Summer Vacation with the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S4 Active rocked the world with its IP67 water and dust protection, allowing the device to go underwater for up to 30mins. With the release of this year’s upgrade, what better place to check out a water-resistant phone than at a water park? Last week, AT&T invited a small group of bloggers to check out the updated Galaxy S5 Active at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Valencia, CA for #attmobilereview.
They picked us up in style with a stretch limo.
And then they spoiled us with two private cabanas.
We had lots of fun playing with the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active.
But how does it perform? I had the chance to demo the phone for a week after this event in order to give an accurate review and I’ll say that it’s a nice, sturdy piece of hardware in your hand and in your pocket. It’s not too big like some of these MEGA phablets on the market but feels ruggedly solid, probably won’t need to get an additional outer case like you normally might with other smartphone selections. Indeed, this phone already comes stock with a texturized grip and extra padding around the edges as part of the MIL-spec 810G rating.
For those who enjoy the tactile feel of physical buttons, the S5 Active comes with three solid buttons on the face and even an extra re-programmable button on top of the volume keys, handy for taking underwater pictures since the touch-screen is deactivated when wet. However, this is more of a novelty rather than premiere feature as the camera hasn’t been optimized for underwater shots.
Overall, the S5 Active isn’t meant to be an underwater camera nor should you keep it submerged for extended lengths of time. But now you can really engage in water-sports, oceans, rivers and lakes without fear. How cool would it be to take a dual-camera selfie while water-skiing? For those who don’t follow such an “active” lifestyle though, it’s still a pretty cool trick to freak out your friends by tossing this phone at them in the pool. And now you can sing along to Youtube lyric videos right in the shower too. The S5 Active simply offers peace of mind that your phone will be fine, even if you drop-kick it by accident into the toilet.
