Is the Samsung S5 the best price/performance smartphone at the moment?

Richdog

Richdog

Richdog

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Seriously, I can't see anything that touches this. Where I live a new one is 240GBP, and the S5 Active is 260 GBP.

The phone is built well enough even if the design doesn't appeal to everyone, and it still has great specs with a gorgeous AMOLED screen and great camera, and it can cheaply be upgraded to wireless charging. Not to mention it's waterproof.

The S5 Active would be perfect were it not for the head-scratchingly stupid limitation of not being able to be upgraded to wireless charging.

Anyway, is there really anything else that can compete in this price range when taken as a whole package?
 
Seems like the Galaxy S5 has dropped to a more realistic price, still not the best value though.

That still belongs to the OnePlus One 64GB at £219.00. :p
 
ebilcake said:
Seems like the Galaxy S5 has dropped to a more realistic price, still not the best value though.

That still belongs to the OnePlus One 64GB at £219.00. :p
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I really want an AMOLED screen, it's much easier on my eyes.

robfosters said:
Better screen, better camera, better cpu, better GPU, more RAM. That's where your £125 is going. Plus the S6 is built much better. No more of that plasticky feel to it.
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I think you are missing the clearly stated gist of the thread, which was value and performance per buck, not overall raw performance. The S5 is still a very well specced and performing phone and the S6 is in another level of price bracket.

I don't want to spend top whack on a phone that I will end up upgrading in a year or so, otherwise I would just buy one and not be considering a lower price bracket. Plus it has no Micro SD slot or waterproofing, which for me is important.

The S6 active on the other hand I would be very tempted with, were it available in the EU... but sadly not.
 
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Can someone explain to me the benefit of people buying sim free/unlocked phones? Unless you're pay as you go then presumably you'll have some sort of monthly contract with whoever your choice of network provider is, and they're practically giving top end phones away for free, or are actually giving them for free depending on your contract. Are you really saving money buying a phone? Genuine question as I've never considered buying a phone before, I've always just done a contract and been given a handset, sometimes with just a small premium to pay.
 
No contract is giving away top end phones for free...

For example, I pay £10.20 a month for unlimited text, mins and 3GB data. To get a contract the same and a new phone (S6), I'd have to pay £36 a month.

That's £620 extra over two years... when the same phone costs £479.99 sim free.

Of course it all depends on the deal. Sometimes it makes sense to get a contract, but generally they work out more expensive over the 24 months.
 
Merlin5 said:
Can someone explain to me the benefit of people buying sim free/unlocked phones? Unless you're pay as you go then presumably you'll have some sort of monthly contract with whoever your choice of network provider is, and they're practically giving top end phones away for free, or are actually giving them for free depending on your contract. Are you really saving money buying a phone? Genuine question as I've never considered buying a phone before, I've always just done a contract and been given a handset, sometimes with just a small premium to pay.
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If you buy SIM free then you can use the phone as you please with no branding or additional contractual obligations. For those on a monthly SIM-only deal who change phones every 12 months it works very well.
 
With my simo deal and a privately bought phone I get unlimited everthing and an s6 for £32 p/m, tbh I don't know what I'm saving but I guess at the time I got the deal it would have been £15+ p/m.

My friends who have s5's are all happy with their phones and none have upgraded early.
 
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ebilcake said:
I have an S6, the AMOLED display is nice but I'd still take the OnePlus One over the Galaxy S5.

The fact it's easier to root and customise would be a big bonus as well, I miss this a lot on my S6.
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Did the OPO sort all its issues out (like touch screen issues)?
 
once you update to the latest lollipop, root it to get rid of all the awful google bloatware and bits and pieces of the samsung bloatware, add on the google launcher it's pretty much perfect for the price

people were way too harsh on it and forget at the time it was much better than the competition and those budget pretentious phones like oneplusone
 
mikeyaj said:
people were way too harsh on it and forget at the time it was much better than the competition and those budget pretentious phones like oneplusone
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Samsung's failure was in the design department and on launch they only offered a 16GB version in most regions, which wasn't enough especially given the complaints regarding available storage on the Galaxy S4(which made the news).

The OnePlue One packed the same Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of memory, 64GB of internal storage, good battery life and a high quality display and camera.

Seems to be every generation you should skip the Galaxy S.

The Good , Galaxy S2, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S6

The Bad, Galaxy S, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S5
 
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Merlin5 said:
Can someone explain to me the benefit of people buying sim free/unlocked phones? Unless you're pay as you go then presumably you'll have some sort of monthly contract with whoever your choice of network provider is, and they're practically giving top end phones away for free, or are actually giving them for free depending on your contract. Are you really saving money buying a phone? Genuine question as I've never considered buying a phone before, I've always just done a contract and been given a handset, sometimes with just a small premium to pay.
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Price, I tend to save over 24months and get the latest phone as and when I please. Right now I pay just £11 a month for my contract, so the price over 24 months is really cheap. You tend to find some good deals with cashback, right now EE is giving £252 so it works out to £8 a month for unlimited text/min, 10GB 4G data. I sell my phone ever 10-14 months as I get bored/want a new toy, which is also nice, but you could do this on contact I suppose.

Freedom is also great, I was on Three for awhile, then they started to suck in London so I jumped ship, if I was in a 24month contract that would have been at least another year of waiting.
 
ebilcake said:
Samsung's failure was in the design department and on launch they only offered a 16GB version in most regions, which wasn't enough especially given the complaints regarding available storage on the Galaxy S4(which made the news).

The OnePlue One packed the same Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of memory, 64GB of internal storage, good battery life and a high quality display and camera.

Seems to be every generation you should skip the Galaxy S.

The Good , Galaxy S2, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S6

The Bad, Galaxy S, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S5
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The bad galaxy phones seem to be the 2 4 and 6. 1 3 and 5 are the better ones
 
MichaelAwkward said:
No contract is giving away top end phones for free...

For example, I pay £10.20 a month for unlimited text, mins and 3GB data. To get a contract the same and a new phone (S6), I'd have to pay £36 a month.

That's £620 extra over two years... when the same phone costs £479.99 sim free.

Of course it all depends on the deal. Sometimes it makes sense to get a contract, but generally they work out more expensive over the 24 months.
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who is you're sim only deal with?
ive been running with a sim only deal for the last 5 years or so and just buying a phone to use.
currently still using the s4 but I can see it getting changed soon.
Im normally pretty hard on phones and have been known to break them on a regular basis. The s4 has taken a fair bit of abuse and hasn't died on me yet.
its been dropped in a drip tray of oil, dropped down the front of a Scania engine while it was running plus more. so far its lasted me about 18 month which is a record for me. it doesnt vibrate any more but that's about the only thing I can complain about.
 
S5 looks a stunning phone. Thing is, i hate spending serious money on a Mobile as i always drop them etc. Currently have a Lumia 640.
 
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