"I'm not buying that phone because I had a bad experience that one time..." I've heard that reason so many times over the years, one time even recently, and it still baffles me a little bit. Is the impression that nothing, not even a company and what it develops/designs, gets better? If that's the case then we live in a pretty scary world. Moreover, I don't think we'd see a lot of the article titles that we do, that tell us right out of the gate that "Device X is Company Y's best device yet!" now would we? Things have to get better, even for the companies and devices that started off not doing so hot.
I don't think Motorola would be where they are, with so many people rooting for them, if their devices hadn't gotten exceptionally better over the years. Especially when compared to devices like the BACKFLIP. (Man, what a device, am I right?) The same could be said for LG. And with each new iterative device that Samsung launches (according to the Internet), how on Earth could we ever expect anything worthwhile from that company again? We'd be crazy to, I guess.
And yet, with each new handset that makes its way out of the design stage and into the real wold, I obviously get plenty excited. It doesn't matter what it is or who it's from. Even if I've used a ton of devices in the past from the same company, I'm still going to be excited to get my hands on the new and shiny. Why? Because I'm just going to assume, at my own risk, that any complaints I may have had in the past have been alleviated. Completely banished, even! And so I can move forward and aim to enjoy the new experience in front of me.
That's the mentality I have with every device, but especially with any 30 Day Challenge I find myself starting. It's not just about me wanting to get a new daily driver for 30 days, to hopefully replace the one I use every day for a much longer duration of time. No, it has more to do with wanting to find a new phone that actually wows me like I used to be. Some people may look at the Galaxy S5 and think, "Yep, that's the device that's going to win him over" and some others out there might just shake there head and tell me to look elsewhere. To look to the future.
I prefer to give it a try and see how it goes.
So on May 14 I officially started the Galaxy S5 30 Day Challenge. Here we are on June 9, not exactly 30 days, and I'm wrapping up this challenge. Let me just say right now that I'm not doing it because the Galaxy S5 is a bad phone. It isn't at all. But while it may not be a bad phone, it's also not an exceptional device, either. There isn't a single aspect to the Galaxy S5 that screams out at me, that makes me want to actively pick it up, or even really enjoy my experience every single time I do pick it up.
The Galaxy S5 has a fingerprint reader on it, and I originally planned on writing up one of the days where I talked about the fingerprint reader, and my experience with it. But I can boil it down to this paragraph: I didn't like using it at all. Actually getting the reader to work the first time, to unlock the device even, is a pain and usually took more swipes than I was willing to realistically provide it. Trying to slowly swipe my finger in the exact way that the reader wanted me to was a chore, and after a day of trying to make it work I just gave up and disabled it. I don't care about it that much, and if I hate using a feature as much as I hated using that one, well, it's better that I turn it off.
Add that gripe to the fact that the camera was still giving me problems with just taking a photo in a realistic amount of time, and I honestly just couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to use the Galaxy S5 anymore. So, a few days before the 30 Day Challenge is supposed to end, and I'm bringing it to a close.
I don't want you to think I hate this device, or that I wouldn't recommend it to someone. None of those are true. For myself, no, the Galaxy S5 isn't the right device, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is looking for a phone with a big, gorgeous display, fast internals and plenty of customization options. The Galaxy S5 isn't a bad phone. It just didn't win me over, or keep me wanting to come back.
And before you say I should download some Home replacements, or do some other customization options to "spice things up," that's not really the point. It's great that those options exist, sure, but I just want to be able to enjoy the device out of the box, as the manufacturer sells it to me. If I don't, then there's just no reason for me to use it anymore.
And that's all this is, honestly. The Galaxy S5 is a good phone. I can't stress this enough. It just isn't for me. And that's all there is to it. I liked the design overall, I didn't really have a problem with TouchWiz (even though I still want so much of it to change), and the camera takes some great shots in the right opportunities. I just don't want it for my daily driver.
Did you pick up a Galaxy S5? If so, what are some of the things you love about it, and what are some of the things you don't like so much? Let me know!
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