There is an enormous amount to love about the Galaxy S5 smartphone, including a host of innovations, magnificent screen and lightening-fast performance.
JK Shin, Samsung's head of mobile, stressed at the device's launch at Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona earlier this year, that Samsung had listened to its customers when designing this new model, and in my opinion, the company really did.
I could imagine how the S5 could improve from the S4, but the S5 not only debuts some fantastic new features, such as a heart rate monitor, ultra power-saving mode, biometrics and water resistance, it has far fewer pre-installed apps taking up space. These apps are now optional, and tucked away under "Galaxy Essentials" to be downloaded if the user wants.
Look and feel
From the front, the Galaxy S5 appears almost identical to its predecessor. Critics have called the design bland and boring, but for me this isn't an issue. It works. It has simple, clean lines and fits well in the hand. To bring the device down on its appearance, when what matters most is what's under the hood, seems a little churlish.
The back cover is matte and dimpled, giving it significantly more grip than the S4. It also completely rejects fingerprints. In addition, the device now features a heart rate monitor sensor, just under the flash and rear-facing camera.
The device is only slightly larger than the S5, measuring 5.59-inches tall by 2.85-inches wide by 0.32-inch deep, and weighs 145g. The additional hardware has added to its size and weight, but the difference is negligible.
The display is a 5.1-inch 1080p HD AMOLED display that is fractionally bigger than the S4, only 0.1-inch. The display is vibrant, crisp and bright, with good contrast and fine edges.
The buttons are slightly different than the S4. The power and volume buttons are on the right and left, respectively, as with the S4, but the S5 has a micro-USB 3.0/MHL 2.0 at the bottom of the phone, that is covered by a waterproof tab. The tab can be a little tricky to open, as the notch for your fingernail is small. The IR blaster is on the top left, with a headphone jack on the top right. The home button now also houses the fingerprint scanner.
Interface and performance
Samsung's TouchWiz interface runs on top of Android 4.4.2 on this device, and has been given a bit of a facelift from the previous version. The settings menu looks flatter, and features colourful, circular icons. The device is easy to use and navigate, and something I particularly liked, was a camera swipe icon on the lock screen for easy access to the camera without having to scan your print or enter a password to unlock the device.
The notification screen also makes use of round buttons, and offers 10 available quick-setting shortcuts, and 10 more once in grid view.
The home screen features a weather app on the top, as well as a Google search bar in the middle that supports voice searching. A swipe to the left will open My Magazine, a Flipboard-powered news reader that aggregates content from social networking feeds such as Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, but not Facebook. The interface is tile-based, allowing you to further explore the various categories and select from preferred media sources.
As with its predecessor, the Multi Window function can be enabled to allow the running of two apps on the screen at one time. This is fab for copying and dragging text from one app to another, or dragging a picture into a message and suchlike. There are 25 apps that the S5 supports for this type of use.
The keyboard is easy to use, and I like the inclusion of a number row on the top, as it is a huge time saver not to have to change between screens when needing to include numbers. It offers the usual predictive text, and light haptic feedback, and as with the S4, features a swiping, continuous input mode which works well.
Samsung has also removed some of the less essential applications, but made them easily available for download from app store, giving better control of what apps you'd like on the device.
Performance and battery
Under the hood, nestles a 2.5GHz quad-core processor from Qualcomm, and 2GB of RAM. The S5's performance was outstanding, super-fast and smooth, and more than capable of coping with several processes at one time, with no slowdown or lag.
Battery life is simply excellent, partly due to the larger 2800mAh battery pack, which extends the life of the device, and partly due to the device's Snapdragon 801 processor, that makes things run more efficiently under the hood, and prevents the battery from draining too quickly. I made it well over a day on a single charge, even with fairly heavy use.
The introduction of the Ultra Power Saving mode is another fantastic innovation. This mode puts the phone in black and white, shutting down all but the most essential applications, and limiting the processor and display so they use minimum power while still allowing use of the critical functions.
Although it limits the phone's use, this mode ensures you will have access to your phone when you need it the most, or in a critical situation. I waited till my device had 12% battery life, and 24 hours later, I still had 8% battery left while in this mode.
Camera
The S5's 16MP camera doesn't disappoint. Pictures came out super-clear, with rich, deep colours, even in fairly dimly lit rooms. The camera includes some new and exciting features, such as "Selective Focus" that lets you select a shallower depth of field after you take the picture.
It also intros a Virtual Tour feature, that allows you to shoot a 360-degree view of your surroundings, which can then be played in a video. There are also a host of modes such as Best Photo, Best Face, Eraser, Drama, and a Panning mode. You can select a view called "Shot & More" before taking a photo, and then select from the mentioned modes to choose one that works best with a particular photo.
Autofocus too, is very fast, one of the quickest I've seen, and its HDR mode is super-quick and offers superb results, even in less than ideal lighting conditions. For shooting video, the S5 offers 4k video, as with the Galaxy Note 3. Footage is crisp, clear and smooth, with excellent colour.
Health, fitness and security
The S Health app has been upgraded to 3.0 in the Galaxy S5, and centralises a lot of the functions offered by other health apps. It is a fitness tracker, a calorie counter and a pedometer.
Newly-included with the S5 is a heart rate monitor that works well, and integrates with S Health for more accurate fitness tracking. It is not as accurate or as fast as one that goes on the wrist or around the chest, but it more than does the job.
Located on the rear of the device under the camera, the monitor doesn't continuously measure a pulse; you need to hold your finger on the sensor for around five seconds. The info is stored in S Health, although other health applications can employ the heart monitor as well.
The fingerprint reader does more than just unlock the device. It can be used for secure online payments with PayPal on the device, and for purchases from your Samsung account. In addition, under the settings menu, is a Private Mode that lets you squirrel away your personal content - photos, music, recordings, video, files - for your eyes only. This content can only be accessed using your fingerprint, great for preventing unwanted snooping on your device. This mode can be turned on by swiping two fingers down from the notification bar and opening the quick settings menu.
Another useful feature, but one that will quickly deplete your data bundle, is the Download Booster feature for files of 30MB or more. It works by combining WiFi with 4G if you have it, to combine the speed of both to quicken the download process. If one is working less effectively, the other will pick up the slack, ensuring super-speedy downloads.
The device is also water- and dust-resistant (IP67), meaning the phone can be submerged in more than a meter of water, for no longer than 30 minutes. A little rain, sweat, or splash from the swimming pool will do it no harm. Since I didn't feel like jumping in the pool to retrieve it, I merely dropped mine in a sink of water, and it appears that none got under the cover, and the device appears no worse for its swim.
All in all, I absolutely loved this phone. Its crisp screen, excellent camera and slew of features make it an absolute winner in my book. Sure, the design hasn't evolved much from the S4, but this doesn't bother me at all. With a recommended retail price of R10 299, it's not for the budget-conscious, but not an outrageous price considering all the innovations and features. Well worth the price tag, in my opinion.
Share