The Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit Review Pt 2

This is part 2 of a two part review. Click here for part 1.

Hi all,

Over the last two weeks I've been using the Vodafone Powered Samsung Galaxy S5 phone and Gear Fit fitness band/smartwatch while doing the #SchoolPedal with the kids and tracking our progress.
I must warn you this is a long one, with no TL:DR spoilers at the bottom!

While the review is primarily about the devices we will be talking a lot about the fitness benefits of the device duo so without further ado, let's crack on with the devices themselves,

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the SM-G900M Vodafone specific build of the device, be happy in the fact Vodafone have listened to it's customers and left out the bloat, while there is a few Vodafone Specific applications they've not caused me any issue. So rest assured you're getting a good experience from the get go, also Android Lollipop is on the way too!
The handset is a very well crafted desirable phone, with a premium feel, with it's gold leatherette style battery panel to the feint gold colouring etched into the touch panel bezel it oozes class in my mind. It's a good looking phone with some very desirable internal goodness to live it's days out as a perfect companion to you.

Thanks to the amazing people at GSMARENA we've got the handsets full specifications and data from the tests they've done at their labs. We love you guys!

2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions

3G Network
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - SM-G900F
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - SM-G900A
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - SM-G900M
HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - SM-G900T

4G Network
LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - SM-G900F
LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - SM-G900A
LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - SM-G900M
LTE 700/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600 - SM-G900T

Sim Type - Micro-SIM

Announced - 2014, February
Status - Available. Released 2014, April
BODY
Dimensions 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm (5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in)
Weight 145 g (5.11 oz)
 - Fingerprint sensor (PayPal certified)
- IP67 certified - dust and water resistant
- Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes

DISPLAY:
Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors 1080 x 1920 pixels,
5.1 inches (~432 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Glass Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3

SOUND
Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes

MEMORY:
Card slot microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal 16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM

Connectivity:
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE Cat4 150/50 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, EDR, LE, apt-X
NFC Yes
Infrared port Yes
USB microUSB v3.0 (MHL 2.1 TV-out), USB Host

CAMERA:
Primary 16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, phase detection autofocus, LED flash, check quality
Features 1/2.6'' sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR, dual-video rec., check quality
Secondary 2 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call

FEATURES:
Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat), upgradable to v5.0 (Lollipop)
Chipset - Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801
CPU - Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 GPU Adreno 330
Sensors - Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, heart rate
Messaging - SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
Browser - HTML5
Radio - No
GPS - Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
Java - Yes, via Java MIDP emulator

Colors:
Charcoal Black, Copper Gold, Electric Blue, Shimmery White

Additonal:
Wireless charging (Qi-enabled) - market dependent
- ANT+ support
- S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
- Smart stay, Smart pause, Smart scroll
- Air gestures
- Dropbox (50 GB cloud storage)
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+/FLAC player
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer
BATTERY:
Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery
Stand-by Up to 390 h
Talk time Up to 21 h
Music play Up to 67 h

MISC:
SAR US 1.20 W/kg (head)     1.58 W/kg (body)  
SAR EU 0.56 W/kg (head)     0.41 W/kg (body)  

TESTS:
Performance Basemark OS II: 1082 / Basemark X: 11744
Display Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal), 3.549 (sunlight)
Loudspeaker Voice 66dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 75dB
Audio quality Noise -96.3dB / Crosstalk -95.2dB
Battery life Endurance rating 72h


Now onto the Gear Fit wearable fitness band, before you get excited it's not running android, while many applications are compatible with the band it's more of a fitness companion over smartwatch so please bear that in mind when choosing this.

The Galaxy Gear Fit will only work with 17 Samsung handsets officially so this does put it at a disadvantage compared to Android wear, and similar products on the market, this I feel should change this as it could be a unique seller for Samsung on a wider level.

However where it wins brownie points is the beautiful curved touch-screen, boasting an incredibly beautiful 432 x 128 pixel resolution Super AMOLED display, bringing great brightness, amazingly bright colours and considerably less battery draw compared to traditional LCD Displays. Being curved the device feels natural on the hand compared to some early smartwatches, on top of this it's minimal weight makes it feel more like a watch than a smart companion.

Key Features:
Bluetooth 4.0 low power draw
Curved 432x128 pixel display with touch
Heartrate monitor
App connect for third party application paring
Sleep monitoring mode
Pedometer
Media controller
Phone notifications and reader,
Incoming call controls
Excercise mode with running, walking, cycling, hiking and exercise log/history (these tie into the S Health application)

For the rest of this post we'll talk about the devices and how well they work together, while this may mean a part three it's well worth it I promise you now.

The SGS5 is a well crafted smartphone with all the power one could need to go through the day and that is down to the generous 2800mAH battery, add the beautiful HD display, ip65 waterproofing, fingerprint sensor for secure payments, UltraHD 4K video capabilities with editor tools and NFC functionality make for a highly desirable powerhouse with everything you could possibly need and want. But we'll get to that in higher detail later in the post. 

Before we get into the review I'll explain how it's been used. 

I've been using both S Health and Endomondo for fitness tracking comparison, both are free applications with one built into firmware and the other available on the Play store, with Samsung generously offering a years premium service to get you on the way, even for newbies to the pleasure of releasing the endorphins will appreciate such a generous offer. (For privacy of my children and their classmates at school I'll not mention or show tracking data from the daily School Pedal, while some are on-line the tracker was disabled away from the school. Any that pinpoint the school will remain hidden or deleted)

S Health is a one stop well being shop with many, many features not found in premium applications, especially when pared with a Galaxy Gear device or similar fitness band/watch it becomes an ultimate tool kit to aid in achieving or fitness and health goals in life. Now I can't lie I was hesitant to  use S Health due to the need of a Samsung account but once I bit the bullet I actually regret not doing so sooner.
As the screenshots show, the S Health tool show's you're progress through a day with quite achievable goals, 10,000 steps for walking is easy and I beat this target often through the review. Similarly to the goals set for cycling, S Health sets the goal's for you and let's you smash them, and once you do, both devices let you know, by means of a little buzz on the hand or an audio message played through headphones, with the audio messages being notifications of half way points, encouragement when you slow down or seem to be feigning, I promise you now when you're feeling deflated, the bike's brakes thickly coated in a mix of mud and leaves, making every inch moving torture. Just hearing "you're doing great, keep it up" helped so so much the smile came back and I was trying my best to hoon (speed up) it despite the mud causing me the pleasure of slipping and crunching one's chestnuts on the crossbar! Always a pleasant experience.

The only problem I found (and this may be me doing something wrong) was the Gear fit wouldn't monitor my heart rate while riding, meaning my most recent ride/mudfest missed out some information I would have liked to have for comparison, I think this was due to me using the phone to commence the ride rather than using the Gear fit, but I can't confirm this as it went back the same day I was completing the post. I must say though I'm happy Samsung made the S5 and the Gear Fit IP65 water resistant here as they got a little moist in my pocket and muddy on my wrist.

The handset itself runs well, and while I wish some of the Google tools were the defaults here I get what Samsung are trying to achieve here by utilising their own applications. This is done for device uniformity throughout their Android, Tizen and Feature phones so I can fully understand and appreciate the reasoning for this. Many manufacturers could learn from this methodology.

On testing the 16 mega-pixel camera I was impressed, even in the cold it held up well, producing some fantastic shots, with similar quality to the Nokia N8, I've left the images on Flickr as it seems to leave the images as I intended them to look without any editing. Images come out good, despite the autofocus likes the odd slowdown at times but it's caught up as your taking the shot with the shot improving through sheer fluke. On top of that the camera modes are top notch too.
While I didn't play with all modes on trying HDR images came out as you would expect,

Video comes out beautifully with 4K ultra HD capabilities, but I would recommend using the phones microphone over the wired headset's as you'll hear in this video. Additionally the lighting in this shot is not the best thanks to a mix of florescent lights, LED's and natural light coming through the roof lights.



On top of high quality video recording playback is no problem, including 4K UHD clips, playing UHD was easy for the phone while I suspect most users will be watching youtube and facebook videos so for majority the GPU will tick along quite nicely, on this note higher performance games ran with no lag or issues.

Audio and music performance is very good on this handset, in fact it's miles better than the iPhone I have here to pit it against. And I'm not just talking volume here, audio and voice quality is sublime, no doubt down to software and hardware enhancements to improve things on an aural level for all users.
When showing the phone off the first thing friends did was launch the music player and they were very impressed with the quality Even if my choices of music from The Beards, Steel Panther to Lindesfarne could not have been any more diverse.
The bundled headphones sound fantastic, with great all around sound, the Microphone was a bit boxy as shown in the above video, but it's a fair compromise here as we can't have it all

Data access was kindly provided by Vodafone's Red 4G services. Our town is awaiting a 4G boos in the near future so for now we have 2G, 3G and HSPA based services available, with decent speed tests of approximately 2-4MB on 3G whereas H+ on average pulled around 4-6MB. This is about normal for the local area.

GPS Signal took next to no time to latch, even on 2g, this with Google's built in wifi and cell location service disabled for most of the fortnight so again impressive.

Image credit: DailyTech LLC

Battery impressed me a lot, Many phones won't last two days on moderate - heavy use this did. Impressive when I'm used to charging daily, my only niggle here was the connection, a USB 3.0 plug, I've only used one other device with this jack and didn't like it much at all, more down to the fact I had to concentrate on what I was doing more than normal when connecting the phone to a charger or pc, the USB 3.0 Micro USB port is a slightly different design to Micro USB 2.0, despite being compatible if not used to it it can be fiddly.

Now the phone also includes a fingerprint sensor, certified for PayPal payments which I've not tested due to time constraints, but it's a good innovation.

A welcome addition to the phone comes in the shape of Kids Mode,
A fall-back to the success of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids edition it's a child safe android launcher, with individual user accounts for all your children. housing a child safe app store with pre-installed child friendly music player, camera, doodle pad and gallery. to exit kids mode you need to enter a pin code, if by chance the little angels lock the device out a quick login to your Google account will fix it.



In Conclusion the Vodafone Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit are a great duo for both every day use and improving health and well-being for everyone thanks to the wide array of applications designed for both to work together in unison. Add in the High build quality and high end components it's a daily driver even iPhone users can and have turned to.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is available is available for £34.50 on Vodafone Red 4G price plans 

Thanks to Vodafone for the loan of the S5 and Gear fit for the duration of this review, 

The Vodafone Samsung Galaxy s5 and Gear Fit Review pt 1

This is part 1 of a two part review. Click here for part 2.

Heya,

I've teamed up with Vodafone UK to review the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the wearable goodness of the Samsung Gear Fit curved smart watch, to see how the devices work together and how they can benefit the health concious, I'll be using the combo with GrampsBike throughout the review.

For the record the review model I have is the Samsung SM-G900M for Vodafone, meaning it's passed Vodafone's strict firmware tests and included some 'value added tools' that can thankfully be disabled if you dislike them. Similarly with the Vodafone Smart 4 Turbo this can only be seen as an advantage to the customer as the pre-installed bloat is to such a minimum it could never inconvenience you.

From using the device for less than a day I feel the S5 is a lovely device packed full of features and size too, at 5.59x2.85 inches in size there is plenty of space for these features, while a fair whack larger than my S4 mini it feels comfortable in the hand with a sturdy feel on the sides and a leather effect battery cover for extra grip, add in minimal flex and water resistance and I can see why the handset is popular.



The Samsung Gear Fit is a wearable slightly different to the other Samsung Gear devices available as they natively run Android Wear and Tizen. The Gear Fit runs a Real Time Operating System, meaning less app compatibility with all the inbuilt functions but also increased battery life and a more light weight system, designed for the fitness bug in all of us. On testing it this afternoon it performed well, with the pedometer matching the tool I use on my current device which uses the accelerometer to estimate the steps you take.

I'll wrap this up for now as I'll need more time to make any sound conclusions on the devices, but with the #SchoolPedal into full swing this December there's lots more to come.

Paul

Throwback Thurday - Samsung E720

Hi all, today I want to go back in time nearly 10 years to a mobile legend.

The legend being the Samsung SGH-E720, for some it was an awful experience but to many the device was a pleasure and similarly to unlock freely with a menu or two.

Without further or do let's jump into the GSMArena specifications of the device


GENERAL 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
SIM Mini-SIM
Announced 2005, 1Q
Status Discontinued
BODY Dimensions 90 x 45 x 23.3 mm (3.54 x 1.77 x 0.92 in)
Weight 80 g (2.82 oz)
DISPLAY Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 176 x 220 pixels, 9 lines
  - Second external display OLED, 65K colors (96 x 96 pixels)
SOUND Alert types Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker No
3.5mm jack No
MEMORY Card slot No
Phonebook 1000 x 12 fields, Photo call
Call records 30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls
Internal 90 MB
DATA GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE No
WLAN No
Bluetooth v1.1
USB Yes
CAMERA Primary 1 MP, 1152 x 864 pixels, LED flash
Video Yes
Secondary No
FEATURES Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Radio No
Games 4 - Bobby Carrot, Airship Racing, Arch Angel, Freekick + downloadable
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
Colors Bronze
  - MP3/AAC/MP4 player
- Predictive text input
- Organizer
- Voice memo
BATTERY Li-Ion 800 mAh battery
Stand-by Up to 200 h
Talk time Up to 5 h 30 min
  Extended battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Stand-by Up to 260 h
Talk time Up to 7 h
MISC SAR EU 0.66 W/kg (head)  

The phone was a typical but updated design for the current feature-set of Samsung mobile phones at that point in 2005 with impressive specs all round at a decent price point. with it's 1 megapixel image sensor and decent UI which only a few Samsung devices had the like for like UI including fonts and UX and OLED Screen which made it unique, at a time where OLED's were merely gimmicks.

my phone still works today bar the battery is shot, the keypad is dying and the casing is falling apart but it still charges, powers up can connect to the internet and take video and photos of somewhat good quality.

I'll not bore you too much but I will say I love the phone an awful lot. but it does have issues.

Pros: overall looks, easily unlock-able, smaf ringtones (MMF files) decent camera with flash.

Cons: t9/itap can't save due to memory constraints, low sound volume from ringing out and phone speaker on voice, non standard usb port with headphone jack, non standard charger (unless you had an LG 3g phone a few years later)


In all despite it's flaws it's the first contract handset to last me longer than 3 years, similarly with the Nokia e71 so with that  in mind it's one of only 2 I would permanently consider using again long term.

Paul

Lesson learnt #SillyDaddy

Just a very quick post.

My youngest has a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids edition which she loves dearly, despite the fact we restrict it's usage to 30 minutes a day, well despite the fact she wants more time and on occasions she'll be allowed an hour. Despite this her technical mind likes to play and mess about and tries her best to bypass the password. This does mean that she locks the tablet up from time to time, normally this is a quick thing to fix. Well today was not a normal day.

She locked it good and proper this morning and nothing I could do could get it to unlock. And Samsung's UI made it even more difficult. Not a single warning or error which put me into panic mode, thinking Google's algorithms have deemed the device as lost or stolen, especially as it refused to accept the account and password paired to the device.

I won't lie it's a gut wrenching moment when you think it's going to need a factory wipe especially as we may lose free bundled apps on the device, doubtful but worse has happened in the past.
On checking the account it works well on a computer so it has to be something Samsung related. Then it hit me like a slap in the face with a giant tuna!

Is the device on flight mode and if so is it visible at this point?

Yes and yes! Am I an idiot and the girls laughed like loons when we realised it was something silly

However the tablet would only tell you this if you turn it off, no warnings or dialogue to inform you of this, even then the power off flight mode option is not clear. Even moreso in Kids mode!

DEAR ALL ANDROID DEVICE DEVELOPERS

Make a warning similar to the image here especially if a device is locked. It'll fix a lot of hassle for end users who are not as knowledgeable. As stupid as it sounds but giving people basic info may be enough to reduce tech support calls, well maybe!

I'm off for a cuppa!

Paul

Sad to be leaving you Nokia

It's time to move on. 

I'm sorry, Nokia. I truly am saddened by this decision.

I've sold my E6 and C3-01 and purchased a Huawei Ascend P1s( the s does not stand for 'Sorry. Not 4g')

Why have I done this you may ask, what's made a Nokia purist (as called by some) move to android. An OS which i hated in the LG optimus1?

Here's the situation. I've owned Nokia phones since the emergence of GSM devices in the UK and loved and hated them in some cases. But since the move to Windows phone with Elop. They've made (in my eyes) a humongous mess of things.

I wanted the pureview. however Nokia sold the WP7 platform to the networks over the 41megapixel-oversampling megaphone with Symbian which people wanted. leaving many lost for words.
Then decided to ditch this technology and make a different tech for lumia handsets with the same name.

Then the marketing. The pureview 808 was used for allsorts of photographic goodness, sadly most of this was highlighted by sites like Symbian tweet, all about Symbian and others.
When the lumia was marketed they were using films shot on the N8 to advertise the lumia 800. (every day on* channel five for a few weeks) many thought the lumia made these films/productions when the aging N8 was the star.
Whereas now they hide behind a professional film crew and photoshop to demonstrate the lumia 920's power without using the lumia's sensor. That sucks balls.

The final nail in the coffin was the face current lumia owners could not update to Windows phone 8, but are still "supported with windows phone7.7" or something silly. Also apple style marketing BS on why the lumia 920 does not have SD functionality sounds pathetic unless your an apple fanboi.

At this same time unlocked/vanilla Symbian belle devices are stuck waiting for updates to fix bugs that previous updates caused. and telling us the same BS, then claiming the device is network branded (i won it in a compo, it's vanilla according to your repair team)


Sadly Nokia. I see why Ricky Cadden and Dr Rita El Khoury Both got fed up with Nokia, causing them to close the site they both ran together (with a lot of awesome writers), Symbian-guru.com  With quotes like these From Ricky "I can’t continue to support a manufacturer who puts out such craptastic ‘flagships’ as the N97, and who expects me to use services that even most of Nokia’s own employees don’t use"
and from Rita, "I swear I could get a VISA, buy an airplane ticket, travel to Texas and talk to Ricky in person before Nokia Messaging for IM loads and opens a conversation with him on my N97 Mini." In their Final blogpost on Symbian guru (archived) I really suggest you read it, as it's a scary insight into the woes of the average symbian user. This should have been the wake up call to Nokia. But it seems this was not. Especially looking back at the mess they made of the belle updates, (E6 users have been forgot about once. Then it happened again this month)
 (Note: this part of the post has been edited)


Well for the next 2 year i'm staying on Android. (currently Ice cream Sandwich) and while I am. Please nokia listen to the fat git who Loves Symbian and Nokia. Being on android makes me feel like i'm cheating on you. but I have no choice. I only have my E71 left here as the floozy phone for blog events i attend.

you have two years to turn it around. make Nokia amazeballs again please. Right now it looks impressive, but still looks uncertain for many people.

I still love you nokia. that will never end. but for now it's time for us to take some time apart.

Paul

Thanks to Ricky Cadden and Dr Rita El Khoury for allowing me to quote them over on the archive at  Symbian-guru

Drop them a visit at MobileRNR, Rickycadden.com Or Phonearena