Samsung is making a huge push into fitness tracking this year, and the Galaxy S5 benefits from a revamped S Health app and new heart-rate sensor on its back. The new S Health app can sync with Samsung’s Gear line of wearables, including the Gear Fit fitness band, and it offers guided coaching and feedback while you work out. Developers will be able to tap into the data offered by the service through an SDK that will be out later this year.

The heart rate monitor is a unique addition and is located just below the camera and reads your fingertip to grab your pulse in about five to ten seconds. In our brief tests, the sensor worked as advertised and was able to give me a reading in just a few seconds.

Heart-rate monitors and fingerprint scanners

Less successful is Samsung’s take on the fingerprint-unlock system made popular by Apple with the iPhone 5S. Like the 5S, the S5’s home key features an integrated fingerprint scanner, which can be used to unlock the phone or authenticate purchases online (Samsung is partnering with PayPal to enable this feature, though it doesn’t validate purchases from the Google Play Store). Samsung’s version requires a vertical swipe over the home button to activate the scanner, and we found it to be quite unreliable and virtually impossible to activate when holding the phone in one hand. It can store up to three different digits, but it was very particular about the speed and orientation of the swiping motion used — if we weren’t doing a perfectly straight swipe down, it would refuse to unlock the phone.

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Samsung didn’t ignore the other vital components of the S5 — it has a faster, 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a larger battery with the promised 20 percent better stamina, as well as a new low-power conservation mode to get the most battery possible when you’re running low. The S5 is as fast as you’d expect — Samsung has ensured that its flagship phone is one of the most powerful on the market for a number of years now, and the S5 is no different.

The camera has been upgraded to a 16-megapixel sensor with 4K video capabilities, and it now supports real-time HDR processing for better photos in mixed lighting. It’s now possible to apply Samsung’s unique camera effects after a picture has been taken, so you don’t have to worry about what mode you’re in when shooting pics. Samsung has also greatly simplified the camera interface, and in our brief tests, it was pretty snappy and responsive.

The S5 builds on what worked with the S4

Samsung had a successful formula with the Galaxy S4, and for the most part, it looks like it has retained that with the S5. Things are faster, nicer feeling, and easier to use, but it’s still a Samsung smartphone through and through, and will likely be just as successful if not more so than its predecessor.

The Galaxy S5 is scheduled to launch globally on April 11th and will be available on all major US carriers, though Samsung isn’t yet ready to talk pricing. Chances are, the price won’t matter — Samsung has built a very recognizable and successful brand with its Galaxy smartphones, and there’s no reason the S5 won’t continue the company’s success.