Here’s our full Samsung Galaxy S5 Active review.
Samsung has announced the Galaxy S5 Active, the first spin-off device of the Galaxy S5 to retain the name, after the company decided to create a separate brand for the new Galaxy K Zoom. Rumors of the S5 Active’s existence has been spreading for weeks, and it’s the AT&T network which is the first to snap up the device, and confirm its availability.
The rugged phone is ready to buy today both online and in AT&T’s retail stores, where it costs $200 with a two-year contract. There is also the option to purchase the S5 Active using AT&T Next, where the 12-month plan costs $35.75 per month, and the 18-month plan is $27.50. Additionally, if the Samsung Gear Fit appeals to you, AT&T will knock $50 off the regular price when you buy the new phone.
Like its predecessor the Galaxy S4 Active, the S5 Active takes Samsung’s current top-of-the-range smartphone and toughens it up. The body has been beefed up to provide shock resistance, without making the device so ugly you’ll want to leave it at the bottom of whatever cliff it falls off. The phone also has an IP67 rating, meaning it should survive most encounters with the wet stuff. Provided it’s all sealed up, Samsung says the phone can take a 30-minute dunking in a meter of water, and won’t be adversely affected by rain or humidity. The IP67 rating also covers dust protection too.
The feature list will be familiar to anyone who already knows the standard Galaxy S5. The Active model takes its power from a 2.5GHz Snapdragon processor, and displays the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system on a 5.1-inch, 1080p, Super AMOLED screen. It also shares the same 16-megapixel camera, 4G LTE connectivity, and rear-mounted heart rate monitor as the S5.
One new feature is a button to launch the Activity Zone, where you’ll find quick access to apps suited to outdoor use, such as the flashlight and the stopwatch, plus data taken from the built-in barometer and compass. Finally, the Galaxy S5 Active comes in three colors. A slick Titanium Gray joins a subdued Ruby Red, but we have a feeling the new Camo Green option will appeal to many potential S5 Active buyers.
AT&T is already advertising the Galaxy S5 Active on its website. If you don’t want to get tied down to a contract, the phone is also available SIM-free and unconnected for $715.
FIND EARLY RUMORS AND LEAKED VIDEO OF THE GALAXY S5 ACTIVE ON PAGE 2
If the regular water and dust resistant Galaxy S5 isn’t tough enough for you, you’ll want to pay attention to the latest leak showing what’s said to be the Galaxy S5 Active, a spin-off of the S5 that’s ready to play really rough. Although we’ve heard very little about an S5 Active until now, it always seemed unlikely for Samsung not to launch both it and an S5 Mini sometime in the future.
The leak comes in the form two hands-on videos shot by TK Tech News, which gives us a brief overview of the hardware, and a closer look at the device’s specifications. On the outside, the phone retains the S5’s basic shape, but is covered in impact-absorbing rubber, and also has a set of three physical keys below the screen.
It’s not mentioned, but we’d expect the phone to share the same 5.1-inch display as the S5, and although the video’s host often says the screen looks to have a higher-than-1080p resolution, we doubt this will be the case. A shot of the phone’s settings menu also lists a standard 1920 x 1080 pixel count.
Flipping the phone over reveals a heart-rate monitor mounted below a 16-megapixel camera lens, and a removable battery cover. A rubber seal runs all the way round the inside of the panel, ensuring the innards are kept dust free and dry. Sadly, there’s no direct size comparison between the S5 Active and the S5, so we don’t know how much extra bulk has been added to the phone. Prior to running a few benchmarking tests, it’s confirmed the phone used in the video has a Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, and runs Android 4.4.2, making it identical to the Galaxy S5.
The S5 Active in the video is an AT&T model, but Samsung has yet to make the device official, and there’s no indication when it may do so. Perhaps we should expect a major event before the summer, where the S5 Active, S5 Mini, and if we’re lucky, the S5 Prime could all be revealed.
