Choose you smartphone wisely: iPhone 5s or Samsung Galaxy S5?

The time has come for me to turn my attention towards something I haven’t taken into consideration lately: Apple. The thing is, I’m not a fan of Apple and of the iOS, or even Mac for that matter, but I cannot ignore that many of you would rather choose something Apple over something else. Since I’ve tried my best to recommend you some flagship phones, I find it just to bring the latest iPhone, namely the iPhone 5s to the table and try to explain as best as I can, what makes it different than other phones and why you should or shouldn’t choose to buy it.

Since we’ve discussed the Samsung Galaxy S5 before, I’ll try to focus on the iPhone 5s’s pros and cons and compare them to those of the Galaxy S5 and try to reach a conclusion as to which would be the better option for you. Comparing these two phones is relevant in my opinion, because they both are in acclaimed smartphone category and deserve to be reviewed by as many as  possible. Since technology is a leading field today, we’ve no other option than getting ourselves educated on why some companies over others are more mediated and appreciated and who we should invest in.

First off, let’s talk about screens. The iPhone 5s sports a 4 inch LED-backlit IPS LCD screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and an oleophobic coating, capable of reproducing 16 million colors, with a 640*1136 resolution with a 326 ppi pixel density. Sounds pretty amazing, buy I’m sure you already know that on paper, the Galaxy S5’s Super AMOLED screen trumps the iPhone 5S’s, even though it is kind of overbearing and does not handle colors as well as the iPhone 5s’s screen. The Galaxy S5 has a higher resolution and pixel density, more exactly 1080*1920 and 432 ppi, all this on a 5.1 inch screen protected by the same type of Gorilla Glass. Thus, if you want a phablet sized smartphone with a screen that offers you more, you should definitely go for the Galaxy S5. On the other hand, if you find larger smartphones difficult to handle, hold in your hand or if your hands are small, when it comes down to it, you should opt for the iPhone 5s, because it’s more maneuverable than the Galaxy S5.

Moving on, we need to address the issue of OS. If you are an Apple fan or if you’ve been around iOS and know how to work around its features, then the iPhone 5s’s iOS 7  should not give you any trouble. On the other hand, if you have never used iOS for more than a day and are reluctant to learn or if you plain simple prefer Android, your choice should clearly be the Galaxy S5, running Android 4.4.2. That’s to put it plain simple. If we are to talk about which OS is better in terms of performance and accessibility, we would take all day to debate, although popular opinion leads towards Android because of its versatility and freedom (you know what I mean). I would not personally choose the iPhone 5s exactly because of the OS it is running, among other things, but iOS is definitely a deal-breaker in my case. But, as I’ve said before, if you are used to iOS and enjoy the way it handles UI, you should definitely go for the iPhone 5s because it is running the latest in iOS and rumors are it will soon be updated to iOS 8. On the Galaxy S5, besides Android, you can enjoy TouchWiz as well, the touch interface developed by Samsung with certain apps preloaded.

Performance-wise, the iPhone 5s has an ARM v8-based 1.3 GHz dual-core processor, while the Galaxy S5 runs a powerful 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor. Most people say that the iOS combined with the processor provide a smoother experience on the iPhone 5s than Android coupled with the Snapdragon, but fact of the matter is that both phones reportedly run smooth and lag-free, catering to all your needs with rare to no freezes and crashes. Even though the hardware of the Galaxy S5 is better than that of the iPhone 5s, these should not necessarily be deal-breakers, because not everything depends on the hardware. Concerning gaming and graphics, the Galaxy S5 has proved better in tests and benchmarks, since its Adreno 330 GPU topples the iPhone 5s’ PowerVR G6430, offering smoother gameplay at higher frame rates.

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy S5 has received a lot of criticism for not being able to use premium materials for a phone that sports excellent features but has a plastic case and many say it feels cheap. It falls in line with the design of the rest of the Galaxy family, with a slim design, slim bezels, thin body, easy to grip and hold and nicely placed buttons. I honestly like the way it feels and looks, but the perforated back for which Samsung has opted doesn’t really catch my attention, it kind of reminds me of crocs. On the other hand, the iPhone 5s keeps true to its predecessors and sports an anodised aluminium body with diamond cut chamfered edges. The plus for the Galaxy S5 is that it’s IP67 certified, as in it’s dust and waterproof, which the iPhone 5s is not (although you might believe those who’d installed a certain update claiming to make the device waterproof, that was a fun story).  If your choice ends up depending on this field, you need to choose between having a waterproof smartphone and one made out of premium materials guaranteeing endurance and safety for your device. Although your choice shouldn’t necessarily rely on design…

The Galaxy S5 has a 16 MP camera while the iPhone 5S has an 8 MP rear camera, but the visible difference between the quality of photos is not a huge one. There are more features to the Galaxy S5’s camera than that of the iPhone 5s and it does shoot better videos (4k), but many have reported sluggish low-light photos with a milky blue light creeping in, whilst the iPhone 5s does good even in low-lit conditions. I, for one, don’t record video with my phone, I use a handheld little cam for that, but for those of you who enjoy playing around with a recorder, the S5 would be a better choice than the 5s. There is more to the iPhone, which has a dual LED flash and slow motion function, recording full HD at 30 fps, taking  3264 x 2448 resolution stills. The S5 however, uses the new ISOCELL sensor technology and captures 4640*3480 stills. Either smartphone thus sports excellent cameras fit for your needs, but if you really want top-notch, the S5 has better features than the iPhone 5s, even though not by an entire mile.

The things that really sell a smartphone, though are not specs, actually, rather features. Both phones have incorporated fingerprint sensors. The S5 is kind of fitness tracking oriented, with a built-in heart rate sensor, but the iPhone 5s is said to be updated along with the new iOS 8 to run the Healthkit app which can do almost all the S5 does at the moment. The Galaxy S5 has infrared, which allows you to use it as a remote, while the iPhone 5s lacks that feature. Another thing that most have appreciated in the Galaxy S5 is battery life, which is prolonged even though the SAMOLED screen needs a good deal more power and offers you Ultra power saving mode, which can make 10% battery last for almost a day.

Overall, the two smartphones are widely different, yet similar to each other somehow. They have both good and bad reviews, people staying on neutral grounds if you look at statistics, some giving and taking points for design, CPU, OS and camera. Fact of the matter is that both flagships do their best in the field and prove to be worthy competitors.

The iPhone 6 is coming this fall, hopefully, so maybe a comparison between the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6 would be more appropriate, but if you are in a hurry to get a flagship and you are down to these two options, you might want to choose the Galaxy S5 because it sports newer tech and won’t be eclipsed as fast as the iPhone 5s. Or you could just keep your socks on and wait for the iPhone 6!