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The Galaxy S5

Robster3 said:
So you are in Australia, are you noticing a difference with the blue tick on S5 compared to M8? I have both too.
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Yes, I am in Western Australia, in an area that has 4G coverage (Telstra), but it has poor reception (I even have to suffer with satellite Internet!, but that is another story). I am in a small area that is classified as a 'black spot' (patchy coverage).

On my Nexus 5 and HTC M8, my signal will fluctuate between 0-1 bars, but the phone is usable.

On my iPhone, Samsung Galaxy 4 and Samsung Galaxy 5 I always have one bar, and this can increase to two bars. Once I leave the house and start driving, then my signal will generally increase with all phones. I have active SIM cards in all phones and haven't had any issues with missed calls or delayed messages.

Once I am a few minutes away from home, my signal increases on all phones to similar levels of reception.

I find the iPhone and the S5 have the clearest calls, followed by S4, then M8 and finally Nexus 5.
 
Kristine said:
Yes, I am in Western Australia, in an area that has 4G coverage (Telstra), but it has poor reception (I even have to suffer with satellite Internet!, but that is another story). I am in a small area that is classified as a 'black spot' (patchy coverage).

On my Nexus 5 and HTC M8, my signal will fluctuate between 0-1 bars, but the phone is usable.

On my iPhone, Samsung Galaxy 4 and Samsung Galaxy 5 I always have one bar, and this can increase to two bars. Once I leave the house and start driving, then my signal will generally increase with all phones. I have active SIM cards in all phones and haven't had any issues with missed calls or delayed messages.

Once I am a few minutes away from home, my signal increases on all phones to similar levels of reception.

I find the iPhone and the S5 have the clearest calls, followed by S4, then M8 and finally Nexus 5.
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Thanks, i travel through rural NSW for work, will be able to test next week. I thought the M8 had better call quality than my 5S but i didn't keep it so couldn't really compare, the volume seems lower on earpiece on M8, good on speaker. The S5 call quality seems better and earpiece volume is louder, also on bluetooth. I am with Telstra too.

ps 100/40 NBN is great :)
 
Samsung Galaxy S5 is really the first water-resistant flagship that is available to all major carriers in the US. Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4 Active were only available for one major carrier. Galaxy S5 could be the first to truly commercialize water-resistance flagships. It isn't a feature some people might feel is practical now but good to have just in case the time comes around you need it. Practical for those rainy days. World is covered mostly in water and we do take showers and baths if we aren't swimming.

Water-resist with removable battery is a rare combo only found in the S4 Active and Xperia ZR last year among high profile manufacturers. I don't see Apple or HTC with their premium metal designs/non-removable batteries going to respond to water-resistant phones anytime soon. Just rely on case makers or be cheap and use airtight ziplock bags. At least Sony and Samsung got the ball rolling with these features for their flagships. A general standard for many phones for the future. Phones that can survive natural disasters like a typhoon and can take videos while on a water slide, water rides, or go snorkeling/swimming with isn't a niche feature.

At least waterproof + removable battery is more practical than a fingerprint scanner and "beautiful metal designs/premium feeling" for survival and longevity. The annoying aspect are the flaps. Folks like David Pierce go emo about design and build quality. He will go more emo when his iPhone might accidentally get soaked in water or when the metal scrapes or dents knowing it will be there forever. I'm digging and digging the S5 with that water-resistant feature + removable battery.
 
Switchback666 said:
Won't that affect sync etc?
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No. It just means when it's time / schedule to sync it will stop any other things like svoice or Samsung push or hp print services from running. They can continue to run after, it's just what ever service is actually needed will get priority.

Basically services will continue, it just stops a load of unnecessary ones - especially on Samsung's devices - from always running even when not needed.

Limiting mine, has had no effect on my syncing or messaging or anything else. What is has done is free up a significant amount of ram, which means reloading apps when multitasking is less of a problem as it gives the device more wiggle room.
 
MacRumorUser said:
No. It just means when it's time / schedule to sync it will stop any other things like svoice or Samsung push or hp print services from running. They can continue to run after, it's just what ever service is actually needed will get priority.

Basically services will continue, it just stops a load of unnecessary ones - especially on Samsung's devices - from always running even when not needed.

Limiting mine, has had no effect on my syncing or messaging or anything else. What is has done is free up a significant amount of ram, which means reloading apps when multitasking is less of a problem as it gives the device more wiggle room.
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Trying it on my s4.
 
Robster3 said:
Thanks, i travel through rural NSW for work, will be able to test next week. I thought the M8 had better call quality than my 5S but i didn't keep it so couldn't really compare, the volume seems lower on earpiece on M8, good on speaker. The S5 call quality seems better and earpiece volume is louder, also on bluetooth. I am with Telstra too.

ps 100/40 NBN is great :)
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Yes, I agree the M8 volume seems lower (earpiece). I would put it just a bit above the Nexus (which I also find very low). Also agree with the earpiece and bluetooth being louder/clearer on the S5. Overall, the S5 is the loudest of them all (including the 5S, but I found that to have the same voice clarity as 5S).

I'll do a side-by-side test on the 5S compared to the M8 over the weekend to re-test the call quality. I don't really use the 5S anymore apart from when I am out running (due to it being smaller), so maybe I'm wrong there.
 
Robster3 said:
Thats what i thought and bagged it too when saw in store on release, (apologies to jamezr) but after having it for a week i love the feel of the phone, back feels nice and the chrome is grippy, not slippery, and no case needed like M8 and 5S.

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Don't think available yet, this site is UK based. I saw the blue phone/black front didn't like it, Blue/white would be nice.

http://www.mobilezap.com.au/45111-official-samsung-galaxy-s5-back-cover-electric-blue.htm
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Eh, I had the Note 3 for about 3 months before giving it to my wife, and I still feel the same way about the fake chrome finish and fake leather with fake stitching. I just don't like that look, it seems tacky to me. The back does fell nice though.
 
Fernandez21 said:
Eh, I had the Note 3 for about 3 months before giving it to my wife, and I still feel the same way about the fake chrome finish and fake leather with fake stitching. I just don't like that look, it seems tacky to me. The back does fell nice though.
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Yep, I would never have bought a S3/4. Note 3 was ok. S5 feels good to hold, sure chrome is not real but at least its not slippery. Won't be spending the normal $2-300 on cases either;) Already spent $80 on my M8.
 
Robster3 said:
Yep, I would never have bought a S3/4. Note 3 was ok. S5 feels good to hold, sure chrome is not real but at least its not slippery. Won't be spending the normal $2-300 on cases either;) Already spent $80 on my M8.
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I'd still put a case on it... The chrome paint can flake off if you accidentally drop the phone or bang it against a surface accidentally. When it begins to ware off it looks horrible, so I'm putting a spigen SGP Glas.T screen protector and Spigen Case on mine.

Comparing or factoring price on accessories is redundant in my opinion really, as it's optional on either device and you could argue for many that HTC at least provide a decent branded TPU case in the box with HTC, whereas official sview case is €50 and €70 for the wireless charging version.

I expect to spend the same on both devices.

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I did a camera comparison test this morning with interesting results. In some cases whilst the S5 undoubtably has bigger image, in a couple of instances of my test shots the M8 took the better image overall. But in general use the S5 difference in detail is unmistakable, but it surprises me that it's not a totally clean sweep.

After a few days with my S5 I'm generally happy and I like a lot of the aesthetic changes in Touchwiz, but it has not been smooth sailing. Finger print scanner is almost as useless as I thought it would be. It's good for Paypal, but unlocking the device it's often frustrating.

I'll save full disclosure for the review :).

But in general it's another great phone, but as others have mentioned here, speaker quality is the most jarring when you compare it to the M8.
 
MacRumorUser said:
I'd still put a case on it... The chrome paint can flake off if you accidentally drop the phone or bang it against a surface accidentally. When it begins to ware off it looks horrible, so I'm putting a spigen SGP Glas.T screen protector and Spigen Case on mine.

Comparing or factoring price on accessories is redundant in my opinion really, as it's optional on either device and you could argue for many that HTC at least provide a decent branded TPU case in the box with HTC, whereas official sview case is €50 and €70 for the wireless charging version.

I expect to spend the same on both devices.

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I did a camera comparison test this morning with interesting results. In some cases whilst the S5 undoubtably has bigger image, in a couple of instances of my test shots the M8 took the better image overall. But in general use the S5 difference in detail is unmistakable, but it surprises me that it's not a totally clean sweep.

After a few days with my S5 I'm generally happy and I like a lot of the aesthetic changes in Touchwiz, but it has not been smooth sailing. Finger print scanner is almost as useless as I thought it would be. It's good for Paypal, but unlocking the device it's often frustrating.

I'll save full disclosure for the review :).

But in general it's another great phone, but as others have mentioned here, speaker quality is the most jarring when you compare it to the M8.
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I never use screen protectors and I don't drop phones, I may get a pouch, if it wears off will get a case then if needed. The M8 case is as good as a $5 eBay case, I even cut the flap off doesn't close after awhile, they threw those in so people wouldn't get damage before a descent case was bought I reckon, good idea as it can take awhile for cases to arrive for new phones. I couldn't use it.

Yep FPS is useless.
 
Robster3 said:
Ha ha, I don't mind it, I can check if I am still alive:p Is it accurate?
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Lol... Yeah that's useful :D. Not sure if it's accurate, do couple of tests after each other and it seems to vary so unless your heart is like a Congo rhythm I'm not sure it should vary results as much as it does...

Personally I think a blood pressure monitor has far mor practical health implications / benefits than just a pulse reader.
 
Dontazemebro said:
But not an overly spec'd out version. Plus this one is pegged to have the Snapdragon 805 and not the exynos processor which was the rumored Asian market counterpart.
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Yea, there was a snapdragon 800 lte advanced variant of the GS4 for Korea
was released around the time the note 3 launched

LTE does not work in the US

known as SHV-E330S

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9506_galaxy_s4-5542.php

I guess the i9506 (the international version of the shv-e330s) eventually did hit europe, but it's hard to even find anything about it.
 
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Robster3 said:
Yep, I would never have bought a S3/4. Note 3 was ok. S5 feels good to hold, sure chrome is not real but at least its not slippery. Won't be spending the normal $2-300 on cases either;) Already spent $80 on my M8.
Click to expand...

$2-300 on cases? :eek: Haven't realized they've gotten that expensive, but I guess it makes sense if you get like 5-6 cases over the life of the phone. I don't like using cases, iPhone's been naked since i got it and the One has been mostly naked, got a cheap case from amazon and use it sometimes while working. All the other phones in my sig were used naked too, last phone I actually used a case on daily was my iPhone 4, and that was because of antenna gate.
 
Just got ATT update. I switched to Nova launcher and ART runtime along with setting animations from 0 to 0.5. Not sure if it is a placebo effect. But phone feels much faster now. Very responsive.

I noticed couple of issues with my phone. It has little gap between glass and top part of chrome bezel. Fine particles of dust settling there. Is it common issue? When I call some one, phone makes a sound similar to disconnecting another line. Any one with similar problem.

All these rumors about G2, S5 Prime and M8 prime making me very nervous about owning S5.
 
I have to say, after a week with the S5 I find the battery life to be not so stellar. My Note 3 and M8 can go all day on my regular usage and have 30-40% remaining, but my S5 is pretty much dying out around 11 PM every night. It isn't a huge deal since I always carry a Zero Lemon portable battery charger and I have 3 phones, but this would be my main concern when recommending the S5 to someone who is using it as their daily driver and only phone.
 
appapple18 said:
S5 has been released, but, there are so many reviewers said that the configuration is no creation. Even it is can not have too many advantages over NOTE3.

Yes, my own idea is that compare to S5, personally I would choose Note3.

Any way I am now using both Iphone 5s and Galaxy 2.

Maybe most people will wait for the Iphone6.
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Nice first post…….. or maybe the S5 will be the best selling Android phone yet?
People waited in long lines to get it on release day…..It looks like the public is speaking with their wallets…..The Galaxy S5 is almost doubling the sales of the S4 from last year. That will make it the best selling Android phone yet…..

gsmarena_001.jpg


http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s5_first_day_sales_break_galaxy_s4s_record-news-8281.php
 
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