198
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #164,847 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Amazing phone, but be aware of the difference between the regular S5 and the S5 Active.
Upgraded from an S3 to an S5 Active. The guy at the ATT store (can you believe this) was not able to tell me the difference between a regular S5 and an S5 Active. I got the Active, at least already knowing it was more water and shock resistant than the regular S5 (from reading reviews beforehand).
What I did not know is that there is an extra button called the Active button. I've no interest in all the Active bloatware Samsung offers and was glad to find out the button is totally programmable (it now launches the LED light with a short press and the camera with a long press).
The one real problem I've found so far, no, two problems, are 1) the camera lens sticks beyond the edge guard, so if you lay it face down, you risk scratching (this is fixed by ordering a case) and 2) there seems to be no wireless Qi chargers for it. I even spoke with Samsung, who said they are hoping to release one by the 2014 holidays. There is a strong argument for using a wireless charger with this phone, because one of the ways it is so waterproof is its microUSB slot cover, which is kind of annoying to have to unhinge it every time you want to charge. Not to mention wear and tear.
Also because of it being waterproof (which I haven't tested, and don't plan to) they used physical Home, Back and Menu buttons instead of on-screen buttons (those would be kind of hard to push under water I suppose). I'm digging the physical buttons.
Every thing else, like wifi and bluetooth connectivity are superb. The display is gorgeous. The photos and movies, the best I've gotten from a smart phone yet.
If ATT had carried the Sony Xperia Z2, I might have gone with that (just from what I've read in the reviews), but they didn't, so I got the S5 Active, and I'm cool with that!
July 2014 · Cell Phones and Accessories