Samsung Galaxy S5 vs S4

ahoudet

Expert Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
4,503
Reaction score
58
Location
Fourways, JHB
So I'll be upgrading two contracts soon. My contract as well as my brother's. In terms of phones, we are looking at both the S5 and the S4. He will be moving from an S4 Mini and is quite set on getting himself the S5. I will be moving from a Huawei P6 but I'm still deciding whether or not the price difference is worth it.

Pay-in is around R 5 000 for the S5 and R 2 200 for the S4. So my question is, is the S5 really worth more than double the price of the S4? We will both also have another upgrade a year later and could then get the S5 at the lower price (probably around the current S4 price) and run the S4 for year before getting the S5.

Your opinions please :)
 
No phone is worth a pay in. Taking s5 because no payin on my package.
 
No phone is worth a pay in. Taking s5 because no payin on my package.

By that, do you mean that you are paying more per month or are you on one of those really expensive, high amount of minute packages? For example, a Smart S contract on Vodacom is R200 per month but costs R470 per month with the S5. That additional R270 x 24 months is what I consider to be a pay-in since its a monthly handset cost
 
By that, do you mean that you are paying more per month or are you on one of those really expensive, high amount of minute packages? For example, a Smart S contract on Vodacom is R200 per month but costs R470 per month with the S5. That additional R270 x 24 months is what I consider to be a pay-in since its a monthly handset cost

You can get the S4 from Telkom Mobile for R299 a month now - no pay-in.

Which service provider are you referring to?
 
By that, do you mean that you are paying more per month or are you on one of those really expensive, high amount of minute packages? For example, a Smart S contract on Vodacom is R200 per month but costs R470 per month with the S5. That additional R270 x 24 months is what I consider to be a pay-in since its a monthly handset cost

But it's not a pay in. It's a pay off. A pay in is the amount you "pay in" at the start.
 
My package std set amount already so no extra/additional amount required from me.
 
Pay in... But with whom? If it is Autopage ... Run away, run away now!
 
But it's not a pay in. It's a pay off. A pay in is the amount you "pay in" at the start.

Either way, it's money spent on the phone. What I'm looking at is how much extra I will spend just for the phone. The one is a Smart Plan 250 which costs R400 per month and an additional R100 for the S4 and another R100 over and above that for the S5
 
I guess it comes down to requirements.

e.g. I picked the S4 knowing that the S5 would be released a couple of weeks later.

Spec wise they barely differ...
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Samsung-Galaxy-S5,Samsung-Galaxy-S4/phones/8202,7597

Still - I can see the sense in the opposite argument as well...why spend big bucks on tech that is already "out dated".

Don't think there is a right answer...it'll differ from person to person.

I usually pay in with Vodacom Shop. Comes out slightly cheaper than to add to the monthly cost
Doubtful. I'm guessing you didn't factor in time value of money?
 
I have a Galaxy S4 and to tell the truth, this will be my last Samsung. I load Omega Rom last year and that fixed a lot of problems for me, but for people who like stock, it's just a disgrace. Too much k@rk with their stock Android. Friend with Note 2 got similar issues. Wifi not connecting to some AP's, or some AP's it connects at times and other times I must restart before it connects, battery got swollen, sometimes I can't swipe to answer or press red button to end a call. The list goes on.
After the Omega ROM, things is much better and it's actually an awesome phone. But I'll consider something else once I feel the need to upgrade.
 

I don't completely agree here.

Here are the notable differences:

- Water resistant
- Dust resistant
- (ever so slightly) bigger screen
- Better rear camera
- Better front facing camera
- Better chipset / CPU / GPU (A lot of people don't see this - don't understand why)
- Better support for storage expansion
- Better battery
- Supports USB3

And then of course, the gimmicks like fingerprint reader, heartrate monitor, etc.

IMO, it comes down to what you want, and what you can afford. Personally, I'm not keen on the S4, or S5.
 
Well the S5 is obviously better. My point is that the gains are incremental and might not justify the price.

e.g. The better battery...thats an extra 7%.
The better front facing cam...extra 5% more megapixels.

For all intents & purposes the only noticeable advantage is the jump in GFX performance. Personally I don't care too much about that...got a PC 100x more powerful, but I'm sure it'll improve fruit ninja/whatever is being played.

Who knows maybe I'll regret my decision to go with the S4...both were within my reach but 500+ was just a bit too steep.

I don't completely agree here.

Here are the notable differences:

- Water resistant
- Dust resistant
- (ever so slightly) bigger screen
- Better rear camera
- Better front facing camera
- Better chipset / CPU / GPU (A lot of people don't see this - don't understand why)
- Better support for storage expansion
- Better battery
- Supports USB3

And then of course, the gimmicks like fingerprint reader, heartrate monitor, etc.

IMO, it comes down to what you want, and what you can afford. Personally, I'm not keen on the S4, or S5.
 
I guess it comes down to requirements.

e.g. I picked the S4 knowing that the S5 would be released a couple of weeks later.

Spec wise they barely differ...
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Samsung-Galaxy-S5,Samsung-Galaxy-S4/phones/8202,7597

Still - I can see the sense in the opposite argument as well...why spend big bucks on tech that is already "out dated".

Don't think there is a right answer...it'll differ from person to person.


Doubtful. I'm guessing you didn't factor in time value of money?

I ususally pay with cash, that money is lying there with no interest being made on it anyway
 
I personally got myself a G2 yesterday and am very happy, brother is still hanging on this same question though
 
I personally got myself a G2 yesterday and am very happy, brother is still hanging on this same question though

The G2 is almost like the Nexus. Don't know if that was availible last year when I got my galaxy, but I think I should have gone with this.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X