Customer Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S5, Black 16GB (AT&T)

A little background on my love of smartphones - I used to be a major Apple fanboy from the first iphone to the iphone 5. Steve Jobs is still my hero. I made the switch when the Galaxy S4 came out, then moved to the HTC One, LG G2, Note 3, and now the Galaxy S5. I use two phones, one for work and one for personal use. I spent a decent amount of time with all of them and can say that most people would be happy with each and every flagship for daily use for 1-2 years at a minimum but most people come to read these reviews for the small details that make the major differences between just "okay" with your phone or "completely happy" with their device. I won't list out the specs of the phone since that type of info is listed everywhere. But this phone as well as the others listed here are spectacular at being fast, having good to great battery life, and all have good to great cameras. Probably the most polarizing topics of phones these days is the aesthetics, mainly due to the fact that hardware seems to have outpaced the software which means manufacturers cant really make phones noticeably faster than the previous generation. Okay I'll get to the review.

Metal vs. Plastic - The HTC One and the iPhone are made from mostly aluminum. Aluminum without question looks fantastic on phones. The colors also look much better on aluminum because they can be anodized giving them a rich and even color that just look great. The main problem with metal is, sure it looks great on day one, but the material is so hard that is super easy to scratch and nick without ever dropping it. I am the type of user who hates cases. They add thickness and overall just make the phone look ugly, and to top it all off, cases are 40 to 50 dollars for a piece of plastic(major rip off). I carry my phone in my left front pocket without anything else in there to scratch it. After a good months use of the iPhone 5 and HTC one, i developed so many nicks and scratches that it really made me question, "Is metal really so great?" The answer is no. Have you ever seen someone with an uncovered black iPhone? After 6 months the sides look silver just from normal wear and tear. Most people who will read this review probably haven't seen an uncovered HTC One mainly because the volume of sales isn't there, but that phone has the same problem. Sure the metal is gorgeous, but it is only on the first day. And what is the point of buying a phone for it's looks if you're going to cover it in a PLASTIC case?
Plastic - At first try with the S4 and LG G2, I HATED plastic. The glossy feeling made the phone feel slippery and cheap in my hand. And to top it off, glossy plastic attracts oil like white on rice, which just makes your phone feel nasty at times(or maybe I just have gross hands which I don't think I do because I am a scientist and wash my hands 10-20 times a day). But then the Note 3 came out with faux leather plastic. Sure it's not pretty like aluminum, but it's light weight, it has a nice texture, it doesn't attract oil, and it doesn't nick and scratch like metal. Maybe Samsung is onto something with plastic. Everyone seems so concerned with the way phones look vs how they feel or hold up over time. I can say without a doubt, my Note 3 looks the same way it did out of the box after a few months of hard usage. For the S5 they switched from the glossy plastic on the S4 to a textured dimpled plastic that feels slightly soft, which I think feels fantastic. It is slightly softer with a more grippy feel and it doesn't look at all tacky. I love it. The phone definitely feels sturdy in your hand.

Software - The general perception of Android is that it is harder to use than iOS. After using iPhones for 5 years(iPads and macs), and now Android for just over a year, I can say that perception is absolutely false and anyone who says it probably has not given Android a fair chance. In fact, I think Android is easier to use than iOS. With google now built into the phone, it is always listening. When the phone is unlocked all I have to say is "Okay Google" and I am prompted to give my phone instructions like "get me directions to the nearest gas station" or "call Susie" and the phone does it. You dont need to hold the home button to pull up siri or open up a separate app to use this feature which makes it super functional. I know most people don't use siri. Siri just isn't that good. It doesn't understand a lot of words or the search results it brings back are not useful. Google now works on about 95% of the words I speak and I am a mumbler at times too. So for my friends who say they can't understand me, well google now can! To me this is revolutionary. People called the iPhones revolutionary because they added value to your everyday life. People think, " can you imagine what it would be like if I couldn't have email 24/7 or internet access 24/7?" which is what made the iPhone revolutionary. It changed the way we did things. Having a phone always ready to hear your commands is revolutionary. When you're in the car and can't touch your phone, voice control is a huge benefit. Or when you're cooking and want to send a text without washing your hands you now have the ability to send a text hands free. Other software advantages. iCLOUD SUCKS. EVERY iPhone user at some point says, "oh crap, I am out of memory." Well the reason is no one really knows how to use iCLOUD and end up leaving everything on their phone until it fills up. Google's back services allow for any file type to be backed up and you can even view the pictures stored in the cloud. They just aren't downloaded on your phone until you hit download. It's a huge advantage over iOS and I love it. I never back my phones up to my computer anymore to make space on my phones. As for the rest of the software it is very easy to use and gets better with every update.

Battery Life - battery life from my experience from worst to best goes in this order HTC One, Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Note 3, Galaxy S5. No this wasn't a video loop test, or some other standardized test. It is my perception of using each phone for a minimum of 3 days as my primary phone which means I was using the phones for email, text, talking, pictures, youtube, movies, and games. I just got back from a 2.5 day camping trip and didn't charge the S5 one time and came home with 50% power in reserves. Absolutely AMAZING battery life. Another nice feature to have is the removable battery. Before I had this feature with the Note 3, I thought it was a dumb benefit but now with a spare battery I can go from 1% to 100% with the removal of the back cover and swap of the battery. No more being tethered to a wall to get back to 30% before I can use my phone again. I love pointing this out to iPhone users who are stuck to walls with their chargers(not to mention those stupid 20 dollar lightning cables that break every 6 months). The S5 also has USB 3.0 with fast charging built into the processor, so you can easily get a 90% charge in less than an hour. SO for battery life, and for the ability to swap batteries, the Galxy S5 is best in class by a long shot. Spare batteries MSRP are 39.99 but on amazon you can buy a generic which works perfectly fine for 20 dollars.

Screen color and resolution - A year ago I hated AMOLED screens. It is the screen that Samsung uses in their displays vs the others who use LCD. I'm no expert in display technology but a year ago AMOLED screen were cartoonish looking. It drove me nuts to look at overly saturated pictures and movies. LCD screens have a much more accurate color representation. But with the Note 3 and now the S5, Samsung definitely has solved that problem. They have adjustable settings for your screen similar to a TV screen. The S5 also gets very bright and dark which means in sunny San Diego I have no problems seeing my screen in full sunlight and at night when I am in bed I am not squinting my eyes because my phone is too bright. It definitely gets darker than typical LCD screens. Resolution, the S5 is top notch. Only the HTC One bests it with pixels but you can't tell the difference between the two. When an iPhone user looks at the S5, they say'"Wow, it looks so clear." Well that is because the S5 has a much higher resolution. The screens speak for themselves.

Camera - The S5 camera kicks butt. It has a new feature where you can make part of the picture blurry and the other part clear. It is really neat and I used this feature often on my camping trip. This camera in practice is better than the G2, HTC one and even Note 3. i would say it's equal to Apple's camera but I also think that is Apple's best feature.

Removable storage - Only Samsung devices, Sony, and the HTC One M8 have removable storage. Throwing a 64gb memory card in my phone gives me full confidence I can take as many pictures as I want or store as much music as my heart desires without sacrificing other things for them. My S5 came with 16gb, but now has 80gb of memory to use, although about 6gb is used by the software. The additional memory was about 40 dollars vs an iPhone memory upgrade to 64gb would cost an additional 200 dollars. The winner here is rather obvious.

IP67 water and dust resistance rating - basically this means the phone is dust proof and water resistant up to about 3 feet of water for 30 minutes without risk of damaging your phone. Only the Sony flagship models have this feature built into their phones and they were the first to do it. Basically this rating means, you can drop your phone in the toilet (gross) and it will survive, or you can take it in the hot tub or bath tub and not worry if you will kill your phone or not. In my case, in San Diego, I can take it hiking or to the lake without worry of damage. IP67 is not rated for salt water but having that feature means I can probably take my phone to the beach and a few splashes here and there won't kill my phone. Also, if your phone ever does get dirty, you can just wash it in the sink. It's really a fantastic feature to have built into your phone especially if you have kids who tend to get stuff wet and dirty.

In summary, all flagship phones are great. Some have a few features like LG with their "knock on" code where you can unlock the screen with a double tap. Or the HTC One with it's spectacular speakers, and the Iphone with it's beautiful design. The S5 at this very moment is the best phone on the market. We are fortunate to live in a time with such fierce competition that all phones are great but it's the little details that make the S5 so much better than the rest. You really cannot go wrong with this phone unless you just hate the size and love your small 4 inch iphone screen. But you really can go right in so many more ways than the other phones. If you have any questions for me please post them. Ill continue to add updates as I see necessary.

Edit 7/25/2014 - I had the HTC One M8 for two weeks and got rid of it because I didn't like it. Design wise, the HTC One M8 is gorgeous, especially in gold with the blue dot case which is what I had, but the frame is huge. Below the screen there is a huge black bar on top of the already thick bar where the speaker is located. Also, if you don't use a case with the M8, it will slip out of your hand due to the smoothness, shape and weight on the phone. It was fast, sounded great, but was lacking in a lot of areas in design - but it LOOKED AMAZING from the back lol.

I also published a review on the LG G3 on Amazon. Check it out if you're interested.

Also, if you want a bunch of freebees, don't forget to register your S5 with Samsung as you can get things like 50gb of free cloud storage with Dropbox and 1 year subscription to Business week amongst quite a few other freemiums.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 offers more of an evolutionary step forward in Samsung's S series smartphones than a revolutionary new phone. There are plenty of new features and advances with the S5 but those who already own a S4 likely will not be rushing to get the S5. I'm coming from an iPhone 4S so the S5 offers a lot of new features for me and provides plenty to love.

FEATURES & UPGRADES FROM S4:

1. SIZE: The S5 is slightly larger at 5.59" x 2.85" x 0.32" and weighing in at 5.11 oz compared to the S4 at 5.38" x 2.75" x 0.31" and weighing at 4.59 oz. The S5 is lightweight and feels good in my hand.

2. DURABILITY: If there is one new feature on the S5 that is a game changer it's got to be the IP67 certification. IP67 certified means the S5 has total protection against dust and can survive being underwater for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1m or less. In order to be protected against water the S5 has a little plastic plug to cover the charging jack on the bottom of the phone. This needs to be in place and the back must be properly snapped into place to prevent water damage. I'm not about to test the IP67 certification however the guys at TechSmartt performed 2 water tests on the S5 that can be viewed on YouTube. First they let the S5 sit in pool at a depth of 1m for 1 hour, not 30 minutes. Second they sent the S5 through a normal wash cycle in a washing machine while in the pocket of a pair of jeans. In both tests, the S5 survived and functioned perfectly afterward.

The durability of the S4 came under fire after many people reported cracked screens after minor drops. Samsung stuck with a plastic back for the S5 but did improve upon the durability of the smartphone. In separate drop tests again conducted by TechSmartt, the S5 faired better than the S4 and better than the iPhone 5s. However the S5 didn't fair as well as the durably built HTC One M8. The tests are a decent indication but should also be taken at face value since there is no way to ensure each phone fell the same way.

3. SCREEN: The S5's new screen is nothing short of stunning. The S5 screen is 5.1" which is slightly larger than the 5.0" screen on the S4. The resolution remains 1080 x 1920 pixels so the pixel density is slightly less at 432 ppi. The screen does look noticeably better than the S4's screen and has richer colors, better contrast, whiter whites, and blacker blacks than my iPad 3 when viewing identical images.

Displaymate who extensively tests smartphone screens said the S5's screen is "the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested." Displaymate's tests indicted the S5 screen is 22% brighter than the S4 and 13% brighter than the Note 3. The S5 also has outstanding color accuracy. In addition it features a Professional Photo Mode that provides an accurate calibration to the Adobe RGB standard, this is a rare feature in consumer displays.

4. CAMERA: The S5 sports a 16MP camera rear camera up from 13MP in the S4. The front facing camera remains pretty much the same at 2.1MP. The S5's 1/2.6" sensor is larger being closer in size to sensors from P&S cameras than smartphones. The AF is also speedier with the S5 due to its hybrid use of phase detection and contrast detection AF. The S5 is the first camera on a smartphone to use phase detection AF, which is commonly found in DSLR cameras. Other smartphones only use contrast detection AF that simply focuses by measuring the contrast between nearby pixels. This type of AF tends to be slower and not work well if shooting in situations where there isn't much contrast. Phase detection AF however focuses by comparing the actual light received by sensors.

COMPARING S5 & 5s IMAGES: Comparing daytime images shot with the S5 against images of the same subject shot with the iPhone 5s, the Samsung's images disappoint in spite of being 16MP vs 8MP with the 5s. At 16MP the S5's resolution is 2988x5312. The images are therefore at a 16:9 ratio. The iPhone 5s's resolution is 2448x3264. The images are therefore at a 4:3. When viewing images shot with the iPhone at 100%, they look sharp across the frame, even in the corners. Images shot with the S5 when viewed at 100% look oversharpened and blotchy. The center sharpness is passible but the edges are soft and the corners have absolutely no detail. If downsizing the images from the Samsung S5 so the lower number, 2448, is the same as the iPhone's the center sharpness between the 2 camera's images is almost indistinguishable but the edge sharpness and corner sharpness from the iPhone 5s blows away that from the Samsung S5.

COMPARING S5 & 5s CAPTURE TIME: Both the S5 and the 5s are speedy when it comes to focusing and taking pictures. Holding the S5 in one hand and 5s in another, pressing the shutter buttons at the same time, then turning to take a picture of a new subject, pressing the shutter buttons again, and repeating this process several times, the iPhone 5s is a split second faster than the S5. It's not substantial enough to make big difference for most applications but worth knowing. The images from both cameras when doing so were in focus.

5. VIDEO: The S5 will shoot 4K videos with a resolution of 3840x2160 compared to 1080P videos with the S4. Videos look great with S5 and the stabilization works very well. Sometimes when recording the screen will look at little jiggly but in playback the video looks smooth. I have no way to test its 4K capabilities.

6. PROCESSOR: The S5 is a very snappy smartphone. This is due to the new Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 chip. It features a quad core, 2500mHz processor which speedier than the quad core, 1900mHz processor in the S4. The S5's memory remains the same at 2GB.

7. STORAGE & EXPANSION: The 16GB S5 from AT&T has 10.85GB of free storage space on the phone after KitKat and the preinstalled apps. I read complaints from some S4 owners stating that only 9GB was free on their new phone after the OS and preinstalled apps. If that was the case, Samsung/Google/AT&T trimmed down a bit for this phone.

I love that the S5 along with other Android smartphones allow storage expansion through a microSD card slot. This can be used for music, videos, books, pictures, and other files. It is also possible to move downloaded apps, not preinstalled apps, to the microSD card. To do so, go to Settings, Application Manager, SD card, and then select the downloaded app you want to move to the microSD card. The S5 will allow up to a 128GB micro SD card that is double the 64GB with the S4.

8. BATTERY & CHARGING: The S5 features a 2800mAh battery which is slightly larger than the 2600mAh battery in the S4. The S5 has good battery life ratings. The talk time of the S5 is rated at 21 hours while the standby time is 16.2 days. Being a new phone, I've been using it quite a bit. Even at that, I find that I only have to charge the S5 every 1 1/2 days. The S5's battery life is significantly better than my iPhone 4s which I had to charge at least once a day and better than my wife's 5s which has to be charged every day. Charging the S5 using the USB 3.0 Micro cable provided, the phone charges at a rate of 1% per minute with it slowing down slightly when the phone hits 80%. I'm able to fully charge the S5 when the battery is at 20% in about 1 1/2 hours.

9. CONNECTIVITY: The S5 features USB 3.0 connectivity for speedier transferring of files compared to USB 2.0 with the S4. It also features wireless AC. Wireless is extremely fast with the S5 if you have an AC router. It is about 4-5x faster than the wireless N on my iPhone 4s.

10. HEART RATE SENSOR: One of the more talked about additions to the S5 is the heart rate sensor on the back of the phone. The heart rate sensor seems to be very accurate from what I know about my normal heart rate. I haven't had any wild readings thus far. The phone has simple How To tutorial if using for the first time. The mistake I made the first few times using it was pressing too hard on the sensor. The result was an error message. The sensor only requires a little touch from your finger.

My complaint with Samsung's "S Health" app which the heart rate sensor is part of is that you are unable to use the heart rate sensor while using the exercise portion of the app. Sadly, that is when I'm most likely to use the heart rate sensor; when I'm running, walking, or hiking. Hopefully Samsung will change this in a future update. If the heart rate sensor is a feature you will use make sure you purchase a case with a large enough opening for your finger to touch the sensor. Some of the cases I've read about have a cut out only the size of the sensor. This makes it extremely difficult to get your finger in the opening in order to touch the sensor.

11. DOWNLOAD BOOSTER: One new feature of the S5 that is omitted from the AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint versions is Download Booster. Download Booster provides simultaneous LTE and Wi-Fi downloading if you need files in a hurry. I have a wireless AC router which provides super fast download speeds with the S5 but it would have been nice to have the feature just in case. If you do want Download Booster you need to purchase an unlocked version of the S5.

12. FINGERPRINT SCANNER: Another very talked about new addition to the S5 is its finger scanner to unlock your phone, make payment via PayPal, and purchase content with Samsung services. The S5 requires you to swipe your finger, starting above the home button and moving down through the center of the home button. With the iPhone 5s you simply place your finger on the Touch ID button. The fingerprint scanner works from any angle with the 5s. The design makes the 5s easier to unlock than the Samsung because it can be done with one hand whereas the design on the Samsung requires me to use both hands, one for holding the phone and the other to swipe my finger. With the Samsung you can assign different fingers to perform different tasks, like right pointer finger to make PayPal payment.

My wife has the iPhone 5S so I've setup both and unlocked the phones with both. Both are easy to setup. The Samsung allows you to register 3 fingerprints whereas the iPhone 5S allows 5. Here is where I buck the trend of all the tech writers complaining about the reliability of the S5's fingerprint scanner. While I prefer the design of the iPhone's fingerprinter scanner, the S5 more reliably scans my fingerprint to unlock the phone. The only time I've had a problem unlocking my S5 with the fingerprint scanner is while I'm running; I just can't get a smooth enough swiping motion. Outside of running, the fingerprint scanner on the S5 unlocks my phone on the first try 90-95% of the time. I haven't needed more than 2 tries. The iPhone in comparison only unlocks the phone on the first try about 75-80% of the time and sometimes I need 3 tries to do so.

13. ULTRA POWER SAVE MODE: This is a great feature to have if your battery is getting low. Switch on the Ultra Power Save Mode to maximizes your remaining battery life. This feature switches to a black and white mode, turning off all colors. It also restricts background data and allows only low power communications like texting, calling, and AT&T's internet browser.

I've started to use the Ultra Power Save Mode overnight to conserve battery life, no sense in letting the battery drain as the phone just sits there for hours. I still receive texts and calls. After I disable the mode in the morning I have to update my email and weather. Switching to Ultra Power Save Mode, the battery only depletes by 1% overnight! Not in the Ultra Power Save Mode the battery loses 5-15% overnight.

INSTALLED APPS:
AT&T Family Map, AT&T Locker, AT&T Mobile Locate, AT&T Navigator, Beats Music, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, ChatON, Chrome, Clock, Contacts, Device Help, Drive, DriverMode, Email, Flipboard, Gallery, Gmail, Google, Google Settings, Google+, Hangouts, Internet, Keeper, Maps, Memo, Messages, Messaging, Mobile Hotspot, Mobile TV, Music, My Files, myAT&T, Phone, Photos, Play Books, Play Games, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, Play Newsstand, Play Store, POLARIS Office 5, S Health, S Voice, Samsung Apps, Settings, Smart Remote, Usage Manager, Voice Recorder, Voice Search, Wallet, YouTube.

PROS:

1. Amazing looking screen. Displaymate says the S5 screen is "the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested."
2. IP 67 certified. Protection against dust and water immersion up to 1m.
3. According to drop tests from TechSmartt the S5 is more durable than S4 and iPhone 5s.
4. Professional Photo Mode for screen that calibrates it according to Adobe RGB standards.
5. Uses a hybrid between phase detection and contrast detection for accurate and speedy AF.
6. Shoots 4K videos.
7. Very fast processor. The S5 is snappy.
8. 10.85GB of free storage space on new 16GB phone. Allows storage expansion up to 128GB through microSD card slot.
9. Heart rate sensor that is easy to use and seems to be accurate. The sensor is good for those who exercise or benefit from closer monitoring of heart rate for health reasons.
10. Features wireless AC connectivity. 4-5x faster than wireless N.
11. Fingerprint scanner works more reliably for me than iPhone 5s.
12. Good battery life. Rated at 21 hours of talk time.
13. Ultra Power Save Mode maximizes battery life. Great if battery is running low or for overnight use.

CONS:
1. Has plastic back instead of more durable aluminum unibody like the HTC One M8.
2. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Google, Samsung, and AT&T have similar preinstalled apps that can't be uninstalled. Each company is obviously fighting for your attention but in the end it creates not as fluid of a user experience compared to Apple which designs the phone and OS and doesn't allow AT&T to put their garbage on the phone. I don't need multiple ways to check email, play music, watch movies, or get on the internet.
3. Disappointing image quality for a 16MP camera. Not as good as the 8MP camera on the iPhone 5s. Daylight images are oversharpened, blotchy, have soft edges, and no detail in the corners.
4. Design of fingerprint scanner requires me to use both hands unlike iPhone 5s which I can unlock with one hand.

SUMMARY:
Samsung's new flagship smartphone the Galaxy S5 is a wonderful phone. I've only had iPhones up until now but was seeking specific features, features that the S5 had. I love having the larger 5.1" screen. It is fantastic looking, having more vibrant colors, better contrast, and whiter whites and blacker blacks than my iPad 3. Another feature that sold me that the iPhone 5S is lacking is wireless AC. It provides very speedy downloads and internet experience. Of the upgrades from the S4 the IP67 certification and increased durability have to be the most significant. The S5 has very good battery life, is very snappy with its 2500mHz quad core processor, and the Ultra Power Save Mode is a nice addition.

While the camera focuses and captures images very quickly, its image quality is disappointing for a 16MP camera. I could do without the bloatware from Samsung and AT&T. I love that I can cheaply pick up a 32GB microSD card to store pictures, music, videos and even transfer apps onto, something I couldn't do with an iPhone. Having used the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5s and S5, I prefer the fingerprint scanner with the Samsung because it works more reliably for me. I highly recommend the Samsung S5 for anyone looking to upgrade or in the market. It may not be revolutionary enough to make S4 owners jealous but still is a mighty impressive phone.

I owned an S3 and skipped the S4, hoping the S5 would be a major upgrade--and it sure is. As other people are saying, one of the big surprises is the battery life. I went two and a half days of heavy use and still had 20% when I charged it.

A few of the bells and whistles feel superfluous, but many of the new features are ones I want. For example, scheduled text messaging is fantastic. At 5:00 AM I can work my text messages and have my responses sent at 8:00. Or scheduling a text to send on someone's birthday is pretty cool.

The screen is beautiful. The colors are bright and crisp.

The feel of the phone is nice, too--not to heavy, but not so light it feels fragile.

It impresses me also that I can use the new adapter for enhanced charging or my old charger if need be. That's the kind of smart design that sells me on upgrading.

The only couple things I don't care for are: 1) the cover to the adapter jack is hard to open and 2) the fingerprint scanner takes 2-3 swipes usually to recognize my finger. Apart from that, I'm very happy with my S5.

After 2 weeks with the Samsung Galaxy S5, here is a *short* review for those thinking about upgrading. *Note I switched from an iphone 4S running IOS 6*

Looks:
The phone is very aesthetically pleasing. Though it is still a plastic casing, it does not feel cheap by any means. The dimpled back plate provides a great grip, making single handed operation easy. It is as sleek as it is sexy. The chrome edges are slightly raised providing screen protection that apple really should look into considering how many cracked screens you see with the iphones.

DURABILITY:
I titled this in all caps because I want to emphasize how durable this thing is. I've not dropped it too many times and the screen is wrapped in a GLASS screen protector. However, the drops that have occurd have not scratched any part of the phone. The best part is that the water proof housing is legit. The only issue is water gets trapped in the headphone jack and must be blown out. You also cannot make phone calls under water, but that is due to the water blocking your signal so that does not deduct anything from it.

Screen:
Absolutely beautiful. There is little to no glare and the screens auto brightness works perfectly. Plenty big enough to watch Netflix in bed. Videos are so crisp compared to the iphone.

Camera:
16 megapixels + Loads of software for image correction and stabilization makes for a camera better than most off the POS cameras. Also, the front camera more than sufficient for you selfie lovers.

Battery:
I must say, the battery life is quite impressive for the processing power that this thing puts out. I've used it pretty intensely and yet to have it get below 5%. When it did get to 8% and I didn't have a charger, I threw it into Ultra-Power saving mode and it lasted 15 hours with minimal use until I got back to my apartment. Oh, and it was still at 6% battery.

IOS to KitKat:
The biggest fear for most seems to be learning a new mobile OS. I will be the first to say, it takes some adjusting. IOS made me lazy, but once you learn how to traverse the GUI you'll be asking yourself how you made it so long on IOS. So many features that you never knew were possible on a phone. It literally is a Mobile Computer. I mean, it can run an emulator without any hacks or jail-breaking.

Features:
- The health monitoring feature is pretty awesome for the active-lifestyle people. The heart rate monitor is a tad finicky, but accurate. Now that I have the hang of it, I rarely encounter issues.
- The pedometer is pretty sweet. Set a daily goal and it keeps you informed on your status. Who knew I walked 10 miles on a 14 hour shift.
- I haven't used the cal counter but I'm sure it could be handy.
All of the SHealth data is plotted so you can see a nice lay out of your day and track progress.
- The finger print reader is "Eh". I've been using it for a week. Makes one handed operation hard. I'm more of a fan of the pattern lock. If you could use the combo of the pattern lock and the fingerprint scanner I would utilize it a lot more.
Overall, I am more than pleased with my switch the the S5. I would highly recommend this phone to anyone older than an iphone 5/ Galaxy S4.
For those currently using the iphone 5 or S4, I wouldn't rush to upgrade as it would not be much of an upgrade. From a iphone 4s to the S5 though, the differences are incredible!

Oh, Another year, another set of phones from manufacturers! I have been hooked onto get the latest phone every year syndrome and love reviewing specifics. Disclaimer, I love Android and have been using from very early days. I will not call Samsung Galaxy S5 as revolutionary, but it is certainly evolutionary. If you have an older phone more than 2 years old, absolutely get this. I love Samsung Galaxy S5 from its competitors for few reasons - removable battery, microSD card support and the maturity of the product. I have been using a S5 for past couple of days and have ordered a unlocked one from my local store. There are so many variants already in the market. So do check local specs. For example, in china market dual SIM S5 is available.

Galaxy S5's back plate has a perforated dot pattern and a excellent matte finish. As a result, the phone looks far more sophisticated than its past designs despite its plastic build. Its surface feels nice to the touch without being too rough or too slippery. I really do _not_ care about the plastic, in fact the lightweight nature is what I care. Some people make a huge deal out of it. A high quality plastic is good for lightweight and I go with lightweight than a heavy phone in the pocket. A reputed tech site called recently Samsung as the “undisputed king of the Android smartphone space”. True indeed. With the plethora of devices in tablets/phones, they have iterated so much that they can produce truly stunning products.

If you care for weight, the Galaxy S4 is lighter than S5. (please see my stats below). In fact pixel density is slightly higher in S4 due to a 0.1in size difference. So get an S4, it is cheaper and still same phone that came out last year. If you care for heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner, and water proof, get the S5. Otherwise literally similar set and you can save a lot by getting S4 now. Last year when S4 came out it was a great phone. It still is, though S5 came out now. Obsoletion is in the mind of the us, not on the devices.

In my opinion, following are key specs to consider when you buying a phone. Most of others are standard or does not matter at all. First size,weight and resolution are part of look and feel. RAM/CPU part of performance. external Storage is part of expandability. Camera is obvious! SAR (Specific Absorption Rating) is an often ignored, but I feel essential to making a buying choice. Manufacturers don’t advertize or mention SAR prominently.

phone parameters: {size, weight, resolution, ppi, RAM, ext Storage, camera, CPU, USA SAR rating}

Samsung Galaxy S5: 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in, 145 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.1 in, 432 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB!, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, MSM8974-AC Processor: Quad core, 2500 MHz, Krait 400, 0.63 W/kg (head), 0.82 W/kg (body)

Samsung Galaxy S4 (Intl version): 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 in, 130 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 in, 441 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD, up to 64 GB, 13 MP/2MP, Exynos 5 Octa 5410 CPU, Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, 0.85 W/kg (head), 1.55 W/kg (body)

HTC One M8: 5.76 x 2.78 x 0.37 in, 160 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5 in, 441 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB!, 4 MP (rear), 5 MP(front for selfies), Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad core, 2300 MHz, Krait 400, 0.94 W/kg (head), 0.83 W/kg (body)

LG G2: 5.45 x 2.79 x 0.35 in, 143 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.2 in, 424 ppi, 2 GB RAM, no ext Storage, 13 MP/2.1 MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, Quad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400, 0.50 W/kg (head), 0.69 W/kg (body)

Google Nexus 5: 5.43 x 2.72 x 0.34 in, 130 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 4.95 in, 445 ppi, 2 GB RAM, no ext Storage, 8 MP/1.3 MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400, 0.92 W/kg (head), 1.23 W/kg (body)

Apple iPhone 5S: 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 in, 112gm, 640 x 1136 pixels, 4.0 in, 326 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 8 MP/1.2 MP, Apple A7, Dual-core 1.3 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based), 1.12 W/kg (head), 1.18 W/kg (body)

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9000: 5.95 x 3.12 x 0.33 in, 168 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.7 in, 386 ppi, 3 GB RAM, micro SD upto 64 GB, 13 MP/2MP, Exynos 5 Octa 5420, Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7, SAR: 0.24 W/kg (head), 0.72 W/kg (body)

Nokia Lumia 1520: 6.41 x 3.36 x 0.34 in, 209gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 6.0 in, 367 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD up to 64 GB, 20 MP/1.2MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 CPU Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400, SAR: 0.59 W/kg (head), 0.24 W/kg (body)

Motorola Moto G: 5.11 x 2.59 x 0.46 in, 143 gm, 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.5 in, 326 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 5 MP/1.3 MP, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, SAR: 1.17 W/kg (head), 1.06 W/kg (body)

Given the above key specs, my suggestion to my friends is to choose 2 or 3 KEY features you require (may be large screen size, maybe less weight, maybe more CPU power) and then start nailing down the phones. Definitely and definitely go to a phone or a big box store and feel the phone. Nothing replaces that. In the end end you are using it for days and years, so the tactile feel is very important.

SCREEN SIZE/RESOLUTION:
I have experimented with many phone sizes and I have come to a conclusion 5” is the best form factor for me. Your mileage may vary, but after using Note for a while, I don’t use it as a primary phone. The display in S5 is absolutely stunning with a Super AMOLED display and you have to see to feel it!

ANDROID UI:
S5 has Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. User Interface hasa flatter and simpler design, as is now the trend across the industry. Once you get used to user interface you get used to it. Android is very flexible and when I show my phone to a iPhone users they are usually in awe. I recently to my friends shows the details of processes. battery usage like which process takes up more battery, Qi charging receivers for wireless charging on Galaxy phones and they were in awe.

WATER PROOF:
Obviously I have not tested this!, but a very nice to have feature and gives a peace of mind

CAMERA:
This can just replace a point and shoot camera. Wait, what is a point and shoot camera?! Very impressive. S5 has a 16MP camera with super-fast autofocus, HDR mode with real-time preview, and support for 4K video recording. Definitely state of the art. I took several indoor photos and they look great. It will be interesting to see how photos appear in a vanilla S5 which Google will release.

S-HEALTH:
I rely and use S-Health more than any other app in my Galaxy S5. It has driven my fitness regimen to a very good progress and the design of app is nothing short of buttery and beautiful. I am often too in good favor of Samsung loading the phones with S-Ware, but their design of S-Health is definitely breathtaking. Heart rate monitor is a great addition to the fitness tools. I used it for walking several steps and found it same as in S4.

PROCESSING POWER:
Don’t bother about it. For 99% of users, this is good enough. The phone has more processing power than the rocket that went to moon first time and much more. The games are very smooth, the UI is very smooth.

Qi WIRELESS CHARGING:
I wonder why Samsung does not release wireless charging built in. You have to get a external Qi wireless charger and open the back, align it and use with a Qi charger. It should be integrated, but you can do it after the fact.

NFC Tags:
Wow, this is the most underrated in all reviews. Get bunch ( I mean around 10) of NFC Tags and use in bedrooms, offices, cars, living room and customize what your phone wants to do in those areas. For example in my S4, when I enter the car most often I use a) Navigation b) Listen to Podcasts. So I program my NFC tags accordingly using apps like Trigger and tap my phone to the NFC Tag and boom, phone does both. I am programming my S5 also to do host of things.

128 GB Micro SD card!!
This is just incredible. If you see my reviews, I have been saying having external capacity is very key. With a 4K camcorder you can fill your space in a blink of the eye. Movies take up space. Who would have thought a 128 GB tiny card can fit in a phone. This is just incredible. I tested with a 128 GB and it works wonderfully! A 16 GB phone memory will have around 10 GB spare initially.

OTG - USB Hosts:
This is also often ignored feature in many reviews. On the GO USB cable + S5 means you can use with external hard disks, and virtually many of USB devices. If you have a thumb drive and have files, you can in fact read with a phone and don’t necessarily have to open a laptop. works out of the box.

BATTERY:
Do you really need to care for battery anymore. I don’t. Just use the phone. I have battery power banks with capacity as high as 30,000 mAh to 8000 mAh that I can charge virtually anywhere without a power supply. So this has become moot for me in past year. I would also suggest you get power banks and not really care of battery drainage. Use the phone and enjoy!

MISC FEATURES:
I tested fingerprint scanner, but I am not sure how reliable it will be over time with scratches/oily fingers etc. I have to test it further, but for now I will settle on traditional passwords till bugs are ironed out. Apple’s initial fingerprint software had bugs which was fixed subsequently. There are so many other features in S5. Some of them have become so standard that they are not review worthy! e.g., Infrared for wireless remotes, GPS etc. GPS was spot on and I tried multiple GPS apps. It was bright outdoors (had to crank the brightness all the way up).

To give a sample, I tried following apps and they just worked awesome.

Amazon Mobile, Androidify, Angry Birds (multiple themes), Asphalt 8, Box, Chrome, NAVIGON (from Garmin - offline maps), TOM TOM, , Google Navigation/Earth/Maps, Google Currents (nice way to read News), Google Drive, Ebay, Linkedin, Google Music, Tapatalk (awesome forum browsing app), Microsoft One Note (legacy docs, skydrive of 25 GB is good), Microsoft Office, (yes they hve for Android!), Subsonic Music Streamer, TweetCaster Pro for Android (excellent twitter client), Twit.Tv, Trigger, Google Voice

Ask questions, the review cannot do justice to Galaxy S5. I will be glad to answer any questions within 24 hours.

I have only had this phone for a day but I absolutely love it. I owned the HTC ONE M8 for a few weeks and returned it for the S5.

Without getting into insane technical comparison, I've listed some subjective comparison points.

- Build:
The M8 is a thing to behold. As people say, you haven't seen the phone until you've held it. That said, I was scared to death to scratch or drop the thing. I'm not a case guy at all and a part of me dies when I see someone slap a huge Otterbox case around a magnificent piece of hardware. To each his own. I understand people are clumsy and drop things, but I get irritated when 'fanboys' trash a rival manufacturers build....but then put an enormous case on theirs. Anyways, I just prefer the lighter plastic build of the S5. The back cover feels great in the hand and the buttons are all placed in the most convenient spots (for me anyway). I appreciated HTC moving the power button to the right-top side....but it's still very difficult to reach. I've changed phones a lot in recent years and one thing I've learned is that you need a solid week or two with a phone to really form an opinion on a build.

Battery:
Seems pretty even here. Both get excellent battery life that you'll get entire day out of. Really excited for the wireless charging covers to be released. Don't think people know how convenient wireless charging is if their device allows for it....especially if you have to remove a cover every time you want to connect a cable (which I know isn't the end of the world, but it's the little things, right??)

Unless you're some crazy heavy user that plays games all day and watches movies on a 5" device.....you'll love the battery life.

Camera:
GS5 takes this one but not by much. For normal day to day Instagram photos, both devices are excellent. The selfie front camera on the HTC One was surprisingly awesome! Felt like they should have used that lenses for the back. Keep in mind this phone take high res pictures that turn into large files.....so send with caution. (5-6mb files)

TouchWiz:
I typically DESPISE Touchwiz. I've used a Note 1, 2, 3, Galaxy S3, S4...and now S5. This is the first time I've actually considered it a viable option to stock Android. Samsung has definitely cleaned things up. My favorite fixes include the messaging app. They've changed in subtle ways to bring it up to date. Kit Kat allows you to choose your default messaging app now (which is awesome!) but this is the first time I've wanted to stick with the stock app. (priority senders is a cool option)

Speakers:
The BoomSound speakers obviously crush the GS5 here. However, unless this is a feature that you absolutely need....the GS5 speakers are serviceable. I found it very fun to show off the HTC speakers to friends.....but in normal day to day life I keep my phone silenced almost the entire time. (nobody can stand hearing your notification sound go off constantly). ALSO, nobody has brought this up, but when you leave the HTC ONE M8 in your pocket any kind of small dust or dirt particles get jammed in the speaker grill!!!! I wish I could attach a photo of this but it was irritating! That freshly drilled speaker hole look goes away in about a few days. Tried blowing on it but didn't seem to work. Just a heads up.

Misc:
Wish the headphone jack was on the bottom. Had gotten used to that on other devices.

Conclusion: Just wanted to give a few points to those on the fence. You can't go wrong with either phone. It really comes down to build quality. The HTC was something that will definitely turn heads and feel nice and cold in the morning, but remember that summer is coming up. The GS5 will be much more friendly in the elements.

Hope this helps.

Loads of good features like waterproof, heart rate, 3.0 USB charging, batter life improved from previous galaxy versions.
Very light when used without case
Things which I didn't like about it -
Bad speakers - I had an old samsung phone and it speakers and volume were much better
Bad signal reception - My roommate use S4 and i have S5 we both are in ATT and i most of time receive less signal reception than him.
Answering call in lock mode require screen to be pressed to hard. Touch is not sensitive in lock mode

Pros-

1. Beautiful display.
2. Great performance.
3. Battery life has been improved.
4. Improved design.
5. Premium camera with lots of features.

Cons-

1. The interface still feels cluttered.
2. A lot of bloatware and redundancy.
3. Only 16 GB of internal storage.

Having used the Samsung Galaxy S5 for over a month the best description I can use for it is that is it a jack of all trades. This is a phone that does everything really, really well but it is not the best at any one thing. The phone itself is fantastic and I hope this review will help you decide whether it is right one for you.

DISPLAY

The Galaxy family of phones has always had very attractive displays. The Galaxy S5 is no exception. The screen has a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a pixel density of 432. This makes texts and pictures incredibly sharp. It is very useful for people that like to read a lot on their phones. No more blurry texts. But it is not the resolution that makes the display special but the fact that it is a Super AMOLED screen. What does that mean? Well Super AMOLED have very saturated colors that look beautiful. The colors look slightly unrealistic but there is no denying that they are attractive. AMOLED screens also has higher contrast than its competition. Compare a Galaxy S5 screen to an LG or HTC and you will instantly notice the difference. It really makes pictures and videos come to life.

The only thing I do not like about the display is that it is not very bright. If you are under direct sunlight you have to increase the brightness all the way up in order to distinguish anything. Even then videos are very difficult to watch under sunlight.

PERFORMANCE

The Galaxy S5 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and 2 GB of Ram. This phone comes with latest version of android which is Kit Kat 4.4.2. This is the most secure, stable, and smooth version of android. The processor makes the phone feel fast and the phone can handle just about everything that you throw at it. With this phone you don’t have to worry about how many applications you have opened or whether or not it is going to freeze. Samsung has been refining and perfecting multitasking the last few years. In the S5 you can run two applications at the same time without any lag or stutters. I have 4 home screens with 5 widgets running at the same time and I still can’t get this phone to lag. As far as gaming is concerned, you can be confident that this phone can handle any game available in the Play Store right now without any problem. Games load fast and the performance is very smooth. I have absolutely no complains about performance.

DESIGN

The Galaxy S5 is made of plastic. There is no way around that. However, the back texture of the phone is much better than the one found on the S4, S3, and S2. Those phones were fingerprint magnets. After a few minutes of use without a case they would become an oily mess. That is not the case with the S5. The S5 does not collect fingerprint. The back of the device has a dimple texture that has grown on me. I am not a huge fan of the color selection of the phone but the navy blue model looks great.

The phone has a 5.1 inch display. The phone is pretty big. One handed use is not impossible but it is hard. I am a fan of the fingerprint scanner on the S5. What I don’t like is the fact that you have to slide your finger in order to scan your finger. The IPhone 5S version of the fingerprint sensor is much more convenient when you are using the phone with one hand. The phone itself is comfortable to hold for long periods of time and it provides a pretty good grip. I am using the phone without a case and I don’t fear dropping the phone. I was using an LG G2 a few months ago and I was terrified of holding it without a case. It was much more slippery.

Another improvement the S5 has over the S4 is that it is now water and dust resistant. The back plate has a thin rubber border on the inside that prevents water from coming in. Now the phone is NOT water proof. It will with stand the occasional water splash and maybe the unfortunate drop on the toilet. But don’t go in the pool or the beach with it. Water will eventually go in and ruin the phone.

On the back of the phone below the camera there is also a heartbeat monitor. Personally I do not like it simply because it is not practical. You have to be standing really still and on a quiet environment for it to work properly. That is not exactly ideal when you are trying to use while jogging. However, when it is use properly under the right conditions I found it to be very accurate. It is a shame it is so nitpicky when it comes to its terms of use. Overall, I am happy with the design and hardware improvements.

USER INTERFACE AND APPS

Like I mentioned before the S5 is running android 4.4.2 Kit Kat. However, in order to differentiate their phones from other android offerings they are running a layer on top of android called Touch Wiz. As a whole Touch Wiz is a mixed bag. I like what they do with the notification area. They have many shortcut toggles on the notification area that allows for easy access to the main connections settings such as Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Data and more. They allow you to customize the order of the toggles as well as add or remove some of them.

Where Touch Wiz gets a bit confusing is in the settings menu. For some reason, Samsung decided to have the menu settings laid out as colored bubble toggles in the setting menu. The toggles color scheme follow no discernable pattern. Even though the toggles are grouped by categories it feels disorganized. Fortunately, they decided to include a search bar at the top that lets you easily find the setting you are looking for. It reminds me of the search bar on Windows 8. It really is useful for beginners.
Samsung includes a lot of their apps along with their phones. Most of the app offered by Samsung are redundant and generally inferior versions of apps found on the Google Play Store. For example, they include a virtual assistant called S Voice that is supposed to help you schedule appointments, search for the weather and look up web searches. Unfortunately, it is very slow and half the time I did not get the desired results. Google offers Google Now which is much faster and delivers better results. Each carrier comes with their own suite of apps. Most of them are useless and take up a lot of space on the hard drive. The Verizon model is specially the worst. Fortunately, you can disable most of them and install your preferred choice of apps.

CAMERA

The S5 comes with at 16 megapixel camera on the back and a 2.1 megapixel on the front. I do not use the front camera very often but the back camera I use every day. For taking pictures it is simply fantastic. I really like it. The camera focuses really fast and come out looking very sharp. You will get the occasional blurry picture but they are few and far in between. Night shots take a little more time to focus and there is a higher chance of getting blurry pictures. The HTC One(M8) takes better night pictures than the S5 but the S5 camera takes much better daylight pictures. I have tried both phones and for general usage the camera on the S5 is considerably better.

One of the things I really like about the camera is the HDR mode. You know how sometimes when you take a picture and the subjects are standing in front of a lot of sunlight and the faces tend to come out darker than you want them to. Well when you activate HDR mode the camera takes several pictures at the same time with different exposures. It then combines them all together and highlights the best part of each photo. It makes a big difference. Now, many phones have HDR mode but in most of them you have to take the picture and then once it is done you have to go back on the gallery and check how the picture came out and see if you like it. On the S5 however, when you activate HDR mode it automatically shows you a preview on the screen of how the picture will come out. It is the first phone I have seen do it and I really like it.

The Galaxy S5 has the ability to take videos in 4K resolution. The videos come out looking sharp. Unfortunately, the S5 does not have optical image stabilization. That means that videos come out looking very shaky. You really have to slow and have a steady hand if you want the video to not shake as much. This is one area where the LG G2 is considerably better than the S5 thanks to the image stabilization. The G2 videos still shake if you are not careful but not nearly as much. The image stabilization didn’t make nearly as big a difference when it came to pictures though. They are both good camera phones.

BATTERY LIFE

The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a removable 2800 mah battery. The usage is going to vary between people but for my regular day I found the batter life to be more than adequate. The thing I noticed that drained the battery quicker was the web browser. It lasts a surprisingly good time when it comes to videos though. You will appreciate this if you like streaming Netflix and YouTube. On a regular day I make about half an hour worth of calls, send about 50 texts along with an hour or so of web browsing. I usually go to sleep with the battery at about 40%. Not bad at all. I charge it every day for good measure. The phone takes between 90 to 120 minutes to charge depending on whether you are using it or not at the time.

A new addition to the S5 is “Ultra Power Saving Mode”. What it basically does it strips your smartphone of everything that makes it “smart”. It is meant to be used when your battery is about to run out and it will basically only let you send texts, makes calls and use a total of six apps. The screen will also turn white and black to conserve more power. It is meant as a desperate last resort strategy. Hopefully you won’t have to use it often.

STORAGE

The standard version of the Galaxy S5 comes with 16 GB of internal storage. However, there is only about 10 GB of those available for you to use out of the box. The rest is taken up by the operating system and the apps that come pre-installed. Fortunately, the S5 supports the use of MicroSD cards up to 128 GB. That is great feature because you can use an MicroSD card to store your pictures and videos and use the internal storage to install apps from the Play Store.

CONCLUSION

Do I recommend this premium smartphone? In all honesty I do. It has a fantastic screen, smooth performance, and a very nice camera. The exterior design of the phone has been improved considerably from the S4. You will probably appreciate the addition of the fingerprint sensor and water resistant features. The heart rate monitor is not perfect but it works under the right conditions.
I would have liked to have 32 GB of internal storage as opposed to 16 GB on the base model. Optical Image Stabilization would be a nice addition in the future.

Overall the phone is feature packed and very complete. Samsung has proven to build pretty solid and reliable phones and they usually support software updates for at least a couple of years. I really thing that this phone is a great choice that you will like. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I used the iPhone and other Apple devices since I've used cell phones, and I always liked them. When this phone came out and it was time to conveniently upgrade, I took the plunge into the Android world. I have a Macbook Pro, Air, and an iPad Air, and was nervous about how I would like an Android and if I would be able to get used to it fast enough.

A little over a month later, I am in love with this phone (and was since I turned it on). Apple's iOS gets a lot of attention for being simple and pretty, but this phone (Android) makes tasks that would take three or four actions on an iPhone take only one or two. There are more customizable features, you can delete preinstalled apps, it is faster and has a great screen on it.

For me a big selling point was larger real estate on the screen. It is fantastic and is great for reading, watching sports, gaming, etc. Much preferable to the iPhone. When I hold an iPhone, it feels much smaller, and very comfortable, but I find myself missing so many features that I am now accustomed to on my GS5. There are a few cons, such as a few recurring notifications (volume control and power down) that I don't need and can't turn off, but everything else is seamless.

My first Android phone and I am satisfied with one notable exception.

I am a 7 year iPhone user. Switching to Android took some adjustments but I am happy to say that Galaxy S5 is better than my iPhone 5 in many aspects, but not quite as good in two aspects.

What I like about Android is that it is flexible. Android is open source so each manufacturer can make adjustments to the generic Android OS. With the S5, Samsung has made Android little more useful than the generic version. Samsung has introduced many in-house software for photos, phone, emails, and texts. The result is some very useful features such as regularly updating the local weather and showing it on the front screen, dual zone international clock, quick location/wifi/blutooth on/off switches etc.

What I really like about this phone are two things: the screen and the battery life. The screen is simply stunning with colors that really pop out. It is full HD (1080p) and even the smallest icons show their details. All games come fully to life. The battery on this phone with regular use lasts me around 36 hours. That is about 12 hours more than what I get out of iPhone 5 with comparable usage.

I initially had some reservations about the size of this phone. I am happy to say this phone is not too big. But I wouldn't want my phone to be any bigger or else I would need to buy pants with bigger pockets.

What I don't like about this phone are two things: mediocre image stabilization in its camera and the clunky music player. I took several pictures with this phone and few images came out blurry. Sometimes I took repeated photos and they still came out blurry. Plus, the pictures came out fairly grainy. In my opinion, the camera on S5, especially its image stabilization, is not as good as the one found on iPhone 5 and 5S.

I also did not like the music player. The iPhone, in my view, was designed to be a music player from its very inception. This is apparently not so true for Android. Synchronizing iTune music with Android requires separate software purchases (iSyncr for me) and is a definite downgrade from the iTune synchronization with the iPhone. Plus, my car audio does not recognize my Samsung S5 as a "USB Music Player". My iPhone 5 worked seamlessly with my car audio. I still can, however, play music on my car audio using the Samsung S5's blutooth feature. But the sound quality isn't quite good as the USB plug-in.

Pros (compared to iPhone 5):
1)Awesome battery life. 36+ hours for me.
2)Awesome screen. Independent tests showed this screen to be the best ever tested (3 months ago), and I believe it.
3)5.1 inch screen is perfect and makes the phone lot more usable. Browsing the web and using apps on this phone is a superior experience to the iPhone 5.
4)Android offers lot more flexibility and adjustments to the user's preferences.
5)Performance is very snappy and significantly better than the iPhone 5.
6)It is waterproof. I have no problems taking this on water related sports such as white-water rafting.

Cons (compared to iPhone 5):
1)Image stabilization of the camera is definitely a downer. I had more blurry images with this phone in 2 months than I had with my iPhone 5 in 18 months. Plus, the picture quality is not quite as good as the iPhone 5. Megapixels be damned, I would MUCH rather take pictures with the iPhone 5.
2)Music player is clunky and is incompatible with many car audio systems. Synchronizing music with iTunes can be clunky and needs an after-market software which costs around $5. Even worse, trying to play music via car audio using USB cable simply does not work for me. I can, however, use the blutooth to play music, which has an inferior sound quality.
3)Micro SD card (for extra storage) is significantly slower than internal flash drives. I am using top-of-the-line Samsung micro SD card.