JB Hi-Fi is now selling it at 299. if your phone suddenly breaks this is a great deal. the galaxy s5 is a good phone. it's in jbhifi recent catalogue.
OP Please read Title Guidelines for next time. Thanks.
JB Hi-Fi is now selling it at 299. if your phone suddenly breaks this is a great deal. the galaxy s5 is a good phone. it's in jbhifi recent catalogue.
OP Please read Title Guidelines for next time. Thanks.
Better than paying the same price for a slower phone.
Ozbargainers love Xiaomi.
Asia loves Xiaomi. Even with all the marketing Oppo throw at you at airports and on the streets, I still see more Xiaomis and Samsungs than any other brand around Asia.
The 'X' makes it sound cool
@outlander: it would be a z sound when said I'm 90% sure.
@Slippery Fish: It's more of an "sh" sound. Shee-yao-mee.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30848303
I think that's more of a Beijing accent. Us regular Asians say see-yao-mee.
No band 28 and not water resistant the s5 is ….. not sure how many years it will take for chinadroids to catch up with Samsung and apple.
@garage sale:
Using a Xiaomi with Band 28 to type this reply. Not sure on waterproof Xiaomis.
I thought it was like a "tz" sound personally…
very few affordable xiaomi have band 28 probably because it’s not used in china, and china is their primary market. the ones with band 28 are a few models as they are for select global markets ..eg taiwan india ….. samsung and apple have had band 28 on all their phones for many years as they cater primarily for a global market.
I still have the S5 and it is going strong after 2 1/2 years of daily usage. Yes, it is slowing down when it comes to loading some web pages and photos in low light are average but other than that it still does the job well for routine tasks (phone calls, texting, emailing, basic web browsing).
The lack of the OIS kills the camera.. which is evident on low light shots too. The biggest jump in camera quality to the Note 4 was this feature.
I'm still using an S5 and Resurrection Remix with Android 7.1.2 rocks on this phone! Someone has also released a beta of 8.0 but somewhat unstable at this stage.
Reasonable value for money. Accessories available.
This phone does offer a lot of features that many newer ones don’t. Snapdragon 801 must be starting to show it’s age.
Phones haven't really changed much in the last 4 years. The only notable improvements have been to front-facing camera's (higher res) and low-light sensitivity of the main camera's.
Also given that the cheapest AU stock is ~$900 for S8, ~$700 for S7 and ~$500 for S6, $299 for S5 seems totally fair to me. There's absolutely no way the S8 is worth three times the price.
My partner and I, along with my brothers all use S5's. Aside from the aging camera, it's still 100% fit for purpose.
Also, its the most recent flagship Samsung that has a removable battery.
Not just low light sensitivity. I have the S5 and my wife has the Motorola Moto G5 Plus, which is very similar price. The picture quality on the main camera is noticeably better in most cases, even in good to excellent light. Most people use the HDR mode when in good to excellent light and I couldn't understand why the G5 Plus was taking sharper images. Then I looked carefully at the ones taken in the S5. Most of the time there was a small amount of camera shake between the first and second image used to compose the HDR. It didn't seem to matter how hard I tried not to shake the camera. Now either the G5 Plus is doing it differently, or it is correcting the camera shake in software. Whatever is the case it wasn't happening. Plus you didn't have to worry about making sure you didn't shake the camera.
It goes without saying that the most important factor is the user. I take noticeably better pictures on the S5 than my partner/brothers. You just need to ensure the contrast in lighting isn't too severe, turn HDR mode on and to keep extremely still for a couple of seconds (as you said). Then crank the colour saturation up after you've taken the snap and some people question if I used a DSLR when posting the best images online.
@Viper8: Increased color saturation is not a replacement for an expanded dynamic range. This is particularly the case when not shooting RAW. My point with the S5 is that it needs to be kept very still to avoid camera shake. Yet this isn't an issue with the G5. Why buy a phone that makes it difficult when you can purchase one that doesn't. Using a smartphone is not like an DSLR where you use your head as an additional point of stability.
@not a bargain:
No its not, but when displayed at 1080p it can be near-indistinguishable if done well in optimum conditions.
Because the S5 is cheaper (Aus stock) and therefore the two phones should not be compared to one-another.
G5 is more comparable to S6 in price. In fact as of today you can get AU S7 for under $600 which is comparable to G5.
@Viper8:
It might be in specifications and performance. But the G5 plus is only $40 more at Officeworks than the S5. I'm sure I saw a local stock for the G5 plus cheaper than this as well.
@Viper8: The G5 plus is cheaper than the S5 in AUS. It was $239 recently from The Good Guys.
Yes, and it will be cheaper again if you are willing to wait for a deal. There's cons and pros to each phone though.
Your correct as I was lucky to snare one of those for family member at that price.
The current price for most people would be $299-$349 local stock for most people ( non ozbargainers ), to be fair.
"Most people" who say per example drop their old phone and crack screen etc. will just check price there
and then with a few online stores as well as shops and just get themselves a new phone based on the
current price and most liked store.
@not a bargain:
right now the G5 plus 16gb is going for $280 au stock at mobileciti ebay store after discount. the 32gb import model can be had for ~$304 delivered from eglobal.
And the size. As of the s8, Samsung is dead to me. It's not practical.
7mm taller, 4mm narrower and same thickness as an S5? How is this impractical?
Well actually, I thought the s3 screen area was big enough.
Larger vertical distance is actually a bitch.
If your primary use is playing video that's a different matter. I'm not one of those people. I prefer one handed use - ie: being able to reach both top corners with my thumb
And the performance, my S5 is starting to lag and I turned off updates early but eventually your apps will start to strain it. I've had the s5 for 4 years already.
I'm probably stating the obvious here, but I imagine you have tried doing a full factory reset and only install the minimum apps needed whilst disabling all unused apps.
Also not having too much memory taken up with unnecessary data might help too, with regular memory/cache clean outs.
Yeah, but at that point you're not really using a smartphone if you can't use all the apps you want to. I went through the above with my S2 and it was just a painfully frustrating experience, if you have the money, I would most definitely recommend upgrading your phone for performance which certainly improves at some level each new generation. If I'm using non-extensive apps like chrome, reddit app, music etc. and I have to close something to make it not lag, that device is already obsolete to me cause that's just basic everyday use.
@JigglePhysics:
Agree. When you say your apps will start straining, are they newer apps that you installed later that take a lot of processing power? Or are they apps that were installed/you installed earlier and with updates over time started running a lot slower on your phone.
Or do you think that using a smartphone over time starts to effect the inbuilt ROM memory, causing it to have some reading errors and hence slowing it down, even after a factory reset ( maybe even by design in order to upgrade )?
For the latter, I have an ipad that is barely used and hasn't updated absolutely anything in 5+ years and still runs perfectly consistently without any factory resets. Even if it slowed down over time, I hardly see this being a real issue, I've owned iphones and the galaxy s2 and everytime I've resetted for the purpose of clearing whatever errors, I've never seen any significant boost in speed besides the ones you'd get when you naturally don't have as much apps installed. I'm inclined to believe its not some magic spell that gives you 10+% extra performance to the point I think it's laughable and just a placebo effect.
I'm talking mostly about old apps that are updated over time, generally with new features or new ui, sometimes out of necessity from compatibility or security (this is just an example) issues, you'd update them cause it doesn't make sense to keep a phone that uses old crap. To counter, I actually never update the OS cause I find it a prime suspect in making your phone truly obsolete. You can be fine with an app, you can just roll it back relatively easy but if you update your OS and find your phone model runs it like garbage, the average consumer is S-C-R-E-W-E-D. This happened with the s2 and my old iphones where people have naively demanded the new sparkling version of os for their old phones.
how many apps can you run at the same time on small screens and do you really want a lot apps running in the background using up your battery and data allowances ?
i launch apps as needed and turn off when finished, same with gps and wireless turn on when needed off when not.
It's a solid phone. Saw a Sony Xperia XA at bing lee for the same price, and it was a P.O.S.
Bought this almost 2 years ago for $330 from Harvey Norman, combined with AMEX deal.
I highly recommend not getting this phone. Comes with Peel remote pre-installed so you can't get rid of it. Peel then spams you with full screen ads, interrupting whatever you happen to be doing.
You do know that the Peel app can be easily disabled?
My wife has the S5 and no issues with the Peel remote ads.
shouldn't haven preinstalled junk like this in the first place.
I got quite pissed off at Peel remote, with it's notifications, that I just had to find a way to remove it. Turns out all I had to do was go through the App Drawer and press the 3 dots in the corner, and then pressing Uninstall / Disable Apps. It placed a red x on each app I could remove - of which Peel was one. So I chose that and it uninstalled lol. I found it a bit perplexing since I couldn't uninstall it through the Application Manager, but it worked so I was happy :)
If you disable peel I'm pretty sure you won't get anymore adds. Peel actually works really well, with program guide etc, if you want to use it. Should be uninstallable though rather than disablableable. Bla bla.
Just install Adhell, which is free. It block Ads and DIsable packages - Bloatware from Samsung. No root is needed
Never experienced this. Not sure what you're on about tbh.
The issue with Peel is one day you have a new lock screen at night/morning then it puts ads in it that show while your phone is locked. It doesn't say anywhere what product it was actually related to. But yes you can remove updates and disable it easily enough.
Peel is for IR remote control (TVs, players, Aircons…).
There are other options. See https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-use-my-Samsung-Note-4-as-a-r…
S5 is very easy to root, so you can remove Peel, install Adblock, never have this issue again.
Just install a custom ROM like Resurrection Remix. Problem solved!
Pretty good specs for such an old phone, but Android KitKat 4.4.2.
EDIT according to https://gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s5-6033.php upgradable to 6.0
According to Lineage OS, upgradable to Nougat.
Mine was with Telstra and upgraded till 6.0
Although I have already switched to S7 for a year now
This phone isn't gettting Nougat anymore, part of the reason I sold this phone and upgraded to Galaxy S7.
However this phone does have removable battery and water resistance, a combination of features you won't see anymore in modern devices.
The water resistance however is compromised over time because the charging flap down the bottom is what keeps water out, and that fails once you used it enough. As usual, place zero trust in water resistance claims.
Yeah I heard about when your bottom flap wears out from overuse it's gonna get wet for sure!. Other than that.. best Samsung in my opinion. Great size too and the removable batt is a real positive !
Replacement flaps are a dollar on eBay - buy a couple of spares in advance.
Swapping them out takes about two minutes with a Philips screwdriver
Glad the latest generations of phones don't require flaps like that anymore.. All the ports are now waterproof too.
The first thing after getting my S5 was to take off the charging cap as its quite annoying to open it every time for charging (I don't use wireless charging so micro-usb all the time)
But I do agree that replaceable battery is a good thing! S5 is the last S-generation with replaceable battery…
Is it possible to get rid of the charging port cover warning?
What warning would that be?
I always get a message reminder to close the charging port goober thingy cover after charging phone. Pressing back doesn't get rid of it, and I have to wait for it to disappear before I can use phone. Very annoying.
Wow, that does sound really annoying. So is your goober thingy still on or off?
I think I would prefer to leave the old or new ( someone said $1 from ebay ) little port door on if you can't disable that message/phone use delay after charging.
I suppose you have looked deeply in setting to try to disable that with no luck, hence your question lol ?
Or you can put LineageOS on it… Still a good phone, but only 16Gb in this deal though….. OR you could get a XIAOMI MI A1 for less than $270…
Or a zuk z2 for low 200's or the pro for mid to similar price … too expensive for such an old phone in my opinion.
still, microsd slot / removable battery / headphone jack
those are extinct nowadays
LG v20. Last went for $367 here in OzB.
lol.. Good luck in finding stock of the Z2's. The Pro will be in the low 300's still, but the performance blows away this phone - even the camera. Just that some people like having a trusted brand and it is Aus warranty (2 years still from date of purchase!)
It has a micro SD slot.
For less ~$20 you can chuck a 32GB U3 or a 64GB U1 card in it. I think it can take up to 128GB if you need that much.
This phone does have band 28 tho.
What's with the Xiaomi obsession here on Ozbargain? Did I miss something, yeah they're good phones but they didn't seem that great to me.
Same as the obsessions with GearBest etc. All about that cheapness.
Yeah but aren't there even cheaper better offerings, like some of those other Chinese brands?
Maybe cheaper, but often not always better, for example software quality and support.
There is a reason why Huawei and Xiaomi are in the top three volume sales in China and India.
@ozhunter68: yeah possibly but if they just use stock Android I don't really see a problem.
i think the obsession with xiaomi is promoted by the confucius clubs at universities and influencing our buying decisions without questions …..
but seriously, i have owned 2 xiaomi and it was at a time when phones with 1080p screens were expensive in australia, now lots of manufacturers have cheap 1080p screens, dual sims and band 28 so these chinadroids ( android phones designed for china domestic market not global market ) are becoming less relevant as bargains.
Does this have a notification led?
yes
red, green and blue.
Get a Nexus 5X
I sold that too, because that bootlooped and I had to get it repaired by LG :(
Same. Got it repaired and sold right after.
Get a Nexus 5X
Shudder. Bootloops.
Never had an issue with mine and it's almost 2 years old.
That's nice. Unfortunately, your story does not prove it won't happen.
I love this phone. Microsd, nfc, infared red, replaceable battery. It would be better if it has 7.0 update.
Xiaomi Xiaomi Xiaomi Xiaomi Xiaomi Xiaomi Xiaomi
I'd be tempted for $150, NOT $300.
And I'd like a Ferrari for no more than $100k.
But the prices we both just gave are not based on the actual value/cost of the product. How you feel a product should be priced is irrelevant.
Well in that case I'll pass.
Guys, I know this usually gets ignored, but for the good of yourselves (1) and the entire internet (2), please don't buy unsupported handsets.
1) By running unsupported Android versions, you're leaving your data and that of your friends/family open to theft.
2) You're slowing down progress for App/Web developers by increasing the Android market fragmentation. This maintenance burden will be reflected in the services you use, by either a higher cost or slower roll-out of new features.
You're much better off spending that $300 on a modern and supported phone.
And don't forget, newer versions of Android and supported apps will run faster.
I saw some good deals on the Motorola G4 on this site recently.
Still supported. Currently running Android 6.0
Also do you even VPN?
Also do you even VPN?
Why is running a VPN relevant lol?
"you're leaving your data and that of your friends/family open to theft"
@Viper8: Yeah, VPN can only offer so much protection. If your smartphone data gets stolen, SMS's (which require at least 2 people), photos, etc are gone, regardless of what IP address you have).
Edit2: Looks like the final firmware update for the Galaxy S5 was April this year. Samsung supported it for 3 years (a fair effort), but it's now EOL.
Doesn't worth the money. Half the price might be tempting.
I've tried a few different phones lately and i still keep going back to my S5.
Just got a Zuk Z2 but still like the feel and easy use of the S5 if only the S5 had a bigger battery ide be satisfied with it
Great handset for the price.
IP rating
Fhd screen
Decent camera
Sd card
Removable battery
And loads more.
Or just buy the J5 Pro which retails for $349, http://www.samsung.com/latin_en/smartphones/galaxy-j5-2017/S…
Exactly. It's going to be so much better than the older S5 and be quicker to get updates.
Not sure what it means from gsmarena. s5 has a basemark x that doubles that of j5 pro.
720 x 1280 (HD)…. why oh why.
Nothing wrong with 720p screen.
The Xiaomi 4x has a 720p screen and people don't complain about it.
No way to pay $299 for such a old phone.