[RogaDanar]

My wife and I both have S5 Actives through AT&T. We already have to return hers due to it constantly dropping WiFi that mine stays connected to without issue (all settings the same on both phones). We are within our 14 day return/exchange time and I am considering swapping them both out for regular S5's, but I'm not sure yet. I know I'd need to buy an actual 3.0 cable to take advantage of the 3.0 port upgrade on the regular S5 vs the Active, but we don't even have a computer that has any 3.0 ports so that really doesn't factor in anyway. We don't like the fingerprint scanner and actually prefer the physical buttons so that's another reason to keep the Actives. We also prefer the aesthetics of the Active which, while the least important factor, is a factor nevertheless.

Here is where I get confused. I have read that the USB port is somehow involved in the SD card, but I don't remember how. This would be the only thing swaying me back to the S5. My questions are these:

Will the S5 Active read and write directly to an SD card at the same speed as a regular S5? (I don't mean when the phone is plugged into a computer, just from phone to SD)

What are the limitations of the phone to SD card speeds, as in will I see ANY difference in phone to SD card read or write speed from a quality Class 10 card vs the faster UHS-1 cards? If the phone can't read or write any faster than, say, 25MB/s there would be no point in spending extra money on a faster SD card. Also, per the above question, would any of this be different in an S5 vs an S5 Active?

Thanks in advance for the help, and I hope my question isn't too confusing. I'm not a tech guy and I'm sure it shows.

[Kel M]

I don't think the reading speed of the memory card to phone would be any different on both phones unless the S5 is plug to a 3.0 computer port. If that is your only concern stay with the active.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[RogaDanar]

Thanks for the reply. Have any specs been posted anywhere regarding the read and write speeds the S5 can achieve utilizing an SD card? I don't mind spending more for a faster rated card, but I'll settle for a quality class 10 if the phone can't make use of the super high speed UHS cards.

[AZgl1500]

Both phones are nearly identical except for the obvious outside features.

Don't get concerned over how the internals are going to work.

As you said, you don't have a USB 3.0 port on your computer anyway, so why worry?

I think I would have an S5 Active if I had been on AT&T.

But with me being a Verizon customer the point is moot anyway.