Given how tacky and cheap Samsung phones look I don't think this is anything to worry about.
Even HTC phones look pretty good these days. The latest HTC One phone even has an SD slot again.
Samsung has parted ways with Chang Dong-hoon, the head of its mobile design team. The doomed exec offered to step down last week and will be replaced by Lee Min-hyouk, Reuters reports. The move follows criticism that the company's flagship Galaxy S5 is not sufficiently innovative to stir the mobile market. Less-than-stellar …
Spoken like an apple devotee - form over function!
Personally, I don't find them "tacky" nor "cheap" - the plastic backs are easily removeable and replaceable and give easy access to the battery (for changing or enlarging)
I prefer function over form. Mine have been in cases as would any 'non tacky' phone you'd care to suggest.
Tell you what is tacky... All those 'naked', smashed and scratched iPhones I see being carried on the train. That metal and glass sure looks cheap when it's cracked, dented and scratched. Stick it in a case...
What's wrong with wanting both? You may not like the iPhone's function, but that's just an opinion, as is calling the GS5 "tacky" and "cheap".
You feel you're getting both form and function in the GS5, others feel they're getting both with the 5S. It is only fanboys who troll about the GS5's form or the 5S's function because they feel the need to denigrate others to make themselves feel better.
Those who find the GS5 tacky/cheap and the 5S lacking in function have a choice to make. But yet again it is an opinion whether choosing form or function is the correct choice if you feel you can't get both in a single product.
"Given how tacky and cheap Samsung phones look I don't think this is anything to worry about."
Well I guess not if you are more concerned with a phone's appearance than its functionality...
My partner just swapped her iPhone 4S for a Galaxy Note - nearly 3 times the screen area, yet considerably lighter - even including its case.
Personally, my biggest gripe with Samsung has always been the amount of (unwanted) software they stuff onto the device - but a custom ROM sorts that out pretty quick.
I was originally hoping to upgrade to an S5 (from an S3) but when I looked I didn't find the features that enticing.
Fingerprint Sensor - Useless and cracked within a week of launch.
Waterproof - I seriously doubt that halfway through a two year contract those covers over the ports will still be tight and waterproof.
I went for a Note 3, the large screen nicely sits in my heat slab hands.
I rather suspect that the lukewarm reception of the S5 is due in part to customers avoiding the Samsung brand because of their region-locking policy for SIM-free phones, as previously reported in El Reg.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/27/samsung_galaxy_regionlocking_saga_gets_murky/
It's not just that potential customers rebel against a manufacturer that seeks to control the use of its products after the moment of sale, but also that Samsung seem incapable of implementing the feature in a way that works the way they claim it does -- which doesn't bode well for any other aspect of its software.
Waterproofing is a good feature -- who hasn't had to take a call in the rain, at some point -- but other manufacturers offer that, too.
"We at S.A.M.S.U.N.G. are not happy with your performance, Mr Dong. Your Galaxy S5 was not exactly ... a success!"
[A Worldmap with highlighted FAIL points appears out of nowhere]
"Do you expect me to add more rounded corners?"
"Choose your next witticism well, Mr. Dong. It may well be your last...."
I've owned two Samsung devices so far, and bought two more for family members. What cheeses me off the most is that they advertise, say, 16gb of storage, but then after all the bloatware that I can't get rid of, it's more like 9gb free. While they do allow use of an external micro-SD card for storage, this storage is more limited (can't move apps to it, for example), and also much, much slower to copy onto and off of from a computer.
One simple answer for me would be to buy a model with more memory. Great. I was excited when the S5 came out for pre-order, then I found out only the 16gb model was available. In 2014, on the Galaxy S5, literally five generations into the Galaxy line, and they're still shipping 16gb of memory?
This flagship phone should come with 32gb standard, and with at least a 64gb option. As it is, I've decided to hold onto my 3-year-old Samsung phone, which still works. By the way, I'm using a Galaxy S2 still, and it came with 16gb of internal storage back in 2011.
If a 32gb model S5 comes out soon enough, I may buy it, otherwise I'll just wait until my S2 breaks and perhaps pick up the S6 next year - assuming they've pulled their head out of their asses and offer more than 16gb of internal storage with it.
I actually think Samsung is onto something with the focus on physical robustness. The ability to claim to be 'water resistant' is compelling to me. Next up should be innovation improving the ability of the display to withstand drops, or at least allow a cheap and easy way to repair it. Both of those are on most folks' wish lists. Allow me to uninstall the Samsung bloatware and I'm ecstatic.