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April 8, 2014 12:01 a.m. ET
Personal Tech Columnist Geoffrey Fowler took the new water-resistant Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone for a spin, and for a dunk—in a margarita, Jell-O, and (yes) a toilet.
Here's what you need to know about the new flagship smartphone from Samsung: It can swim, but it won't make any waves.
The Galaxy S5 has a waterproof exterior that survived a dunking in a margarita, a plunge in to a toilet, and left overnight in strawberry Jell-O. (Yes, I tried.)
In most other ways, this update to Samsung's top-selling Galaxy S4 barely moves the needle. Aside from the waterproofing, the Galaxy S5's most original new feature is a heart rate sensor that works well only if you hold very, very still. It also has a fingerprint reader more versatile than that in Apple's AAPL -1.57% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $523.47 -8.35 -1.57% April 7, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 10.23M AFTER HOURS $524.40 +0.93 +0.18% April 7, 2014 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 123,650 P/E Ratio 12.90 Market Cap $474.68 Billion Dividend Yield 2.33% Rev. per Employee $2,163,820 04/08/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: Wate... 04/07/14 Samsung Forecasts Decline in O... 04/07/14 Microsoft: We're in an 'AI Spr... More quote details and news » AAPL in 
Your Value Your Change Short position iPhone 5S, but a camera that still doesn't take great pictures in low light.
Anybody weighing this phone as an upgrade or a switch from another model may rightly wonder: Has smartphone evolution stalled?
F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal
When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5 in February, the company said it was going "back to basics," simplifying the parts of the phone that matter most. Now that the phone is hitting stores, at $200 with 2-year contract, it is clear these adjustments do make for a better, faster phone—but they often don't go far enough. (Compare the latest smartphones.)
The Galaxy S5 is easier to use than the S4. Samsung is playing down a long list of the dubious and confusing services it touted with the previous model, like "air gesture" controls to manipulate the screen without touch. It also no longer pre-installs some space-hogging apps like the Samsung Hub for buying music and video.
A few of the Galaxy S5's software tweaks might make iPhone users envious, such as using keywords to search the ever-growing list of Android settings. My favorite feature, "ultra power savings mode," turns off nonessential services when battery-power is low and you want to preserve juice for phone service.
Samsung still needs to keep simplifying the interface. At the top edge of the screen, a dozen different blinking icons call attention to things you don't always need to know about. And for many basic functions, such as Web browsing, viewing pictures, even taking voice commands, the Galaxy S5 comes preloaded with two different apps. Good grief, does anyone really need the built-in "gallery" and "photo" apps?
The Galaxy S5 hardware does offer some nice-to-have improvements.
The waterproofing—which Samsung calls "dust and water resistance" —works well, provided you use the included plug to seal the charging port. The phone helpfully warns you on screen if part of the case is open or vulnerable. It passed all the torture tests I could cook up, but you shouldn't deliberately try such high jinks. Samsung says the waterproofing is really just for accidents.
While the extra fortification is a welcome addition for those with slippery palms, it isn't unique— Sony's SNE +0.11% Sony Corp. ADS U.S.: NYSE $19.05 +0.02 +0.11% April 7, 2014 4:05 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1.81M AFTER HOURS $19.20 +0.15 +0.79% April 7, 2014 7:57 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 11,560 P/E Ratio 17.29 Market Cap $20.00 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $531,720 04/08/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: Wate... 02/03/14 Take-Two Results Improve on 'G... 01/22/14 Netflix Reports Strong Subscri... More quote details and news » SNE in Your Value Your Change Short position flagship smartphone is also water-friendly.
Though the plastic phone lacks the stylishness and luxury feel of the new all-metal HTC One (M8), the back of the phone now features a dotted Band-Aid-like texture, which helps with grip.
Samsung improved things inside the case, too. Notably, the Galaxy S5 showed an edge in 4G LTE connectivity. During simultaneous testing with an iPhone 5S on the AT&T T -0.17% AT&T Inc. U.S.: NYSE $35.49 -0.06 -0.17% April 7, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 31.64M AFTER HOURS $35.59 +0.10 +0.30% April 7, 2014 7:57 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 1.03M P/E Ratio 10.41 Market Cap $185.10 Billion Dividend Yield 5.18% Rev. per Employee $529,844 04/08/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: Wate... 04/07/14 Cincinnati Bell to sell wirele... 04/06/14 More Investors Are Drawn to Di... More quote details and news » T in Your Value Your Change Short position network, the Galaxy S5 logged faster median downloads and uploads in five of six San Francisco area locations.
The Galaxy S5 has impressive battery life, running a streaming online video test for more than six hours of continuous use—about 20% longer than the iPhone 5S. But beware of screen controls, a max brightness setting pared the Galaxy S5's battery performance.
The fingerprint sensor also is a welcome addition to the Galaxy S5. Unlike the iPhone 5S, which only uses the fingerprint sensor for Apple-based authorizations, the Galaxy 5S's lets you make PayPal payments, too. The downside: it is incompatible with Microsoft Exchange server security; Samsung said it is working on a solution. (Confused by wireless plans? Check out WSJ's calculator.)
The larger screen is probably the Galaxy's single biggest advantage over the iPhone, but with the S5, Samsung took a step in the wrong direction. At this point, we generally expect phones to get slimmer and lighter, but the Galaxy S5 is actually heavier and wider than its predecessor.
We've also come to expect that each new phone will feature a better camera. Samsung says it improved the sensor and the camera's control software, including a superfast autofocus. Yet the Galaxy S5 struggled in my real-world stress tests, especially in low light. Compared with the iPhone 5S (whose photos get grainy in the dark), the Galaxy's photos often lacked detail, like they had been painted in broad strokes. Samsung said the effect was caused by its "picture stabilization" software, which can be turned off.
The heart rate sensor, one of the Galaxy S5's advertised breakthroughs, worked about half the time in my tests. Sometimes it reported rates that were way off. Located under the camera lens, the sensor reads your pulse from your finger. It doesn't work as well when you're moving or in a noisy place, such as jogging, biking or in a gym. Even though it pairs with Samsung's S Health app, it would be hard to rely on any data coming from this sensor.
Samsung may market the Galaxy S5 as a significant upgrade, but it is best seen as a refinement. Smartphone technology may be reaching a plateau where core elements like the processor, screen and sensors no longer matter as much as the software that helps you use them. And that is an area where Samsung still trails.
The Galaxy S5 offers a powerful phone with a big screen, but it is not the only phone that does, despite Samsung's marketing dominance. Existing Galaxy SIII and S4 customers will appreciate the ways its software has matured, but should look at HTC One and Moto X Android phones, too. IPhone users itching for a larger screen should wait, however, to see what new form factors Apple might deliver this fall.
Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com and on Twitter @geoffreyfowler.
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