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  • It may be the low point for form, but it is also the pinnicale of function from Samsung. Water resistance, SD expansion and a removable battery. No flagship phone from any manufacturer has had all this since the S5. Personally I’ll take function over form any day, unfortunately Joe public disagrees.

  • Seriously, buffoons, best phone I’ve ever had, for a great price after been out for a while, only phone I’ve seen that’s waterproof, (that’s what the flap is for!), has usb3.0 which seems to charge faster and faster data transfer, and remains solidly plugged in as opposed to 2.0, has removable battery, (already replaced mine once), and has expandable storage, …. now if your purely concerned with being fixated on superficial elements then go with the s6 which dropped ALL of these great features……seriously, it’s a perfect size, any bigger it’d be a tablet, and the slippery dimpled statement is bs, it’s dimpled so it’s not slippery, excellent camera, yes, fingerprint scanner, etc etc., smooth os, …. its not the sexiest looking phone but, now nearly everyone gets a case for their phone anyway so what does it matter?, if your a superficial person who can’t read between the lines, then this phone isn’t for you.

  • Seriously, buffoons, best phone I’ve ever had, for a great price after been out for a while, only phone I’ve seen that’s waterproof, (that’s what the flap is for!), has usb3.0 which seems to charge faster and faster data transfer, and remains solidly plugged in as opposed to 2.0, has removable battery, (already replaced mine once), and has expandable storage, …. now if your purely concerned with being fixated on superficial elements then go with the s6 which dropped ALL of these great features……seriously, it’s a perfect size, any bigger it’d be a tablet, and the slippery dimpled statement is bs, it’s dimpled so it’s not slippery, excellent camera, yes, fingerprint scanner, etc etc., smooth os, …. its not the sexiest looking phone but, now nearly everyone gets a case for their phone anyway so what does it matter?, if your a superficial person who can’t read between the lines, then this phone isn’t for you.

  • Seriously, buffoons, best phone I’ve ever had, for a great price after been out for a while, only phone I’ve seen that’s waterproof, (that’s what the flap is for!), has usb3.0 which seems to charge faster and faster data transfer, and remains solidly plugged in as opposed to 2.0, has removable battery, (already replaced mine once), and has expandable storage, …. now if your purely concerned with being fixated on superficial elements then go with the s6 which dropped ALL of these great features……seriously, it’s a perfect size, any bigger it’d be a tablet, and the slippery dimpled statement is bs, it’s dimpled so it’s not slippery, excellent camera, yes, fingerprint scanner, etc etc., smooth os, …. its not the sexiest looking phone but, now nearly everyone gets a case for their phone anyway so what does it matter?, if your a superficial person who can’t read between the lines, then this phone isn’t for you.

  • Too bad Samsung sold so many of these while Sony didn’t sell many Z3’s. If only at&t and Sprint sold those with Verizon and T Mobile and they had better advising. The Sony Z3 was and still is a killer phone in every way. Awesome battery, sleek design, water and dust rating, and powerful internals.

  • I’m writing this on my GS5. I paid exactly $0 for it, new. Have it for 2.5 years. Cracked the screen last year. Have no intention of replacing it. Couldn’t care less what the casing looks like. It’s a great phone.

  • Get bent! The S5 is a better phone than the iPhone 7. Don’t believe me? compare them! S5 has a better screen (it’s full HD, 1080p), better battery (and still removeable) better processor, better software, better features, lighter in weight, bigger screen with higher resolution, SD card slot for expandedinner storage, water proof and countless other tricks.

    These articles are superficial. You’re worried about S5’s textured back??? Seriously? The first thing anyone does with their phone is cover it up with a case, so who cares? Besides there are countless options for replacing the back cover with any color or material of your choice (curry my S5 sports an American flag back cover!). Let me ask the author, do you still have and use your phone from 2014??? Because I do and it works great, still!

  • I am beyond sick and tired of snide comments about Samsung’s “plasticky” or “fugly” phones. Thanks to useless posts like this one, I have to deal with a fragile glass back on Samsung phones now, rather than the removable plastic back that allowed me to swap batteries. We get it. You are biased against Samsung. GROW UP.

    • I read the comments for people arguing and for people being butthurt. You didn’t disappoint me, thank you.

  • Some people are nuts.. Huge bezels??

    I used a GS5 for 3 years until I got my Pixel last month. Not saying the GS5 is the best looking phone ever but I always had a case on it and it was a hell of a lot more durable than the Pixel is. Water resistant (I got it EET multiple times without having the charging port flap on) and its just more durable in general. That phone went through HELL and there isn’t a mark on it. The pixel has a stupid glass back??? That’s just so they can make money repairing them.. And I hate this “premium phone” crap… Metal and glass ate the worst. I’ll take my plastic GS5 build any day

  • Say what you want about it aesthetically, the S5 is technically speaking a very well designed phone. Having a removable battery and having IP67 dust and water resistance is no small feat.

    • Having a removable battery and having IP67 dust and water resistance

      Don’t think any OEM has managed to do this since, come to think of it. Good point.

  • The S5:

    – Doesn’t break when you drop it, unlike every Samsung phone since.
    – Doesn’t need a case to protect its precious glass from breaking.
    – Can survive being driven over by a car, unlike every Samsung phone since.
    – Has a removable battery, unlike every Samsung phone since.
    – Is waterproof under normal use (don’t jump into the pool with it).
    – Actually sold the same number of units the overrated S6 did.
    – Thanks to sales and widespread distribution, this is 1 of the easiest phones to find parts for (batteries and battery covers) nearly 3 years after its release.
    – Has the 1 of the widest custom ROM support spectrums in existence. The S5 was 1 of the 1st devices to get CM 14.1 support and is still being actively supported by LineageOS’ unofficial branch while official gets up and running.
    – Although TW was awful, the internal hardware is an absolute beast. Custom ROMs literally fly on this thing.

    The only bad thing about this phone is the 16 GB of internal storage, which can easily be fixed via using adoptable storage and a large SD card in a custom ROM.

    I got mine at launch in 2014, and it’s running good as ever with LineageOS 14.1. Laugh all you want, but I’m running Android 7.1.1 on a 2014 era phone while folks with brand new S7Es they paid hundreds more fore are stuck on Marshmallow (the Samsung Nougat rollout is to 7.0 only).

    Salute to the S5, Samsung’s last true power user phone.

  • Who cares you put a case on everything and never see what the phone really looks like. Put a case on the S7 looks like a regular phone, bs artical.

      • I don’t think people realize all phones have a screen, and so will share some basic similarities. It’s the same on auto blogs. You could come out with the hottest design and people will tell you it looks like a Corolla.

        I should point out that 1 of the advantages of not being obsessed with phone beauty is it eliminates the above problem. I don’t care whether my phone looks like anything else. It just has to be able to do what I want it to do.

    • Well it is a rectangle with rounded corners. Wait, that makes them both a copy of an Iphone. /s

  • HTC thunderbolt with the extended battery takes the Fugly as hell award! GS5 not so much. Phones are getting so much better! Thought I’d hate 6p and pixel xl. Although nothing out there is as beautiful as the note 7. Damn you faulty batteries!

  • As fugly as that is and as nice as the S7 is, I would love to see a middle ground for durability and useability.

    The S7 is SWEET in terms of build quality etc, but one just right drop and either the front of the back will crack. It’s also slippery as all hell; I can’t tell you how many times laying in bed reading through emails, or web sites I’ve dropped the S7 on my damn face due to how slippery it is.

    Not sure what the solution to the asthetics vs durability/useability issue is, but it’s needed.

        • It’s only mentioned in passing, not as the major drawback it is. And bloggers keep screaming for breakable materials and equating them with “build quality” instead of focusing on how well the phone will hold up to actual (ab)use over years of life.

  • Don’t ever talk about the S5 again. It was the best phone Samsung had ever made, and was still the best until the S7 Edge. That thing never gave me a problem and when I decided to root and go back to Lollipop it never gave me an issue either. That phone was a beast. Bought it day 1 full price like 740 dollars and then sold it a year later with over 200 dollars in accessories for like 250 LOL. Still an amazing phone tho I’ll always remember it. It was also my last android before moving on to the 6S Plus when the S6 was a giant fail. Android has been trash since.

  • The S5 was such an underrated device. I didn’t mind the design and the specs were amazing at the time including waterproofing and the re moveable battery and storage. The bezels aren’t much different than the S7. I mean look at the Pixel…

  • Am I the only one who still has, and loves their S5? I NEVER have had a phone more than a year at most. The S5 checked all the boxes. Replaceable battery, water resistance, memory card slot. For 2014 it was a great phone. I have an S7 now. But my S5 is my backup any day!

    • I still use it daily. I did have to buy a new battery. The camera still takes amazing pictures. Just not in low light.

      • Absolutely. The only thing I’m sad about is the inability to get onto a custom ROM, and the fact that I’m sure I’ll never see Nougat on it. That might be enough to get me to upgrade, but zero complaints about my S5.

    • there was even dual sim version, which I used until few months ago

      one of best phones ever made!

    • I still have mine. Only upset now because it’s the exynos variant which means I can’t custom rom it to Nougat.

      Might have to finally upgrade this year.

    • Right there worth you! Still use my S5 everyday in my home via WiFi. There’s not been another phone that can check all the boxes, as you say.

    • Here! Here! While I dont have cell service on S5, I still use S5 as a secondary device to download torrents and messaging via wifi. I use S7 Edge as my main phone.

    • AND optional wireless charging AND USB 3.0 connectivity. The S6 fell short of the S6 in many key areas.

    • Thanks it was great phone and it still working perfectly.sorry folks but s5 is phone for all time

    • i had a aso g’zone rock and rock 2. and eventually the ravine. i needed something rugged. i used them for years. until 2014 i got a windows phone. lumia 820. and then went from that to the galaxy s5. if you upgrade your s5 with a better battery and memory card. dont even need to carry spares anymore. and it will dwarf the s7 in battery length. i haven’t charged my phone in about a week and im at 57%.

  • The phone that was so bad it drove my girlfriend to an iPhone. She said she’ll never go back to Android because of that abomination.

    • That’s just an error in logic. It’s not my Android favoritism speaking here because it’d be equally wrong in the opposite direction but judging an entire lineup of ranging devices and leaving the ecosystem for one ill-favored device seems quite drastic.

    • Wife just got a new Pixel XL, we handed her over 2 yr old s5 off to our niece. Still in perfect condition, at least they had a removable battery LOL.

    • My S5 has taken greater beatings than any phone I’ve owned before. Whether it’s just the waterproofing, the flap that prevents the USB port from getting jammed around, the glass, or just solid Samsung quality control, I’m not sure.

  • Lol, I never understood how Samsung were able to take off as the top android manufacturer with phones like the s4 and s5..
    HTC and other manufacturers had much better phones back then.

    Although Samsung have bounced back pretty big now.

    • I see a lot of s4 and s5 phones in use to this day and not many HTC phones. Maybe the failing (pink hue) HTC cameras and non-removable batteries have something to do with this? Hmm?
      Laugh all you want but the s3, the s4 and the s5 were/are solid phones that did what they’re supposed to do for a lot of people for a long time. Good solid phones. Exactly what people want.

      • You gotta remember that half the people here own phones < 6 months and think a solid phone means no plastic (misguided). I still have an s4 and s5 kicking away in the family. AND the s4 just got a security update on Verizon!

        • It’s not misguided. I hate plastic and I don’t think it belongs on a phone that costs +$500

          • You should be paying for durability, not materials. You can drive over an S5 and it’ll still work. Good luck doing that with an S7.

          • That’s fine but I’d rather pay more for materials. They might be more susceptible to damage from drops but glass and metal don’t chip away like plastic or fade with use. I don’t care if it’s fragile because I don’t drop my phone. Never have since my Lg flip phone in 2005. Rocked a GS6, Note 5, Galaxy S7 Edge, Note 7, and back with an S7 Edge and no cracks.

      • Lol I know more people had the s4 and s5. Everyone knows Samsung sells the most phones. That’s what I said before as well.

        But no those phones were terrible. My first Android phone was an s3 and not only did it feel like cheap slimy plastic it had software that would freeze constantly and bog down. TouchWiz and Samsungs Android tuning was really a nightmare.

        Both the HTC m7 and m8 got better reviews on most sites.

    • They hit their big (brief) decline with this phone. S6 and then S7 was major redemption tour for Samsung after the S5.

  • Sadly, i owned this. Simply for what they did software wise and at the time it was one of the only devices that provided a nice fitness experience. The worst part though was the rear camera and it’s hump that cracked so easily. i had to replace mine twice because of it, heard manyothers had the issue as well.

  • Strangely enough, the bigger version (Tab S) is still their best tablet, IMO. The Tab S2, again IMO, was a big step backwards. Lower resolution, lower ppi, and the switch to 4:3….. 16:10 ftw.

  • “Obnoxiously large bezels”

    You ‘avin a laff there guvna?

    You have seen the Pixel, right?

    Didn’t we just go through the whole “large bezels are actually functional…place to put muh thumbs” rationalization process?

    Weak. I’m no fan of the S5, but that’s ridiculous.

      • The Pixels other than the obvious internal specs bump are a downgrade from the Nexus 6 and 6p. Much smaller tiny screens, no more front facing stereo speakers. Just some unusably tiny screens and crappy mono speakers.

          • My favorite phones in my collection are the Z Ultra and Nexus 6. I’m using the Mate 9 now because it’s the closest thing to a large flagship available. Bare minimum screen size for me now is 5.9″, I’d prefer a 6.4-7″ screen though. Flagships have been shrinking/not growing for the past 3 years it’s sad.

          • Shut up. Tablets are 8″ and up. No one makes 7″ tablets anymore. My old Z Ultra with a 6.44″ screen and giant bezels fits perfectly in my pockets. Not my fault if you ladies a need a purse to carry something as small as a phone.

          • The Android handset ecosystem has, as a whole, been essentially regressing for several years. No more Nexii (overpriced and underproduced Pixels), a focus on thinness over battery life, wireless charging is almost totally dead, many makers moving away from 3.5mm jacks and expandable storage no decent tablets, Android UI gets worse and worse for tablets with each generation, the carriers still wield all of the power.

          • 5.5″ isn’t a large screen out all. Especially since the Nexus 6 was a 5.96″ screen and the 6p was 5.7″ that’s a near full half inch smaller than the nearly 6″ Nexus 6. That’s a major downgrade.

      • Riiiiiggghhhht. Because “pure Android experience” and finally a decent camera years after everyone else had one.

        Thing has less features than a device from 2 years ago. It’s simply an expensive vehicle you pay Google for the privilege of helping them build their natural language processing database via “Assistant”.

        • Shhhhhhhh! You keep speaking truth, and the community we’ll start bumping into you passive-aggressively. That’s not what we’re here for, apparently. We’re here to praise Google and their tiny attention spans and disinterest in their customer base.

    • Yeah I’m starting to see DL becoming less objective when you read hogwash like that and then praise the Pixel with freaking huge bezels in *2016*. Give me a break!!

        • Seriously, I’m pretty sure Moto, Samsung, and Google all just shower us with cash every day. It’s a good life.

          • Where did I say you were getting any cash for it … ? I didn’t. I think you know from my comments here & on YouTube that I strongly disagree with most of the Android blogosphere’s take on the ecosystem anyway. It’s not just you guys.

    • Huge bezels together with cheap materials and an overall crappy looking device.

      It’s not only one thing that made the s5 ugly. It was a combination of several factors

    • let me say this. i still have an s5 with the black/grey color. the faux metal edging bezel has saved me. i have dropped it about 15 times but it always seem to land on an edge or a corner. zero damage to screen. ever. it works fine for me.

      additionally i put in a 200gb micro sd card. so now i have more room for pictures/video/gaming than i will need on a phone. i also swapped out the 2800mah battery for an 8500 mah.

      basically i have a phone that can be used for about a week at a time heavily, without having to recharge, i have a huge amount of space for apps, pics etc, its rough and tumble, and takes great pictures.

      and its completely paid off.

  • Aesthetics and camera are probably the last things I look for in a new phone. As long as it’s somewhat comfortable in the hand and performs good, that’s what matters the most to me.

  • Yes definitely ugly but I still have one (not my primary phone) and man the S5 is an tank it’s been through hell and back still hasn’t let me down.

    • Lol this was an apple fanboys favorite picture. The phone color that no one had for the s5

      • the problem with anything you say now is this:

        seattle tech #Note5 IsBoss • 29 minutes ago
        Richard was at least entertaining,

    • The funny thing about this is that i don’t think i ever saw a gold one ever even for sale

      • We had a few of them at the place I used to work it. Never sold one. It didn’t help that I told my customers who wanted an S5 that the gold was ‘the ugliest f-ing phone I’ve ever seen’

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          On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
          !mj95d:
          ➽➽
          ➽➽;➽➽           http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash115DirectBoxGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!mj95d:….,……

  • There are a lot of ugly phones. I wouldn’t give the GS5 the title. The Pixel, especially the back, is one of the uglier phones I would rank higher than the GS5.

      • I have to agree that the pixel is one of the less attractive phones lately. Huge bezels on the front, and the back split in half with the top half being glass for no reason, and the bottom being metal. This plus the way too expensive price for what it is without were the reasons I didn’t even give it a second thought.

    • Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the back of the Pixel. It’s not gorgeous, but i wouldn’t call it ugly, either.

        • Same here. It looks better in person than in pictures, especially the blue one.

          I was at a store and the guy in line behind me had a blue Pixel. The back looked fantastic as it seemed to change shades depending on the angle from which light would hit it. Had Google sold the blue XL with a black front, i would have bought it instead of the all black model.

    • Haha, one man’s obnoxiously large bezels is another man’s…

      I’ve got nothing. Those Pixel bezels are definitely another “step in the wrong direction for mankind”

      • Treasure. I bought a Pixel XL, bezels give me something to hold while watching Netflix. It’s great.

        • I agree it’s nice to have some bezel, but they least they could’ve done is use it keep the front facing stereo speakers.

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