Samsung Galaxy S5 Review

The biggest galaxy is finally revealed. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is now here. It’s the fifth flagship phone of Samsung and this time they moved away from the plastic feel and is now sporting a dimpled and perforated design.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is very proud with its dimpled rear design which is very similar to the first generation of Nexus 7 however, the feel is different and I find the Samsung Galaxy S5’s dimpled design better than the Nexus 7. During the launch of Samsung Galaxy S5, many fans have neutral comments with the overall design but when you see it in person and actually get to use it, your perspective will change and you will find the Samsung Galaxy S5 really elegant.

Just like the previous flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S5 still sports chrome accents and it is still made up of plastic. The buttons are still the same except for the new menu button, which they ditched in favour of the app switcher button which helps me become more productive. The home button also acts as a fingerprint sensor but unlike Apple’s Touch ID, you have to swipe your finger instead of placing your finger at the top of the home button.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is water and dust resistant too. This is not the first Android flagship of Samsung to have this feature, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active was sporting this feature before. The Samsung Galaxy S5 will be able to last up to 30 minutes underwater (1m). You won’t be able to use the display underwater and the capacitive buttons doesn’t work too but you can use the camera and the volume button to take a photo underwater. Still, the thought of having a smartphone with an underwater feature is still cool! Perfect for Summer and outdoor adventures!

The best thing about the Samsung Galaxy S5 is that it is still light and despite a larger bezels, it is still very comfortable to hold. The device sports a 5.1” Full HD Super AMOLED display and the viewing angles and the sunlight legibility was great. One thing the sports enthusiasts (specifically bikers) would probably love on the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the ability to use it even if they are not wearing gloves. It probably has the best display on a smartphone right now.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 got all the things that you want. There’s NFC and LTE here. There’s also a new feature called download booster which will use both your mobile data and Wi-Fi to download a file. Inside the Samsung Galaxy S5 is a 16 GB storage, and though only around 11 GB is usable that’s why I can use my 32 GB MicroSD as added storage for my media files.

The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S5 really surprised me. I did not expect the Samsung Galaxy S5 would last up to half a day of heavy use. I’m not using my powerbank anymore because it can last up to a whole day already. And when my battery starts to run low, I’ll just turn on the Ultra Power Saving Mode which will change the color of your screen to black and white and it will restrict usage to only essential applications which will drastically improves the battery life of the smartphone.

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the speaker were placed at the back and not below the phone. This is something different from other Samsung smartphones and other phone brands. Speaking of audio, the quality of the speaker is superb.

Samsung wants to align the Samsung Galaxy S5 as your fitness coach. They’ve improved the S-Health app and they’ve added a heart rate sensor at the back of the smartphone. They placed the heart rate sensor beside the flash of the camera and all you need to do is to place your index finger on top and then the Samsung Galaxy S5 will measure your heart rate. Aside from the heart rate sensor, you can also use your smartphone as a pedometer.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is powered by the latest Android 4.4 Kitkat and it is still skinned by Touchwiz UI but compared to the older Touchwiz UI, the one in the samsung Galaxy S5 has a flatter design and less bugs. It’s now more comfortable to use. Thankfully, Samsung decided to omit some bloatwares on the device to give way for more storage and if you want to use those apps, don’t worry because you can download those apps on the Samsung App store.

One of the features that I really like on the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the private mode. With that feature, you’ll be able to transfer your pictures and videos to a private space and you can only view those photos and videos with the associated fingerprint. It’s a really great feature especially when a lot of people are borrowing your phone and you don’t want to show some files to them

The Samsung Galaxy S5 uses a Quad-Core Snapdragon 801 processor with a 2 GB of RAM and it didn’t fail to amaze me. As expected, I was able to play all the games withouts lags an despite having a smaller RAM, the Samsung Galaxy S5 got a score of 35048 which is slightly higher than the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 sports a 16 Megapixel camera and proudly boasting a lot of cool and awesome features. Samsung Galaxy S5 boasts a real time HDR mode that lets you see how the enhanced photo would look like before shooting. Another thing that you’ll love in this device is the blazing fast autofocus camera. And yes, taking photos are now much better, thanks to that.There’s also a new feature on the camera called selective focus which will allow you to adjust the focus of the image after you shoot the photo.

I took a lot of photos using the Samsung Galaxy S5 and it was able to exceed my expectations. I also noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S5 can now capture more colors than the Galaxy Note 3. And again, I really love the fast autofocus camera. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is also capable of recording 4k videos but I doubt that you already have a 4k monitor for that. Here are some shots that I took using the Samsung Galaxy S5.

In conclusion, I love the Samsung Galaxy S5 because it helps me maximize my hobbies and interests. I can say that the experience was awesome. I hope Samsung will have better features on the next flagship unit, but I think the Samsung Galaxy S5 is currently the best device the market can offer.

My favorite feature of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the water and dust resistance. Aside from being a Tech blogger, I also love the outdoors. Whenever I go out for some biking, I’m not worried anymore about the weather because the Samsung Galaxy S5 can withstand rain and dust. This summer, I was also able to use the Samsung Galaxy S5 to take pictures underwater.

So why you should get the Samsung Galaxy S5 at Globe? Here are some my reasons:

Free 6-months subscription to Spotify Premium: I’ve never used my music app anymore thanks to the free music streaming service of Spotify but with Globe, not only will you get a Samsung Galaxy S5, but you’ll have a free subscription to Spotify Premium if you subscribe to GoSURF plans. Yeah, Spotify is perfect for your jamming on a summer road trip with your friends
Free 1-month Gadget Care: With Gadget care, you can get complete mobile protection against theft and accidental damage.
Charge App purchases to bill: Don’t have a credit card to connect to Samsung App Store? Don’t worry, whenever you download a paid app on your device, they’ll just charge it to your Globe postpaid bill. As a tech blogger who loves to play games, this is very useful.
Flexible and fully-customizable postpaid plans of your choice: This is probably the best thing why you should get a Samsung Galaxy S5 at Globe. You can get the Samsung Galaxy S5 for as low as P1,799 a month at Globe mySUPERPLAN. (5GB of GoSURF consumable data plan plus free calls and texts to all networks) or P1,599 with P16,800 cash-out per year with the Galaxy Forever Plan (1.5GB of GoSurf consumable data plan monthly, unlimited calls and texts to one Globe/TM number of your choice, free calls and texts to all networks, and additional P300 monthly consumable for other services) which allows them to get the newest Galaxy smartphone every year.
Largest 4G Network: You would surely enjoy Globe’s fast mobile internet speeds thanks to their largest 4G network. Whenever I go out for a bike, I don’t worry about the mobile internet speeds because wherever I go, I know I’ll always experience fast 4G speeds

I got the Samsung Galaxy S5 from Globe at PhP1799 per month. That’s Plan 999 with a monthly cash-out of Php P800. If you also want to get a Samsung Galaxy S5 from Globe, here’s Postpaid plan and choose the plan that would suit you.