Powerful, with a fantastic camera and incredible battery life, the Samsung Galaxy S5 was a superb smartphone flagship

Powerful, competent and a decent UI at launch, it's still a risk buying such an old phone even though the price is much lower.

Good screen, Strong battery life, Powerful for the money

Creaky design, Cumbersome software, Slow background de-focus

Back in April 2014, we deemed the Samsung Galaxy S5 an incremental, nonessential upgrade of its predecessor, the Galaxy S4, a CNET Editor's Choice in its day. The Galaxy S5 remains available today, and, given its aging components and feature set, can be found at a relatively affordable price, especially compared to newer Galaxy models.

Samsung's 2014 Galaxy S5 may still be worth your consideration as a bargain phone.

Samsung's Galaxy S5 excels at everything that matters -- Android 4.4 KitKat OS; a bright, beautiful display; blistering quad-core processor; and an excellent camera experience. In addition, Samsung's efforts to streamline its own custom interface and reduce pre-installed bloatware pay off.

The Galaxy S5 is a only small upgrade over the Galaxy S4; The fingerprint scanner can be confusing to use, and the heart-rate monitor is a niche feature at best; In some regions, the Galaxy S5 costs significantly more than rival top-rated handsets.

The Galaxy S5 never quite lived up to expectations, but it was still a top-end 2014 phone, and is a decent mid-ranger now. It’s the kind of phone where every software angle is covered.

Great display, Good camera, Excellent battery life, Water-resistant

Slow and uneven interface, Lots of pre-installed apps

The Samsung Galaxy S5 fails to impress and is easy to overlook considering other flagship phones have similar hardware and features

Great hardware, fingerprint scanner, IP67

Ugly, screen has issues with color accuracy and grayscale banding, poor NAND performance

We called the Samsung Galaxy S4 a thing of beauty and the S5 is even better. It feels better, looks better and does more than its predecessor. S Health is a great addition and a genuine alternative to other fitness and health apps out there.

Updated design, Camera innovation, Cleaner UI

Too big for some, Slightly delicate, Unreliable sensors

After going through all of the features, performance, and software of both phones, I would be lying if I wasn’t more torn on which phone is the better choice. Neither phone is perfect, the S5 for example had problems with its camera focus in testing.

Samsung cannot be ignored, and the importance of the Galaxy S5 cannot be overlooked. New bearer of the crown of “best-known Android smartphone” it’s a chance not only for Samsung to make money, but to demonstrate what cleverness it can bake into a flagship device.

Samsung's latest flagship phone is a few planets short of a perfect Galaxy.