The Galaxy S5

[SurferMan]

Wow....I guess I get terrible battery life on my N5. Im at 9% with a little over 2 hours of on screen time

Just as an idea this is what I got on my S5 other day when I checked: 33% battery life left ---> off charger for almost 15 hours, on screen time of 4 hours browsing with multiple tabs etc, some email and text, and about 30 min of phone calls, and streamed music at the gym for an hour.

Pretty damn good, impressed with this phone every day in use

 

[Neverbepeace]

Just as an idea this is what I got on my S5 other day when I checked: 33% battery life left ---> off charger for almost 15 hours, on screen time of 4 hours browsing with multiple tabs etc, some email and text, and about 30 min of phone calls, and streamed music at the gym for an hour.

Pretty damn good, impressed with this phone every day in use

 

[Sensamic]

I just tried that outside.....So i want make sure i get what you mean. Go to the camera app........and span horizontally? I did that and there was no stutter at all....

I have been getting great battery life so far......turned off al the Samsung so called "features".

This is with 2 hours screen time. Was on Zedge a lot today looking for wallpapers and ringtones....

Just as an idea this is what I got on my S5 other day when I checked: 33% battery life left ---> off charger for almost 15 hours, on screen time of 4 hours browsing with multiple tabs etc, some email and text, and about 30 min of phone calls, and streamed music at the gym for an hour.

Pretty damn good, impressed with this phone every day in use

What display brightness levels are you guys using on your S5?

I normally have my phones at 100%. How good is the battery at 100% brightness? Has someone checked?

 

[jamezr]

What display brightness levels are you guys using on your S5?

I normally have my phones at 100%. How good is the battery at 100% brightness? Has someone checked?

I have my brightness set to auto.....

 

[Max(IT)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

If you have an "emotional response" to Samsung being accused of being liar, I'm sorry but YOU do have a problem ...

I'm just puzzled about this phone, the second in a row to be "meh" (while the note 3 is clearly better).

----------

Just as an idea this is what I got on my S5 other day when I checked: 33% battery life left ---> off charger for almost 15 hours, on screen time of 4 hours browsing with multiple tabs etc, some email and text, and about 30 min of phone calls, and streamed music at the gym for an hour.

Pretty damn good, impressed with this phone every day in use

Regarding battery life every review I red spoke about good results, and you just confirmed that.

----------

The camera is really good.

You can always expect a great camera on the Galaxy S line. I still love the camera on my S3 and this one looks like a great update.

I guess no one is using the 4K video recording? It's not much better than 1080P?

I'd like to check the camera in low light conditions, since Samsung choose a small sensor with high resolution.

----------

What display brightness levels are you guys using on your S5?

I normally have my phones at 100%. How good is the battery at 100% brightness? Has someone checked?

100% all the day ? A big hit on the battery .... and on your retina

 

[The Game 161]

Guys can you still get lockscreen widgets with the fingerprint scanner?

 

[rockitdog]

I feel like getting the S5 for the better display, camera, battery life, and updated processor would be a waste it I wanted to put stock Android on it or get the google play edition. The heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner, gesture feature hardware would just be sitting there never to be used.

I have yet to use the fingerprint scanner on my S5, with all of the reports of how bad it is, why even bother. I've used the heart rate monitor three time. Not very impressive either.

----------

After about a week, I'm just not as sold on the S5 as I thought I would be. It's just a tad too big for my liking. The S4 was the perfect size for me and now I find it sort of cumbersome to be honest. And I find myself waiting for the charging port cover to break off. Seems like that is inevitable.

 

[kupkakez]

I have yet to use the fingerprint scanner on my S5, with all of the reports of how bad it is, why even bother. I've used the heart rate monitor three time. Not very impressive either.

----------

After about a week, I'm just not as sold on the S5 as I thought I would be. It's just a tad too big for my liking. The S4 was the perfect size for me and now I find it sort of cumbersome to be honest. And I find myself waiting for the charging port cover to break off. Seems like that is inevitable.

The fingerprint scanner was pretty accurate, but it was annoying to use. I ended up just disabling it and going back to a pattern lock. For some reason I don't think the heart rate monitor is too accurate.

Also, I agree with the charging door. I find it to be annoying, but I'm pretty sure it'll eventually rip off within the next 2 years.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the phone but there are a few little things that are just meehhhhh.

 

[rockitdog]

The fingerprint scanner was pretty accurate, but it was annoying to use. I ended up just disabling it and going back to a pattern lock. For some reason I don't think the heart rate monitor is too accurate.

Also, I agree with the charging door. I find it to be annoying, but I'm pretty sure it'll eventually rip off within the next 2 years.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the phone but there are a few little things that are just meehhhhh.

I'm considering a switch the new HTC One M8. In my mind I'm really just looking to kill time until the iPhone 6 comes out. I thought I'd really notice difference in speed and performance over the S4 and I really don't see any. I hate that the bezel got bigger and despite the phone only being .1 inch larger the phone has grown to an uncomfortable size where is should have been able to really stay the same size, IMO.

 

[SurferMan]

Regarding battery life every review I red spoke about good results, and you just confirmed that.

What display brightness levels are you guys using on your S5?

I normally have my phones at 100%. How good is the battery at 100% brightness? Has someone checked?

Stats now - off charger 24 hours and 52min, 35% battery life left with on screen time of 3 hours and 20 minutes, streaming music as gym for 1hr 14 min, phone for 15 min, and some text and email. Impressed still, you bet lol. Our iPhone 5 and 5S can't even compare, even in browsing or something like GPS Nav the S5 is far better which yeh it does have a larger battery but it's also pushing a much larger screen. First phone I've ever had where the idea of the battery dying before day is done doesn't even worry me, even when on heavy call time and email like crazy some days it's fine. Not even my rooted and rom'd S2 was close to this good.

I did turn off/disable the AT&T and Sammy bloat but haven't seen any real difference in battery life there, I kept having s-health popping up after calls and other apps which annoyed me lol. I use Evernote anyway for lifting/workout sched. Can't wait till exploit root is found to remove the bloat.

Sensamic, 100%, seriously? lol. I always keep my phones on auto-brightness, 100% is useless battery drain. And in the evening/night that would be blinding bright, no way I could sit there and even look at this screen browsing etc at night at 100%, it's bright as hell. Same for iPhones, keep them at auto. My tablet I sometimes adjust in notification pulldown for a little extra brightness at night as I have a Tab3 8.0 and it's auto setting seems aggressive lol

 

[MRU]

http://youtu.be/V0ijg7in0K8


The memory concern I had and posted here previously about Touchwiz using up a lot of memory resulting in re-loading when multi-tasking clearly demonstrated here in the second part of the video.

I previously also mentioned how when I went to compare my Google Edition S4 to the Touchwiz S5 the S4 GPE fractionally was faster - and again here we can see something similar with the Nexus 5.


Touchwiz still needs a bucket load of optimisation.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Sensamic, 100%, seriously? lol. I always keep my phones on auto-brightness, 100% is useless battery drain. And in the evening/night that would be blinding bright, no way I could sit there and even look at this screen browsing etc at night at 100%, it's bright as hell. Same for iPhones, keep them at auto. My tablet I sometimes adjust in notification pulldown for a little extra brightness at night as I have a Tab3 8.0 and it's auto setting seems aggressive lol

I keep my iPhone at 100%. The only time I turn it down is if I'm in a room with no lights on. Maybe some people are more sensitive to light than others. I've never been bothered by the brightness unless it is a completely dark room. It feels too dim to me if I turn it down even a little during the day.

Touchwiz still needs a bucket load of optimisation.

That is what scares me about the Galaxy S5 Mini. If the S5 can't handle it, the Mini won't stand a chance with even less RAM.

 

[Robster3]

http://youtu.be/V0ijg7in0K8


The memory concern I had and posted here previously about Touchwiz using up a lot of memory resulting in re-loading when multi-tasking clearly demonstrated here in the second part of the video.

I previously also mentioned how when I went to compare my Google Edition S4 to the Touchwiz S5 the S4 GPE fractionally was faster - and again here we can see something similar with the Nexus 5.


Touchwiz still needs a bucket load of optimisation.

Wow, considering the N5 is half the price, would like to see him do a test S5 v Note 3.

 

[Sensamic]

100% all the day ? A big hit on the battery .... and on your retina

Sensamic, 100%, seriously? lol. I always keep my phones on auto-brightness, 100% is useless battery drain. And in the evening/night that would be blinding bright, no way I could sit there and even look at this screen browsing etc at night at 100%, it's bright as hell. Same for iPhones, keep them at auto. My tablet I sometimes adjust in notification pulldown for a little extra brightness at night as I have a Tab3 8.0 and it's auto setting seems aggressive lol

Problem is it's an AMOLED display, so it's not that bright even at 100%. Trust me.

At 100% it's as bright as my Nexus 7 2013 at 30%. You have to take into consideration that it's an old display (2 years old). I think it doesn't even reach 300 nits, whereas the SGS5 and Nexus 5 reach 500.

That's why I prefer IPS displays over AMOLED.

My Nexus 7 2013 is always at 30% brightness just to compare to my phone. The SGS3 has a very very dim display

Not all displays are the same at 100%. The Nexus 5 I had briefly was much brighter at just 40% than my SGS3 at full brightness.

http://youtu.be/V0ijg7in0K8


The memory concern I had and posted here previously about Touchwiz using up a lot of memory resulting in re-loading when multi-tasking clearly demonstrated here in the second part of the video.

I previously also mentioned how when I went to compare my Google Edition S4 to the Touchwiz S5 the S4 GPE fractionally was faster - and again here we can see something similar with the Nexus 5.


Touchwiz still needs a bucket load of optimisation.

I was actually gonna post a link to that same video and say the same thing about the RAM and speed!

I'm waiting for his review on the S5 but that video was very revealing indeed.

Just saw it and definitely expected that to happen. Was very interested in seeing the comparison.

It just shows what I previously said when I tried the S5: that it didn't felt very fast. It doesn't have lag, but it is just slower than a Nexus. I compared it to my brief experience with the Nexus 5. Opening the multitasking window is one great example, and apps closing on the background just confirmed what I also said a few posts back: that 2GB RAM won't be enough in the near future for this device.

But at least it's got a great camera and decent battery life it seems.

 

[jamezr]

Low light picture of the pool in the back....

 

[Technarchy]

Problem is it's an AMOLED display, so it's not that bright even at 100%. Trust me.

At 100% it's as bright as my Nexus 7 2013 at 30%. You have to take into consideration that it's an old display (2 years old). I think it doesn't even reach 300 nits, whereas the SGS5 and Nexus 5 reach 500.

That's why I prefer IPS displays over AMOLED.

My Nexus 7 2013 is always at 30% brightness just to compare to my phone. The SGS3 has a very very dim display

Not all displays are the same at 100%. The Nexus 5 I had briefly was much brighter at just 40% than my SGS3 at full brightness.

The S3 display was horrible. Like really bad. The Note 3 and S5 have pushed AMOLED into a whole new class of performance.

AMOLED was a dirty word for a long time, but we are at the point where it's competitive or equal to LCD with that great color separation, contrast, and true black levels that only AMOLED provides.

Though overall clarity is still owned by LCD. The G2 display looks a bit nicer than AMOLED.

 

[rockitdog]

The problem with AMOLED is that it will always struggle in daylight which is where IPS wins out but IPS can't top those vivid eye popping colors AMOLED gets when not in direct sunlight.

----------

Anyone notice that when in blocking mode the S5's LED still blinks? Very annoying!

 

[Technarchy]

The problem with AMOLED is that it will always struggle in daylight which is where IPS wins out but IPS can't top those vivid eye popping colors AMOLED gets when not in direct sunlight.

Not even close to being true with the S5 and Note 3. Everything prior sure, but the auto-brightness jolt in bright sunless is pretty impressive and gives up little to my iPhone 5S.

Anyone "struggling" needs to get their eyes checked.

 

[jamezr]

Not even close to being true with the S5 and Note 3. Everything prior sure, but the auto-brightness jolt in bright sunless is pretty impressive and gives up little to my iPhone 5S.

Anyone "struggling" needs to get their eyes checked.

The S5 was declared to have the best display of any smartphpone tested by DisplayMate.

"While many people have assumed that the Galaxy S5 has basically the same display as the Galaxy S4, but just a bit bigger, that isn't the case... Our detailed Lab tests show that there have been significant display performance improvements in almost every single test and measurement category, resulting in a number of new records for Smartphone display performance. Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, which we present in detail below, the Galaxy S5 is the Best performing Smartphone display that we have ever tested - and it has raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch." said Dr. Soneira. He claims that the Galaxy S5's display is the best smartphone display he has ever tested.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/5027/20140401/samsung-galaxy-s5-named-best-smartphone-display-ever-tested-by-highly-respected-displaymate.htm

 

[jamezr]

Galaxy S5 Display....

Best Smartphone Display: Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy S5 is the Best performing Smartphone display that we have ever tested. It has a long list of new records for best Smartphone display performance including: Highest Brightness, Lowest Reflectance, Highest Color Accuracy, Infinite Contrast Ratio, Highest Contrast Rating in Ambient Light, and smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle. The Galaxy S5 has raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch – an impressive achievement for OLED technology!

Most Accurate Colors: The Galaxy S5 Cinema Mode has the most accurate colors for any Smartphone or Tablet display that we have ever measured. This is especially important when viewing photos from family and friends (because you often know exactly what they actually should look like), for some TV shows, movies, and sporting events with image content and colors that you are familiar with, and also for viewing online merchandise, so you have a good idea of exactly what colors you’re buying and are less likely to return them.

http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S5_ShootOut_1.htm

 

[Robster3]

Not even close to being true with the S5 and Note 3. Everything prior sure, but the auto-brightness jolt in bright sunless is pretty impressive and gives up little to my iPhone 5S.

Anyone "struggling" needs to get their eyes checked.

Neither of those 3 are as good as a M8 in sunlight.

 

[Technarchy]

Neither of those 3 are as good as a M8 in sunlight.

What gives you that impression?

 

[MRU]

Low light picture of the pool in the back....
Image

Really nice

 

[Oohara]

http://youtu.be/V0ijg7in0K8


The memory concern I had and posted here previously about Touchwiz using up a lot of memory resulting in re-loading when multi-tasking clearly demonstrated here in the second part of the video.

I previously also mentioned how when I went to compare my Google Edition S4 to the Touchwiz S5 the S4 GPE fractionally was faster - and again here we can see something similar with the Nexus 5.


Touchwiz still needs a bucket load of optimisation.

Thanks for posting that, quite a revealing comparison indeed. TouchWiz still remains the real downer of Samsung devices... I don't quite understand how such a huge multi-billion corporation can't manage to get something like that cleaned up (and better looking).

Anyway, so from what you were saying earlier, that sort of reloading would pretty much not happen on the Note 3 given its extra gig of RAM, right?

 

[Switchback666]

Neither of those 3 are as good as a M8 in sunlight.

Mate define a good? My note 3 screen looks the same as my iPhone 5s on the sun, I live in the Caribbean btw with plenty of sun.