New Samsung Galaxy S5, Black 16GB (AT&T)
This is My Opinion About This Product
After I buy this New Samsung Galaxy S5, Black 16GB (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
A little background on my love of smartphones - I used to be a major Apple fanboy from the first iphone to the iphone 5. Steve Jobs is still my hero. I made the switch when the Galaxy S4 came out, then moved to the HTC One, LG G2, Note 3, and now the Galaxy S5. I use two phones, one for work and one for personal use. I spent a decent amount of time with all of them and can say that most people would be happy with each and every flagship for daily use for 1-2 years at a minimum but most people come to read these reviews for the small details that make the major differences between just "okay" with your phone or "completely happy" with their device. I won't list out the specs of the phone since that type of info is listed everywhere. But this phone as well as the others listed here are spectacular at being fast, having good to great battery life, and all have good to great cameras. Probably the most polarizing topics of phones these days is the aesthetics, mainly due to the fact that hardware seems to have outpaced the software which means manufacturers cant really make phones noticeably faster than the previous generation. Okay I'll get to the review.
Metal vs. Plastic - The HTC One and the iPhone are made from mostly aluminum. Aluminum without question looks fantastic on phones. The colors also look much better on aluminum because they can be anodized giving them a rich and even color that just look great. The main problem with metal is, sure it looks great on day one, but the material is so hard that is super easy to scratch and nick without ever dropping it. I am the type of user who hates cases. They add thickness and overall just make the phone look ugly, and to top it all off, cases are 40 to 50 dollars for a piece of plastic(major rip off). I carry my phone in my left front pocket without anything else in there to scratch it. After a good months use of the iPhone 5 and HTC one, i developed so many nicks and scratches that it really made me question, "Is metal really so great?" The answer is no. Have you ever seen someone with an uncovered black iPhone? After 6 months the sides look silver just from normal wear and tear. Most people who will read this review probably haven't seen an uncovered HTC One mainly because the volume of sales isn't there, but that phone has the same problem. Sure the metal is gorgeous, but it is only on the first day. And what is the point of buying a phone for it's looks if you're going to cover it in a PLASTIC case?
Plastic - At first try with the S4 and LG G2, I HATED plastic. The glossy feeling made the phone feel slippery and cheap in my hand. And to top it off, glossy plastic attracts oil like white on rice, which just makes your phone feel nasty at times(or maybe I just have gross hands which I don't think I do because I am a scientist and wash my hands 10-20 times a day). But then the Note 3 came out with faux leather plastic. Sure it's not pretty like aluminum, but it's light weight, it has a nice texture, it doesn't attract oil, and it doesn't nick and scratch like metal. Maybe Samsung is onto something with plastic. Everyone seems so concerned with the way phones look vs how they feel or hold up over time. I can say without a doubt, my Note 3 looks the same way it did out of the box after a few months of hard usage. For the S5 they switched from the glossy plastic on the S4 to a textured dimpled plastic that feels slightly soft, which I think feels fantastic. It is slightly softer with a more grippy feel and it doesn't look at all tacky. I love it. The phone definitely feels sturdy in your hand.
Software - The general perception of Android is that it is harder to use than iOS. After using iPhones for 5 years(iPads and macs), and now Android for just over a year, I can say that perception is absolutely false and anyone who says it probably has not given Android a fair chance. In fact, I think Android is easier to use than iOS. With google now built into the phone, it is always listening. When the phone is unlocked all I have to say is "Okay Google" and I am prompted to give my phone instructions like "get me directions to the nearest gas station" or "call Susie" and the phone does it. You dont need to hold the home button to pull up siri or open up a separate app to use this feature which makes it super functional. I know most people don't use siri. Siri just isn't that good. It doesn't understand a lot of words or the search results it brings back are not useful. Google now works on about 95% of the words I speak and I am a mumbler at times too. So for my friends who say they can't understand me, well google now can! To me this is revolutionary. People called the iPhones revolutionary because they added value to your everyday life. People think, " can you imagine what it would be like if I couldn't have email 24/7 or internet access 24/7?" which is what made the iPhone revolutionary. It changed the way we did things. Having a phone always ready to hear your commands is revolutionary. When you're in the car and can't touch your phone, voice control is a huge benefit. Or when you're cooking and want to send a text without washing your hands you now have the ability to send a text hands free. Other software advantages. iCLOUD SUCKS. EVERY iPhone user at some point says, "oh crap, I am out of memory." Well the reason is no one really knows how to use iCLOUD and end up leaving everything on their phone until it fills up. Google's back services allow for any file type to be backed up and you can even view the pictures stored in the cloud. They just aren't downloaded on your phone until you hit download. It's a huge advantage over iOS and I love it. I never back my phones up to my computer anymore to make space on my phones. As for the rest of the software it is very easy to use and gets better with every update.
Battery Life - battery life from my experience from worst to best goes in this order HTC One, Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Note 3, Galaxy S5. No this wasn't a video loop test, or some other standardized test. It is my perception of using each phone for a minimum of 3 days as my primary phone which means I was using the phones for email, text, talking, pictures, youtube, movies, and games. I just got back from a 2.5 day camping trip and didn't charge the S5 one time and came home with 50% power in reserves. Absolutely AMAZING battery life. Another nice feature to have is the removable battery. Before I had this feature with the Note 3, I thought it was a dumb benefit but now with a spare battery I can go from 1% to 100% with the removal of the back cover and swap of the battery. No more being tethered to a wall to get back to 30% before I can use my phone again. I love pointing this out to iPhone users who are stuck to walls with their chargers(not to mention those stupid 20 dollar lightning cables that break every 6 months). The S5 also has USB 3.0 with fast charging built into the processor, so you can easily get a 90% charge in less than an hour. SO for battery life, and for the ability to swap batteries, the Galxy S5 is best in class by a long shot. Spare batteries MSRP are 39.99 but on amazon you can buy a generic which works perfectly fine for 20 dollars.
Screen color and resolution - A year ago I hated AMOLED screens. It is the screen that Samsung uses in their displays vs the others who use LCD. I'm no expert in display technology but a year ago AMOLED screen were cartoonish looking. It drove me nuts to look at overly saturated pictures and movies. LCD screens have a much more accurate color representation. But with the Note 3 and now the S5, Samsung definitely has solved that problem. They have adjustable settings for your screen similar to a TV screen. The S5 also gets very bright and dark which means in sunny San Diego I have no problems seeing my screen in full sunlight and at night when I am in bed I am not squinting my eyes because my phone is too bright. It definitely gets darker than typical LCD screens. Resolution, the S5 is top notch. Only the HTC One bests it with pixels but you can't tell the difference between the two. When an iPhone user looks at the S5, they say'"Wow, it looks so clear." Well that is because the S5 has a much higher resolution. The screens speak for themselves.
Camera - The S5 camera kicks butt. It has a new feature where you can make part of the picture blurry and the other part clear. It is really neat and I used this feature often on my camping trip. This camera in practice is better than the G2, HTC one and even Note 3. i would say it's equal to Apple's camera but I also think that is Apple's best feature.
Removable storage - Only Samsung devices, Sony, and the HTC One M8 have removable storage. Throwing a 64gb memory card in my phone gives me full confidence I can take as many pictures as I want or store as much music as my heart desires without sacrificing other things for them. My S5 came with 16gb, but now has 80gb of memory to use, although about 6gb is used by the software. The additional memory was about 40 dollars vs an iPhone memory upgrade to 64gb would cost an additional 200 dollars. The winner here is rather obvious.
IP67 water and dust resistance rating - basically this means the phone is dust proof and water resistant up to about 3 feet of water for 30 minutes without risk of damaging your phone. Only the Sony flagship models have this feature built into their phones and they were the first to do it. Basically this rating means, you can drop your phone in the toilet (gross) and it will survive, or you can take it in the hot tub or bath tub and not worry if you will kill your phone or not. In my case, in San Diego, I can take it hiking or to the lake without worry of damage. IP67 is not rated for salt water but having that feature means I can probably take my phone to the beach and a few splashes here and there won't kill my phone. Also, if your phone ever does get dirty, you can just wash it in the sink. It's really a fantastic feature to have built into your phone especially if you have kids who tend to get stuff wet and dirty.
In summary, all flagship phones are great. Some have a few features like LG with their "knock on" code where you can unlock the screen with a double tap. Or the HTC One with it's spectacular speakers, and the Iphone with it's beautiful design. The S5 at this very moment is the best phone on the market. We are fortunate to live in a time with such fierce competition that all phones are great but it's the little details that make the S5 so much better than the rest. You really cannot go wrong with this phone unless you just hate the size and love your small 4 inch iphone screen. But you really can go right in so many more ways than the other phones. If you have any questions for me please post them. Ill continue to add updates as I see necessary.
Edit 7/25/2014 - I had the HTC One M8 for two weeks and got rid of it because I didn't like it. Design wise, the HTC One M8 is gorgeous, especially in gold with the blue dot case which is what I had, but the frame is huge. Below the screen there is a huge black bar on top of the already thick bar where the speaker is located. Also, if you don't use a case with the M8, it will slip out of your hand due to the smoothness, shape and weight on the phone. It was fast, sounded great, but was lacking in a lot of areas in design - but it LOOKED AMAZING from the back lol.
I also published a review on the LG G3 on Amazon. Check it out if you're interested.
Also, if you want a bunch of freebees, don't forget to register your S5 with Samsung as you can get things like 50gb of free cloud storage with Dropbox and 1 year subscription to Business week amongst quite a few other freemiums.
Metal vs. Plastic - The HTC One and the iPhone are made from mostly aluminum. Aluminum without question looks fantastic on phones. The colors also look much better on aluminum because they can be anodized giving them a rich and even color that just look great. The main problem with metal is, sure it looks great on day one, but the material is so hard that is super easy to scratch and nick without ever dropping it. I am the type of user who hates cases. They add thickness and overall just make the phone look ugly, and to top it all off, cases are 40 to 50 dollars for a piece of plastic(major rip off). I carry my phone in my left front pocket without anything else in there to scratch it. After a good months use of the iPhone 5 and HTC one, i developed so many nicks and scratches that it really made me question, "Is metal really so great?" The answer is no. Have you ever seen someone with an uncovered black iPhone? After 6 months the sides look silver just from normal wear and tear. Most people who will read this review probably haven't seen an uncovered HTC One mainly because the volume of sales isn't there, but that phone has the same problem. Sure the metal is gorgeous, but it is only on the first day. And what is the point of buying a phone for it's looks if you're going to cover it in a PLASTIC case?
Plastic - At first try with the S4 and LG G2, I HATED plastic. The glossy feeling made the phone feel slippery and cheap in my hand. And to top it off, glossy plastic attracts oil like white on rice, which just makes your phone feel nasty at times(or maybe I just have gross hands which I don't think I do because I am a scientist and wash my hands 10-20 times a day). But then the Note 3 came out with faux leather plastic. Sure it's not pretty like aluminum, but it's light weight, it has a nice texture, it doesn't attract oil, and it doesn't nick and scratch like metal. Maybe Samsung is onto something with plastic. Everyone seems so concerned with the way phones look vs how they feel or hold up over time. I can say without a doubt, my Note 3 looks the same way it did out of the box after a few months of hard usage. For the S5 they switched from the glossy plastic on the S4 to a textured dimpled plastic that feels slightly soft, which I think feels fantastic. It is slightly softer with a more grippy feel and it doesn't look at all tacky. I love it. The phone definitely feels sturdy in your hand.
Software - The general perception of Android is that it is harder to use than iOS. After using iPhones for 5 years(iPads and macs), and now Android for just over a year, I can say that perception is absolutely false and anyone who says it probably has not given Android a fair chance. In fact, I think Android is easier to use than iOS. With google now built into the phone, it is always listening. When the phone is unlocked all I have to say is "Okay Google" and I am prompted to give my phone instructions like "get me directions to the nearest gas station" or "call Susie" and the phone does it. You dont need to hold the home button to pull up siri or open up a separate app to use this feature which makes it super functional. I know most people don't use siri. Siri just isn't that good. It doesn't understand a lot of words or the search results it brings back are not useful. Google now works on about 95% of the words I speak and I am a mumbler at times too. So for my friends who say they can't understand me, well google now can! To me this is revolutionary. People called the iPhones revolutionary because they added value to your everyday life. People think, " can you imagine what it would be like if I couldn't have email 24/7 or internet access 24/7?" which is what made the iPhone revolutionary. It changed the way we did things. Having a phone always ready to hear your commands is revolutionary. When you're in the car and can't touch your phone, voice control is a huge benefit. Or when you're cooking and want to send a text without washing your hands you now have the ability to send a text hands free. Other software advantages. iCLOUD SUCKS. EVERY iPhone user at some point says, "oh crap, I am out of memory." Well the reason is no one really knows how to use iCLOUD and end up leaving everything on their phone until it fills up. Google's back services allow for any file type to be backed up and you can even view the pictures stored in the cloud. They just aren't downloaded on your phone until you hit download. It's a huge advantage over iOS and I love it. I never back my phones up to my computer anymore to make space on my phones. As for the rest of the software it is very easy to use and gets better with every update.
Battery Life - battery life from my experience from worst to best goes in this order HTC One, Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Note 3, Galaxy S5. No this wasn't a video loop test, or some other standardized test. It is my perception of using each phone for a minimum of 3 days as my primary phone which means I was using the phones for email, text, talking, pictures, youtube, movies, and games. I just got back from a 2.5 day camping trip and didn't charge the S5 one time and came home with 50% power in reserves. Absolutely AMAZING battery life. Another nice feature to have is the removable battery. Before I had this feature with the Note 3, I thought it was a dumb benefit but now with a spare battery I can go from 1% to 100% with the removal of the back cover and swap of the battery. No more being tethered to a wall to get back to 30% before I can use my phone again. I love pointing this out to iPhone users who are stuck to walls with their chargers(not to mention those stupid 20 dollar lightning cables that break every 6 months). The S5 also has USB 3.0 with fast charging built into the processor, so you can easily get a 90% charge in less than an hour. SO for battery life, and for the ability to swap batteries, the Galxy S5 is best in class by a long shot. Spare batteries MSRP are 39.99 but on amazon you can buy a generic which works perfectly fine for 20 dollars.
Screen color and resolution - A year ago I hated AMOLED screens. It is the screen that Samsung uses in their displays vs the others who use LCD. I'm no expert in display technology but a year ago AMOLED screen were cartoonish looking. It drove me nuts to look at overly saturated pictures and movies. LCD screens have a much more accurate color representation. But with the Note 3 and now the S5, Samsung definitely has solved that problem. They have adjustable settings for your screen similar to a TV screen. The S5 also gets very bright and dark which means in sunny San Diego I have no problems seeing my screen in full sunlight and at night when I am in bed I am not squinting my eyes because my phone is too bright. It definitely gets darker than typical LCD screens. Resolution, the S5 is top notch. Only the HTC One bests it with pixels but you can't tell the difference between the two. When an iPhone user looks at the S5, they say'"Wow, it looks so clear." Well that is because the S5 has a much higher resolution. The screens speak for themselves.
Camera - The S5 camera kicks butt. It has a new feature where you can make part of the picture blurry and the other part clear. It is really neat and I used this feature often on my camping trip. This camera in practice is better than the G2, HTC one and even Note 3. i would say it's equal to Apple's camera but I also think that is Apple's best feature.
Removable storage - Only Samsung devices, Sony, and the HTC One M8 have removable storage. Throwing a 64gb memory card in my phone gives me full confidence I can take as many pictures as I want or store as much music as my heart desires without sacrificing other things for them. My S5 came with 16gb, but now has 80gb of memory to use, although about 6gb is used by the software. The additional memory was about 40 dollars vs an iPhone memory upgrade to 64gb would cost an additional 200 dollars. The winner here is rather obvious.
IP67 water and dust resistance rating - basically this means the phone is dust proof and water resistant up to about 3 feet of water for 30 minutes without risk of damaging your phone. Only the Sony flagship models have this feature built into their phones and they were the first to do it. Basically this rating means, you can drop your phone in the toilet (gross) and it will survive, or you can take it in the hot tub or bath tub and not worry if you will kill your phone or not. In my case, in San Diego, I can take it hiking or to the lake without worry of damage. IP67 is not rated for salt water but having that feature means I can probably take my phone to the beach and a few splashes here and there won't kill my phone. Also, if your phone ever does get dirty, you can just wash it in the sink. It's really a fantastic feature to have built into your phone especially if you have kids who tend to get stuff wet and dirty.
In summary, all flagship phones are great. Some have a few features like LG with their "knock on" code where you can unlock the screen with a double tap. Or the HTC One with it's spectacular speakers, and the Iphone with it's beautiful design. The S5 at this very moment is the best phone on the market. We are fortunate to live in a time with such fierce competition that all phones are great but it's the little details that make the S5 so much better than the rest. You really cannot go wrong with this phone unless you just hate the size and love your small 4 inch iphone screen. But you really can go right in so many more ways than the other phones. If you have any questions for me please post them. Ill continue to add updates as I see necessary.
Edit 7/25/2014 - I had the HTC One M8 for two weeks and got rid of it because I didn't like it. Design wise, the HTC One M8 is gorgeous, especially in gold with the blue dot case which is what I had, but the frame is huge. Below the screen there is a huge black bar on top of the already thick bar where the speaker is located. Also, if you don't use a case with the M8, it will slip out of your hand due to the smoothness, shape and weight on the phone. It was fast, sounded great, but was lacking in a lot of areas in design - but it LOOKED AMAZING from the back lol.
I also published a review on the LG G3 on Amazon. Check it out if you're interested.
Also, if you want a bunch of freebees, don't forget to register your S5 with Samsung as you can get things like 50gb of free cloud storage with Dropbox and 1 year subscription to Business week amongst quite a few other freemiums.
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