Galaxy S4 Active/S5?

Anyone have one?  After reading about OC's trip to the beach I started looking into water proof phones.  Both the S4 Active and the new S5 are waterproof.  What do you guys think about these phones?

Yeah I looked at those today. They are solid phones just like the regular models but have plugs in all the holes and a better seal on the back panel. I'm not sure I would say any phone is water proof. Water resistant maybe.  I couldn't pull the trigger on switching to andriod as I am to invested in the apple Eco system right now.

S7 OC wrote:Yeah I looked at those today. They are solid phones just like the regular models but have plugs in all the holes and a better seal on the back panel. I'm not sure I would say any phone is water proof. Water resistant maybe.  I couldn't pull the trigger on switching to andriod as I am to invested in the apple Eco system right now.

They are rated to be resistant in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.

Yeah and that is all you really need for every day protection.  If you are going deep sea diving, get a fully underwater case thingy.  What attracts my is the water resistance, without a case.  For example, I have the life-proof case for my iPhone.  It works great!  I took it to Disney World, more specifically the water parks and it worked great.  Got pics a videos I would have never gotten otherwise... but... at the expense of using a case.  I don't like phone cases and normally don't keep my iPhone in any case of any kind.  I like naked phones.

My life proof case is IP68 rated which is 6ft/60mins.  The Samsung is IP67 rated for 3ft/30mins.  That is a lot of protection without an additional case.  It intrigues me.

I'm still rolling with an S3 but will upgrade to an S5 when the S6's come out.  I'm not a big fan of having the latest and greatest when the difference in price is so much.  If I extend my contract for 2 more years I'll be able to get an S5 for probably around $100 when the S6's come out so that's fine with me.  As it is now I could get an S5 for $199 but I can wait.

Right Zak the life proof case is more $ out of pocket but does the same if not more. That is the route I will most likely be going.

I have a regular s4 and I love it. It does have some drawbacks but a much better phone than the Iphone4 I had previous.

I don't have any iTunes music so it was kind of a no brainer for me.

When i got it on black friday 2013 WalMart was charging 99.00 with a 2 yr contract and giving a 100 dollar gift card. Best Buy at the time was giving them away for free. I stood in line and Walmart priced matched the BestBuy price and then they paid me 100 gift card to take the phone.

Being the patient, non-inpulsive person I am... I just bought an Galaxy S5 Active.  I'll post up some impressions in a few days.

Nice

Good call!

First impression after 24hrs:  Overall I like it.  Coming from an iPhone since the first generation it takes a little getting used to.  But aside from general navigation and fancy graphics, it is a smart phone, just like Apples and mostly functions the same way.  I like the ability to customize each page/home screen with more attractive things like clocks/weather/music.  It makes the experience feel more personal, but also more cluttered.  Apples iOS might be boring but it's simple and efficient.

The S5's screen is absolutely gorgous!  Full stop.

The S5 Active also seem more durable and sturdy than the regular S5.  The case feel more solid and better quality overall.  That said, it is not as nice as the iPhones.  This phone is plactic but I admit it feels nice and I have no complaints.

Water test:  I did run water over it in the sink and has no problems what so ever.  This is good since it's the main reason I bought it.  The real text will begin next week when I head to the beach.

First problem:  Text messages from iPhone users.  This is a real problem for anyone considering making the switch from Apple to Android.  You can NOT receive text messages from iPhone users!!!  At least not with out a good deal of effort.  The problem is that as an iPhone user my phone automatically set up to send iMessages by default.  Anyone I ever texted with, that also had an iPhone, would use iMessages by default.  When you switch phones to the S5, iPhone users don't know you switched and continue to send iMessages and you can't receive them on your new phone.  So people will text away thinking you are getting messages but you won't get a single one.

This problem is compounded that EVERYONE on the freakin planet has an iPhone so basically I could not get texts from anyone I know.  There are a number of supposed fixes out there.  One is to contact Apple Support and have them remove your number from the iMessage database.  Fortunately, I still have my iPhone and was able to disable iMessage on both my phone and iPad.  This seems to have fixed the problem.  If you trade in your phone, be sure to remove your number and disable iMessages before trading it in.  it will save you a lot of headache.

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Still, that is not Androids/Sangsung's fault so I hold no grudge against the phone, but it was a frustrating morning all the same.

More to come...

Get handcent app for texting way better then the basic galaxy one. Also zedge free ringtones and wallpapers. You can also dl and up stuff from the galaxy to the forum which I couldn't do with my iPhone.

S7 DROOPY wrote:Get handcent app for texting way better then the basic galaxy one. Also zedge free ringtones and wallpapers. You can also dl and up stuff from the galaxy to the forum which I couldn't do with my iPhone.

The Android/Galaxy was not the problem here so a new text app would not have solved the problem.  I had to turn off iMessaging.  But I will check out those apps.  I am a little weary of some apps as the Android system is much more vulnerable to attacks/maleware/viruses.

As an iPhone user if you have iTunes songs on your computer you can sync them to your galaxy with an app call tune twist , or something like that. Very cool keep me updated I am still pondering switching at some point

One thing I found very cool was an app called Smart Switch which allowed me to sign into my Apple account and grab all my iCloud stuff.  Calendar, contacts, photos, even apps!  Within about 30 mins I had all my stuff from my iPhone on the SG5.  Even all 400+ photos.  Contacts were all there, even the ones I had assigned photos to, now had the same photo here.  And I think I can get all my music too but I have to hook it up to iTunes.  I'll let you know.

I use Hangouts which handles my SMS and also data based messaging. I'm guessing iMessaging is a similar data based message service so you aren't using up everyone's SMS plans. As I have never had an apple product I have had no problem with this, but maybe I would if I switched. Most of my friends use Samsung and Nokia.

BTW
 Hangouts is awesome for convenient pic and video sharing as well as video phone calls Skype style. It is a Google product I think so is likely already installed.

S7 Coolhand wrote:
BTW
 Hangouts is awesome for convenient pic and video sharing as well as video phone calls Skype style. It is a Google product I think so is likely already installed.

Yep, it's pre-installed.  Have it and use it on my phone.

Hangout a is cool I use it to text with my brother who uses android.

So you can use Hangouts on Apple?  I wonder if iMessaging is available on Android.