In Depth: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs iPhone 5S

Samsung tried to stand up to the might of the iPhone 5S back at MWC 2014 by releasing the Galaxy S5. Even though since then we've seen both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 both of these are two strong contenders for your money.

The iPhone 5S itself is now almost two years old but it still sits as one of the most popular smartphones you can buy. As for the Galaxy S5 the price has dropped to a very competitive low since the rapturous applause for the Galaxy S6 so it may be worth dropping some dough on now.

Even though this isn't the top of the game these are still two strong contenders for your money – so how do they both compare and which should you be getting?

Design

If there's one thing Apple knows, it's design. The iPhone 5S's two-tone aluminium and glass back looks great. Our only real complaint is that it's much the same design as we saw on the iPhone 5.

Everything changed on the iPhone 6 but many still prefer the iPhone 5S design with a smaller body to house the smaller display - it's all down to your personal taste here.

Unfortunately the Samsung Galaxy S5 just can't compete here, as it's still rocking a plastic back like its predecessor. That said it has an attractive perforated design and feels fairly solid.

Many criticised the Galaxy S5 for its naff feeling design – we even brought it up in our own review – but the Galaxy S6 came back and knocked it out of the park, it's worth having a look at how well Samsung did on its latest phone.

Display

The iPhone 5S has a 4-inch 1136 x 640 IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. It's a great screen, but we've seen better and the Galaxy S5's 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED 432 ppi display certainly falls into the better camp.

There's something to be said for the smaller screen on the iPhone 5S though as many still love the 4-inch size and didn't react well when Apple dropped it for the iPhone 6.

If you want that 4-inch display this is your best iOS option to go for – but bare in mind there are rumours of a 4-inch option coming alongside the iPhone 6S, potentially named the iPhone 6C, later in the year.

OS

The iPhone 5S launched on iOS 7 whilst the Galaxy S5 came with Android 4.4 KitKat on board. Both are now up to date with the latest software, iOS 8 for the iPhone and Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Galaxy S5.

iOS is the best version of the operating system we've seen so far and it offers a variety of new features including apps such as HealthKit to track your fitness.

Android 5.0 Lollipop comes with new features such as lock screen notifications, but Samsung is insistent on including its TouchWiz overlay on top of the beautiful new Material Design.

It takes some getting used to so beware before you go expecting the best looking Android software you've ever seen.

Battery

We've obviously had quite a bit of time to play with both these phones now – we've had each for over a year, and it means we've got a full look at the battery life on each.

The iPhone 5S comes with a pathetic sounding 1,560mAh juice pack but down to Apple's impressive optimisation it manages to last for quite a while. In our battery life testing we found it did even better with the new software and it charges really quickly as well.

As for the Galaxy S5 it has a more impressive sounding 2,800mAh removable cell inside and a powerful battery saving mode. In our video loop test the phone only dropped 16% of its battery after 90 minutes of full brightness video – an impressive result.

Features

Aside from the 64-bit processor, the biggest selling point of the iPhone 5S is probably its Touch ID fingerprint scanner. Just rest your finger on the home button and it will unlock the phone and it can also be used to replace your iTunes password, so tedious password typing is a thing of the past. The M7 motion co-processor is pretty cool too as it allows the phone to double as a fitness tracker, registering all your movements without draining the battery.

The Galaxy S5 takes a leaf out of Apple's book by including a fingerprint scanner of its own. It also has a heart rate monitor and an improved S Health app, making it similarly useful for fitness fanatics, a download booster which combines 4G and Wi-Fi for extra speed and it's IP67 certified dust and water resistant.

Camera

The iPhone 5S is one of the best camera phones around, thanks to an 8-megapixel snapper along with a 'True Tone' flash, which does a great job of reproducing colours accurately. The iPhone 5S can also shoot video in 1080p and has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has far more megapixels - 16 to be precise. It's also very fast, as it can take pictures in just 0.3 seconds, allows you to alter the focus of a shot after taking it and it has a real-time HDR mode, which shows you how HDR will affect a picture before you take it. It can shoot videos at up to 4K and it has a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, so on paper at least it should out-snap the iPhone 5S.

Verdict

Even though the iPhone 6 has come along and impressed, the iPhone 5S is still a really solid offering. If you're a fan of the smaller form factor and like the metal design you'll love the iPhone 5S.

Updating it to the latest iOS 8 software paired with an impressive camera makes for a good set up and adding in features such as TouchID make it a great option for iOS fans.

Android lovers will find the update to the Galaxy S5 exciting and also frustrating - TouchWiz just isn't a great overlay. Even though the design has been proven rather lacklustre, for a cheaper price and an impressive set up under the hood this is a really strong option.

We've only really skirted round the edges here though - for a full look at these phones check out our full reviews of the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5S.

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