By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
It's taken me a while to weigh in on the Samsung Galaxy S5 as it appears there weren't enough review units to go around. Thankfully, TELUS has graciously sent us a review unit to try out. Here are some intial thoughts.
Having covered each new generation of flagship Samsung Galaxy device since the original Galaxy S, I was looking forward to seeing the latest model up close.
Out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy S5, looks and feels like an improvement over its predecessors. The Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S4 were similar in that they looked and felt delicate. My personal experience having owned a two Galaxy S3's was that the screen was prone to cracking, even when babied and in a case.
The Galaxy S5 may not exude an aura of toughness, but you only need to spend a few minutes with it to realize that despite being thin and light, it can likely take a bit of a beating. There is now a pronounced metallic plastic border surrounding the display and while I would have liked to have seen a metal treatment (similar to what was used in the ATIV S. Samsung thankfully went with a dimpled, golf-ball finish instead of their beloved Hyperglaze plastic, slidy-smudgy finish.
The new dimpled rubber finish is less slippery and has better grip and it also serves a purpose of sealing in the internals of the Galaxy S5. A removable port cover also adds to the protection but only time will tell if this is the sort of solution that will will stay on or fall off.
The Galaxy S5 has been said to be an iterative model, an evolutionary update composed of various small improvements and the reduction of aspects that users didn't care for.
The Samsung software modifications in the user interface seem to have been pared down for this version of TouchWiz although there's a whole gamut of new Samsung Apps that speak to the GS5's health-tracking capabilites as well as its focus on wearables.
The GS5 feels good in the hand, it doesn't feel as robust as a Sony Xperia Z1 or an HTC One but it approximates the solidity of the the LG G2 while feeling slightly lighter. My initial impression is that is it ample for one-handed use and anyone coming from a GS3 or GS4 will transition nicely to the new device.
I'm looking forward to a more dive into the Galaxy S5 on TELUS and its functionality as well a look at how it measures up against the competition like the Nexus 5, HTC One (M8) and the Xperia Z2.