.
But wait until you see how amazing ultra power saving mode is.
When enabled, this new feature restricts colors on the display to just black and white, limits background processes, and restricts which apps the owner can use. It sounds pretty drastic, but there’s a good reason: As Engadget noted, Samsung says ultra power saving mode will allow a Galaxy S5 with just 10% of its charge remaining to last up to 24 hours.
You read that right — 24 hours of battery life on a 10% charge.
Ultra power saving mode is easily one of the Galaxy S5’s most appealing new features and those who do buy the phone will have a sense of security that other smartphone owners will be incredibly jealous of. And if Samsung decides to extend this awesome feature to other handsets, portable battery pack makers are in for some serious trouble.
