Galaxy S5 review: Member edition

[pc747]

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Samsung Galaxy S5 member reviews:​

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This week we will begin seeing customers pick up a Galaxy s5 (if they do not already have one already). In the coming weeks we will see reviews and head to heads from different sites (including here) and all over youtube. But we want to hear from you the members. So below post your reviews and/or head to head comparison whether it be in written or video (youtube) form.

 

[jspradling7]

I've had the M8 for a few days now and the S5 is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I have Viper ROM on the M8 now and I'm really liking this phone. The S5 has a pretty high standard to meet to match the M8. I'm even liking the M8's camera. These pics look better before I run them through photobucket.

 

[johnomaz]

i picked up my HTC One M8 on Friday from TMobile (their launch day for it) and have to say I'm VERY happy with it. I've had both the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 3 and though great devices, I feel like I've been missing out. I pick up the M8 and it just feels good. I've always defended the Galaxy line with their poly-carb backings, their faux metal bezel (its just plastic that has been chromed) and even the physical home button. But when I put the M8 in my hands, it felt good. Very good. There has been talk on the interwebz about it being too slippery. I disagree. When I initially touched it, sure it was soft feeling and could be seen as slippery but after 5-10 seconds of holding it, its almost as if the M8 gets sticky. I was able to have my hand flat with zero cupping and keep the M8 at almost 80° vertical and it didn't slide. Also, I ordered a body skin for both the front and back of my device. I don't want the back to get all scuffed up on the aluminum.

The screen looks amazing. I didn't go outside much this weekend so I don't know how it deals with direct sunlight, but sitting next to my living room window, I didn't have to increase the brightness as I did with my Note 3. I got very used to have the quick toggles on the notification pull down but I love how HTC did it with Sense 6. Each toggle has a settings button to go directly to that mode's settings. It definitely saves some menus to have to go through.

Speaking of Sense 6, I havent' found many issues with it other than you can only have a max of 16 apps in a folder. I'd prefer to scroll in folders if I can. Also, you can't change how the folder looks on the main home screen. Sure, I could use NOVA or something but I'd like to be able to change it in sense. You can turn off Blinkfeed but I decided to customize it and give it a shot. Turns out its rather nice. Better IMO than Flipboard. You can also disable it if you so choose which is nice *cough* not being able to disable Flipboard on TouchWiz *cough*.

The camera, as I said, I didn't get out that much this weekend so I didn't use it that much. The dual camera thing did have some issues. I took a picture of my computer monitor and it though teach window was a different thing so it messed up the depth of field on them and it couldn't do the fake 3D effect on it either. That is fine though. I use my phone to take quick unimportant pictures, my DSLR is for my good pictures.

The speakers are amazing. I mean why has no one else done front facing speakers. Its superb!

The phone is snappy as hell too. Zero delay at all. Even the multitasking button loads super fast. Apps load pretty fast too which is saying something because the Note 3 wasn't a slouch in the performance area. I still would have liked to see 3 gigs of ram but as it has been so far, its not necessary as much as a luxary.

The only thing I miss from my old Note 3 is the screen size. I'm finding some apps I've used for a long time don't show the same stuff on the small screen. Also, the non physical buttons on screen don't always disappear like they do in other apps. That can be annoying but that is either an HTC thing or the app needs to be updated to tell the apps to disappear or fit properly with the buttons still on screen.

One annoying thing is since there is no capacitive menu button, a small gear appears on apps that don't have built in menu buttons. It has covered a few things in apps and though I can get around it, it is still annoying.

Overall I am very happy with the phone. It took a couple days to get used to the size. I am coming from a much bigger phone so things on screen are a little smaller and it seems to move around in my pocket a lot more too. But those are the things I knew would happen because it is just a smaller phone. Its also something I was wanting. I was getting kinda tired of the size of the Note 3. It has its ups but it also has its downs.

If I were asked to rate the phone out of 5 stars, it'd get 4.5/5.

Next up is to unlock this guy and play with roms. I'm waiting for the stock factory RUU to be released first though.

 

[GAstorino]

Laughing because my friends also always complain about Galaxy phones and their body being plastic which is why they get the heavier phones made of metal and immediately put into a body case to protect the metal. I have a S4 an also put into a case. Once these phones are put into cases and body sleeves what the heck difference does it make on the metal versus plastic back other then plastic is lighter and less heat.

 

[johnomaz]

Laughing because my friends also always complain about Galaxy phones and their body being plastic which is why they get the heavier phones made of metal and immediately put into a body case to protect the metal. I have a S4 an also put into a case. Once these phones are put into cases and body sleeves what the heck difference does it make on the metal versus plastic back other then plastic is lighter and less heat.

My wife is the perfect example of this. Cases protect from visual blemishes, but if you sit on the phone or drop it, not every case will protect. My wife would put hers in her back pocket and cracked the poly-carb backing of her S4 several times. I'd like to think the metal body will resist bending more.

 

[johnomaz]

I've had the M8 for a few days now and the S5 is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I have Viper ROM on the M8 now and I'm really liking this phone. The S5 has a pretty high standard to meet to match the M8. I'm even liking the M8's camera. These pics look better before I run them through photobucket.

Who's plane? Yours? Its gorgeous! I love WW2 era planes before jet turbines were put in use.

Err...i see your profile pic after I post this so it most likely is yours. Still a beauty!

 

[jspradling7]

No, she's not mine. She's a member of the Commemorative Air Force. My wife and I rode along on a couple of flights Saturday at Wings Over Houston Airshow. She was in the BT-13 Valiant and I was in the AT-6 Texan. It was awesome.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o5g1w0qzq73i91m/57tjq0P8P4

 

[johnomaz]

No, she's not mine. She's a member of the Commemorative Air Force. My wife and I rode along on a couple of flights Saturday at Wings Over Houston Airshow. She was in the BT-13 Valiant and I was in the AT-6 Texan. It was awesome.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o5g1w0qzq73i91m/57tjq0P8P4

That sounds amazing!

 

[Manishka]

black magic specialist

Android phones keep getting smarter.Now Galaxy S5 phone is very light weight with amazing android applications. I have a Samsung galaxy S5 phone really it has great android application. Galaxy S5 has a light weight body from other phones and it has m8 camera which has a wonderful picture quality . In this phone pics look better before I run them through photo bucket. I would like to prefer Samsung S5 phone from others phones.

 

[jspradling7]

Okay I've only had the S5 for a day so this is just a first impression... I'll never like it as much as I like the M8.

The S5 still has some of the sluggishness of the S4 that the M8 does not have. The S5 seems to have a pretty dang good camera but since I like the camera on the M8 that doesn't wow me. The S5 is just wide enough to be uncomfortable to me. I never plan to use the fingerprint scanner so that's not a plus and neither is Knox. And I'm ready to tear off this dang USB port stopper thingy, it makes my cradle useless and I don't plan on throwing the thing in the swimming pool so it is just in the way.

They both have SD card slots and the M8's battery lasts all day so I'm not needing to swap batteries. I have no doubt that the S5 can make a battery last for days... because it turns EVERYTHING off and makes the display grayscale... the device isn't very useful at that point unless you miss having a dumbphone from the 90's.

I bought the S5 because I was curious about it and I've always liked Samsung products. It may grow on me as I use it more but the M8 just seems to me to be a better deal, the M8 is S-Off and running a ROM already. To be honest, I'd rather have my MDK S4 running Hyperdrive on my belt than this S5. Heck, I'm pretty sure I like my G2 better and it's camera and gps suck. Anyway, maybe it will get rooted and Xposed will make it more likable.

Basically, they made the S4 bigger (which I didn't want) made it waterproof (that I don't need) put a fingerprint scanner on it (that doesn't work) and plugged up my USB port so it's a pain in the butt to access and makes my cradle a paperweight.

I'm going to go play with my M8 now. I'll mess with the S5 more later.

 

[pc747]

Okay I've only had the S5 for a day so this is just a first impression... I'll never like it as much as I like the M8.

The S5 still has some of the sluggishness of the S4 that the M8 does not have. The S5 seems to have a pretty dang good camera but since I like the camera on the M8 that doesn't wow me. The S5 is just wide enough to be uncomfortable to me. I never plan to use the fingerprint scanner so that's not a plus and neither is Knox. And I'm ready to tear off this dang USB port stopper thingy, it makes my cradle useless and I don't plan on throwing the thing in the swimming pool so it is just in the way.

They both have SD card slots and the M8's battery lasts all day so I'm not needing to swap batteries. I have no doubt that the S5 can make a battery last for days... because it turns EVERYTHING off and makes the display grayscale... the device isn't very useful at that point unless you miss having a dumbphone from the 90's.

I bought the S5 because I was curious about it and I've always liked Samsung products. It may grow on me as I use it more but the M8 just seems to me to be a better deal, the M8 is S-Off and running a ROM already. To be honest, I'd rather have my MDK S4 running Hyperdrive on my belt than this S5. Heck, I'm pretty sure I like my G2 better and it's camera and gps suck. Anyway, maybe it will get rooted and Xposed will make it more likable.

Basically, they made the S4 bigger (which I didn't want) made it waterproof (that I don't need) put a fingerprint scanner on it (that doesn't work) and plugged up my USB port so it's a pain in the butt to access and makes my cradle a paperweight.

I'm going to go play with my M8 now. I'll mess with the S5 more later.

since you have them both would like to see a head to head from your perspective if you have the time.

 

[jspradling7]

If you're suggesting a video, I'll probably not get around to that. There are already a couple on youtube. Everyone's different. What may be a waste or pain in the butt to me may be important to you. (Like the waterproofing) I'm just in a bad mood and disappointed, it's been a long week already. I was just venting.

My first smartphone was a Droid Charge, then a Gnex, S3, Note 2, S4, Note 3, and now the S5. The Notes are used by my wife, because I just can't get used to trying to work with something so unwieldy, and I use the Galaxy line. I guess I was hoping the Galaxy line would remain the size of the S3 and S4 or even trim down a little. The Moto X is a great example of keeping the package reasonably sized and yet still packing a punch in performance, reliability, and battery life.

I don't have any more desire to make the S5 my primary phone than I do the Note line. I'll stick it in the "company pool" of devices and stick with the M8 until a new Moto X comes out.

 

[pc747]

If you're suggesting a video, I'll probably not get around to that. There are already a couple on youtube. Everyone's different. What may be a waste or pain in the butt to me may be important to you. (Like the waterproofing) I'm just in a bad mood and disappointed, it's been a long week already. I was just venting.

My first smartphone was a Droid Charge, then a Gnex, S3, Note 2, S4, Note 3, and now the S5. The Notes are used by my wife, because I just can't get used to trying to work with something so unwieldy, and I use the Galaxy line. I guess I was hoping the Galaxy line would remain the size of the S3 and S4 or even trim down a little. The Moto X is a great example of keeping the package reasonably sized and yet still packing a punch in performance, reliability, and battery life.

I don't have any more desire to make the S5 my primary phone than I do the Note line. I'll stick it in the "company pool" of devices and stick with the M8 until a new Moto X comes out.

actually I was suggesting what ever means worked for you whether it be video, audio, or in words via forum. Like you I do not have time to do a video which is why my chromecast vs roku head to head was in text form.

 

[jspradling7]

Ah, okay. let me spend a few more days with and we'll see what develops.

 

[jspradling7]

since you have them both would like to see a head to head from your perspective if you have the time.

Okay, it's been a few days. My first impressions are that they are both obviously very fast. But the M8 reacts immediately to my touches where the S5 has a very slight hesitation to it. So slight I don't want to use the dreaded "lag" word. I'm guessing it's still a TouchWiz thing and when I use the S5 a couple of days in a row I don't even notice it anymore. But, when I switch back to the G2 or the M8 I notice the quicker response right away. The S5 is fine and if that's what you use everyday you probably won't care.

The displays are awesome on the S5, the G2, and the M8. They're bright, clear, and have great colors. I really can't say one is better than the others unless I say the M8 and G2 are probably a little brighter in sunlight. The part that does matter to me is the size. As you know, the S5 is designed to give the biggest display area, where the M8 is not. But hey, you have to pay a price for those front speakers on the M8. In the M8's favor though, some apps push the navigation buttons off the screen so the whole display is used. The G2 has some mods that let you shrink the navigation buttons down to a quarter of their original size and even smaller so I have no complaints with the G2.

Those speakers... I use Bluetooth headsets everyday and almost all day at work so I have never cared about speakers. The M8 is my first phone to have front speakers and I have started using them once in a while like when I'm in the shower. The phone sounds great to me and has good volume to it. I'm not sure if it's worth giving up display area to get them. I look at the screen a helluva lot more than I listen to those speakers. It really just depends on personal taste I guess.

Radios... the M8 and S5 have great radios and GPS. My G2 falls far behind. But I hear that other G2's are fine. Maybe I just have a dud. Not much to say here other than that.

Cameras. The S5 has the better camera overall but the M8 is pretty cool if you ask me. I always reduce picture size on phones anyway so the 4mp size is not an issue. I like them both. The G2 is great outside and in bright light but I have trouble getting good indoor shots right. It may be me and not the camera but I don't have trouble with the other two.

The battery on all of them are more than enough to make me happy. I unplug it in the morning and plug it back in when I go to sleep. I don't have to swap batteries anymore but it's good to know I can.

The G2 doesn't have a SD card which is a bit of a let down. But I have to say that if my G2 had a better set of radios it would be a match to the M8 or S5 and might get the lion's share of carry time.

I don't like that the S5 got bigger than the S4 and S3. I don't care about water or dust. I don't need Knox or a fingerprint scanner. I do like the S-Health stuff.

Right now I have the M8 with me, it's S-Off and has Venom running through it. It's hard to put that away for the oversized S5.

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Samsung-Galaxy-S5,HTC-One-M8,LG-G2/phones/8202,8242,7969