Samsung Galaxy S5
Discussion
I've been reading a few reviews, most seem down on the Samsung purely because (shock horror) its made of plastic. It seems the "iphone effect" is slowly taking over and the phone has to be made of glass and metal otherwise its rubbish, regardless of what it can do or how good the screen/camera/whatever is.
I don't like HTC Sense, its a long way removed from stock Android. I don't understand why touchwiz gets such a slating when Sense is even more removed from stock android and (imho) less friendly than touchwiz. I think the M8 is out for this alone, plus the fact its got an iffy camera according to most reviews. The metal casing also puts me off - it will get dented/scratched/worn etc. My S3 is 2 years old and has fared pretty well
The Z2 is a possibility, I don't really like the design, the angular corners could make in uncomfortable to have in your pocket, one review says its not very comfortable to hold even. I also want to play with the OS and see what the UI overlay is like. One review said it seems sluggish at times, which definitely should not be the case.
Wonder what the new LG will bring...
I don't like HTC Sense, its a long way removed from stock Android. I don't understand why touchwiz gets such a slating when Sense is even more removed from stock android and (imho) less friendly than touchwiz. I think the M8 is out for this alone, plus the fact its got an iffy camera according to most reviews. The metal casing also puts me off - it will get dented/scratched/worn etc. My S3 is 2 years old and has fared pretty well
The Z2 is a possibility, I don't really like the design, the angular corners could make in uncomfortable to have in your pocket, one review says its not very comfortable to hold even. I also want to play with the OS and see what the UI overlay is like. One review said it seems sluggish at times, which definitely should not be the case.
Wonder what the new LG will bring...
Got mine a few days ago but haven't switched over from the S4 as I've been too busy.
First impressions? It's fast, much faster than the S4 :-)
It's a little more slicker and some stuff has changed (i.e. widget controls and settings)
The Ultra Power Saving Mode is awesome, with the battery on 80% and switching over to UPS; I got a phone standby of 12 days :-)
The brief snaps I took with the camera was also a better experience, auto focus was rapid.
Finger print scanner worked fine.
Will post a more robust review after I've had it on the go for a few weeks and get rid of the S4!
First impressions are good though . . . . .
First impressions? It's fast, much faster than the S4 :-)
It's a little more slicker and some stuff has changed (i.e. widget controls and settings)
The Ultra Power Saving Mode is awesome, with the battery on 80% and switching over to UPS; I got a phone standby of 12 days :-)
The brief snaps I took with the camera was also a better experience, auto focus was rapid.
Finger print scanner worked fine.
Will post a more robust review after I've had it on the go for a few weeks and get rid of the S4!
First impressions are good though . . . . .
anonymous said:
[redacted]
But can you install the play edition ROM and keep warranty ? not from what I can see, its the most expensive version of the M8. Sense looks a long way from what I have on my N7, the white background everywhere reminds me of my HTC desire when it was running eclair.Not convinced on the materials thing still, plastic is durable, doesn't dent or scratch when dropped etc.
I don't get all this "feel" and "look" stuff - I don't spend hours on end fondling my phone or gazing affectionately at the back. I do pick up the phone and use it - calls, texts, browse etc.
If the S5 doesn't bring anything new to the table neither does the M8, they both have better battery life and battery saver modes, are faster than their predecessor and have new camera software. The rest, on both sides is fluff.
There just seems to be hype over the M8 because its made of metal, which personally I don't necessarily see as a positive.
Picked mine up yesterday and upgrading from an S2, it's incredibly fast.
Every sales person in the O2 shop was on theirs (15 mins before shop closed) as all of them had one in blue, which says a lot.
Really impressed with it, I got the official flip case in black as to keep it as good as new.
Every sales person in the O2 shop was on theirs (15 mins before shop closed) as all of them had one in blue, which says a lot.
Really impressed with it, I got the official flip case in black as to keep it as good as new.
Picked mine up today.
To make sure I was doing the right thing I had a good browse in a couple of shops:
No Z2 available of course, as they are battling this overheat problem and release has been pushed back, no ETA I was told. So I played with a Z1, it was ok, but as reviews have said its not comfortable to hold and worse when its in a pocket, the edges are too hard.
HTC M8, confirmed that I still don't like HTC Sense, the white backgrounds remind me of my HTC desire that I had 4 years ago, the music player is very basic. Phone was quite a bit heavier than my S3 and the much lauded "feel" was nothing to write home about really, just feels like a shiny surface under your fingers. There is wasted space at the bottom because of the speaker grille and then above it the "HTC" branding. If they must put branding on it they need to sink in in to the speaker grille I think.
So, S5 it was. Phone feels nice and light compared to the m8, the back somehow feels nicer than the shiny back of the S3. I was a bit concerned with all of these phones that being a bit bigger one handed operation would be awkward or impossible, but no problems. There is a function where you can set it up for one handed operation, haven't played with that yet.
Quick note on bloatware : there is very little. I see S finder which is just a search box accessible from the notification pull down, S Planner and S Voice. Thats it, so if someone tells you its loaded with samsung apps they're wrong. The OS takes 4.3Gb of storage, which I understand is less than some other phones.
Have played around with the camera a little, seems fine to me, need to figure out all the options, there are lots of them! Oddly some have been removed, notably the ability to silence the shutter sound - only way of doing this is to mute the ringer. Other versions of the handset (American AT&T for example) does have this option.
I use the music player a lot and it seems to be better than the S3 version, just a bit smoother and the controls on the lock screen are a bit bigger. It also seems to run properly - on my S3 sometimes stopping from the lockscreen and then unlocking the phone would cause the app to stop, S5 doesn't do that. Between sues the S3 would also "forget" what I was listening to (e.g. shuffle for a given artist), S5 appears to remember correctly.
Need to try it out with my sennheisers, but both connected to the car and the stock headphones seem to sound a bit better than the S3 did, mid/high notes a bit crisper and via bluetooth the sound is a bit "warmer".
Another negative (aside from the shutter sound) - the ability to put widgets or app shortcuts on the lockscreen (that I had on my S3) is gone, god only knows why Samsung decided to remove that, given the S3 (and S4 I think?) could do that and widgets on the lock screen is stock Android functionality. The only thing you can get on the lockscreen is the time, weather and a camera shortcut.
Maybe an upgrade will bring it back? I'll use a 3rd party app in the meantime.
Quite happy with the phone, will keep an eye on battery use over the next few days.
To make sure I was doing the right thing I had a good browse in a couple of shops:
No Z2 available of course, as they are battling this overheat problem and release has been pushed back, no ETA I was told. So I played with a Z1, it was ok, but as reviews have said its not comfortable to hold and worse when its in a pocket, the edges are too hard.
HTC M8, confirmed that I still don't like HTC Sense, the white backgrounds remind me of my HTC desire that I had 4 years ago, the music player is very basic. Phone was quite a bit heavier than my S3 and the much lauded "feel" was nothing to write home about really, just feels like a shiny surface under your fingers. There is wasted space at the bottom because of the speaker grille and then above it the "HTC" branding. If they must put branding on it they need to sink in in to the speaker grille I think.
So, S5 it was. Phone feels nice and light compared to the m8, the back somehow feels nicer than the shiny back of the S3. I was a bit concerned with all of these phones that being a bit bigger one handed operation would be awkward or impossible, but no problems. There is a function where you can set it up for one handed operation, haven't played with that yet.
Quick note on bloatware : there is very little. I see S finder which is just a search box accessible from the notification pull down, S Planner and S Voice. Thats it, so if someone tells you its loaded with samsung apps they're wrong. The OS takes 4.3Gb of storage, which I understand is less than some other phones.
Have played around with the camera a little, seems fine to me, need to figure out all the options, there are lots of them! Oddly some have been removed, notably the ability to silence the shutter sound - only way of doing this is to mute the ringer. Other versions of the handset (American AT&T for example) does have this option.
I use the music player a lot and it seems to be better than the S3 version, just a bit smoother and the controls on the lock screen are a bit bigger. It also seems to run properly - on my S3 sometimes stopping from the lockscreen and then unlocking the phone would cause the app to stop, S5 doesn't do that. Between sues the S3 would also "forget" what I was listening to (e.g. shuffle for a given artist), S5 appears to remember correctly.
Need to try it out with my sennheisers, but both connected to the car and the stock headphones seem to sound a bit better than the S3 did, mid/high notes a bit crisper and via bluetooth the sound is a bit "warmer".
Another negative (aside from the shutter sound) - the ability to put widgets or app shortcuts on the lockscreen (that I had on my S3) is gone, god only knows why Samsung decided to remove that, given the S3 (and S4 I think?) could do that and widgets on the lock screen is stock Android functionality. The only thing you can get on the lockscreen is the time, weather and a camera shortcut.
Maybe an upgrade will bring it back? I'll use a 3rd party app in the meantime.
Quite happy with the phone, will keep an eye on battery use over the next few days.
Crafty_ said:
No Z2 available of course, as they are battling this overheat problem and release has been pushed back, no ETA I was told.
Don't know who your provider is but my Z2 was delivered yesterday by Vodafone. It's an upgrade to my Galaxy S3 and I just fancied something different from the Samsung. So far I'm really liking it but it is bigger than I expected!
Im with vodafone too. The VF shop didn't have the Z2, the 3rd party places didn't either, I have read that some pre-orders have been fulfilled though - o who knows whats going on. Some reviews say the phone got hot when doing lots, especially 4k video recording, allegedly this is the cause of the delay.
Anyway, there is a Z2 thread here, be interesting if you post up some pictures/first impressions etc
Anyway, there is a Z2 thread here, be interesting if you post up some pictures/first impressions etc
thepeoplespal said:
Ok folks it's a few months down the line. What sort of deals are these S5 getting now the hype is over?
Reason I'm asking is, I dropped my S2 and my screen broke :-(. Currently out of contract about 12 months on Orange.
I've still got an S3. Dropped it and cracked the screen quite afew times. Had it fixed for £60 (or £80, I can't remember) with carphone warehouse. If you can go in person to a CPW store that has 'repair gurus' they can do it for you within afew hours.Reason I'm asking is, I dropped my S2 and my screen broke :-(. Currently out of contract about 12 months on Orange.
Bump!
My interest in the iphone 6 thread has just been terminated by ordering an S5!
Ive been 'Android" for the last 6 years and just couldnt bear to lose the customisation - not to mention get it at 2/3 the cost if not less
Anyways, my Galaxy S3 has spent the last 2 years in an Otterbox Defender, its been dropped multiple times (including in the sink once) and still looks pristine
Tempted as I am to buy another Otterbox I was wondering what else anyone would recommend, mainly due to the defender looking rather Fisher Price
Cheers
Sadly, my 3 year old S2 has kicked the bucket 
It's been crashing and crashing, and now over the past days the screen has been getting harder and harder to turn on, I had to pulse the power button about 20 times before the screen would fire up. Now it's almost completely dead, it takes a good few minutes of pulsing the power button to get the screen to come on, and when it does it's upside down and the contrast is either really high, low or inverted. I'm thinking the motherboard is fried as the sounds sometimes come out crackly and distorted.
On the upside, it's an excuse to upgrade. I'm set on the S5 (obviously, as i'm in this thread
), how easy is it to basic root to install titanium backup? and will titanium backup from the S2, restore onto the S5?
Finally, has anyone got a way of using sky go with a rooted device? None of the hide root apps work on the S2, and i'd like to keep the S5 unrooted so I can use sky go, but i'll have to to use titanium backup.
Thanks in advance
It's been crashing and crashing, and now over the past days the screen has been getting harder and harder to turn on, I had to pulse the power button about 20 times before the screen would fire up. Now it's almost completely dead, it takes a good few minutes of pulsing the power button to get the screen to come on, and when it does it's upside down and the contrast is either really high, low or inverted. I'm thinking the motherboard is fried as the sounds sometimes come out crackly and distorted.On the upside, it's an excuse to upgrade. I'm set on the S5 (obviously, as i'm in this thread
), how easy is it to basic root to install titanium backup? and will titanium backup from the S2, restore onto the S5?Finally, has anyone got a way of using sky go with a rooted device? None of the hide root apps work on the S2, and i'd like to keep the S5 unrooted so I can use sky go, but i'll have to to use titanium backup.
Thanks in advance
croyde said:
So I went S5 two weeks ago after bring happy with my S3 for the past two years. The smashed screen convinced me to upgrade.
Happy with the 5 but nothing amazing. Only problem, it randomly reboots for no apparent reason. Anyone else experienced this?
Not me Happy with the 5 but nothing amazing. Only problem, it randomly reboots for no apparent reason. Anyone else experienced this?
Very happy with mine, as battery life is miles better than on the S4 I had previously, and the wireless charger thingy is quite useful.
croyde said:
So I went S5 two weeks ago after bring happy with my S3 for the past two years. The smashed screen convinced me to upgrade.
Happy with the 5 but nothing amazing. Only problem, it randomly reboots for no apparent reason. Anyone else experienced this?
No, sorry. Have you updated the OS since getting it at all? You could try clearing the cache first, and if that doesn't work try a factory reset. If it still keeps resetting return it.Happy with the 5 but nothing amazing. Only problem, it randomly reboots for no apparent reason. Anyone else experienced this?
You clear the cache by switching the phone off and holding volume up, home and power buttons all at once then select 'wipe cache partition' in the recovery menu. Power button acts as return button. This often resolves all sorts of problems.
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