Real Person Review: Mrs. GadgetGuy Spends Three Months with the Galaxy S5 on AT&T

For all the tech that travels through our house, my wife tries to steer clear of experimenting too much with her personal kit. Occasionally I can convince her to take a gadget for a test drive. For the last three months she’s been using the Samsung Galaxy S5, and now it’s time for her to share her thoughts.

What was the last phone you used before picking up the Galaxy S5?

I’m a Samsung person. I own the Galaxy S4 Active and before that the S2.

What are some of your favorite things to do with your phone?

I love the RunDouble App.  It’s the Couch to 5K training app.  It auto plays my music (any playlist I want) and will use GPS to track me.  I use my phone as a stop watch. I love using it to control our Chromecast (No more wrestling the remote away from you). I read way too much Reddit on it.

I tend to live out of my phone these days.  I just need it to work. I never want to wonder if an app will work, that it will open quickly and work easily. I don’t have to worry about it being laggy or slow. I use an iPhone for work (full disclosure – it’s an iPhone 4S GASP!), and I’ve always preferred my personal phone to it.

Moving from Samsung to Samsung, was the learning curve easy? Did Samsung change anything you were used to?

The learning curve was very easy. The first thing that springs to mind is the menu button now brings up multi-tasking, where I can close running apps. I think before I had to go into settings and then applications to do that. At first I didn’t like the new layout for the settings and menus.  I always thought the settings were really easy to navigate on the GS4, but I’ve gotten used to it on the GS5, and I like it now. It’s really easy to move through. It feels really intuitive now. I think if someone is just starting on Android with the GS5, they’d have no troubles with the settings feature.

Compared to the GS4A, how does the GS5 perform? Does it feel snappier? Has it locked up on you?

It does feel snappier, but my GS4 never felt slow, so that’s saying something. It’s never locked up on me. There have been times that it’s slowed down, but I quickly discovered in those situations that I had like 20 apps open and running.

How do you feel about the pre-installed software from Samsung (Touchwiz) and AT&T? What are some of the new features you like?

For the most part it’s fine. I’m not fond of the keyboard. It reminds me of the Apple keyboard in that it auto-corrects. I prefer to have it make suggestions and then I can decide whether to take them or not. In this case on stock settings out of the box it will decide that I’ve typed something that is wrong and I have to tell it to accept what I’ve typed. That bothers me. I prefer a keyboard that assumes I know what I’m doing.

Also, of course the fingerprint scanner. For the most part it’s easy to use if I hold the phone in my left hand and swipe my right index finger. You can save up to 3 fingerprints and I’ve save both my index fingers and my thumb. It really only recognizes the right index finger. I’m sure part of the issue is how I move my finger, but no matter how careful I am with it, how precise I try to be, inevitably I lock myself out if I try to use my left index finger.

Have you used any of the health and fitness services?

I’ve used the heart rate monitor a few times and I really like it, but because I use the fingerprint scanner as my security, it can be tough to get to while I’m jogging or moving. That’s the cost of using the fingerprint scanner, I suppose.

As this is your second waterproof phone in a row, are you using a case or any other kind of protection?

I do use a case, I’m kind of a klutz. In fact just yesterday while on a walk I dropped it. I’m using a Verus THOR case which sounds super tough. Luckily the case use has rubber ends, so it sort of just bounced, but nothing broke. I don’t have any other protection on it, though I keep meaning to put a screen protector on it. I know it’s only a matter of time before I scratch the screen.

The GS5 has a slightly larger screen than the S4, how did you feel about the size increase?

It’s definitely gorgeous. I never feel like it’s a struggle to watch videos or Netflix on it. Everything is crisp and clear. My personal preference would probably be a slightly smaller form factor, but you can’t deny the beauty of the screen.

What do you think of the new camera?

It’s pretty fantastic. I’m not really someone who cares too much about phone cameras, that’s what I have you for, but it’s hard not to love this camera. It’s really easy to get a great pic. I tend to use it on auto, but I handed it to a friend who’s really into photography and she easily was switching settings around and got some terrific shots.

Has the battery life improved for your style of usage?

I didn’t really notice the battery initially. I could go all day and not get to half the battery power, but after a few months of heavy use I am starting to notice some battery life reduction. Nothing too worrisome, but I’m down to about 20% at the end of the day now. It might be that I just trust it can handle more work, so I use it more, or it might be because the battery is already starting to wear. I can’t really tell, but it still lasts me past dinner time.

What carrier are you using the GS5 on? How has the network supported the services you use?

I’m on AT&T and it’s great. The 4G is pretty impressive. Using my work phone on 3G (HSPA), I’ve definitely noticed a difference. I use Waze a lot on both phones and on 4G I rarely have any issues with network loss. More and more on 3G, it seems like I’m losing coverage, or that Waze is struggling to keep up.

How is the GS5 as a phone? Earpiece? Speakerphone? Dropped calls?

I think bigger phones in general are cumbersome to just hold up to your head. But I do it fairly often and calls come through clean and clear. Mainly, I tend to use it with either a wired or bluetooth headset and also have had no issues with either. It just works. I don’t think anyone has ever complained about calls coming from my end.

Do you think the GS5 is more or less attractive than previous phones you’ve owned?

I think it’s very attractive. I hate that I have to use the case, but as I mentioned – I’m a klutz. But even with the case, I think it’s pretty. The first thing people comment on when they see it is the size. The second is how good it looks, especially the screen. It’s very clean and smooth.

Would you consider yourself a Samsung Fan? With all the other phones we’ve had in-house to play with, have any been catching your eye?

I’m a big Samsung fan. The HTC has caught my eye due to how classy it looks, but I haven’t really played with it. I’m sure that is partially because I’m not fond of change, but mainly I just like how easy to use Samsung is. I was really interested in the Samsung Alpha and was disappointed that you had to send it back so soon. It seemed like a good compromise for someone like me that loves Samsung, but likes a slightly smaller phone.

What are some things you would change or improve?

Honestly, the size is my biggest issue. As I said, the screen is gorgeous, but I’m a smaller person with small hands. Add my tendency to drop things and that makes it dangerous to hold this phone sometimes. Other than that, I really like it. To me these phones just work and work well.

Even though your old phone was only released last year, would the GS5 have felt like a solid upgrade?

It definitely did. There were enough new bells and whistles that I really noticed the change. I’m slow to try new apps and processes, but I find that this phone makes me WANT to try new things just to test it out.

Any final thoughts?

It’s a great phone. The few other android devices I’ve played with haven’t done anything that was so much better that they tempted me away. I’ve never had any issues with Samsung and I feel like this new phone is a solid upgrade. So… Can I keep it?