Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, is a definite upgrade from previous models, but is also a testament to the slowing progress of Samsung's strategy in the mobile market. Almost all the exciting possibilities that were supposed to come with the handset seem to be missing, making the Galaxy S5 rather disappointing for those expecting more after the Galaxy S4.

Samsung experienced a huge disappointment with the Galaxy S4 in 2013. Sure, the smartphone sold at a pace that almost every other handset manufacturer (other than Apple) would kill for. Still, something was off, and sales slowed almost twice as fast as with the Galaxy S3. Something was off, and as hindsight kicked in, most pointed to the device's lack of innovation compared to its predecessor. What few new features other than more powerful hardware the phone sported turned out to mostly be gimmicky.

"When we moved to S4 from S3, it's partly true that consumers couldn't really feel much difference between the two products from the physical perspective, so the market reaction wasn't as big," executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business Lee Young Hee said in a Bloomberg interview in January before the Galaxy S5 was officially unveiled.

"For the S5, we will go back to the basics. Mostly, it's about the display and the feel of the cover."

It's too bad the term "basics" might have been over-liberally applied to the Galaxy S5.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with only a couple new features: a fingerprint sensor and a heart rate sensor. These might become the industry norm, but they certainly don't symbolize an innovative step forward. Apple already put a fingerprint sensor in last year's iPhone 5S, making Samsung look more like a follower rather than a trendsetter.

Other than that, everything else about the Samsung Galaxy S5 can be summed up in two words: more power. The Galaxy S5 has received the usual hardware bump that can be expected from a newer version of the device, but even this falls short of expectations prior to the smartphone's reveal. The Galaxy S5 was supposed to have a metal body variant to address some of the design criticisms concerning the Galaxy S4, a 2K HD display, and a completely new TouchWiz interface. Instead, the Galaxy S5 doesn't have a metal variant (as of yet), sports a 1080p HD that's only slightly larger than the Galaxy S4's, and the new interface is a minor increment at the very best.

Samsung still stands as the world's largest smartphone supplier, but taking baby steps instead of leaps forward could end up hurting the South Korean-based company in the long run. The Galaxy S5's specs still make it a top-tier smartphone and there's little doubt it will sell well. The question is, will consumers begin to view Samsung as the safe alternative rather than the hip new product on the block?

Let us know what you think of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and whether it lives up to your expectations or is a dud in the comments section below.