Would you do it again? I'm upgrading from an S3

steve_ma

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I am thinking of moving on from my S3 after loving it for 2.5 years and am considering the S5. If you were spending today, would you have gone in a different direction or would you buy the S5 again?
I'm considering it because: I really liked my S3. Supposedly great battery life (wonder about the recent OS upgrade though). Splash resistant is nice. Familiar platform I'm used to.
I posted this on the S3 sub forum but got no love so I thought I'd try here. Any imput appreciated and my original post below.
--Steve

The Power button is acting up. I know Button Savior will let me limp along for a bit but after almost 2.5 years, I think it's time to start looking.

Some info that I suspect will help:
  • I am on Verizon and have an upgrade eligible phone.
  • I am cost conscious. Not cheap. But I want to pay for quality and proven features vs future potential.
  • I do not have to have the latest and greatest and I generally have been happy with phones after they have hit the market and been established as solid as opposed to "getting in line to be the first one to have phone X"

Other priorities:
  • Battery Life
  • Build quality / durability
  • camera performance
  • Call and signal quality
  • Similar screen size and profile as the S3.
 

P_Devil

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If I was getting a smartphone last year, I would still have gone for the S5. At that time the camera in the HTC One M8 was terrible (that 4UMP camera) and I didn't want to wait for the LG G3, I also thought that 5.5" was too big of a display for a smartphone (now that's the lowest size I want). But, if I was getting a smartphone soon (I actually am), I would not get the S5 mainly because the S6, HTC One M9, and LG G Flex 2 will be announced/released rather shortly. Plus the S5 is already a year old at this point making it one generation behind what will be coming out.

You might as well wait to see what the next wave of smartphones have to offer (and you don't have to wait in line). Worst comes to worst, you can save $100 and get an S5 on-contract for $99 instead of $199.

I can already tell you that all of your priorities will be met with any current and future smartphone except having a similar size profile and screen size as the S3. That just isn't going to happen unless you drop down to a non-flagship smartphone or go with something like the Moto E. Flagship smartphones from companies (either last generation or the next) are all pretty much at 5" and above.

Opinions on Android 5.0 with the S5 vary. My fiance has had a terrible experience with hers. The heart rate monitor on the back of the phone automatically turns on anytime her finger gets near it (whether an app is open or not), her S5 randomly resets itself about once every 45-90 minutes, and its battery is drained by noon after unplugging it at 7:00 AM. I haven't had that bad of an experience except that my battery life isn't what it used to be. My phone now dies right as I'm getting off of work whereas before it would go into the night while still having 30% left. We have both wiped the cache partition so the only thing we can do now is backup our phones and perform a factor reset. But we both believe that we shouldn't have to do that. You, on the other hand, should be OK so long as you don't really put anything on your phone initially. Get it setup for the basics, update it to Android 5.0, perform a factor restore, and then set it up all over again. That should help.
 

steve_ma

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Thanks P_Devil,
that is very helpful feedback and I appreciate it.
The screen size is not a stopper. I just don't want a screen that is so big that I can't slide the phone into my pocket or it eats up a ton of battery life because of the real estate. I've got a few co-workers with these fablet thingys and they look ridiculous. If I can't slide it into my pocket, I can't use it. I've played with my buddies S5 and I can certainly live with it. The finger print / heart rate / pedometer stuff are things I'd probably never use. If the battery life issue looks to be a real one as opposed to something that's easily fixed with a hard reset or patch, then that would be a show stopper for me.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.
 

P_Devil

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Well, I went from a Droid X (4.3") to an iPhone 5 (4") to the S5 (5.1") and I haven't had any issues putting any of those phones in my front jeans pocket. In fact, I want at least a 5.5" smartphone this next go around. I've tried putting a Note Edge and Note 4 in my pocket as well, both fit just fine. Now, you will likely have issues if you are wearing skinny jeans (as it all the rage for men where I live).

The battery life seems to be fixed with a factory reset. I just refuse to do it as I don't think I should have to, not after owning my phone for almost a year.
 

googleuser05

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I am thinking of moving on from my S3 after loving it for 2.5 years and am considering the S5. If you were spending today, would you have gone in a different direction or would you buy the S5 again?
I'm considering it because: I really liked my S3. Supposedly great battery life (wonder about the recent OS upgrade though). Splash resistant is nice. Familiar platform I'm used to.
I posted this on the S3 sub forum but got no love so I thought I'd try here. Any imput appreciated and my original post below.
--Steve

Yes I would easily buy my again. Although if you love your S3 and it still is running okay I would wait until the S6 announcement on March 1st to see if that is something you would prefer since it's only less than a month away and the release I'm sure won't be far after that.
 

monicakm

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I bought my S5 within a month or so after it came out. I wasn't about to pay $200 for it and was going to wait till the price dropped. They (Verizon) put it on sale for $99 (contract) sometime in May...did it come out that month or the month before? So maybe waiting on the S6 and seeing if they put it on sale shortly after it's release might be a good idea. And if you don't hear good things about the S6 when it hits the streets, you can buy the S5 at a greatly reduced price. And YES, I'd buy the S5 again! I came from a Moto Razr and love LOVE my S5. The size is perfect (altho I did kinda love my SIL's Note 4 but I really think it would have been too big on a daily basis). My S5's battery life is excellent. I normally get almost 2 days before I plug it in at around 10% battery life. The screen time averages 3.5 hours. Good luck with your decision!
 

steve_ma

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Great advice all and thanks. My power button is all wonky and so if can get used to Button Savior and it doesn't get worse, then I will probably take the advice to wait for the S6 announcement and then decide.... I am way too old and fat to wear skinny jeans so it sounds like the size for a front pocket won't be an issue.

Thanks Again!
--Steve
 

alkezi

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Yes I would love to buy this device again. It is fast, i have no lag issues at all on this device since release day. battery life is excellent, not to mention the beautiful screen. I dont care about metal since we will put it in a case anyway. Camera is excellent.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

sanyka78

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Great advice all and thanks. My power button is all wonky and so if can get used to Button Savior and it doesn't get worse, then I will probably take the advice to wait for the S6 announcement and then decide.... I am way too old and fat to wear skinny jeans so it sounds like the size for a front pocket won't be an issue.

Thanks Again!
--Steve
I made a switch from s3 to s5 few months ago. Big difference towards the better, especially battery life. As it was mentioned before, I'd wait to see what s6 is all about before making the decision. Regarding your power button, install 'turn off the screen' from play store to turn off the screen from home screen. With nova launcher I've set it up double tap - screen off. Very convenient and practical.
 

KJ78

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I'd buy the S5 again, I just wouldn't install Lollipoop. Get one still with kit crap, or down grade. If you can't /won't do that then get something else.
 

barry1964

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I'd wait for the S6 if in was you. It looks like a seriously good phone. I'm a little anodes that I didn't...

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Zed Fuma

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well, I'd probably buy it again if that was the case. I really like mine, works very smooth, nice screen, very good battery life and a lot of things I didn't have before. The S5 is my first from the Galaxy S series, before I couldn't really afford one so I might not know so well what the difference between this one and it's predecessors are but I've seen my classmates with their S3 or S2 plus and I did play with S3 and S2 a bit so I know those were both good. If I were to spend again today I might actually buy the Xperia Z3 or One Plus One or wait for the S6 but that's just because of preferences. The phone itself is excellent and I have no complaints about it.
If there's something I don't like about it, it might be that it doesn't have the same impact S3 had on launch. At least here where I live S3 was considered at the peak of smartphones probably when it was released while the S5 seems like just one of the smartphones on the market or something like that. My explanation might be a bit bad.
 

TimmyTwo2

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I would wait for the S6 to at least compare it to the S5, rumors say glass and metal with no removable battery, which I like the option to replace my battery down the road if it dies. I am on Sprint and upgraded from an S3 to S5 myself and it was worth the upgrade. However, the S3 I had wasn't Tri-band, so the upgrade was also because the S5 is triband (uses Sprint's Spark Network).
 

BR34KF4ST

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i think its worth a shot i am probably gonna keep my s5 till maybe s8,m11,or g5 you never know but its good

dont update to lollipop tho i saw some threads complaining about lollipop i am currently still using kit kat love it.i would still get the s5 but you can consider g4 or m8 or you could waut for s6 and so on.some say battery life is horrible on lollipop like p_devil,however mine still has 71% as i am typing now and it was charged to 98% yesterday.i also own a s3 so if you find that battery life good s5 will be even better for you(unless you occur some problems with your battery out of the box)


one last thing,i read about a thread that the s6 doesnt have a removable back and only has 2600 mAH battery capacity which is lower than s5(2800 mAH)

your choice,
good luck mate

BR34KF4ST

oh,and heres the link for the battery

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=494197
 

P_Devil

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The battery capacity is not a direct indication of battery life especially considering the S6 will be optimized for Android 5.0, supposedly run an in-house 14nm SoC (which is more power efficient than the Snapdragon 810), and have an improved AMOLED display (more power efficient). The S6 could easily last just as long as the S5 or even longer, the biggest issue with people regarding the battery is that is isn't removable.

As for my battery life, it was a lot better under Android 4.4.4. I could easily go all day at barely hit 70% at the end of my 8 hour work shift. That was with music playing for a good 3-4 hours, constant texting, and even incessant Trivia Crack. Now I'm lucky to get out of my office with 30% of my phones' battery after less texting, 2 hours of music playback, and no Trivia Crack.
 

Gray Area

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I'd wait 1 more month for the S6 and see what that has to offer. I have a love hate relationship with my s5 coming from a note 2. I love the size, features, display and when it's working optimally it's an awesome awesome phone. But I hate the occasional lag I experience if I don't reboot at least 1 time every 48hrs and additional bugs that Lollipop has brought. When I say lag I mean after a while I notice a hesitation in loading up my home screen when closing apps or a slight flicker when swiping through my home screens or app drawer, the most noticeable is the pull down notification tray apparently gets bogged down and eventually is just really slow at responding. A reboot fixes all lag for another 24hrs or so. Other than that it's a great phone but I'm eagerly anticipating the S6!

Posted via the Android Central App
 

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