Recently, there have been reports about how Samsung flagships have been losing sheen. After the not-so-successful Galaxy S4, Samsung didn’t while away time and quickly churned out the Galaxy S5, in the bid to get back on track. However, the Galaxy S5 is also believed to have fallen flat. Quoting sources, Wall Street Journal revealed the Galaxy S5 has sold approximately 12 million phones in the first three months after release, compared to 16 million for the Galaxy S4 in 2013.
In our review, we found the Galaxy S5 to be a great phone, but with a rather older plasticky feel and design. It did seem overpriced during the launch at Rs 51,000, but today it can be grabbed online for around Rs 33,000. However, there’s nothing that has drastically gone wrong with the device. So, we decided to speak to some Galaxy S5 users to find out what they think about the Galaxy S5. Here’s what we found out.
Things that users liked
Firstly, most of the respondents had been using a Samsung Galaxy device before upgrading to the Galaxy S5 for its large screen, vivid display and features. The 5.5-inch Super AMOLED Full HD display seems to be the most sought-after feature of the handset, followed by the fingerprint scanner. Along with the display, some users also appreciated the inclusion of a heart rate monitor and fingerprint scanner.
Siddhartha from Mumbai who was looking for an upgrade from the Galaxy s4 and has been using the S5 for the past three months says, “The Galaxy S4 may not seem as much of an update to the S4 on paper but on ground it is exceptional. The performance, screen, camera and battery are worthy of mentioning here. I was absolutely stunned by the performance of the camera and the screen. Also, the software is intuitive and easy to use,offering free features that would otherwise cost a lot. The battery saver mode and overall battery life and removable battery is icing on the cake. I’m very very much satisfied with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good feature rich phone.”
The brand new 16MP ISOCELL camera
Most users say that the camera quality is yet another feature worth mentioning. Rahul from Mumbai, who has been using the smartphone for over six months said, “It (Galaxy S5) has a good battery, camera, power saving modes and water resistance.”
On the battery front, the responses seem to divided. While some said the phone has “good battery life” , others though it was “so so”. Some users were quite pleased with the battery-saving modes too.
Things that users didn’t like
It looks like users need some more metal in their Samsung devices and a more refreshing design. Most users didn’t like the marginal design change and plasticky feel of the Galaxy S5. At the launch price, they expected the device to look more premium.
Another point of discontent was its TouchWiz UI. Some feel the UI isn’t as slick as the stock Android and TouchWiz makes it rather outdated.
Yash from Pune who has been using the Galaxy S5 for the past six months says, “Could have used more metal to make it premium. The software needs to be more modern looking, not to mention faster. To overcome this I use all Google apps and a Google Now launcher. Samsung apps need a major redesign.”
Can the S5 rekindle the magic of its predecessors?
Pervesh Mody from Mumbai who has been using the S5 for over six months said, “Same old design with a marginally bigger screen, bit expensive, even the original S-View flip cover is expensive. Speaker should be on the top front or any other side but not at the flip side where you usually rest your phone, the voice gets muffled and reduces the volume. More ringtones and customization themes for the UI could be an additional bonus. Battery could be longer lasting and powerful.”
Anush Rajasekaran from Chennai, who has been using the S5 for less than three months said, “The stock TouchWiz that comes with the phone is SO bad. Makes the phone lag so much. I hate it. I wish they innovate and it looked better. Fingerprints scanner is of no use, doesn’t work as well as the one on Apple iPhones.”
Average User rating: 8.5/10
User verdict
According to the users who took the survey, the Samsung Galaxy S5 seems to have ticked all the right boxes when it comes to display, camera, features and the battery to some extent. However, the same old design and plasticky feel, coupled with the not-so-loved and sometimes laggy user interface seem to be the sour points. As mentioned earlier, Samsung hasn’t gone wrong with the S5, but the expectations from this popular brand have increased manifold.
Most of the user reviews reveal that the features in the S5 do not come across as gimmicks and they are looking forward to the S6. Samsung has revealed that it plans to build the S6 from scratch and has named it ‘Project Zero.’ As with all the respondents who took our survey, we’re equally excited to see what the all-new Galaxy S6 will have to offer.
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