Samsung Galaxy S5: all the new features

[Poke]

Some good stuff.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-all-the-new-features_id53066

 

[Gobucks]

Thanks for the info!

 

[TheForce]

I had hoped my old htc Thunderbolt would last until the iphone 6 comes out this Fall, but it looks like it's time has come. About a month ago the old T-Bolt began to lose some touch spots on the screen. Then the power button started sticking. Next for some unknown reason the phone reset itself back to factory default after refusing to power on for 6 hours. Friday, I lost 3 numbers on the phone dialer and 50% of the QWERTY pad doesn't work. Like I press the D and every letter around it comes up randomly. That's the last straw. It has been taking me 30 minutes to type in my e-mail address with a combination of voice to text and typing the remaining letters.

So, after spending most of yesterday reading reviews on the iphone 5s I decided against it due to price and features. It looks like it's the Galaxy S5. Starting with price, my price before taxes, the iphone 5s is $299 and the Galaxy S5 is $99.
Plus it gives me an interchangeable battery that I have always favored.
The camera is claimed to be superior with superior features.
Swappable Micro SD card up to 128GB. I store 55GB on my Thunderbolt now with GPS Maps, videos, movies, audible books library.
With an iphone, I will also need an iwatch to replace my current Sony Smartwatch2. I love that thing! So, this is really another cost saving.
With accessories, the S5 will connect to HDMI, but this has relatively little importance to me. It also has a heart rate monitor that I may never use. It has the finger print scanner that I like but so does the iphone.

The main reason I was willing to go with an iphone and give up on a few features I like on non-iphone was because the whole family, everyone except me has iphone and some things are nice when we are all under the Apple umbrella. Like facetime ease of use. But my wife has the iphone 5 if we need that and she loves her 5.

I'm concerned about the Galaxy S5 construction. It is rated even poorer than the htc phones and allot lower than the iphone. I just hope the Galaxy holds up for a year or two when I will once again revisit the iphone upgrade path.

 

[TheForce]

Was worried about the larger screen on the S5 but I think it will grow on me. The s5 is sure fast and easy to read.

Also, every smartwatch2 app I am throwing at it works perfectly. Pretty happy about that since that became a real problem on my old Thunderbolt.

Have enough loaded on it now to know, it's a keeper.


Oh, and I found out Verizon had a hidden fee of $30 to switch over the phone number and there was some $5 discount so my out of pocket for this upgrade was $124, not $99. Still, not a bad price to pay for this improvement.

 

[dishfan82]

I know people who have had the galaxy from the first one to the S4 and they love the phone. I've been with Apple since the iPhone 4 and although I like the iPhone, Apple sure better pull some magic out because they are behind when it comes to new features. I know friends who won't even touch the iPhone. Thing I like is the expandable memory on the android devices.


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[cybok0]

Yeah Don my s5 is great, I'm glad I got it.

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[TheForce]

Still adding apps, debugging as I go.

Bad news:

My Q-See security camera app only sees 4 of my 12 cameras. others in the support forum are reporting same trouble. I see all cameras with the iPhone 5. iPad sees only 9. They end to work on that.

Had a scare this morning when my smartwatch2 lost connection. Discovered also, only had 3G and the phone would not log on to my wifi. Decided to reboot the phone and everything worked again. Looks like this bug is still the same as I had with my Thunderbolt. I think android must be like windows.

 

[mogera]

I too am loving my S5. The best phone on the market right now for my needs!

 

[TheForce]

Just got in a desk top charger that does a spare battery and phone at the same time. It's a little tricky with the port cover. I also bought a compact wall charger for the phone cable and battery. Both for $30 Prime Amazon.

I have on order a new belt case, but it must be coming from China since the shipping time is about a week.


Do any of you use a screen protector? I never have but I wonder if that may have caused the screen on my Thunderbolt to have dead spots after 3 years. They now sell these $25 protectors that are tough as glass. The guy at Verizon was pushing them hard sell.

 

[Hall]

I always use a screen protector. No matter how careful you are, if the screen gets scratched, you can't "fix" it. A screen protector won't help with the dead-spot issue. That's a digitizer problem on the inside (under the screen/glass).

My co-worker has always used those "tough-as-glass" screen protectors with good success. In fact, he's never had to replace them (he gets them at Best Buy and has them install it too). That said, newer phones are being built with non-scratchable/breakable glass - from Dow Corning, Gorilla Glass maybe ? Does the S5 have that ?

 

[Hall]

I'm concerned about the Galaxy S5 construction.

My son and I have the S3 and compared to the Thunderbolt I had before, the HTC is a tank. In fact, up until about two weeks ago, both T-Bolts we had were still running great (the batteries are a different story). One was sitting in a drawer unused while our 12-year old had been using the other as a non-phone device (WiFi only connection) and it finally gave up. I actually think the only problem is the charging port may have broke.

Back to the S3, they are very thin, with a curved back and a very thin back cover. Both phones have always had cases on them. My wife has the S4 and design-wise, I think the S5 is similar. They are actually thicker and have vertical sides (the S3 sides were almost full rounded edges). The outside edge/ring is made of metal as well, I thought.

 

[truckracer]

For me, I switched away from the iPhone at the 4s level. I went to a Galaxy s4. I couldn't believe all the free and open features available on android that costs extra on iphone.

I am a note 3 user now and love this big phone.

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[emily]

For me, I switched away from the iPhone at the 4s level. I went to a Galaxy s4. I couldn't believe all the free and open features available on android that costs extra on iphone.

I am a note 3 user now and love this big phone.

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I had a Galaxy S4 also but as soon as I had the chance & money in hand from a magazine editing job I did I got a note 3, Love It! You are totally right about android phone open features.

 

[nelson61]

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[Stargazer]

I got the Apple iPhone 5S for $99 on AT&T website with a two-year contract I like the smaller screen over the galaxies since it would be more portable and I like the simplicity of the phone but there are things I like about the galaxy phone such as more free apps. I also like the ruggedness of the iPhone.



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[nelson61]

My S4 contract expires Monday. Going to get the S5.

My S4 has occasional hissy fits where it must be leaving something on, gets hot and sucks the battery down. Hope that goes away with the S5.

 

[TheForce]

My Q-See security camera app only sees 4 of my 12 cameras. others in the support forum are reporting same trouble. I see all cameras with the iPhone 5. iPad sees only 9.

Update- I finally got my Q-See apps to work properly on the Samsung Phone with all cameras displaying. The problem was resolved by deleting the app and reinstalling, this time not to load up the default settings but immediately set the number of channels to 10 before accessing the DVR. On the ipad, the ipad app works great on all channels on my first generation ipad. On the 3rd gen, I finally got it to work using the same method as with the Samsung android app plus only running it in portrait mode. I call this a work around to the retina display. Q-See tech support says no update to the app because they feel the work around is not limiting the app. I respectfully disagree. But, at least I am now firing on all cylinders, err... channels.

 

[nelson61]

Got it up and running yesterday.

Didn't think I would notice the slightly larger screen but I do. It makes the icons stand out better than the S4.

Picked up a Speck case with the rubber ribbing on the back to prevent sliding off tables. Had the same one for the S4 and liked it.
I did not add any screen protection. By the time I scratch it up I will want a new phone anyway (or lose it or drive over it).

A major redesign of the main smartphone options format is going to take some time to get used to. Not sure if I like it - icon based vs. the old row of text options.

Very impressed with the improved camera.

And, wow, although it is not the Holy Grail for use in sunlight, it is really getting close. I spend lots of time out walking in sunlight. This is the first (and only) screen I've seen that I can actually see and use. Also has excellent and crisp display quality.

I'd recommend it to anyone tired of having to use voice commands while looking at a black screen when outdoors.

Still checking the battery life. It is supposed to be much better than the S4.

I think the charging/data port waterproof cap is going to be a failure. It is cheap and chintzy. I'm guessing it will fall off or get torn off during charging within a couple months. Don't intend to water test it, so I can live with this negative feature.

Have not enabled the download booster. I'm a little leery of chewing up my data bytes needlessly. I do want to try it to see what happens with a big download when I combine LTE and wireless broadband but will save that experience for later.

Also have to get used to the change in application setting locations. The press reports say Google put the hammer down on Samsung and made them switch and use the Android standards for accessing the options.

All in all, very happy.

 

[TheForce]

nelson61- I'm getting about 1.5 to 2 days in average use polling e-mail and about 30 minutes talk time a day. I keep wifi on all the time. I also have a belt case that I can carry a spare battery. That security is nice over the iphone.

 

[nelson61]

nelson61- I'm getting about 1.5 to 2 days in average use polling e-mail and about 30 minutes talk time a day. I keep wifi on all the time. I also have a belt case that I can carry a spare battery. That security is nice over the iphone.

I used to ration power by shutting things off since the old S4 would poop out around 5 each afternoon. But, I'm finding the S5 has much better battery life. I'm normally down to only plugging in at night unless I've been really hitting it hard. Didn't realize it, but my new 4G contract upped me a gigabyte for the same price and it's looking like I will rarely have to worry about data caps.

My S4 was stuck at 4.3 and the 4.4 on the S5 is much improved. I found the sphere (360 panorama) download under the Mode options and am playing around with it. You have to align of a bulls eye as you move around to add to the photo being stitched. Takes a nice photo I liked Photosynth (by Microsoft) better but it is only available on iPhones and Windows phones. Photosynth did not require any alignment. Just move around and the camera automatically took the shots and stitched them.

Also changed my default viewer from Gallery to the Google Photos app. I think it does a better job on the automatic cloud links.

Now I see they just released the Active version and am wondering if I made a mistake by not waiting. Looks like the Active is more rugged and does not require a case.