Is this the new S5?

[WelshBloke]

Weirdly the tech sites seem to be fairly positive about it.
Either it looks a lot better IRL or they are waiting for their review samples before pissing Samsung off.

 

[dawheat]

Weirdly the tech sites seem to be fairly positive about it.
Either it looks a lot better IRL or they are waiting for their review samples before pissing Samsung off.

Hopefully it's the opposite of the S4 which IMO was worse in real life than in previews (more bloat, stuttering with all the crap turned on, battery life good not great, camera weak in low light). Could be Samsung actually delivered on what they promoted - better daily usability.

 

[Imported]

Not thrilled with it, but I wasn't upgrading this year anyways as I did my upgrade last year for the HTC One. But.. it looks like my fiance is gonna wait for the next iPhone now. She skipped the 5S hoping the S5 would look decent. Now she has to pray her dying 4 makes it.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

so this is the S3ss?
fugly...

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

As I recall there were a few people who said that the GS3 didn't look as good as the GS2, but most people didn't care because it was such a massive upgrade in terms of specs (quad-core SoC, retina display, 2 GB RAM) that it would be silly to pass it up.

Honestly, I think they've made it look even worse. I understand that they're probably trying to go for a distinct visual style so that it's possible to tell it apart from previous generations, but to me each new iteration just looks more cheap than the last. Oh well, that's what they make cases for.

But I don't understand what makes the S5 so ugly? It's an improvement from the S3, and if the S2 is sexy, what we're saying is less rounded = better. I don't think the S5 is a winning design, but it looks fine. It's plain. If anything, the LG G2 looks uglier IMO.

 

[Commodus]

The Galaxy S5 feels like karmic payback against everyone who insisted that Apple was done with major innovations, and held up Samsung as a shining example of how to improve phones.

The boring reality: even the best companies can't reinvent their product every year. Feature development can take a long time, and you may need some elements in place for others to work. My guess is that Samsung just doesn't have any major breakthroughs (assuming there are some in the pipeline) that are in a state it's comfortable with releasing.

You don't have to like that a company is releasing an iterative upgrade, but be careful about accusing the firm of resting on its laurels... that statement may come back to haunt you later on.

 

[openwheel]

It's the dimple back and ugly colors. Otherwise, it looks almost identical to S4 which is a good looking phone. I would just stick with black or white.

I love the faux leather on my note 3. It's soft to the touch, finger print free and almost impossible to scratch. I don't know why they didn't use the faux leather design. I am almost tempted to get a cheap and used S4 and try to find a faux leather back for it.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

looks like a bandage.

what's wrong with a simple matte back cover?

 

[dlock13]

Anyone else notice they finally dropped the menu button?

 

[CakeMonster]

You don't have to like that a company is releasing an iterative upgrade, but be careful about accusing the firm of resting on its laurels... that statement may come back to haunt you later on.

Well, it can easily be argued that its hardly even iterative. Its basically the same Snapdragon 80x as the S4+ and its still got the 2GB RAM from the S3+. They didn't even bother to try and shrink the bezel which made it even bigger relatively to the S4 despite the screen only being 0.1" larger. The problem with the unimpressive specs is that when you buy something in Q2 2014 you expect it to last for a while. My S3 vanilla is 2 years old and starting to feel slow. Will I be able to get an S5 and keep it for 2+ years? My bet is no since the hardware hardly differs from S4.

 

[cronos]

The Galaxy S5 feels like karmic payback against everyone who insisted that Apple was done with major innovations, and held up Samsung as a shining example of how to improve phones.

You can find maybe one or two people are like this around here (the other way around though, there are plenty. Ha). I think most people are like me, we're equal opportunity bashers and yeah, this S5 is underwhelming at best.

(I'm also an equal opportunity praiser, so if I think it's good I'll say it's good. I don't care who made it)

 

[ewdotson]

But I don't understand what makes the S5 so ugly? It's an improvement from the S3, and if the S2 is sexy, what we're saying is less rounded = better. I don't think the S5 is a winning design, but it looks fine. It's plain. If anything, the LG G2 looks uglier IMO.

Personally, it's the back I don't like. Although in fairness, some of the pictures I've seen on other sites didn't seem quite so gah-worthy as the ones at the top of this thread. I'll readily admit that this is *totally* a case of personal taste though.

 

[blairharrington]

A comment on Droid-Life made me laugh. It said side by side the S4 looks like the new flagship with the S5 being last year's model.

 

[IeraseU]

I'm disappointed with the fact that it starts at 16gb. 32gb should be the standard for a flagship phone in 2014, and that's going to be important now with the new microSD restrictions that Google baked into KitKat.

I think on paper the Sony Z2 is in a lot of ways looking more impressive than the S5, and of course the Nexus 5 is looking really good as a 'bang for your buck' phone.

Still, the Snapdragon 801 supports 'quick charge 2.0', which in theory means that it will charge a lot more quickly than the S4, and the camera might prove to be considerably better once it's tested. I don't think it's a huge stumble for Samsung, but I can see why a lot of people are not blown away considering the S5 is probably launching at close to $699 off contract. In some ways I think Samsung is 'shielded' by the subsidy model that is so prevalent in the US.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The Galaxy S5 feels like karmic payback against everyone who insisted that Apple was done with major innovations, and held up Samsung as a shining example of how to improve phones.

The boring reality: even the best companies can't reinvent their product every year. Feature development can take a long time, and you may need some elements in place for others to work. My guess is that Samsung just doesn't have any major breakthroughs (assuming there are some in the pipeline) that are in a state it's comfortable with releasing.

You don't have to like that a company is releasing an iterative upgrade, but be careful about accusing the firm of resting on its laurels... that statement may come back to haunt you later on.

But what would please you guys? Going Octacore? 5ghz CPUs? 4GB of RAM? I mean honestly, there isn't much point in pushing ridiculous specs and just going on a spec war. In many ways, the software is still behind and there can be better software to make the experience better. You can't just keep making larger screens forever. Even if we went 1440p, so what?

I guess the 32gb point could be argued, but you have a cheap SD Card option. The 32gb option is more critical for phones like the Nexus 5 or HTC One where there is no removable storage option.

The only way you can keep making big leaps forward are if your current product has major deficiencies. Samsung's pretty much got hardware that's nearly top notch already. Their only deficiency is software. The Nexus 4 for example had plenty of deficiencies, and so it seemed like the Nexus 5 was a big jump--but in reality the N5 still doesn't really match the other flagships.

 

[Commodus]

But what would please you guys? Going Octacore? 5ghz CPUs? 4GB of RAM? I mean honestly, there isn't much point in pushing ridiculous specs and just going on a spec war. In many ways, the software is still behind and there can be better software to make the experience better. You can't just keep making larger screens forever. Even if we went 1440p, so what?

I guess the 32gb point could be argued, but you have a cheap SD Card option. The 32gb option is more critical for phones like the Nexus 5 or HTC One where there is no removable storage option.

The only way you can keep making big leaps forward are if your current product has major deficiencies. Samsung's pretty much got hardware that's nearly top notch already. Their only deficiency is software. The Nexus 4 for example had plenty of deficiencies, and so it seemed like the Nexus 5 was a big jump--but in reality the N5 still doesn't really match the other flagships.

I'm not actually all that disappointed in the specs, although they will make it tough for Samsung to boast of any new advantages over Apple or rival Android manufacturers. It had better just hope that the new HTC One and eventual iPhone 6 don't make huge waves in the market.

 

[Zaap]

You don't have to like that a company is releasing an iterative upgrade, but be careful about accusing the firm of resting on its laurels... that statement may come back to haunt you later on.

Please. People expect more from Samsung, because they haven't been resting on their laurels.

Since 2010 Apple's output is:
iPhone 4 + 4S
iPhone 5 + 5S and 5C


Samsung:

Galaxy S
Galaxy S2
Galaxy S3
Galaxy S4
Soon to be Galaxy S5
And I didn't even bother to mention the variants of these- in Apple land those would be considered big deals, with Samsung they're afterthoughts.

Galaxy Note
Galaxy Note 2
Galaxy Note 3

I wonder which will arrive first, a Galaxy Note 4 or an iPhone 6?


People are just spoiled because they actually expect Samsung to come out with a certain level of upgrade over what they did before. Meanwhile Apple HAS been resting on its laurels so long, no one bats an eyelash that they've released one full model number increase in 4 years. I can't even imagine how laughable it'd be if Samsung had done the same thing.

People have become so spoiled by Samsung's output that now a phone that in all likelihood is absolutely kickass and has specs most will actually be drooling over, is just a 'Meh' because people expect Samsung to raise the bar that THEY previously set.

Meanwhile, I'd hardly call Apple's output spoiling, and its more rabid fans seem to expect absolutely nothing from Apple in YEARS. But by all means get back to me when-the-hell ever we can all be chatting about the iPhone 6. I won't hold my breath while we wait.

 

[zerogear]

Not thrilled with it, but I wasn't upgrading this year anyways as I did my upgrade last year for the HTC One. But.. it looks like my fiance is gonna wait for the next iPhone now. She skipped the 5S hoping the S5 would look decent. Now she has to pray her dying 4 makes it.

Why not HTC One (2014?)

 

[Ravynmagi]

But what would please you guys? Going Octacore? 5ghz CPUs? 4GB of RAM? I mean honestly, there isn't much point in pushing ridiculous specs and just going on a spec war. In many ways, the software is still behind and there can be better software to make the experience better. You can't just keep making larger screens forever. Even if we went 1440p, so what?

I guess the 32gb point could be argued, but you have a cheap SD Card option. The 32gb option is more critical for phones like the Nexus 5 or HTC One where there is no removable storage option.

The only way you can keep making big leaps forward are if your current product has major deficiencies. Samsung's pretty much got hardware that's nearly top notch already. Their only deficiency is software. The Nexus 4 for example had plenty of deficiencies, and so it seemed like the Nexus 5 was a big jump--but in reality the N5 still doesn't really match the other flagships.

I'm a little underwhelmed by the specs. Would have been nice if Samsung could have waited for the Snapdragon 805 since the 801 is only a tiny speed bump over the 800 that phones have been using since last fall. But it looks like everyone is going with the Snapdragon 801 this spring, so I guess I can't knock Samsung on this. Not sure what kind of delay waiting for the 805 would have resulted in.

I still don't get the 2GB of RAM. I get it's enough for now. But Sony, LG, and probably HTC have all gone to 3GB. The GS5 will probably have more bloat than any of those phones and it's coming equipped with the least amount of RAM? Minimum of 32GB would have been nice too, but Samsung isn't the only guilty of still making 16GB flagship phones.

The specs are mostly the same with the phones, so it comes down to design and gimmicks. For me this is where Samsung is letting me down.

Samsung's gimmicks are the removable battery, IR blaster, and fingerprint scanner. The removable battery isn't important to me, IR blaster I'll never use (not going to unlock a phone to change channels), and it sounds like that fingerprint scanner isn't working well either. And the design, I don't get why a camera needs to jut out that far from the back of the phone?

The design and gimmicks I like are HTC's front facing stereo speakers, LG's super thin bezel and knock to wake. Sony's phone looks good, but water proofing isn't important to me either (never dropped a phone in the toilet).

I think it's time for Samsung to freshen up the design. That rear speaker is getting so old, and it needs to add a new gimmick to it's repertoire that is useful, unlike the fingerprint scanner.

 

[poofyhairguy]

But what would please you guys?

3GB RAM
1080p non-pentile screen
32GB onboard standard
12+ megapixel camera with OIS

Was what I expected.

 

[CakeMonster]

Yep pretty much that except I don't care about the onboard storage (well at least until Google goes nuclear and forces us from using SD cards).

And I am extremely disappointed that its physically significantly bigger than S4 despite the screen being only 0.1" bigger. I thought they'd settled at a comfortable size and would be able to give us a bit more screen. But they went lazy (or probably low cost) instead and just made it bigger and bulkier.

 

[openwheel]

OIS should be standard on a flagship phone these days.

 

[Raduque]

Having a Note 3, I am severely underwhelmed by the Galaxy S5. Almost to the point that I question the reason it exists. It's screen is .1" bigger and it just runs a newer software? What's going on Samsung, copying Apple wasn't enough, now you're trying to be Apple?

I like that it's waterproof though. EVERY phone coming out these days should be waterproof.

Yeah, Google basically screwed up SD card support even worse in 4.4.

I have no idea why this was implemented unless they want users to say that SD cards aren't worth the hassle in Android.

Developers aren't too happy about it either.

https://plus.google.com/+TodLiebeck/posts/gjnmuaDM8sn

It's a combination of this (because Duarte doesn't like uSD cards) and the fact that Google wants you stuck in their cloud.

Oh and Dari, man you have to be one of the biggest A-holes on this forum. You seriously need to calm down and let it go. It's a flippin cellphone, not your religion.

 

[Commodus]

Please. People expect more from Samsung, because they haven't been resting on their laurels.

Since 2010 Apple's output is:
iPhone 4 + 4S
iPhone 5 + 5S and 5C

Samsung:

Galaxy S
Galaxy S2
Galaxy S3
Galaxy S4
Soon to be Galaxy S5
And I didn't even bother to mention the variants of these- in Apple land those would be considered big deals, with Samsung they're afterthoughts.

Galaxy Note
Galaxy Note 2
Galaxy Note 3

I wonder which will arrive first, a Galaxy Note 4 or an iPhone 6?

Don't get hung up on the numbers Apple's iterations haven't always been as overtly dramatic, but they have been big strides forward (even the 4S rolled out major improvements to the CPU and camera, and introduced Siri). The company was the first with an ultra-sharp display, built-in natural language voice search, a 64-bit mobile processor (though ARMv8 is the meaningful gain right now) and a fingerprint sensor you'd actually want to use... I'd say those are big achievements.

People are just spoiled because they actually expect Samsung to come out with a certain level of upgrade over what they did before. Meanwhile Apple HAS been resting on its laurels so long, no one bats an eyelash that they've released one full model number increase in 4 years. I can't even imagine how laughable it'd be if Samsung had done the same thing.

People have become so spoiled by Samsung's output that now a phone that in all likelihood is absolutely kickass and has specs most will actually be drooling over, is just a 'Meh' because people expect Samsung to raise the bar that THEY previously set.

Meanwhile, I'd hardly call Apple's output spoiling, and its more rabid fans seem to expect absolutely nothing from Apple in YEARS. But by all means get back to me when-the-hell ever we can all be chatting about the iPhone 6. I won't hold my breath while we wait.

I do want more from Apple, but you've got a somewhat selective memory of who's innovating what. Remember, the Galaxy S and (to a lesser extent) S II were deliberate copies of Apple's overall design language and interface. Samsung did become more original and take some big leaps forward with the GS3, although it was still pretty amusing to see it re-skin Vlingo as S Voice in an attempt to copy Siri. And it's odd to pan Apple when people have complained that both the GS4 and GS5 are minor upgrades, and have features that don't work reliably (see the GS4's eye scrolling or the GS5's already wonky fingerprint sensor).

At any rate, the point is that it's difficult and unrealistic for any company to completely overhaul its flagship device every year. To pretend that Samsung is somehow immune from that reality is just as naive as a die-hard Apple fan claiming that the iPhone doesn't need a screen bigger than 4 inches. The GS5 looks like it should still be a nice phone in many respects, but we're going to have to accept that it's not a game changer for anyone but fitness junkies.

 

[Mopetar]

But I don't understand what makes the S5 so ugly? . . . If anything, the LG G2 looks uglier IMO.

The LG G2 isn't the best looking device either, but the new GS5 just seems more gaudy to me. Compared to the new HTC One, Nokia's Lumias, or the iPhone it doesn't look anywhere near as good to me. Here's an image that's been circulating around a bit that sums it up rather nicely:

Taken from: http://vr-zone.com/articles/htc-nokia-board-samsung-mocking-train-forget-bring-funny/72801.html

Granted, looks aren't anywhere near the most important aspect of the phone, but it's a rather uninspiring design. From what I've read the build quality isn't as good as the HTC One or other phones either. It just makes me shrug my shoulders and say, "meh" rather than making me want to use it. It comes off as some arbitrary design rather than something that was developed carefully with purpose.

It's probably not a deal breaker, but if it comes down to purely specs, a lot of people will gravitate towards the better looking devices.