Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 14, 2014 by Eric M. Zeman
The GS5 Active is a tougher Android smartphone from Samsung. It carries over most of the GS5's attractive features, but wraps them in a stronger body for protection from daily abuses. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
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First experience with Samsung will be my last
Pros: Screen size, signal quality, processor speed, camera quality
Cons: No grip surface on the back, not as durable as advertised, battery life
I bought this phone November 21st for my son who works construction and usually purchases a stronger phone or case. On December 10th the phone fell off a 2 1/2 foot pony wall onto a shower pan liner (30 mil rubberized material) in a bathroom that he was working on and the internal part of the screen broke. The phone will make sounds, but no screen in any way. Samsung and At&t both claim the phone is drop resistant up to 4 feet onto a flat surface. This was less than that onto a flat rubberized surface. Neither company will even look at the phone for less than another $160. This was the first Samsung device we had ever purchased. I had also bought a Samsung BluRay player. I am returning the BluRay player tomorrow to help fund the repair of my sons $650 paperweight. After my experience with both companies, I will never purchase or recommend a Samsung product again and I will be switching from At&t as soon as I can find a company willing to buy out our contracts.
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buy the S5 with a case
The specs behind this phone is pointless Samsung and ATT state this phone can resist all these things but yet when something happens to the phone within the specs they put out like dropping 2 ft on a flat service. Neither one of theses companies stand behind it at all. They're selling magic bean's to the consumer with a little bit of false advertising. Do yourself a favor and buy the S5 with a Otterbox. Because at least otterbox stands behind their products.
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Great phone!
I upgraded to the Galaxy S5 Active from the Galaxy S3 yesterday and I am so happy that I did. The phone is easy to use and comes with some nice built-in features. The battery life is amazing, it was at 50% when I took it out of the box and stayed like that all day long while I was at work. When I finally went to bed last night, it was at 9% after was heavy use, so I figured I'd try out ultra power saving mode, I woke up this morning, and my phone was still at 9%.
It takes amazing photos and videos also, plus comes with studio for all your photo and video editing needs. Comes with built-in security to protect you from malware/spyware, and S Health isn't too bad. It doesn't come with a finger print scanner like the normal S5 does, and also no wireless charging, or the faster speeds of USB 3.0. You do have a heart beat sensor, which isn't bad. The phone is suppose to be water resistant, but I haven't tested that out yet. It does seem like a pretty durable phone though, which is something that I like.
PROs
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- Able to take video in 4K
- Crisp photos
- Built-in photo editing app (studio)
- Ultra power saving mode
- Built-in security app
- Rugged design
- Can use volume button to take photos or set up the action button on the side to do so
- Great sound, no distortion at all
- No screen lag at all
- Great call quality, even with speakerphone
CONs
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- Easy to turn screen on when not using it
- No finger print scanner
- No USB 3.0, it still uses 2.0
- No wireless charging
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best phone ever
Pros:
Nice big clear colorful screen
Audio is loud but not distorted
Camera is awesome even under water
No More blurry pics
Side buttons for camera is great
Speed is fast
Great physical protection with out buying a case
No scratches after drops
paid $55 for phone with new contract with AT&T Next
Cons: NONE wellll if there was a dark blue .I would have purchased it instead of the titanium grey.oh well!
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Best Smartphone to Date!
While I was reasonably happy with my HTC One X, but I wanted a phone with easy battery access, so I would not be having to hunt for a wall outlet at airports to charge my phone. The Samsung Galaxy X5 Active fills the bill. The RF section is about as good as my previous smartphone under AT&T in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. The phone comes already loaded with a very good flashlight app as part of the "Activity Zone" package.
PROS
Battery can be swapped out for a freshly changed one. But this may not even be necessary, as the battery life is very good on this phone. Even on a day where I have used the GPS for an hour, by the time I go to bed I still have 40% charge left without 'topping it off' during the day.
Rugged enough not to need an external case.
Bright screen. No problem using in bright sunlight.
Large Screen. One can almost touch type on the virtual keyboard if the phone is positioned on a desk horizontally.
Although the speaker is on a back corner the speakerphone works well in all but the noisiest environments.
Good still camera for wide angle outdoor daytime shots. Acceptable for indoor flash shots, but still need to steady the phone against a solid object when taking flash shots. Good video camera both indoors and out.
GPS works well. It gets a lock faster than my dedicated hand held GPS
Android ver 4.4 "Kit Kat". Apps that were unstable or buggy on my old phone run perfectly on this phone.
CONS
Cannot control the length of touch tones while in call. They are always 0.5 sec long. However I was able to operate remote control devices and one can rapid fire and get the same effect as a long tone.
Zoom pictures come out grainy. This is to be expected with a digital zoom.
BOTTOM LINE
In my opinion, this is the only smartphone worth considering.
