I was one of the people that pre-ordered the M8 online with my carrier as soon as the site went live at 1pm EST. BUT, after having floated back down to Earth from today's overwhelming M8 hype, I spent the better part of the last 4 hours doing in-depth research and comparisons. And through careful analysis, I've decided to go with the S5. Simply put, it's the more complete package. Allow me to break down my thought process in further detail (keep in mind a lot of this is relative to my personal needs but also mentions objective points):
1. Water resistance and more importantly, DUST PROOF. This is an actual real-world concern for me, because I work in the oilfield in Northern Alberta and my Note 3 has dust and silica sand debris in its charging port, and I can hear the debris getting crushed and moved around every time I plugged in its charger. This kind of forced me to purchase an Otterbox Defender to cover up all the ports and the BoomSound speakers for the M8, and getting a slimmer case or going naked for when I'm not working. Going with the S5 allows me to stick to ONE permanent case that is a decent trade-off between protection and aesthetics. The case I have therefore chosen is the Spigen Tough Armor, in Gunmetal (to retain some of that gunmetal sexiness from the M8 haha).
2. Camera. Truth be told, if you use your smartphone camera often enough, the S5's camera is just better in more applications than the M8 which seems to dominate only in low-light situations. S5 also has the same focus speed of 300ms as the M8, has 1080p at 60fps compared to 30fps of the M8, real-time live preview of HDR shots, and capable of 4K video recording for super clear videos - to name the more important advantages. The depth manipulation may not be at the hardware-level like the M8, but we still have that cool post-shot focus effect at the end of the day through software.
3. Download Booster. This is something I originally overlooked upon announcement but thinking about it now, this is GENIUS and I see other phones implementing this very soon. Being able to utilize WiFi and LTE simultaneously to download large files 2 to 3 times faster is ridiculous. I have a 30gb data plan with Rogers, and I normally download torrents through my phone at home as it has increasingly rendered my laptop more and more useless through the years due to the convenience factor. Downloading huge files 2 to 3 times faster is something I'm legitimately excited about!
Those are the main reasons but there are some other minor things too. Such as, the S5's dimensions makes it a bit more friendly to hold, since the M8's often noted in reviews to be abnormally tall. It's also lighter due to the plastic build, has a replaceable battery, more screen real estate, USB 3.0, and has a lot of health-related optimizations that interest me. Especially when paired with the Fit or Gear 2 which I plan on getting at some point. The M8 is obviously an amazing phone and I will indeed be missing out on the pleasing metal design, BoomSound speakers, slightly zippier performance, and the Sense aesthetic.But through these comparisons I would say the S5 is the better OVERALL phone for more real-world applications, even though the One will probably be better reviewed and praised in the tech world. I choose the more practical device, that has the fewer compromises for MY needs. Yours could differ so I implore you to do some comparisons of your own rather than riding the hype bandwagon!
Sorry for the long read but I hope I helped people who were also in the same boat as me.
- Vince