Another Samsung Galaxy S5 Review (but it's mine!)

Although I am in no way getting anything for this review, there is a chance I may be just a wee bit biased.

You see, unlike most sane people, I've had one of the original Galaxies, the S2, the S3, and now the S5.  It's almost like an Apple fan!

I'm surprisingly cheap when it comes to my upgrades though (in a way).  My husband lets me hand phones down to him, and I managed a few upgrade deals along the way such that the only year I missed out was the S4 last year.  I suspect that this is why the S5 seems so much better than my previous upgrades - it is the first time I've waited almost 2 years for a new smartphone in a long time!

We also made the switch to Ting recently, and so far I am excited about the money we are saving compared to our nearly 10-year stint with Sprint.  More on that in another post, but because we switched to Ting, I had to wait for them to carry the S5, almost a month after its release (the tragedy!).  I finally received it a little over a week ago:

Ting sent me a lovely outer case (which I have no idea what to do with), with the boxed Galaxy S5 inside.  Since I'm no newbie to smartphones in general or the Galaxy series in particular, I popped the battery right in and got it charging.

Charging and IP67
The first thing you might notice is the different charging port.  For starters, it's USB 3 for faster data transfer speeds, but you can also use a regular micro USB charger just fine (another thing I like about Androids because I HATE proprietary chargers).  Also, it is a covered port, which is your first real hint that there is something extra special about this phone.  Yes, it's waterproof!  Or at least quite water resistant: IP67 certified dust and waterproof up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.  Now, in theory, you can film and take pictures underwater with this glorious phone, but I plan to use the protection more as insurance by the pool and on long runs when it might start raining.  You might argue for other high-end smartphones like the iPhone 5S or HTC One line, but it is impossible to find another phone this high end that is dust and waterproof.

Display
My Galaxy S3 had only a 720P display.  There was certainly a day not all that long ago that even I as a tech gadget geek would have told you that is the best screen you need on a smartphone.  Samsung upped the game on the Galaxy S4 & S5, increasing it to a full HD display.  For the S5, they added some other wizardry that I am not even trying to understand, but that my eyes adore.  There is a pretty good explanation of the display technology here, with links to other explanation and review sites as well.

Processor
Can you believe we are talking about quad-core processors becoming the norm for smartphones?  When my husband or teenager complains about their phone slowing down or just not working quite right, the first thing I ask is, "have you turned it off in the past week or so?"  Folks, if you didn't already realize it, you are carrying around a sophisticated computer in your pocket!  Memory needs cleared out every now and then.  You can clear your cache, which often helps, but sometimes you just need to shut 'er down.  2.5 Snapdragon 801 quad-core in the Galaxy S5.  Really, do you need to know any more than that?

Storage and Battery
I get asked often what I dislike so much about iPhones anyway.  This section covers two of my biggest gripes:  (lack of) removable battery and storage.  Yes, I want to add a microSD card up to 128GB, thank you very much.  And yes, I want a battery that can last all day like the 2800 mAh one in my new Galaxy S5, but I also want to be able to buy a spare battery just in case, as well as purchase a new, fresh battery when I hand this down to my hubby.  I will take the plastic back that Samsung gets criticized so much for any day in exchange for these options. And, besides, the new dimpled plastic back is nicer looking and gives you a better grip than I anticipated.  Oh, and if that battery tries to die on me, Samsung has included a few awesome power savings modes to make it last a long time, albeit with reduced features (check out this site for more information).

Physical Size
I have to admit, this one is still taking some getting used to.  I used to rave that my Galaxy S3 was the perfect size for my hand.  I can't quite properly grip a Note, nor do I have any chance of using one one-handed.  But even the 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5, 5S, and 5C is just too small.  Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I've just realized that a bit larger screen means I have no need to tote around a tablet in addition to my smartphone (although I do have a tablet as a handy recipe station in my kitchen, which would make another good blog post, come to think of it).  You wouldn't think an extra 5mm in height and 2mm in width would make much difference, but I have to admit that I might be convinced to give up just a bit of my awesome screen to go back to the size of my Galaxy S3.  This is my single, only complaint about the S5, and it is starting to feel more normal in my hand already.

Camera
I have always been a fan of Samsung's smartphone camera quality.  The only time I have seen better iPhone pictures are those from my professional photographer friend, and I'm convinced he creates magic with any camera.  The 16 megapixel powerhouse in the S5 is certainly no exception.  The HDR mode has been fun to play with, and I'm personally happy to have the hard shutter option back (by using the volume rocker to "snap" a photo).  There are also now good editing options built right in, unlike searching for photo editor apps as I did with my S3.

Other Cool Features

The finger print scanner seemed like a gimmick to me, but I do like using it to unlock my screen.  I don't think I'll be comfortable using it to make PayPal payments and such, although that's also an option.

I was really looking forward to Spritz technology being built in the the S5 e-mail app, but sadly, it isn't yet included.  I am impatiently waiting for it on a hopefully not distant update.  Spritz is an awesome new speed reading technology that I talk about here.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out a full-book demo of Spritz here.


Well, that's it for my review.  Are there any Galaxy S5 features that you particularly love already?  Are you running out today to buy one like my little sister?

Tech Excitement: Spritz and Flexible Displays

Some women get excited about flowers.  Some women get excited about jewelry.  Some women may even dream about nice furniture.  Me?  I yearn for new technology.  And smaller is better, of course.  I'm not sure if it started with my first portable tape recorder at age 6, or the dreams I used to have of carrying around a tiny, portable television where I could watch my favorite cartoons from anywhere.  Big technology has never carried much of a thrill for me.  It is my hubby who has to argue for bigger TVs and new cars.  I wasn't even impressed by the rich kid's huge cell phone in college.  But small technology?  Yeah, that makes my heart skip a beat.

So, since you've missed my tech-related blog posts, I have two incredible new technologies to tell you about today:  Spritzing (I'm not sure if Spritz has made up that word yet, but they should!) and a little flexible e-reader called the Wexler Flex One.

I've heard a lot of talk recently about flexible displays, but I was honestly having trouble envisioning their value.  Why does my smartphone need a flexible display?  Why does anything else need one for that matter?  And then a friend showed me his little flexible e-reader.  The Wexler Flex One is made by a German company, and wasn't even released in the states, but the flexible display is by LG.  It cost $300 when released, but folks on eBay are selling them as low as $50 already.  My friend said he'd already broken several e-reader screens, but this one with it's flexible display wouldn't break when dropped (at least not as easily - the company warns against folding and such, which could probably destroy the electronic parts inside).  It is also extremely thin and lightweight.

Well, I wanted my own, and this little cutie has become my purse/travel everywhere e-reader.  It doesn't have the awesome backlight of my Kindle Paperwhite, but it is so much lighter that I can't even tell it's in my purse by comparison.  Nor does it have a touch screen or wireless (yep, you have to plug it in to your computer to transfer books over to it).  But now, I see a future for flexible displays.

Have you imagined a time when we all carry around sheets of electronic displays rather than ever printing anything?  I have, actually for years, which is one big reason I knew Darrell and I couldn't keep working in the printing industry long-term.  You might view the iPad and tablets in general as the first glimpse of that, and I guess that may be true.  But to me, the first evidence of that truly easy, portable, and sturdy future electronic paper is this little flexible e-reader.  I would also tell you about the real benefits of e-ink over LCD displays as well, but that would take another blog post.

Here's my cute little Wexler Flex One (if you see me in person, you need to also view it's flexibility and how lightweight it is):

Next up is Spritz.  I just heard about this a few weeks ago, but this one little piece of technology is something that I truly believe will change the world.  We have so much more information at our fingertips than we did a few decades ago.  But, with the exception of some speed reading methods that some have learned, we cannot read and absorb it any faster than we could then.

Wikipedia says:  "While the average adult reading rate is 250 words per minute with 70% comprehension, speed reading programs typically claim that improvements to 500 words per minute or more while maintaining or improving comprehension are possible."

But what if you could read at three or even four times the average rate, WITHOUT LEARNING ANY NEW READING METHOD?!?!? What if you could read a novel in an evening (and I mean without staying up all night)?  What if you could breeze through 50 emails first thing each morning at work?  What if you could read several interesting articles online while you rush to eat your lunch sitting at your desk so you can get out of work in time to pick up your kids?  What if you could make it through that extremely boring chapter in your textbook so quickly that you could actually go back and study the important parts rather than falling to sleep halfway through the first read?  Are you interested now?  I think you should be.

Seriously folks, check out Spritz.  I am interested enough in them that I am thinking about getting a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone soon after it comes out next month, simply because it has some Spritz capability built in.  I can't wait until this functionality is included in e-books and online.  Technology has long promised to improve our lives and give us more time.  This, my friends, is a technology that I think can finally, really deliver on that promise.