Does Samsung Need A Bandaid or Not?

Samsung just unveiled their latest and most powerful galaxy till date. Blowing away all the previous models with technologies none of them had, is the ‘New Galaxy’ really worth that hype or does Samsung need a taste of some ‘Hate’ medicine? Let’s find out.

Obviously with every new upgrade, the firepower of a phone goes up. The Galaxy S5 is no exception. It has a better and faster chipset. The camera has been bumped up to 16MP along with the UHD video mode being added. There is a heart rate sensor on the back of the phone and a fingerprint scanner at the front. There is a new design and Touchwiz has got some kind of a minor makeover. But what are the features I love and the ones I don’t? Here is a list.

— — The Good — -

1. The new adaptive display is something which has been tried before, but coupled with Samsung’s display technology, it makes for one of the best screens in the industry right now. At 5.1" it’s neither too large nor too small. Plus being an LED, those white and blacks will just pop and colours will seem even more colourful.
2. The camera is one aspect Samsung is constantly innovating upon. The live HDR view for both video and photo is a good example. We can see how the HDR shot will look in real-time before clicking the picture. Changing the focus of the picture after it was taken is something the Lumia had introduced, the S5 has that as well. It also has a new type of auto-focus technology which Samsung claims is the fastest till date. This just shows Samsung is constantly changing not only it’s camera hardware, but making sure that the software is filled with crazy things we can do with that hardware.

1. Although, borrowed from the Xperia line-up of devices, the S5 is water resistant and dust proof. Note it is water resistant and not water proof, so taking this phone for an underwater dive wouldn’t be such a good idea.
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1. Water and Dust ‘Resistant’[/caption]

— — The Bad — -

1. The design is just not appealing. Samsung says it has been redesigned. It failed to state whether for the better or the worse. The new galaxy looks like a waterproof bandaid with it’s back design, specially the golden one. Only the blue one looks half as decent to be said aesthetically okay.
2. [caption id=”attachment_575" align=”aligncenter” width=”474"]

1. The Galaxy S5 is the one on the right, right?[/caption]
2. The user interface is something which is getting bloated as the number of the galaxy is increasing. The new Touchwhiz has turned some stones to become holo, in very few areas albeit. The new settings menu is terrible with the iconed interface and the whole interface seems childish and very heavy, which ultimately affects performance. I have seen S3’s become as slower than my three year old Galaxy S which is running pure android.

I am undecided on the fingerprint scanner (Touch ID anyone? Well no. Motorola had it way before. But that doesn’t matter.) and the heart rate monitor because we still have to see their applications and how well they work. I am just happy that Samsung has made them open-source so other applications can use them unlike Apple. This is a positive sign.

[caption id=”attachment_574" align=”aligncenter” width=”474"]

The S-Health App.[/caption]

[caption id=”attachment_573" align=”aligncenter” width=”474"]

Finger Printing, Galaxy style.[/caption]

Seriously Samsung, change that Touchwiz and that crappy design and I am sold. I seriously feel they have wounded themselves. This is not an S5, this is the S4S. With the Z2 checking every box including the good design, and the new HTC being touted to do the same along with the crazy rumoured dual-camera setup, according to me Samsung needs a Bandaid. Hope you enjoyed reading. Don’t forget to share/comment/like.

Note: Don’t be a fanboy and post hate comments. A healthy debate is encouraged. The above are my personal views which may differ from person to person.