SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Samsung

Galaxy S5 Active review: A military-grade rugged Galaxy S5 with a dedicated Activity Zone key.

SpecEagle Editorial·May 2014·$660
Overall
52/100
Class rank
#1 of 8
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The military-grade Galaxy.

The Galaxy S5 Active added MIL-STD-810G military certification to IP67, plus a dedicated Activity Zone key for outdoor tools — and this time kept the flagship AMOLED. It was the rugged Galaxy at its most fully-realised, popular with outdoors and trades users.

01Display

80/100

At 80/100 this is one of the strongest display showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 11 points above the cohort average.

TypeSuper AMOLED
Size5.1 inches
Resolution1,920 × 1,080 px (FHD)

02Camera

64/100

At 64/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 12 points above the cohort average.

Main16 MP, f/2.2, phase-detect AF
Video2160p
Front2 MP

03Performance

66/100

At 66/100 this is one of the strongest performance showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 28 points above the cohort average.

ChipsetSnapdragon 801 (28 nm)
RAM2 GB
Storage16 GB · microSD

04Battery

64/100

At 64/100 this is one of the strongest battery showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 13 points above the cohort average.

Capacity2,800 mAh (removable)
Standby~ 390 hours

05Build

80/100

At 80/100 this is one of the strongest build showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 16 points above the cohort average.

06Value

60/100

At 60/100 this is one of the strongest value showings among flagship phones of 2014 — 17 points above the cohort average.

What works
  • IP67 + MIL-STD-810G military durability.
  • Kept the S5's AMOLED this time.
  • Dedicated Activity Zone button.
  • Removable battery + microSD.
What doesn't
  • Bulkier and heavier than the S5.
  • Mono speaker.
  • No fingerprint sensor (vs S5).
  • Carrier-limited availability.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 8-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .