So good they launched it twice
It’s deja vu all over again. Two years ago, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S5, a high-end plastic smartphone with a big screen. It was very good, but very similar to the previous year’s S4, except for the addition of a fingerprint sensor. Now, Samsung has removed the fingerprint sensor and relaunched the phone as the S5 Neo. Call us pedantic, but ‘neo’ is Greek for ‘new’. This phone is about as new as the Acropolis.
Even so, it’s actually a great idea. Essentially, you’re getting an improved version of a full-priced phone for under £300. And Samsung has even made improvements in certain areas.
Rated IP67 waterproof and dustproof, the case (available in black, silver or gold) may not be as sleek as aluminium but It’s sturdier than glass, and easier to grip than both. The somewhat fussy detailing around the edges serves a practical purpose: this is one of the few smartphones you can open up if necessary, for example to replace the battery when it wears out in a few years. That’ll be a lot cheaper than an official repair.
There’s only 16GB of built-in storage, but the S5 Neo also has a microSD slot for standard cards, from around £10 for 32GB to £40 for 128GB. Samsung’s slightly messy Touchwiz version of Android runs on an eight-core Exynos processor that’s even fester than the original Snapdragon 801, and apart from the occasional brief pause we found everything smooth as silk. Best of all, the battery lasted 16-and-a-half hours of video playback, which in normal use meant we could easily last two days on a charge - much better than most smartphones.
Buying a cheaper phone often means compromising on the display, but the S5 Neo’s Full HD (1920x1080-pixel) AMOLED screen Is exactly what you’d expect on a top-of-the-range Samsung device, with vivid colour and good contrast, albeit modest brightness. And the S5’s 16-megapixel camera still produces excellent pictures.
At a similar price, the OnePlus 2 has a bigger screen and 64GB of storage, but it’s only available direct from its Chinese manufacturer and the battery lasts nowhere near as long. Google’s Nexus 5X - around £75 more expensive - has a fingerprint sensor and feels easier to use, but it’s still a similarly sized plastic phone. So it’s hard to fault the S5 Neo’s value for money.
VERDICT
It may look three years old, but this new-on-the-inside phone gives you all the features you realty need.
SPECIFICATIONS
5.1in 1920x1080-pixel screen • 16-megapixel rear camera • 5-megapixel front camera • 16GB flash storage • 802.11ac WI-FI • Bluetooth 4.1 • 3G/4G • Android 5.1 • 142x73x8.1mm (HxWxD) • 145g • One-year warranty