Samsung Galaxy S5 Users - Feedback?

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Originally Posted By: buster
Great phone. No problems yet.


Hows the battery life going?
 
Daughter has a galaxy S3 and wife has the S5. Not that much difference for the big difference in money. Slightly bigger screen and battery. Slightly improved camera. To do it over the wife would have an S3. S5 is not a bad phone but the S3 cost $160 new a few months ago and the S5 was $700. I guess it depends how much emphasis you place on any of the slight upgrades. My opinion would be save some money and go S3 but to each their own.
 
I know you are asking about the S5 and my dad really likes his. He says the battery life is just ok, but everything else works smooth.

I figure Id talk about my S3 since its pretty similar to the S5.
I have had the S3 for almost 3 years. I like it for what it is, however the battery lasts about 20 hours and I have to charge it every night. I dont like the extra samsung junk that does bog down the phone, I dont use any samsung addon. However it runs pretty smooth. The camera is good on it, nice pictures, it has an HDR, Low light, and Panoramic setting, which I use all of them quite a bit. Its a decent phone for the money, as long as you dont mind the added samsung junk.

If you are looking for a stock android phone, I recommend the Google Nexus 5 or 6. I think this is a more quality phone over the S5 and more phone for the money.
 
Love ours. Get it from Costco.

People that have issues with battery life from my experiences have installed apps that drain the battery.
 
Honestly, depends on what you came from. I came from an iPhone 4s that was pretty much rock solid and got the T-Mobile GS5. Before that I suffered with a Droid X. I've had mine since the end of April. Wouldn't buy another.

Why you say?

  • Gimmicky - the Heart Rate monitor is a joke, the other apps are junk.
  • Unreliable. Seems to flake out after about a week of uptime and either locks up hard or just reboots on its own.
  • While Android has a lot of cool features little of it works well together. There are multiple music playing apps (Play Music, Samsung's player), Gallery vs photos, etc. Just seems not well thought out.
  • Lag. It's supposed to be a quad core powerhouse yet Bluetooth music streaming sometimes skips and stutters worse than a Turrets patient. My iPhone rarely skipped a beat. Camera takes forever to open, etc.


I'm hopeful that maybe the Lollipop upgrade will fix things up but Samsung is mum on when it's due. And no, rooting is not the answer!!!

My next phone will probably be an iPhone of some sorts (6s+) or maybe try another Android. Maybe by then there will be a good one that is actually reliable.
 
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My S3 is going on 2.5 years old and hasn't skipped a beat. It's never crashed, been laggy or otherwise done anything unexpected. I use it a lot too. I considered upgrading to an S5 or LG G3, but this one still does everything well. Each OS has it's own advantages, disadvantages and idiosyncrasies. You just have to pick the one that works for you.
 
Had an S3 for 2 years, switched to the S5 in April. Love the S5 for so many reasons better than the S3. To name a few: faster, waterproof, better camera, built in heart rate monitor, better graphics, better sound.

Oh, definitely get the Samsung case that when you close it has a window so you can still see the screen. Worth every penny of $50.
 
My brother has one. Needs more than 1gb of ram, especially with certain apps. He had an S4 previously until he dropped it, he said he actually preferred it to the S5
 
S5 over Nexus 5 any day..i think its a solid device. Im still using an S2 but have played with the s5. Best advice I can give, if you are signing a contract get the latest and greatest device you can. I know a couple ppl who have the S5 and are both happy with it. (One came from an iphone 4)
 
Originally Posted By: 55Test
My brother has one. Needs more than 1gb of ram, especially with certain apps. He had an S4 previously until he dropped it, he said he actually preferred it to the S5


The S5 has 2GB of ram.
 
I've had my S5 for several months. Everything works great - battery life is very good. I use it for texting, occasional phone calls and light internet use and email.

Love the bright clear screen, bluetooth works great, no problems.
 
Originally Posted By: jigen
Originally Posted By: 55Test
My brother has one. Needs more than 1gb of ram, especially with certain apps. He had an S4 previously until he dropped it, he said he actually preferred it to the S5


The S5 has 2GB of ram.

^^That was my next question, RAM, the s5 seems like a great phone, My local provider has it on sale now for $199 w/contract, is 200 a ok deal for this phone?
 
$199 with a contract is pretty much the standard price for any mainstream "current version" phone. You'll likely find them cheaper as we get closer to the holidays, like on a Black Friday sale or similar.

Example, iPhone 6 is $199 with contract, but many stores like Walmart and Best Buy are offering them for $99 with contract on Black Friday. You may find similar with Samsung products.
 
I disabled as much Samsung junk as I could... I also stopped using TouchWiz home screen and disabled the lock screen. Now I'm using Google Now launcher / home screen and Cover for a lock screen. Much smoother experience. I also use Google Apps in place of all the Samsung junk.

My next phone will be a Developer Edition or Nexus of some sort.
 
I have the LG G3 coming from an iphone. I'm having a really hard time coming up with any complaints about this phone.

The screen is fantastic, phone is super fast. Verizon't messaging app is superior to anything I've used in the past.

I thought there would be some adjustment coming from the Apple ecosystem, but there wasn't.

Two of my stepkids have Galaxy S5 and the overall experience seems to be pretty similar. They do complain about some of the software on their phones, where as I have no such complaints. Anything I don't like has so far been easily disabled.
 
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