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Tried the GS5... Returned It... #Unimpressed

jamezr said:
I had S Health enabled...it was counting my steps and i was entering all my meals and calories in the app. It was a high battery drain for me. I disabled it and my battery life almost doubled.....
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Was I showing up in battery stats as a major drain? Just curious.
 
jamezr said:
I had S Health enabled...it was counting my steps and i was entering all my meals and calories in the app. It was a high battery drain for me. I disabled it and my battery life almost doubled.....
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I have mine set to count the steps as well but nothing else, did you had the app open? Maybe related to gps but I'm not sure S health even access the gps info, it's weird.
 
gotluck said:
Well you guys really didn't cite any specifics 🙂
But that's okay, I'm sure glad we have the choice.

I'd argue against the boring complaint, it just gives a cleaner slate to build your device from. I don't do the whole xposed thing, but nowadays you can pretty much make stock android look and do whatever you want without romming or taking the skin's performance hit. Indeed it takes more work than taking the skin route, but that would make it less boring eh? 🙂

Of course that's not everyone's cup of tea, and I enjoy the raw experience with my own small tweaks, so I dont need to put forth much effort to get the device where I want it to be

Then there's also the fact that there's no carrier interference or control over the device but I digress
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Agree completely. I had a TW S4 and quickly put on Nova, Power Toggles, and a bunch of other stuff that I found better than Samsung. I realized I barely need TW so I switched to S4 GPE and it's been a much better experience. No lags or microstutters at all. Especially with ART. The S5 GPE will be my next phone.
 
The Galaxy S5 sucks. No other way to say it. Location services (GPS) is a disaster, Blocking mode doesn't block anything, charging port cover is going to break (only a matter of time), laggy software is completely unacceptable and don't forget the weak, weak external speaker! I'm only sorry I wasted almost 2 weeks on this device.
 
rockitdog said:
The Galaxy S5 sucks. No other way to say it. Location services (GPS) is a disaster, Blocking mode doesn't block anything, charging port cover is going to break (only a matter of time), laggy software is completely unacceptable and don't forget the weak, weak external speaker! I'm only sorry I wasted almost 2 weeks on this device.
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Blocking mode does not block!!! OMG! 😱
 
rockitdog said:
The Galaxy S5 sucks. No other way to say it. Location services (GPS) is a disaster, Blocking mode doesn't block anything, charging port cover is going to break (only a matter of time), laggy software is completely unacceptable and don't forget the weak, weak external speaker! I'm only sorry I wasted almost 2 weeks on this device.
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It does if you use it correctly.... This comes from millions of users over the last few device generations not complaining....
 
Seems like he is just making a negative post for the sake of it.

Btw, enabling art, after about 24 hrs, really really speeds up the phone
 
rockitdog said:
The Galaxy S5 sucks. No other way to say it. Location services (GPS) is a disaster, Blocking mode doesn't block anything, charging port cover is going to break (only a matter of time), laggy software is completely unacceptable and don't forget the weak, weak external speaker! I'm only sorry I wasted almost 2 weeks on this device.
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Ha hilarious, no lag here, I have a 5S and 5 as well, no difference in lag, same for friends M8 and the M8 I used at the store, not sure why some people are seeing lag and plenty of others aren't, friends S5 is just like mine. Yeh this phone blows... insane battery life in heavy use, gorgeous screen, great form factor, waterproof... yeh what a horrible phone lol. The charging port cover, yeh maybe if your clumsy, it takes one second to gently open it out of the way, if that bothers you, just rip it off, but then you'll lose water resistance. I don't know what location or GPS issues your talking about, this thing is insanely fast locking and smooth in maps, way faster locking then my 5 or 5S. Call blocking works for me, not sure what your issue is.

Ok weak external speaker, it's loud for a phone, but I'll give that edge to the M8, however I don't know anybody that uses their speaker phones for music or anything, and it's more then enough and fine for talking on speaker or streaming at your desk (then again why aren't you using computer speakers like 99.9% of everyone else). I stream any of our devices through speakers in the house, bar/fl room, or backyard/pool area.... brb, gonna throw a party with my phone as the speaker lol

Plus the waterproofing is priceless, no worries now if around the pool, or boat.
 
rockitdog said:
People are allowed to not like a device for any number of reasons? I'm not anti-Samsung at all. I thought the S4 was a great device after it was given a couple of updates.
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No not at all....you are allowed to like or dislike anything you want. But just saying something sucks...or you hate it or it blows.......those kind of statements only elicit heated responses from others who may like the phone. To each his own.....as far as likes and dislikes go. There are lots of phones I dislike....but I try to keep in mind not all feel the same way I do. So I try to stick to facts....not blanket statements. No worries.....
 
rockitdog said:
The Galaxy S5 sucks. No other way to say it. Location services (GPS) is a disaster, Blocking mode doesn't block anything, charging port cover is going to break (only a matter of time), laggy software is completely unacceptable and don't forget the weak, weak external speaker! I'm only sorry I wasted almost 2 weeks on this device.
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Sounds like a iPhone user having buyers remorse.
 
Dmunjal said:
Agree completely. I had a TW S4 and quickly put on Nova, Power Toggles, and a bunch of other stuff that I found better than Samsung. I realized I barely need TW so I switched to S4 GPE and it's been a much better experience. No lags or microstutters at all. Especially with ART. The S5 GPE will be my next phone.
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Yeah my S4 GPE is very speedy indeed, though not as stable as I thought it would be if I'm honest. I'm hoping the next time Google rollout an update for the device they will get rid of the old launcher completely and default from factory to the google play launcher, likewise that remnants that no longer function like google currents will be removed completely.

I actually did a comparison today however of my m8 & the S4 GPE opening apps and such and the m8 was only fractionally faster. Considering one is a snapdragon 600 and the other an 801, I can only imagine how snappy a GPE S5 would be...
 
MacRumorUser said:
Yeah my S4 GPE is very speedy indeed, though not as stable as I thought it would be if I'm honest. I'm hoping the next time Google rollout an update for the device they will get rid of the old launcher completely and default from factory to the google play launcher, likewise that remnants that no longer function like google currents will be removed completely.

I actually did a comparison today however of my m8 & the S4 GPE opening apps and such and the m8 was only fractionally faster. Considering one is a snapdragon 600 and the other an 801, I can only imagine how snappy a GPE S5 would be...
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How do like GEL vs. Nova in terms of features and speed? Did you use ART on your speed comparison?
 
Dmunjal said:
How do like GEL vs. Nova in terms of features and speed? Did you use ART on your speed comparison?
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Yep I have Art running in both devices.

I much prefer Google Experience Launcher on my S4, I no longer use Nova & Nova Prime. I like the swipe left to Google Now and I just find GEL really light. Nova is great for icon packs and if you want to change icon grid sizing, however I got bored with those long while ago and just prefer going stock so GEL suits me better.

One the M8 I go between Sense [blinkfeed] launcher and the GEL.

One the S4, I have force 2D GPU acceleration enabled, and animation scale toned down to .5X

On the M8 I used Stock launcher, I have not changed any settings in developer options at all on it.

Sense 6 is faster even at 1x animations than GEL on the GPE S4 at 0.5X animations. Credit to HTC for optimisation.


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Chris Nacca just posted his review

 
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MacRumorUser said:
Yeah my S4 GPE is very speedy indeed, though not as stable as I thought it would be if I'm honest. I'm hoping the next time Google rollout an update for the device they will get rid of the old launcher completely and default from factory to the google play launcher, likewise that remnants that no longer function like google currents will be removed completely.

I actually did a comparison today however of my m8 & the S4 GPE opening apps and such and the m8 was only fractionally faster. Considering one is a snapdragon 600 and the other an 801, I can only imagine how snappy a GPE S5 would be...
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Interesting, what kind of stability problems are you having?

I've had a handful, but I chalked it up to using root apps. It seems that I will have flaky issues after updating certain apps without rebooting. Probably 2-3 random reboots since having the phone since August ( my hunch is that it has to do with the proximity sensor turning the screen off in the phone app or the like) can't say that it's happened since kit kat, but memory is blurry

I'm using GEL w/ ART fwiw
Haven't messed with other dev options aside from adb over usb
 
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mib1800 said:
I am always confused why people use Touchwiz as the entire OS for Samsung. Touchwiz is no more than a launcher. You dont like the speed of Touchwiz then use another launcher without sacrificing functions. I am using Next launcher and it is silky smooth and fast.

I bet the only difference (other than launcher) between a GPE and Samsung is just the additional apps that Samsung bundled into the phone. Apps are just apps. You dont want them, just go and disable/uninstall them in the App Manager.
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What about all the background processes TouchWiz is using constantly and take up a lot of RAM?

Can a launcher solve that?

TW is everything: lockscreen, notification panel, stock apps (dialer, messaging, gallery, settings, etc), Samsung apps (S Voice, My Magazine, Samsung App Store, etc), etc.

So no, it's not just a launcher.
 
Sensamic said:
What about all the background processes TouchWiz is using constantly and take up a lot of RAM?

Can a launcher solve that?

TW is everything: lockscreen, notification panel, stock apps (dialer, messaging, gallery, settings, etc), Samsung apps (S Voice, My Magazine, Samsung App Store, etc), etc.

So no, it's not just a launcher.
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Yeah. But many of those you mentioned are just apps. And you know with android you choose not to use them and use your own.
 
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