Samsung Galaxy S5 Hands-On Review

Design – Plastic not so fantastic

Samsung has come under great pressure to copy the metal body of the HTC One, but it has stuck to its guns with the plastic chassis of the Galaxy S5. It does feel different to the S4. The S5 has a more textured and dimpled finish which makes it easier to hold than both its predecessor and the slippery M8, though it lacks the grip of the rubber finish on the black edition of the LG Nexus 5 (the white edition is bizarrely slippery).

The S5 also finds a middle ground in terms of size. While it fractionally increases the 5 inch 1080p display of the S4 to 5.1 inches there is a significant increase in size and weight. The 5.39 x 2.75 x 0.311 in (137 x 70 x 7.9 mm) dimensions and 4.58oz (130g) weight of the S4 jump to 5.59 x 2.87 x 0.318 in (142 x 73 x 8.1mm) and 5.1oz (145g) with the S5. This difference is noticeable in hand, especially compared to the smaller and lighter Nexus 5 but with the HTC One M8 ballooning to 5.76 x 2.77 x 0.37 in (146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm) and 5.64oz (160g) it is not a bulky handset by 2014 standards.

Samsung has also aced the display. Like the S4, the S5 sticks with Super AMOLED and while it is true AMOLED can over saturate colours, it is far brighter than its LCD-based rivals and has a genuine wow factor.

New Features – Greater Speed, Battery Life and Water resistance

So what made the S5 bigger and heavier than its predecessor? Speed, stamina and a boat load of new features.

In terms of speed the S5 gets a bump to Qualcomm’s top of the line Snapdragon 801 chipset and Adreno 330 graphics. It shares this combination with the HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z2 and results in an entirely lag free user experience. The UI never stutters, apps open almost instantaneously and there has yet to be a game released on the Play Store which can make it break sweat.

In fairness the S4 was no slouch so the real appeal in the S5 is the 801’s power sipping ways. Samsung claims the S5 can deliver 11 hours of video playback, 10 hours of web browsing over LTE, 21 hours of talk time or 390 hours of 

Biometrics
The potentially sporty implications for a water resistant camera are also coupled by some significant biometrics.

While the Galaxy line is infamous for bloatware and somewhat gimmicky features such as eye-tracking and needless services like S Voice, the S5 brings the more tangible benefits of a fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor.

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