Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: The March Of Polycarbonate Progress

The Galaxy S4 was the most popular Android smartphone of all time. The Galaxy S5 will likely take that title soon enough. Say what you will about Samsung's choice of materials or its design aesthetic, its phones are incredibly popular and well-liked by a great many people. The Galaxy S5 won't cause the faithful to waiver, either - it's an absolute affirmation of the company's commitment to improving its flagship product with every generation. The Galaxy S5 may be iterative, but it's iterative in ways that matter.

The phone is faster, the screen is better, the camera is better, the software is better, the battery life is better, and it even feels better in your hand - Samsung has been hard at work in these areas, and it shows.

However, for all the good, there are caveats. Samsung's software suite is still hilariously bloated, with some legacy features and apps carried over since the Galaxy S III, many of which frankly have no place on a serious smartphone. Take one look at the nigh-innavigable settings menu and your eyes will glaze over. And the creaky, cheap plastic we've come to expect of Galaxy phones is still just as prominent, even if it isn't so slippery and slimy anymore. Samsung hasn't exactly been Johnny on the spot with OS updates lately, either, so who knows what version of Android your S5 will be running a year from now.

A class-leading display and camera, though, along with a much quicker processor and improved battery life (plus waterproofing) are big gains over the Galaxy S4, big enough that I'd call the S5 a more significant iteration than the S4 was over the S III.

In fact, I'm quite enamored by the S5. Even with all its bloat and plastic, it's easier than ever to see why Samsung is reaping success after success with its smartphones: an almost obsessive devotion to improvement, even if it that does entail a handful of gimmicks coming along for the ride. I'd even venture so far as to say that Samsung skeptics might be tempted by this phone - it's that difficult to ignore.

The Good

• Display: Best. Screen. Ever. Samsung's Super AMOLED HD panel is the finest display the company has ever produced. It is incredibly bright (and dim if need be), has superb outdoor visibility, viewing angles second to none, and the auto-brightness finally works right. There may be more accurate screens out there, but I can't say I care at this point - Samsung is too far ahead for it to matter.
• Camera: Samsung's enlarged sensor on the Galaxy S5 produces absolutely great images (for a smartphone) when lighting is decent. The real-time HDR preview mode is super cool, too. It supports a huge array of video recording options, including HDR video, and the phase detection auto-focus really does work. Samsung's camera app is also highly usable and intuitive.
• Battery life: The Galaxy S5 has among the best battery life I've ever experienced on an Android device. The standby life is staggeringly good, and even with that bright Super AMOLED display it really does seem to sip power.
• Water resistance: Making a phone more resistant to the elements is hard to classify as anything but a positive, annoying USB port cover aside.
• Speed: Probably the most noticeable upgrade over the S4 is in the realm of performance - the Galaxy S5 is fast. Not any faster than the HTC One M8 that I can tell, and maybe still a touch slower than the Nexus 5, but all in all, it's very quick.

The Not So Good

• Bloat: TouchWiz, even with its much easier-on-the-eyes redesign, still has a lot of carryover bloat from the Galaxy S III and S4. Some of this stuff (air gestures, air view, smart pause, group play) is unabashedly useless and needs to be left behind. Just let it go, Samsung - no one is using this crap.
• Fingerprint scanner: It's a nuisance to use and just feels like an afterthought. Apple's Touch ID is a simple, innovative implementation of biometric verification. Samsung's is just a new coat of paint on the same system that made the Atrix an overnight success. Oh wait.
• Storage: 16GB, 10GB of which are usable. There is no 32GB model of the S5 available in the US on any carrier. In fact, the 32GB S5 is only available in Korea for the time being. Samsung, suck it up and make 32GB the standard level of storage - or make it cheaper - this isn't enough, especially when the camera takes photos that are 7-9MB apiece and video is up to 4K. SD cards are just an excuse for cheaping out on the storage we actually want at this point.
• Plastic: It still feels cheap. Samsung, I beg of you, find a way to make your phones feel like they should retail for $700. Granted, it does feel nicer than the S4 thanks to the dimpled, soft-touch back.