Samsung Galaxy S5: On the minus side
Samsung loves gadgets and gimmicks. This was really obvious with the Galaxy S4 and its raft of S-prefixed apps, some of which worked, and some of which were less than optimal. They’re all still present in the Galaxy S5, along with a few new quirky applications. The headliner here is the heart rate monitor built into the back of the Galaxy S5, just below the camera.
The heart rate monitor appears to work, to an extent, although a number of external tests suggest that it’s more indicative than accurate when put up against proper medical devices. For the target market that might not matter, unless your GP suddenly whips out a Galaxy S5 to test your blood pressure, but it does put the Galaxy S5’s heart rate monitor into distinct gimmick territory. That also extends to the S-Health app that the heart rate monitor reports to. It’s competent enough, but put it up against the kinds of apps underlying Jawbone’s UP/UP24 or Fitbit’s apps, and it’s still second-rate.
The same is true of the Galaxy S5’s fingerprint sensor. To be honest, this almost ended up on the Plus side page, simply because Samsung’s integrating it with payment options from Paypal, the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, giving it a lot of flexibility. That’s neat, or would be if it worked properly. It’s also somewhat worrying that it’s already been beaten with a fake fingerprint, and that the Galaxy S5 doesn’t properly limit the number of attempts you can take to crack it.
The larger problem, presuming you don’t entrust your financial details to it is that the actual motion, which involves swiping down on the screen and onto the home button simply doesn’t work all that well. More than half the time when simply using it to unlock the Galaxy S5, it simply failed to read. You can also only enrol three fingers, which is by my calculations roughly seven less than most people actually have.
I’ve had my hands on two different Galaxy S5s to date, and both have had the same very inconsistent approach to battery life. On some days, testing has gone fine and it’s easily sailed into day two, which is really all you should ask of a smartphone under reasonable strain. On other days, under the same or similar workloads, they’ve complained within half a day.
Perhaps it’s early software, or quirks of Android, but either way you may find yourself struggling with the Galaxy S5 unless you pop it into Ultra Power Saving mode. This will definitely keep your Galaxy S5 running, or rather shambling in a zombie approximation of smartphone life. Like the Stamina mode found on Sony’s Xperia handsets, Ultra Power Saving Mode kills Wi-Fi, Mobile data when the screen is off and even the device’s excellent screen colour. It works, but it’s not a pleasant way to operate the Galaxy S5.
Then there’s the child monitoring feature, which I assumed was somebody’s joke taken too far. If you’ve got a Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo or Gear Fit, you can set your Galaxy S5 down near a sleeping child, and it’ll alert you when it makes sound overnight. Was anyone desperately seeking to distance themselves from their parenting responsibilities in order for this particular app to be a selling point?
I don’t want to seem judgemental, but if you’re at all tempted to actually use it, seek parenting help NOW.
(I guess that was just a teensy bit judgemental, wasn’t it?)
What’s particularly curious here is that Samsung doesn’t push these new features front and centre the way that it did with the Galaxy S4. Indeed, if you didn’t know they were there, you could easily miss their existence altogether.
Like every other Samsung device released in Australia in the past few years, the Galaxy S5 is also struck with the dock bug that means you can’t shift the predetermined apps from the Dock in any way at all. It’s a stupid problem for consumers to have to deal with, although you can easily bypass it with an alternate launcher.
Next Page: Samsung Galaxy S5: Pricing and conclusions