Just picked up the samsung s5 active with a pelican case for my very first smart phone. Just wondering if any tech gurus here think paying the extra duckets is really worth not just starting with the s4 active. I have about a week and a half to return this thing. With a $35 restock fee of course. The only real difference I can tell between the 2 is the upgraded camera and the bullsh! t heart monitor, which I will probably never use. Getting used to a monster smart phone might take some doing seeing as how Luis and I both hale from the same munchkin tribe. I appreciate your input.

I tested this phone for 4 months before field entry @ AT&T, so I think I am qualified to respond. I dont think, I know, that this is the best device in the market place right now. The benefits we will continue to see from new devices are not entirely in the form of feature upgrades, but more squarely in the space of hardware upgrades. Quad core processors. Ultra fast workflows. Buttloads of RAM, Excellent battery life management & extensions. Super fast cameras that take excellent photo's. Next generation antenna's with incredible network speeds when interacting with a 4G LTE network ( I've had up to 52mbs on an S5 at my house, fastest ever on any phone on any network as far as I have seen)

So in line with what I am saying, the Smartphone "Features" marketplace (especially in terms of Apps) is saturated and we won't see much innovation here for a while, but we will continue to see jumps in hardware performance on the devices, and that is where the Samsung S5 Shines.

You have to ask yourself if you need a Porsche or a Honda.

You dont have to test how waterproof it is, we, and others, already have

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RofPY61okSQ

Rico tested that phone?

I don't need a Ferrari Sky. Just figured if I was gonna bite the bullet, I would go with technolgy that would not be outdated in a year. I have been using a Samsung tab for a couple years so it made sense to stick with Android platform to cut down on the learning curve. Huge learning curve for me. Thanks for the input guys. I just burnt the box for the pelican case, so no turning back now.

Hell I don't even facebook!

Dogfish- I'm certain Rico has already tested the waterproofness. he's the posterchild for phone abuse. That's why I created him a facebook page for his phone 'adventures'


Metal, you'll observe excellent performance from this phone.... it was relatively bug-free from the manufacturer.
Two cautions: be careful with the charging port cover, its delicate.

Secondly, I've noticed this phone begins to tweak out when the storage rates exceed 85%. Taking 3-5mb pics all day for months will eat up your internal storage, so before you get to that consumption % migrate all your old pics off to a PC. That'll keep it snappy.

Thanks Sky. I was thinking the port cover could be a potential issue. I will have to adjust the pic resolution. I assume the factory default is at highest res. Once you have played around with the new goods give us a review, if you are allowed.

Happy with with Ours...

As an alternate to i-Pukes, Windows Phone, and other Android platform devices, Amazon did begin offering it's new "Fire" Android device last month, which is quite intriguing.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EOE0...;pf_rd_i=507846

This device has a couple cool new features that other's dont. Check out The new Dynamic Perspective and Firefly functions on that link.

It remains to be seen if these differences will help carve out a healthy enough market niche for it to survive against a lot of other strong competitors.

4G_LTE signal is the fastest signal in US at this point. Is there much difference in speed in 3g to 4g? Yes 4g is much faster.

So keep in mind just because you are purchasing a 4G capable phone your network providers signaling equipment may not yet have the capability of 4G/LTE. Example-where I work in Marysville-Sprint does not have 4G so best you can do is 3G or WIFI.

http://opensignal.com/coverage-maps/US/

Samsung Galaxy 5—great phone –like said the features are out there already for the most part the improvements of antenna, screen res and size, battery life, camera…

Choosing between S4 and S5 not a whole lot says I’ve got to have that phone-it comes down to device cost difference and the $35 re-stocking fee =they kinda got ya.

Keep in mind if you do not carry the extra $ insurance and you do lose or destroy a phone, you can always request a refurb'd phone (like device) to replace without renewing contract or paying full retail