Samsung Galaxy S5

Samsung accounts for half of all Android phones. The Korean company sells more phones than anyone else. The Galaxy S4 was the all-time fastest selling Android phone.

Despite this Samsung dropped the ball when it launched the Galaxy S4 last year.

While the Galaxy S4 is a fine phone, it doesn’t offer much more that’s worthwhile than the earlier S3 — certainly not enough to make it an essential upgrade.

The list of new features is long enough, but almost all were gimmicky and unimpressive. In the end it felt like Samsung loaded the phone with too much extra software.

Samsung made matters worse. The company hyped expectations before the launch and spent a fortune on a ridiculous, cringe-worthy event.

Galaxy S5 is a real upgrade

This time the company has fixed all that. While it is still mainly a second incremental step up from the S3, the Galaxy S5 has enough compelling new features to tempt existing customers to upgrade and possibly enough to win over new fans from rival phone makers.

Many reviewers are excited by the heartbeat sensor, which could be a gimmick. There’s also an Apple-like fingerprint scanner, which is a good thing in theory, but I’m struggling to make it work at the moment so I’ll reserve judgement.

Otherwise here’s a list of what's good:

Ultra power saving mode

Dumb phones can run all week on the smell of a limp battery. Smartphones struggle to make it through a day, especially if they are in constant use. Samsung added a new mode that switches the display to monochrome, turns off all the power-sucking apps and winds battery consumption down to a trickle.

Samsung says the phone should last for over a week in this mode. That’s ideal for emergencies or when you’re in danger of running out of juice but need to stay available.

Based on experiences with the power sipping MacBook Air computer, this feature alone is enough to make one consider a Galaxy S5. It may not look flashy, but it’s a great step forward.

Camera

Phone photography is important if you don't want to carry a separate camera.

The Galaxy S5 has a 16 megapixel camera. The more interesting new camera feature is its speed, Samsung says it now takes just 0.3 seconds to autofocus. In practice it works noticably faster than earlier Samsung Galaxy phones.

A High Dynamic Range (HDR) feature improves pictures taken in poor light conditions. This is something normally found on expensive digital cameras and, possibly, another compelling reason to choose the S5.

The word ‘possibly’ appears in that last sentence because phones with Optical Image Stabilisation can do a better job. It’s odd given how much Samsung has packed into the S5 that it left this one out.

Waterproof

Phones don’t generally like water. The Galaxy S5 is certified waterproof. This means you can hold it in a metre of water for 30 minutes. Or more to the point it will survive a dunking in the toilet, bath, wash tub or local river

Outside

While the plastic back on the S5 body isn't great, it has a better feel than the shell on the S4. The back is covered with small holes making it easier to grip. Plastic makes for a lightweight phone.

There is a big bright screen. The iPhone 5S is too small for reading a lot of text, the larger Galaxy S5 display is much easier to manage. Samsung uses almost all the front of the phone for the display, the bevel around the edge is only a few millimetres. This means you get the maximum screen for the minimum bulk.

Software needs work

Like many other Android phone makers, Samsung does its utmost to put its own stamp on Android. The TouchWiz software is the number one reason not to choose the S5. TouchWiz is still ugly, bloated and inefficient. It chews tons of resources, gobbles memory and slows the phone down.

Android may be the most popular smartphone operating system but that doesn’t make it good. Samsung thinks it can improve Android with an overlay. That's silly, stock Android is better.

Apparently it is possible to use something called the Google Experience Launcher to fix this.

Galaxy S5 overall

The Galaxy S5 is a fine phone from a first-rate company. Although it doesn’t look too different from the Galaxy S4, there are some genuine improvements this time around. If you’re an Android fan, this could be the ‘droid you are looking for.

Samsung tells me the phone will be on sale with all three mobile carriers in April and that the price will be around the $1050 mark. That’s a lot to spend each year on a new phone, but if you like Samsung and skipped the S4, this would be a good choice.