Introduction:
After a tedious finals week, on returning back to the city I headed straight for the mall to go satiate my appetite for a taste of the latest tech. While the M8 and Z2 evaded me, I found myself in company of the Galaxy S5 on display at R-trends Mumbai. That was 2 days ago, and now the obligatory blog post follows.
(Updated to 26 May 2014)
I do not own any of these images and the credit goes to individual sites
Overview:
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the long awaited successor to the massively successful Samsung galaxy S4. The S5 may seem like the familiar affair to the untrained eye. However, changes, some significant and some not are littered all around the place.
Some significant changes include:
- IP68 rated dust and water proofing
- Finger print sensor
- Heart rate sensor
- Soft touch dimpled back panel
On first glance it might seem like Samsung might be on its way to another winner, however judging phones in today’s cut throat market goes way beyond face value as execution is just as vital which we cover in the individual sections.
Design:
Samsung has been historically criticized for its bland and uninspired designs. The S5 does little to change that on the front, however the back seems to forsake the all plastic construction for a more nexus 7 like dotted design. I will refrain from referring to the change as an upgrade for the design choice does remain controversial. Personally I felt that the S5 still lacked the premium look and feel expected of a flagship that the Htc M8 and the Sony Z2 ooze in a surplus.
The famed BAND AID S5
While the Golden and Blue models seem over done at best and downright obnoxious on some occasions, the white and black models are pretty acceptable in looks. The white model has an understated white dot design on the front as well. If the S4 or S3’s design never bothered you, the S5 won’t either. I also noted that the white model at times felt more plastic (for the lack of a better word) rather than the black model which has a better soft touch leather feel to it.
Bezels on either side are wider to accommodate for the added waterproofing functionality. The sides have adopted a Note 3 like notebook layering design, while the shape seems to approach the Note 3’s rectangle as it forsakes the S3’s oval. The back camera bulges out a little and the speaker grill rests squarely at the bottom.
Samsung may have played it too safe with S5’s design that looks as familiar as it looks uninspired
Handling:
The S5 is wider and slightly taller than the S4. It is still pretty thin and small for a 5.1” phone. It is more comfortable to hold than the rather massive Z2 and the M8, but the S4 and G2 definitely fit better in the hand.
The grip was solid, but with the new size, one hand use has become tedious to a point such that, 2 handed use is simply more convenient. One handed use often leads to me having my palm registering some unwanted inputs. This problem is shared by all current flagships due to increasing screen sizes.
The Waterproofing and dust resistance are no nonsense features that simply work and are welcome changes. They do need you to adjust and settle for a flap around the micro-usb port much like the Xperia series.
Handling for the S5 is a mixed bag as compromises in bezels, dimensions and flaps have been made to make way for some welcome changes like water proofing, a larger screen and a more steadfast grip.
Display:
The Samsung galaxy S4’s super amoled was a fan favorite and the S5 improves on its 1080p panel to deliver the best in class viewing experience. Colors pop out with unrivalled vibrancy while blacks go down to infinity and beyond. If somewhat cartoony colors are not cup of tea thenSamsung has that covered too. Cinema mode ensures accurate color reproduction that looked very convincing side by side to a Nexus 5’s IPS-LCD. I personally preferred the default mode as Samsung’s touchwiz felt more tailored to that mode.
Viewing angles are very satisfactory. The screen is bright enough for comfortable outdoor viewing and goes as dim as 2 nits of light for pitch black room viewing.
The S5’s display is a class leading spectacle that will enthrall AMOLED and LCD lovers with no exception.
User interface
Touchwiz returns in the S5 with its proprietary bag of features as Samsung has given the android 4.4.2 version of it a visible facelift. The first noticeable changes are in the icons which are flat and adopt a circular profile. These changes are visible in the settings window, drop down bar and the app drawer.
Speaking of the settings window, it now gives an option between either tabbed selection or a centralized hub. Swiping in between tabs do not change them to the consecutive tab and that applies to all inbuilt apps which I honestly found disappointing. The new centralized hub looks more attractive however the tabbed segregation seems more functional, accessible and less confusing in general.
Lock screen, app drawer and page swiping animations remain the same along with the very undesirable nature UX sounds that every sane user will instantly disable. Most 1st party apps also retain the S4 look which once again may be approached as either familiar and comfortable or worn out and boring.
There is no lag or stutter between transitions and the Flagship grade processor ensures minimum app booting times which are only long if internet pre-loading is required. Over all the experience felt very fluid as is expected of a flagship, however the bloat ware could be toned down further and interaction between mobile and user could be made less obtrusive as dialog boxes often disrupt the user experience.
The camera interface could be looked at from 2 perspectives. It may either seem feature rich or too confusing. For those looking for easy and quick tweaking the S5’s camera might just be too overwhelming, however it does allow camera enthusiasts to tweak settings to no end
Not all features are gimmicky though, as the multi window feature works like a charm and finds regular use for a power user. Air view also has potential, but it could be utilized better other than only for gallery previews. The chat head like arrangement is a boon for those who love app switching and the side swipe bar also has some niche applications for better one handed use.My magazine is once again gimmicky and feels like a shortcut to flipboard rather than an integral part of the UI.
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Beyond a welcome facelift resides the same old touch wiz which is still a tweaked to oblivion, near unrecognizable version of android that brings all the bells and whistles imaginable , some to enhance and some to disrupt an experience that still largely resembles the S4.
Battery life:
The S5 is fitted with a removable 2800 mAH battery that comfortably squeezes out enough juice to last a day even under continuous use. Considering average usage cycles, the S5’s battery can easily last a couple of days and if that doesn’t satisfy your wants, it can always be replaced for a spare pack of juice.
Ultra power saving mode is a new feature that shuts down all but some apps turning the S5 into a Nokia 1100, while promising very low battery consumption. It can be helpful in some critical moments when a day has to be squeezed out of say 10% battery.
The Samsung galaxy S5 is built for the marathon and should last 2 or even 3 days on a single charge.
Speakers and Audio quality:
The performance of flagships in this domain has been a very similar story for all recent flagships barring the HTC one. A single speaker grill produces underwhelming sound that should be acceptable in quiet environments, however is completely inaudible in louder environments. The loud speaker quality is also not as a rich as that of the Z2 or M8. It matches the Z2 in loudness, but the rear position of the speaker makes it easily to muffle accidently or otherwise. The lack of stereo speakers is also a little disappointing.
As head phones are connected, the Samsung Galaxy S5 produces every bit of sound expected of a flagship. Acceptable loudness levels and extremely clean sound output should put even the most demanding audiophiles’ worries to rest.
Excellent audio performance with earplugs inserted, make up for average rear mono speakers.
Performance:
The Galaxy S5 flaunts the latest top of the shelf Snapdragon 800 processor with 4 cores clocked in at 2.5 Ghz and 2GB of RAM. While this is true for the international model, the model found in the local markets of nations like India is a variant fitted with the slightly weaker Exynos chipset found in the Galaxy S5 which a real shame.
Either way, the UI seems fluid and this iteration of touchwiz feels like the most responsive and lag free yet. However, as is shown in the video shown below, touch wiz still has leagues to progress until it matches vanilla android smoothness levels and takes a bow in front of the measly moto E in the stock app scroll and launch test.
A Processor is only as good as its User interface and Touch wiz still has mountains of bloat to scale before rubbing shoulders with stock android.
This only a minor annoyance however, as gaming and in-app performance is stellar. 3rd party apps run smooth and plenty at a time thanks to the 2 GB RAM available in the Galaxy S5. Often, it feels as if Mobile hardware is far ahead of existing software for it to throw anything substantial at hardware, for it to falter.
The Exynos model does seem less future proof as compared to the international S5 model and other competing flagships. The present is pretty secure though.
Since reports of benchmark over-clocking last winter, I have stopped comparing flagship benchmarks and rather prefer comparing processors as performance remains mostly identical across identical models. In this regard all present gen flagships remain on equal footing until models with the Tegra K1 or future snapdragon chips start making rounds of retail stores.
The S5 flies through every task thrown at it with blazing fast speed whenever touchwiz decides not to interfere.
Connectivity:
The S5 international and local models both lack dual-sim functionality. The International Model has support for almost every band from 2g and 3g to LTE. The local model however lacks LTE functionality as well which is massively disappointing to say the least.
Calls won’t be dropped and reception is as strong as your provider decides for you to receive with no signal loss on the part of the S5.
The International version of the S5 provides the full connectivity suite while the Local version skimps on LTE.
Camera:
The Camera seems to be the most substantial upgrade in the Galaxy S5 if specs were to be the only marker. The 16 MP ISO-cell camera seems to have every base covered with the lack of OIS being the only noticeable downfall, which Samsung claims to have covered with digital stabilization.
In good light, the 16MP shooter produces spectacular images. The images are crisp, free of noise, vibrant and capture a very respectable amount of detail. If I had to nitpick I might call the images a tab bit over saturated, however, that too is more of a preference rather than an actual con.
Image quality deteriorates a little in artificial light and a little more noise creeps in, but the images are still very like able and among the best images phones have to offer.
If the ISO-cell module has any real problem, it is its low light performance. Low light images when compared with the Z2 immediately seem dull, lacking detail and sharpness.
note: the camera images are owned by trustedreviews.com. to view them in their full glory make sure to give their S5 review a visit.
The 16 MP Iso-cell Camera provides one of the best android camera experiences with lowlight performance being its only drawback.
Video quality:
With 4K becoming the new standard for flagships, Samsung has jumped on the bandwagon giving the S5 4K support as well. However, this is true only for the international version. The Local version gets only up to 1080p support while 4k goes up to 2160p.
For most people in India who don’t own a 4k television the difference isn’t much, as on 1080p screen which are the most common nowadays, the quality won’t seem much different although the 4k videos still hold a slight advantage. On 4k screen though, the difference is definitely visible.
On the software side, the recorder comes with interesting features like a Time lapse, slow motion and dual shot option. Both of which turn out very fine. Touch focus is available both before and as you record the video.
In terms of video quality:
The 4k videos turn out with outstanding detail and low noise, easily propelling the international S5 model to among the best phone camcorders in terms of quality.
The 1080p videos are very respectable for its resolution too, however 4k capable phones turn out much better.
In terms of sound quality, the recording does feel a little muffled and rather average in loudness. They still remain perfectly audible and the small qualm is nothing deal breaking.
The S5 churns out fabulous 4k videos @ 30fps in the international version, while remaining perfectly worthy of a flagship even when recording in 1080p @ 60 fps in the local variant with sound quality being the only region for improvement.
Conclusion and Comparisons
The Samsung galaxy S5 arrived with specs that disappointed some, amazed others and left the rest intrigued. The verdict here will mostly come as a surprise.
The Samsung galaxy S5 unlike some previous generations is not a game changer. It is still a good phone in its own right.
Here is the surprising part. The supposedly game changing features like the finger print scanner, heart rate monitor and a newer back cover styling fail to deliver. Lesser advertised features on the other hand have all undergone incremental changes to deliver an experience superior to the S4 on their respective turfs. The Camera, UI, Performance, battery life and the display have all evolved with the camera and display bagging close to perfect scores.
The last 2000 words will all means nothing if I can’t give my verdict, so here it is.
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Should I buy the Samsung galaxy S5?
READ ON
What? Why? You just said it was good!!
Only speculations
The primary reason comes from Samsung’s own camp and it is the GALAXY S5 PRIME which has been leaking left and right. With almost confirmed specs touting a QHD screen, a next gen Snapdragon processor and adorning a metal armor, it definitely is worth the wait and the premium if you happen to love Samsung.
The LG G3 release is also around the corner and with specs similar to the S5 prime while being the successor to the shared best phone of 2013 (with Htc one), options should be kept open.
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But I need to buy a new phone NOW, which one will it be?
Even then the competitor’s offerings look slightly better placed than the international S5 and miles ahead of the local variant.
The Sony Xperia Z2 gets an upper hand on the S5 in every tussle with the S5 coming out on top only in size and display (where the Xperia still remains very respectable).
The Htc One M8 on the other hand seems like a perfect phone losing a lot of points only in the camera department due to its inferior 4MP resolution.
The One plus one is an offering can match the S5 while flaunting a 300$ price tag making it a flagship for the budget conscious.
Final verdict:
Too late to the party
The S5 has run out of time and unfortunately misses out on the list of stuff to buy in the month of May 2014 or later.
Tech-a-niche 