Samsung Galaxy S5 Review
Tags: Samsung Mobile, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung review
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is no doubt an
excellent smartphone. Better camera, faster performance, and a gorgeous
display—these are just but a few things offered by the Korean giant’s
latest flagship.
In this Galaxy S5 review, we cover
several improvements and new features that the phone introduces. We’ve
already mentioned the big three, but there are still some more that beg
these questions: are these new features truly innovative or just pure
gimmick? Is the S5 really a huge jump over the Galaxy S4 or just an
incremental update to an already incredible device?
Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs
■ Android 4.4.2 KitKat, TouchWiz
■ 5.1-inch Super AMOLED (1080×1920 Full HD), ~432ppi
■ 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor
■ Adreno 330
■ 2GB RAM
■ 16/32GB internal storage
■ microSD support up to 128GB
■ 16-megapixel main camera, with autofocus and LED flash
■ 2-megapixel front camera
■ Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
■ 3G, HSDPA, LTE
■ Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
■ GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC
■ Dimensions: 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm
■ Weight: 145g
■ Li-Ion 2800mAh battery
■ SRP: Php34,990
Hardware and Design
Not much has changed in the design of
the Galaxy S5 in comparison to the Galaxy S4, so much so that you can’t
easily tell both devices apart from the front. Dimensions have increased
but only for a fraction due to the slight increase in screen size and
thickness. Despite its slightly taller and heavier body, one-handed
operations with the S5 are just as comfortable as it were in the S4,
especially with the one-hand operation feature, which lets you shrink
the screen display instead of the full 5.1-inch.
In contrast to the minimal changes to
the front side, the rear cover sports a new dimpled pattern with a matte
texture. The rougher and subdued feel helps conceal the fingerprints
and give a tighter grip. Also, it gives a better feel in the hand than
the S4’s glossy plastic.
Physical buttons are still a thing in
the Galaxy S5. On-screen navigation buttons may appeal to some, but I
personally prefer them conveniently placed below the screen. Fingerprint
scanning has also been added as a fast yet reliable way to secure the
phone, and it’s smartly incorporated into the home button. The
capacitive button to the home button’s left now handles multitasking
(invoking the menu now requires a long press), whereas the capacitive
back button remains as such. Meanwhile, the power button stays put on
the right-hand side of the phone and volume controls on the left.
Once again, plastic remains to be
Samsung’s choice of material for its latest flagship smartphone. On the
plus side, Samsung’s choice of a removable plastic back cover allows for
a feature that the competition doesn’t have: replaceable
batteries—which we’ll cover shortly.
Display
Build quality may have been littered
with compromises, but the Samsung Galaxy S5′s display makes up for it.
Measuring 5.1 inches diagonally, the Super AMOLED display produces vivid
colors and great contrast. It has a wide viewing angle and looks great
in sunlight. The screen resolution here is still 1080p, and the 0.1 inch
increase in screen size translates that to a slightly lower pixel
density of 432ppi. Nevertheless, the images and text are crisp and
clear. You’ll even find watching HD videos a delight with the S5.
AMOLED was often criticized for its unnatural colors and saturation, but Samsung
included 5 screen modes: Adapt display, Dynamic, Standard, Professional
photo, and Cinema – so you can choose which type of mode suits you
best. For me, I prefer standard because I love the screen’s great color
reproduction.
The brightness control was also vastly
improved. Now I can use my phone at night without hurting my eye of the
extreme brightness even at the lowest level, and that’s without an
external 3rd party app. I really like this change and right now I only
set the level to under 50% (which is already good) while my Galaxy S4 is
often 50-100%.
Software and the new TouchWiz
Samsung’s new TouchWiz skin on top of
Android 4.4.2 KitKat is meant to streamline all the clutter of previous
versions. On one hand, the new icons and menus do have a fresh, unified
look and feel. Changes here and there range from minor to extreme
overhauls to offer a more intuitive experience. Software services that
made the S4 unnecessarily bloated have been either combined with other
apps or removed altogether.
Performance
The Galaxy S series of devices has long
been synonymous with performance, and in this department the S5 delivers
once again. It employs the undeniably powerful quad-core Snapdragon 801
processor clocked at 2.5GHz, along with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM.
Expect this combination of innards to put the S5 among the top-scoring
handsets in any benchmark test you dare it to undergo.
Despite the modified user interface and
processes running in the background, the S5′s performance guarantees
smooth movie playback, fast loading times for apps and games, and snappy
animations. It doesn’t necessarily all that faster than the previous
iteration, but it does feel a lot smoother than before.
We’ve ran the AnTuTu benchmarking app and here’s the result we got.
Gaming
We tested several games—ranging from the
casual to the hard-core racing and shooter games with heavy graphics—on
the Galaxy S5, and it ran them exceptionally well at very smooth frame
rates. We did enjoy the games very well because there are no lowered
frame rates from time to time, which we often experienced in other
quad-core smartphones. In the end, the experience is generally fast
thanks to the awesome graphics.
We also downloaded a couple more of
benchmarking tests that measure both pure GPU and overall performances
and put the Galaxy S5 through its paces. Unsurprisingly, the phone
excelled in these tests, even earning scores double that of its
predecessor in certain areas.
Camera
Besides performance and the display,
Samsung put a lot of effort into another significant aspect of the
Galaxy S5—the camera. In fact, the 16-megapixel shooter (up from 13
megapixels) on its back is one of the better choices available on the
market today. Shooting in auto mode can already give you a fantastic
snap of the moment, complete with rich, accurate colors especially in
decent natural lighting.
But settling with just the automatic
mode is an insult to the potent power of the S5′s camera, for it has
this Isocell sensor that introduces more capabilities in smartphone
photography. For one, you’re now more likely to get a good shot of an
action what with the speedy autofocus only taking up to 0.3 seconds to
put things into focus. For another, taking pictures in low light has
improved over the S4, though you’ll still end up with a lot of shots
that have just barely passed the point of being usable. Key word here is
barely.
One of the new software features is the
selective focus, which lets you capture a photo and edit which part gets
the blur, so you can focus or change the subject after the shot.
Another is Virtual Tour, a mode where you can shoot multiple photos and
the device will stitch it together and make it appear to be a tour of a
place.
Camera Samples
When it comes to video recording, the
default 1080p Full HD resolution more than suffices for capturing the
moment. If you want to kick it up a notch, there’s even ultra-HD (4K
video) recording hidden in the settings. Other shooting modes and
filters are also hidden, with more choices downloadable through the
camera app.
Heart rate monitor and IP67 protection
Of the new features found in the Galaxy
S5, the heart rate monitor and IP67 certification have been heavily
promoted as ones that differentiate the handset from the rest of the
Android smartphone army. The former sits neatly on the back under the
camera and is designed to complement the S Health app, which now tracks
more data to appease the fitness buff and diet aficionado. By placing
your index finger at the sensor (remember to activate it first through S
Health), the phone keeps a record of your vitals. The results are
accumulated for, say, checking the changes in your blood pressure over
time.
What’s actually more useful is the IP67
rating, which means the Galaxy S5 is resistant to dust and can stay
underwater for up to half an hour and in up to a meter. In fact, this is
my favorite feature of the S5 because it fits my lifestyle. I’m always
on the go and I rely on my phone a lot to accomplish things. The other
day I was able to use it while raining and it’s incredibly good. I no
longer need to worry if my phone’s going to get wet so I was just
focused on doing my stuff. At first it seems a bit gimmicky, but this
feature is pretty much legit.
Connectivity
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has the capability
to get ultra fast internet speeds because of its category 4 LTE which
can offer up to 150/50Mbps. Together with a strong Wi-Fi connection, you
can download files extremely fast thanks to Galaxy S5’s built in
download booster. It’s also capable of combining your LTE and Wi-Fi
connection to get even better speed. Samsung’s web browser was also
revamped, making it look like a direct clone of Google Chrome for
Android.
Browsing the web is such a pleasure with
the Galaxy S5. The texts are crisps, scrolling is smooth, and the pages
load really fast. The hands-free eye scrolling is still available and
fun to use at times, but thankfully it’s not pre-enabled like on the S4.
Battery Life
The Galaxy S5 comes with a bigger
battery life is a welcome improvement, though Samsung at least hitting
the 3000mAh capacity mark isn’t asking too much. Nevertheless, the one
we get is a 2800mAh battery pack that allows the device to last up to a
day and a half with light usage and even a full day with heavy usage.
The phone, like its siblings, comes with own take on a power-saving mode
to keep it running for some hours more before requiring a recharge.
They also included an Ultra power saving mode which makes the display
black and white and making only the wanted features to work, leaving
everything else disabled.
The 200mAh difference may not look that
big to you, but it’s been godsend for me. Samsung and Google did a
really great job with their software optimizations to make it last this
long. I can easily get up to 4-5 hours screen on time with heavy usage
and up to 6 hours on moderate. In comparison, my S4 barely lasts for 3-4
hours of screen on. Check out my battery stats below. Impressive, eh?
Despite the bigger capacity, the Galaxy
S5 charges extremely fast and gets to full charge in less than 2 hours.
If charged at around 20%, it’ll be good to go in as low as an hour and a
half. This is simply the fastest charging smartphone I’ve seen.
#GlobeGalaxyS5 – 5 reasons why you should get it
- You can get free access to Spotify Premium (my favorite music streaming service!) for 6 months if you get a GoSurf 299 and up subscription. With that, you can enjoy mobile internet and unlimited access to Spotify’s huge music library.
- It will come with free 1 month Gadget Care which means you get complete protection from theft, accidental damage, and up to Php 40,000 coverage on top of that. When you’re getting a smartphone like this, it’s important to take extra care so you won’t lose it.
- Charge App Purchases to Bill: Yes, this is something like the GCash AMEX where you can buy apps from Google Play and App store. If you subscribe on a Globe postpaid plan, you can purchase apps and games with ease.
- Flexibility: Interested customers can choose from a number of plans to get the Galaxy S5. You can get it for as low as Php1,799 which includes 5GB of GoSurf mobile data and free calls and texts to all networks.
- Fast LTE network: Enjoy fast mobile data connectivity with Globe’s LTE.
Conclusion
What we liked best about the Samsung
Galaxy S5 is its gorgeous display—and that’s quite a big thing, given
that this part of the phone is where our faces are stuck for hours as we
do our mobile things. Boost in performance is to be expected of a
sequel device, and thus the S5 doesn’t disappoint. Having a bigger
battery life and better camera only makes us appreciate the handset
more.
On the other hand, we would have like to see the Samsung Galaxy S5
with true innovations for the price we’re paying for it. Water and dust
resistance are exceptional, but we wish Samsung can improve the
fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor feature even more.
The Galaxy S5 is Samsung’s best flagship
smartphone yet. If you think this is your next device, you can get for
only Php1,799 per month on Globe’s MySuperPlan. Check out more details here.
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