The Samsung Galaxy S5 is finally here and there is a whole lot of hype about this new gadget. But how much does it match up to the ones that came before and is it hot enough to knock out the competition in the market place?
Hardware
It is very much like its predecessor the S4 – this is both good and bad. The bad is that it’s still plastic – perhaps more premium materials should be considered. The good is the increase in the size of the windscreen and the retention of the slim, sleek and very lightweight form. The S5 is just a bit larger than the S4 but still fits your purse and pocket; however, if you have the previous model you will need to buy a few new cases. The real achievement for the S5 is that they took this thin and light device and made it water and dust proof, which will be a welcome addition especially with the summer water parties coming to come.
Performance
For the most part the S5 is snappy – and it should be since it’s packing a “Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad-core 2.5 GH processor with 2GB of RAM “: that’s nerd talk for “really fast processor”. Surprisingly though I did get some lag after putting the phone through my mini torture test which may be due to Samsung’s Touch Wiz User interface and not necessarily the phone itself. The fact that it runs Android 4.4.2 (kit kat) means it definitely holds its own against the other high-end Android devices…so, back to English – you will be impressed with the performance of the this instrument.
This device is solid, its more an incremental update to the S4 and will appeal to a lot of smartphone users and they will enjoy a lot that this device has to offer. It’s an excellent purchase for the android person upgrading from a S3 or S4 or for a first time android user
Display
Gorgeous, yes simply gorgeous! The S5’s 5.1-inch, 1080p AMOLED display is a beauty, very vibrant you may even say intense especially when playing graphically intricate games such as FIFA; that they actually found a way to make a better screen than the S4 which is amazing!
Camera
he 16 mega pixel camera is awesome – well most of the time: it performs brilliantly in good lighting conditions however in low light the problem is that most images are a bit soft. On the other hand, they did pack in loads of features that can take care of that, like “beauty face and the real time HDR mode” – almost as if to hide the low light issue.
Software
It was a good attempt by the manufacturers but could be cumbersome with the 61 options in the settings menu… yes 61! It’s not all bad though – they organized the look and feel and you have the option to check the view to list or grid. These are all good steps and clearly the company is really listening to its customers. A great addition is the finger print scanner used to unlock the device and authenticate pay pal purchases unlike apple’s IPhone which only lets you use finger print in iTunes (aside from unlocking the device).
However, it was a bit inconvenient to hold the phone with both hands to unlock it every time – you have to swipe your finger directly over the middle of the home button. A very handy feature is the ultra-save mode which allows your battery to last a really long time – about 30 minutes with my battery on 1%.
Finally, there’s S-health
Samsung’s one stop shop for having your phone track/monitor your steps, calories, etc., and of course the heart rate monitor -mounted on the back of the device.
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The Samsung Galaxy S5 is finally here and there is a whole lot of hype about this new gadget. But how much does it match up to the ones that came before and is it hot enough to knock out the competition in the market place?
Hardware
It is very much like its predecessor the S4 – this is both good and bad. The bad is that it’s still plastic – perhaps more premium materials should be considered. The good is the increase in the size of the windscreen and the retention of the slim, sleek and very lightweight form. The S5 is just a bit larger than the S4 but still fits your purse and pocket; however, if you have the previous model you will need to buy a few new cases. The real achievement for the S5 is that they took this thin and light device and made it water and dust proof, which will be a welcome addition especially with the summer water parties coming to come.
Performance
For the most part the S5 is snappy – and it should be since it’s packing a “Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad-core 2.5 GH processor with 2GB of RAM “: that’s nerd talk for “really fast processor”. Surprisingly though I did get some lag after putting the phone through my mini torture test which may be due to Samsung’s Touch Wiz User interface and not necessarily the phone itself. The fact that it runs Android 4.4.2 (kit kat) means it definitely holds its own against the other high-end Android devices…so, back to English – you will be impressed with the performance of the this instrument.
This device is solid, its more an incremental update to the S4 and will appeal to a lot of smartphone users and they will enjoy a lot that this device has to offer. It’s an excellent purchase for the android person upgrading from a S3 or S4 or for a first time android user
Display
Gorgeous, yes simply gorgeous! The S5’s 5.1-inch, 1080p AMOLED display is a beauty, very vibrant you may even say intense especially when playing graphically intricate games such as FIFA; that they actually found a way to make a better screen than the S4 which is amazing!
Camera
he 16 mega pixel camera is awesome – well most of the time: it performs brilliantly in good lighting conditions however in low light the problem is that most images are a bit soft. On the other hand, they did pack in loads of features that can take care of that, like “beauty face and the real time HDR mode” – almost as if to hide the low light issue.
Software
It was a good attempt by the manufacturers but could be cumbersome with the 61 options in the settings menu… yes 61! It’s not all bad though – they organized the look and feel and you have the option to check the view to list or grid. These are all good steps and clearly the company is really listening to its customers. A great addition is the finger print scanner used to unlock the device and authenticate pay pal purchases unlike apple’s IPhone which only lets you use finger print in iTunes (aside from unlocking the device).
However, it was a bit inconvenient to hold the phone with both hands to unlock it every time – you have to swipe your finger directly over the middle of the home button. A very handy feature is the ultra-save mode which allows your battery to last a really long time – about 30 minutes with my battery on 1%.
Finally, there’s S-health
Samsung’s one stop shop for having your phone track/monitor your steps, calories, etc., and of course the heart rate monitor -mounted on the back of the device.
Share this post: