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Screen

The Sport has the same 5.1-inch Super AMOLED full HD display that the GS5 does. I held the Sport side-by-side with the standard model and couldn't see any difference at all between them. The display is fantastic through and through. I have no complaints whatsoever. It is large, pixel-rich, colorful, and bright. I didn't have any trouble using it indoors or out. All of the graphics and UI elements are smooth and show no signs of pixelated edges. It's a truly good screen.

Signal

The GS5 Sport is an exclusive for Sprint. I used the Sport throughout the NYC metro area and it performed very well. The phone behaved in line with other Sprint devices I've tested in the region and sometimes surpassed them. In areas with strong coverage, it found LTE and hung on. In areas with weak coverage, the Sport typically dropped down to 3G. When on LTE, data speeds were fast. Sprint Spark regions made more of a difference on the Sport than I've noticed on other Sprint devices. Speeds were appreciably quicker. When on 3G, data speeds were soul-crushingly slow. I was able to connect most calls on the first dial. The Sport didn't drop any calls during my review period.

Sound

The Sport is a good phone for making voice calls. The earpiece produces clear voices that I had no problem understanding. There was no interference of any kind and no background noise; only the other person's voice. I was slightly disappointed with the earpiece volume, which was about on par with that of the standard GS5. You need to set the volume all the way up for most calls, which can be hard to hear in noisy spaces. The quality of calls dips only slightly when sent to the speakerphone. The speakerphone's volume is acceptable, but not the best I've heard. The Sport supports background noise elimination, which means the people I spoke to through the device said I sounded great. Ringers and alert tones offer plenty of volume to get your attention. The vibrate alert is particularly strong. What's better, you can control the intensity of the vibrate alert for calls, messages, and so on. Like other GS5 models, the Sport includes 6 pre-recorded vibrate patterns and allows owners to create their own.

Battery

The Sport's battery life is the same as the other GS5 models, which is to say fantastic. The device easily lasted from breakfast to bedtime and often had power to spare. Most owners should have no trouble with the Sport's battery.

The Sport also includes a power saver mode - and an ultra power saver mode - that can be used to extend the useful life of the phone. The power saver can be toggled on manually - or automatically - once the battery reaches 20%. Users can opt to block background data, restrict performance (ramp down the processor), or set the display to grayscale mode. Ultra power saving mode takes it a lot further. It sets the screen in grayscale mode, turns off all data when the screen is off, turns off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and only permits six user-selected apps to function, three of which are phone, messaging, and email. Power saver mode and extreme power saver mode will provide estimates (when switched on) of how long the phone will continue to function based on the remaining charge.

Samsung appears to have mastered power management.

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