Similar to many devices with Flagship status, Samsung's Galaxy S5 was met with fervent hype, fanfare, leaks, excitement, and disdain. Obligatory spec breakdowns, reviews and comparisons amassed from various professional writers and enthusiasts throughout the industry. Admittedly, I am a tech junkie and enthusiast; however, the aim of this post will be to give you my opinion of one of Android's latest high end smartphones from Samsung; but from the perspective of an everyday user.
Decisions, Decisions
Prior to purchasing this phone I was using the Galaxy S3. I thoroughly enjoyed the S3; aside from a barely noticeable hairline crack along the bottom of the screen and a few nicks along the outer edging, the phone looks fairly new. The reason I wanted to upgrade was because Google was changing the way Google Wallet would work and the S3 and its Android cousins would not be supported for NFC payments... do it was time to get a new phone. My only issue was deciding which phone to get; the Moto X, HTC One M8, or Galaxy S5 or switch entirely and consider one of Nokia's Lumias.
My wife currently has the HTC One M7; mainly at my behest, and I love the phone, so I had high expectations for its iterative sibling. Generally, the HTC One M8 is possibly a great device. Dual camera focus, expandable memory, all metal design, and amazing speakers. The caveats however, are that the battery is not removable, user reports of the dual camera have not been glowing and my previous experience with HTC's build quality are not that great. I've never owned a Motorola handset - I do own their first foray into a smartwatch, the MotoActv, and I love it - but I really liked their approach with the Moto G and Moto X. Simple, close to Google's raw build of the Android OS, and the always listening option that leveraged Google Now in an innovative and intuitive way. The lack of a removable battery and expandable memory along with curiosity of what Samsung would do regarding the S5 sated my desire to purchase the Moto X.
Despite Nokia's recent beleaguered history, I know that they commit to building devices with amazing quality and they seem to find ingenious ways to integrate the software seamlessly. The only drawback was that Nokia's devices primarily used Windows Phone 8. I can't make a judgment about Windows Phone because I've never used it; however, I do use Windows Pro 8.1 everyday; and I love it. Based on what Microsoft says, there's negligible loss of fidelity in the user experience since the PC and Mobile versions of Windows are based on the same source code. The problem for me is that I am fully ingratiated in the Android ecosystem and transferring to a new one would be time consuming, regardless of what anyone says.
After weighing the options that mattered to me, I chose Samsung's Galaxy S5. Unlike many people, I don't use cases on my phones. Some might say that's crazy, but I feel that takes away from the aesthetic of the device; also my device spends a lot of time in my breast pocket away from other things that can scratch and nick it. There are many reasons why I went with the S5; here are a few that helped influence my decision.
Top Features
Water and Dust Resistance: Samsung repeatedly noted how their focus with the S5 was everyday use - without alienating power users. Their commitment was evident by making the S5 both water and dust resistant. Basically, this means that if you drop your phone in the sink or even the toilet (thankfully, I have not done this with any phone I've owned - yet) without any major repercussions. It also means that you can use your phone in the rain with no worries.
I live in NYC, so the dust resistance is a non factor in my opinion; if you live in a state that is prone to bouts of dust hurled by wind (I used to live in Albuquerque, NM; which was prone to these dust storms during the supporting and summer months), or if you fancy yourself at the beach this summer, a little sand or debris is not going to hurt your S5.
External Storage
The Galaxy S5 comes with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. Due to preinstalled software, that number can get small very quickly. Thankfully, the S5 supports microSD cards up to 128 GB so this becomes a non issue almost immediately. I am a big fan of cloud storage and services like DropBox, One Drive, Google Drive et al, but you're not always going to have a connection to your mobile network or Wi-Fi, so having a viable offline option is beneficial.
Camera/Camera Software
When it comes to cameras, Samsung is one of the best in the business. Not only does the 16MP camera take amazing photos and video, Samsung has packed a lot of fun and useful features into its interface. Noted features include Selective Focus, multiple camera modes, such as; Dual Camera - both the front facing and back cameras are used; allowing you to snap a photo of your subject and yourself at the same time, Virtual Tour - need to sell your house or do a walkthrough of a landmark, then this camera feature will let you add that HGTV touch; just like House Hunters, and Beauty Face - we all have that one person who insists on taking 25 or more photos before they are satisfied with maybe 2; perhaps you are this person. Regardless, with the Beauty Face feature, Samsung aims to mitigate this by utilizing the Burst Shot feature. Multiple pictures are taken and the S5 will select two that it feels are potentially the best; however, you get the final say via the photos popping up with options to select all or none before moving on.
Social Networks have necessitated ubiquitous features in mobile camera software. Posting, photo editing, micro movies, and photo filters are software features that most people expect to be available on their smartphone; and the S5 includes them all. In my opinion I feel they make them easier to use.
Along with the amazing photo quality, the S5 can record video with an output of up to 4K (Ultra HD). Though amazing, I wouldn't recommend doing this on a frequent basis, as it can eat up precious storage - and if you don't have a 4K TV, there's no need.
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| Record 4K Video with the S5 |
Audio Output
My S3 had great sound, so I expected the same for the S5. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. Admittedly, no smartphone speaker is matching HTC's BoomSound, but where the S5 lacks in external speakers, it makes up for with the audio output, especially with the included earbuds. Enough clarity and reproduction to enjoy your sounds without overdoing the bass or over sampling the vocals. Though I wouldn't recommend the external speaker for enjoying a movie or YouTube video, it is a very good speaker of you need to use the phone hands free.
Display
When it comes to mobile displays, Samsung is one of the best in the business. The S5 boasts a full HD screen that features tweaks that has earned it the mobile device with the best display so far. More importantly is the fact that they have made it to where it truly has an adaptive display that will modify screen brightness based on ambient light if you have the auto setting enabled for brightness. The long and short is that reading text and viewing media will not be a chore. Everything is rendered excellently.
Power Management
Most smart phones have pretty good software to mitigate the battery drain caused by always being connected. Samsung has taken this a step further and had probably taken a page out of YotaPhone book and incorporated a setting known as Ultra Power Saving mode. This sets the display to a gray scale mode and only allows access to apps that are not graphically intensive nor drain the battery. Very useful if you only need access to core functions.
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| S5 UltraPower Mode Settings |
Bonus/Not Really Needed Features
Fingerprint Scanner
Samsung's answer to Apple's Touch ID is the fingerprint scanner included worth the S5. Currently, you can use it to unlock your phone and "securely" pay with PayPal. Truthfully, until app developers leverage the scanner, I personally view it as a nice bonus; but outside of the 'cool factor', it's not that functional right now. If you use this feature, utilize the password back up and also use the fingerprint of a finger that is not common. Similar to Apple's Touch ID, the scanner can be fooled, especially if you use a common finger.
IR Blaster
This is beginning to be a standard feature in today's smartphones due to our penchant need for interconnectivity. Basically, you can turn your phone into a remote for virtually any home entertainment device in your home. Although, this is a nice feature, most cable and set top box companies have apps with a built in virtual remote; so even though an embedded IR Blaster is nice, it's not a top of mind feature.
S Health and Heart Rate Monitor
Given the latest interest in Smartwatches and Fitness Bands, it's easy to see why Samsung included a heart rate monitor on the S5. S Health is Samsung's version of a health maintenance and tracking application. Like most apps of its kind, you can track exercise, food and water intake, challenge friends, and keep a daily log of your data. The included heart rate monitor will allow you to track your heart rate, compare against previous records, and Samsung has even recently updated the application to allow you test your stress level. All of this is great, and it's leveraged more if you opt for one of Samsung's smartwatches or fitness bands, but its limiting factor is that it only is useful with Samsung's companion products. Hopefully, with Google's Android Wear platform, this will change.
Caveats
No Download Booster
The unlocked version of the S5 has a feature known as Download Booster. This feature speeds up the downloading of large files by utilizing both LTE and Wi-Fi simultaneously. This is a great feature, however, Samsung's lack of clout with U.S. carriers is evident by its absence on virtually every carrier version of the S5. Carriers gave a canned excuse about increased data usage, but their excuses fall flat since Samsung said most of the download heavy lifting would be via Wi-Fi, and actually reduce your reliance on mobile data, so that's your real answer.
Duplicative Apps
Samsung, like most hardware manufacturers, has a library of apps that are optimized for their devices. Unfortunately, they also have duplicate versions of popular apps, such as Evernote, and . It's an issue that is more annoying than it is a liability; but nevertheless, a needless one.
Conclusion
Overall, the Galaxy S5 is a great device. Samsung expanded on features that are core to their devices, but also dialed back on unnecessary apps and forcing you to keep them on your device. When the S5 was first presented to the public, Samsung continually pointed out how they listened to customer feedback and how they wanted their flagship to be a device for everyone rather than a ramped up tech feature powerhouse. Instead of blatantly pushing limits, Samsung focused on what they believed their current and new Galaxy owners wanted from a device; functionality, ease of use, and cool features - with options.
You're not going to submerge your phone in water, but you or your kid might drop it in the toilet - Water Resistance. No one buries their phone in dirt, bit people go to the beach, out you might be someone who lives in a dry climate; so the S5 is Dust Resistant. I'm sure you watch YouTube videos or movies or movie clips on your phone, so we'll give you the best in class HD display. Do you hate having to keep your screen on full brightness, just to be able to view it in every lighting situation, we gave you the best mobile display ever so far; that automatically adjusts the brightness for you.
Battery running low, but you still need to use your phone and some key apps - Ultra Power Saving Mode. Along with these key features, there are a ton of other features including one of the best mobile cameras and camera software packs available. Basically, Samsung focused on what would be important to every user and not just novices, just power users, or just tech and mod geeks. I believe that Samsung hit their mark and I believe that many people would agree.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this phone.
-Edmund Starbanks
