Linksys WRT1900AC Wireless Router Review

Linksys WRT1900AC Wi-Fi router review: Faster than anything we’ve tested

Pros

• The fastest Wi-Fi router you can buy

• Extremely fast file transfers to and from an attached storage device

• eSATA, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0 ports

Cons

• Limited feature set in firmware
• Comparatively slow 2.4GHz Wi-Fi performance
• Expensive

At A Glance

It's expensive and its firmware is a few features short of the competition's, but the Linksys WRT1900AC is the fastest 802.11ac router you can buy today (today being April 16, 2014).

Manufacturer’s Description

Engineered to deliver best-in-class networking performance, the Linksys WRT1900AC Dual Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Router delivers an unmatched user experience and ultimate Wi-Fi coverage for your home. We've upgraded the iconic Linksys blue-and-black design and outfitted the router with the latest Wireless-AC platform along with the industry's first four antenna configuration with a powerful 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM to provide exceptional signal strength and range to simultaneously support multiple users. We also added a unique dual eSATA/USB 2.0 and a USB 3.0 port to the Linksys WRT1900AC to conveniently connect an array of devices and experience lightning-fast transfer speeds.

 

When Linksys first showed me a WRT1900AC prototype last year, I thought to myself, wow: I hope its performance lives up to its audacious looks. The good news is that it does—for the most part. In fact, it’s the fastest router I’ve ever tested. The bad news is that its $280 MSRP marks it as the most expensive router I’ve ever tested (Linksys launched the router with a $250 sale price).

The Linksys WRT1900AC looks like an overstuffed Linksys WRT54G, and it’s sure to stir feelings of nostalgia within anyone familiar with that 2002 classic. The engineers at Linksys, meanwhile, should be feeling justifiably proud of their accomplishment so soon after being freed from the product-development shackles that Cisco had inexorably wrapped around its former division. Under new management at Belkin, Linksys is looking to regain its mojo as a top-tier equipment manufacturer for network-enthusiast consumers and small businesses alike.

Mike Homnick

Living up to the hype: The Linksys WRT1900AC is the fastest 802.11ac router we've tested.

Hardware features

The WRT1900AC is the first step in that initiative, and it’s an aggressive move. Powered by a 1.2GHz, dual-core Marvel Armada SoC (system-on-a-chip), 128MB of flash memory, and 256MB of DDR3 RAM, this is the first consumer router I’ve seen to be outfitted with a cooling fan (it’s located at the top of the unit, but it spins up only when it’s needed and is very quiet). What's more, the top half and the entire bottom of the router's all-plastic enclosure is perforated with ventilation holes.

Linksys says it’s okay to stack the router on top of other gear, but nothing should be placed on top of it. Slots on the WRT1900AC’s four feet allow you to hang the device on the wall (an option that’s gone missing on too many modern routers). Much of this router’s 2.5-pound weight can be attributed to the massive heatsinks mounted to its internal components.

The WRT1900AC proved to be 4- to 30-percent faster than Asus’s RT-AC68U, depending on the test location.

Linksys outfitted the WRT1900AC with four external antennas, but it remains a 3x3 mechanism. In other words, it supports three spatial streams for transmitting and three for receiving. The antennas can be removed and upgraded, and Linksys plans to introduce an optional high-gain upgrade set sometime this summer.Linksys says the Marvel chipset uses both explicit and implicit beam forming to determine which three of the four antennas are delivering optimal range and performance at any given time, and that it can dynamically switch between them.

Explicit beam forming is used with clients that also support beam forming. Together, they can actively shape the best path over which the radio signals should travel. Implicit beam forming is used with clients that don’t support beam forming or that don’t use the same algorithm. The router can still perform some signal optimization, but it isn't as effective without the client to help. (You can read this story for more information about beam forming.)

A row of LEDs is arrayed across the router’s broad face, with small white text labels and symbols printed beneath them to report the status of power, Internet access, the 2.4- and 5GHz radios, eSATA and USB connections, switch ports, and WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup).

Around back you’ll find a WPS button, a four-port gigabit switch, a WAN port, one USB 3.0 and one eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port (another first), a power switch, and a reset button. The WRT1900AC uses an in-line power supply that’s nearly as big as the one for my laptop, but it delivers welcome respite from outlet-hogging wall warts.

Mike Homnick

It's unusual to see an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port on a router. But I suspect most users will rely on USB 3.0 for storage and use the combo port to share a printer over the network.

Installation and setup

In the interest of security, Linksys has moved away from assigning its routers easy-to-remember passphrases at the factory. Instead of passwords like “dynamickangeroo800,” you’ll find preset passwords such as “dt0n0nhvt0.” You can reset this, the admin password, and the SSIDs to anything you like during setup, of course, and Linksys provides space on a CD jacket for you to jot down this information. (You don’t need the CD to perform the installation; it’s just a convenient way for Linksys to provide the router’s user manual in case you need it before you get online).

The guest networks—there’s one available on each frequency band—do retain easy-to-remember passwords (the one for my eval unit was “pineapple21”), and the same password is used for both guest networks). Guests can access the Internet, but they can’t access the rest of your network. You can limit the number of guests from as few as five to as many as 50.

This user interface will look familiar to anyone who's used a Linksys router recently.

Linksys encourages you to go online and use its Smart Wi-Fi webpage to configure the router, and this is useful for beginners since it steps you through the entire process and ensures that you set up complex passwords for your wireless networks and for administrative access to the router. Experts can easily skip this and configure the router the old-fashioned way, although both methods provide the same sets of options. Complimentary telephone tech support is available to any buyer for the first 90 days, but anyone should be able to get the WRT1900AC up and running within a matter of minutes.

In terms of security, the WRT1900AC supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) and all the consumer-level security protocols that go with it (WPA2 Personal et al), but it also supports WPA2-Enterprise with a separate RADIUS server.

Wireless performance

I compared the Linksys WRT1900AC’s performance to that of the outstanding Asus RT-AC68U with the help of an AVADirect gaming laptop. The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i5-3210M processor and it has 4GB of DDR3/1600 memory. I use the JPERF benchmarking utility to measure TCP throughput between a server hardwired to the router and a client connected its wireless networks. I placed the client in three different locations inside a single-story, 2800-square-foot ranch-style home (you can see its floor plan below).

I test Wi-Fi routers by placing the client at four locations inside this home.

The gaming laptop doesn’t have native support for 802.11ac, so I used an Asus USB-AC56 Wi-Fi adapter for one set of tests. If you want top speed in a portable configuration, and your laptop doesn't have a built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter, a USB model is the way to go. I found the USB-AC56 to be one of the fastest in its class in this recent roundup.

When tested with this adapter, the WRT1900AC proved to be anywhere from 5- to 30-percent faster than Asus’s RT-AC68U 802.11ac router with its latest firmware (refer to the performance chart, below). The difference was negligible—just 5 percent—when the client was at close range (in the same room, 9 feet from the router). But it jumped to 18 percent when I moved the client into the kitchen (20 feet from the router, with an insulated wall and plywood cabinets separating the two). Throughput actually went up here—from 390Mbps in the bedroom to 418Mbps in the kitchen.

When paired with an Asus 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter, the Linksys WRT1900AC router outperformed the Asus RT-AC68U router in all four test locations.

The delta between the Linksys and Asus routers jumped to 29 percent when I moved the client into my home theater. The client is about 35 feet away from the router in this location, but many wireless devices have difficulty penetrating that room because of its construction: It’s a room-within-a-room design, with double framing and double layers of drywall, and insulation on the walls and ceiling. It’s not soundproof by any means, but it is as acoustically isolated as I could make it on a reasonable budget. With TCP throughput of 114 Mbps, the WRT1900AC had no problem streaming HD video to the HDTV in that room via the laptop.

The Linksys router also performed well when the client was in my home office, 65 feet from the router and separated by two insulated interior walls and an array of plywood cabinets. With TCP throughput of 259Mbps, it was slightly more than 30-percent faster than the Asus RT-AC68U at this location.

If you’d like to connect multiple wired clients in one room to your 802.11ac wireless network, the best solution is to configure a second router of the same make and model as a wireless bridge. This isn’t the only way to do it (deploying something like a Linksys WUMC710 is a cheaper solution, but won't be as fast).

The Linksys router outperformed the Asus at three out of four test locations when paired with a second WRT1900AC configured as a wireless bridge, achieving TCP throughput of 607Mbps at close range.

Not every 802.11ac router can be configured this way, but the WRT1900AC can and Linksys provided a second unit so I could test it that way. The Linksys router outperformed the Asus model (when connected to a second RT-AC68U) at three of my four test locations, delivering its most impressive performance—607Mbps—when the router and client were in the same room.

More importantly, the WRT1900AC outperformed the RT-AC68U by more than 37 percent when the client was in my home theater, delivering throughput of 382Mbps. The Linksys didn’t perform as well at long range (with the client 65 feet from the router in my home office), delivering throughput of 352Mbps compared to the Asus’s 430Mbps. On the other hand, if 352Mbps is too slow for you, you should think about stringing some cable.

Comparatively slow at 2.4GHz, but will you care?

For most people, a router’s 2.4GHz, 802.11n performance is important only when connecting legacy hardware. In my home, I use that band for the IP cameras in my home-control system and that’s about it. So if you’re like me, you won’t care that the WRT1900AC is a comparatively slow performer on that band. The Asus RT-AC68 was between 8- and 63-percent faster when I measured TCP throughput using the laptop’s onboard Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi adapter, with the smallest delta occurring when the client was furthest from the router.

But there is an explanation for the WRT1900AC’s 2.4GHz performance. If you’re familiar with wireless networking, you know that routers can bond multiple channels within a given frequency band to deliver one wider channel with extra bandwidth. On the 2.4GHz band, however, there are only three channels that don’t overlap. Any router certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance is supposed to disengage from channel bonding if it detects another 2.4GHz router operating nearby, so it won't degrade that network's performance.

The WRT1900AC isn't exactly a barn burner on the 2.4GHz frequency band.

The WRT1900AC offers two options on this front: You can configure it to always use a single 20MHz channel, or you can set the router to “auto” mode, in which case it will bond a second 20MHz channel to deliver 40MHz of bandwidth only if it doesn’t detect neighboring 2.4GHz networks.

Asus gives you a third option with its RT-AC68U: You can set it to bond two channels by default. The RT-AC68U is also certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, so it should back down to single-channel mode in the presence of adjacent 2.4GHz networks. My house is located on the middle of a 10-acre parcel of land, but some Wi-Fi adapters I’ve used pick up exceedingly weak signals from two other networks that are at least 500 feet away. The Asus router ignored them and barreled right along with channel bonding. The Linksys did not, and its performance suffered accordingly.

File-transfer performance

The WRT1900AC is unparalleled when it comes to transferring files from an attached hard drive: It just screams. You’d likely get the highest performance with an external hard drive that could take advantage of its eSATA port, but USB 3.0 drives are much more common. I used a Western Digital Passport drive with a USB 3.0 interface for my tests.

The Linksys router was particularly impressive when it came to reading a single 10GB file (copying the file from the hard drive attached to the router to the hard drive in a desktop PC hardwired to the router). It performed this task at a whopping 80 megabytes per second (MBps), compared to the Asus RT-AC68U’s 19.5MBps performance. It wrote that file back to the portable hard drive at 46.1MBps, 87-percent faster than the Asus managed.

Add a USB 3.0 hard drive and you'll find the Linksys WRT1900AC to fast enough to replace a dedicated NAS box.

The WRT1900AC was merely more than twice as fast as the Asus RT-AC68U when it came to reading a 10GB collection of small files from the portable hard drive: 47.2MBps compared to 20.7MBps for the Asus. And it was nearly twice as fast writing that collection back to the portable hard drive: 41.5MBps compared to the Asus’s 21.1MBps. That’s quick.

Limited firmware feature set

And now for the downside. Oh come on, you knew there had to another downside besides the price tag. One of the reasons the WRT1900AC is so easy to set up is because it has so few features to configure. The user interface is well laid out, but this first iteration of its firmware is very much a bare-bones affair. On the bright side, Linksys plans to offer an OpenWRT software developer's kit very soon—perhaps as early as the end of this month.

The open nature of the original WRT54G—and the availability of open-source firmware such as DD-WRT and Tomato—played outsized roles in that router’s success. Should those communities embrace the exponentially more powerful WRT1900AC, this could become one of the best routers ever. Linksys says it is“engaged with DD-WRT and expect a firmware to be available,” but the company also says it doesn’t “have a time frame—it’ll be up to them [the DD-WRT community]”.

The WRT1900AC has a DLNA media server, but it lacks an iTunes server. You can connect a USB or eSATA storage device (and as pointed out in the performance section, you get wicked-fast network-attached storage), but you’ll need to install a third-party app if you want to access attached storage from the cloud.

Mac users, meanwhile, will be disappointed to find there’s no support for Time Machine backups. Linksys says it’s considering adding these and other features, but the company couldn’t provide a timeline.

Don't buy the WRT1900AC if you're looking for lots of bells and whistles. Its firmware is pretty basic, and its parental controls are particularly anemic.

You do get smb and ftp servers, and there’s support for VPN pass-through, but OpenVPN is not supported. There’s also no BitTorrent client for unsupervised torrent streaming. And its Quality of Service (QoS) settings are limited to dragging an icon representing your various network clients into a “high priority” box, or choosing applications (iTunes, Skype, Vonage, etc.) and online games from drop-down lists to give their traffic priority handling.

Parental controls are even more basic, although that feature is much less important in my book. You can block specified network clients from accessing the Internet (your choices are “never,” “always,” or according to day/time calendar), or you can block named network clients from accessing specified sites (good luck knowing every site on the web you don’t want your kids to visit). If you consider parental controls a critical feature in the router you buy, take a look at the Skydog Wi-Fi router).

Final thoughts

It could be said that criticizing such a hot-rod router for not having all the latest bells and whistles in firmware is like calling out a drag racer for not having air conditioning. I’m just saying that the WRT1900AC has the horsepower to support those other features without compromising its speed. Linksys might add more features as time goes on, or third-party developer might Smart Wi-Fi apps, but you shouldn’t buy one assuming those events will come to pass.

For many users, speed trumps features you might never need anyway. I use a Sonos system for listening to music, for instance, so I couldn't care less if my router has an iTunes server. I crave speed, and the WRT1900AC delivers that in spades. And its performance with network-attached storage blows the doors off the competition.

If speed is your most important consideration when shopping for a router, the WRT1900AC is the router to buy. If features are more important, and you’re willing to give up a little speed to get them, consider the Asus RT-AC68U or Netgear’s R7000 Nighthawk. The WRT1900AC isn't the most feature-laden router you can buy, but it is the fastest.

5 reasons the OnePlus One could be your next smartphone

And 4 reasons to avoid it 

 

The OnePlus One could well be the surprise smartphone of 2014 with its low, low price and headline specs.
There's a lot to get excited about with the One, and we've highlighted the main reasons why you might want to think about parting with your cash and pick one up at the first opportunity.
It's not all good news though, as you'll find out later, as this budget blowout also has a few issues, so put that money back in your wallet... for now.

The price is right

The OnePlus One is cheap. Really cheap. Seriously - $299, £229 for a handset which has better specs than the Nexus 5 and matches the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z2 in a number of areas is an absolute steal.
OnePlus has also put the rest of the market to shame with the pricing of the 64GB model, which is just $50, £40 (around $AU70) dearer than the 16GB variant - that really sticks it to the likes of Apple where you'll find a $200 (£160, AU$260) discrepancy between the 16GB and 64GB iPhone 5S.

You can feel the power

As we've alluded to, the OnePlus One comes very well equipped with a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, Adreno 330 GPU.
That puts it on a par with the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2 - handsets more than double the price of the humble OnePlus One - and it beats the One M8 which sports 2GB of RAM and a 2.3GHz 801 chip.

It's Android Jim, but not as you know it

At the heart of the OnePlus One you'll find Android 4.4.2 KitKat - the latest version of Google's platform. That in itself is good news, but this isn't your standard version of Android.
No, this is CyanogenMod 11S - a community driven program which embraces pure Android and enhances it with various additional features.
There's no heavy overlay like HTC's Sense or Samsung's TouchWiz; instead CyanogenMod is far more subtle in its implementation.

From app shortcuts integrated into the unlock mechanism and double tap for wake/sleep to a whole host of additional settings and greater personalisation options you really can tweak and tinker to your heart's content - something which will please those fed up with the more intrusive skins from the main manufacturers.

Something for your eyes

One of the main features that usually suffers when a manufacturer attempts to roll out a low cost, yet "high-end", handset is the screen. That isn't the case on the OnePlus One.
You get a 5.5-inch full HD display on the handset which gives a high level of detail, making your movies, games and even emails look splendid.
It's not quite as defined as its flagship rivals as their slightly smaller screens (ranging from 5 to 5.2 inches) allow for a higher pixel density, and colours can look a little washed out on the OnePlus in comparison. On its own though you're unlikely to have any complaints.

Check out this package

With a price this cheap we're obviously looking for areas where OnePlus has had to compromise on the One, but we're still at a loss.
As well as the power, screen and operating system you can also add a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front facing snapper, 4G, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 and 3100mAh battery to the growing list of impressive specs.
The back cover comes off too - albeit with a bit of difficulty, and you have to remove the SIM tray first - allowing you to swap it for a different colour or texture.
OnePlus has promised a range of different covers for the One later this year and finishes include denim, wood, bamboo and kevlar. Make of that what you will.

4 reasons to avoid the OnePlus One

But it's not all roses and magic gravy with the OnePlus One, as the pre-production sample we've been playing with does still pack one or two issues that raised eyebrows when we delved a bit deeper.

The storage

The OnePlus One will no doubt pique the interest of many developers, tech enthusiasts and power users thanks to its CyanogenMod interface, and these are the type of users who will want as much storage as possible.
Plump for the 16GB "Silk White" One Plus One though and you actually only get 12GB of internal storage after you've taken the operating system into account.

That in itself wouldn't be an issue if there were a microSD slot - but alas you'll have no such joy on the One.
Of course there is always the 64GB "Sandstone Black" model, which is just $50/£40 dearer, but it still doesn't provide the flexibility of expandable storage. You could always get a USB-on-the-go adaptor to plug in a microSD card through the charging port, but that's not integrated into the phone.

The battery

The OnePlus One is lining up to be the go-to power handset on a budget, but anyone who wants a phone they can really hammer won't be too impressed at the fact you can't swap the battery out.
You can remove the rear cover of the One, but that's purely to swap it for a different colour. The 3100mAh battery may look removable, but it's not, so don't go trying to pry it away from the chassis. It'll end badly.

The size

It may be cheap, but the OnePlus isn't exactly small. That's hardly surprisingly considering it's packing a 5.5-inch display, but it does mean it can be a little unwieldy in the hand.
Those with smaller palms may struggle to properly manipulate the OnePlus One using a single paw, and even those with larger limbs will find two-handed typing far more secure.

The unknown

Who the hell is OnePlus? Well, okay, we know the answer to that one. It's a Chinese firm set up by ex-Oppo employees (another Chinese phone manufacturer).
The thing is, with such a low price tag and top end specs, the profit margin on each handset is likely to be minimal. Can a fledgling mobile manufacturer really sustain itself in the cut throat mobile market with such fine margins?
We fear for the longevity of the company, and the subsequent support of the OnePlus One. It's certainly more of a risk than buying from an already well established brand, although we've no reason to suspect this could happen with OnePlus at this stage.

We're currently awaiting our full review sample of the OnePlus One to see if it can be a real winner from left-field - the negative points we've outlined above are currently far outweighed by the positives, and if it can sustain this challenge then the likes of Samsung, Sony and HTC could have a real contender on their hands.
At the very least it will ask some questions as to why these larger brands are charging so much more for a flagship handset, and anything that keeps the smartphone market shaking is a good thing in our eyes.

 

 

Apple iPhone 6 gets curvy according to new rumour

 

The iPhone could come with rounded edges and a curved screen according to reports out today.  

While it’s still unclear when exactly Apple will launch the iPhone 6, we are getting a tantalising new rumour about what it may look like when it arrives.
Citing "reliable sources", tech blog Mac Otakara has claimed the iPhone 6’s glass will sit flush to the handsets corners. So presumably that means Apple will forego a bezel altogether, as has been suggested in the past.
If true, it would mark a departure from the straight lines that debuted with the iPhone 4 and carried on through to the iPhone 5.
The site compared the look to the Squair Curvaceous Bumper – a case for the iPhone 5S that features a rounded housing (pictured above).
It also said that the Apple will do away with the glass rear and antenna breaks found on the latest models of the iPhone. Replacing them with an all aluminium design.
This report isn’t the first to claim that Apple will introduce a more rounded case in its next iPhone. However, it is one of the only ones that claims it will introduce a curved screen. A la, Samsung Galaxy Round.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg claimed that Apple would introduce the curved screen on its two larger models – the 4.7-inch and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6. Although the latter model is now said to have been delayed till 2015 due to issues with its battery.
The report comes as mock-ups emerged demonstrating the exactly how the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 would compare to some of its biggest rivals.

Apple TV, iBand, iWatch all coming soon, Apple boss does not say

Apple’s chief executive has teased that the company’s long awaited and rumoured "new product categories" will soon launch. These could include the iBand, iWatch, a revamped Apple TV box and an actual Apple TV. Or they could be a new type of dog lead. But our money's on the first two. Speaking a matter of days after Apple unveiled its latest, rather impressive results, Tim Cook hinted that the iWatch and the Apple TV could soon be on the way.

Cook was speaking to the Wall Street Journal and he took the opportunity to assure Apple fans that those long awaited gadgets are “closer than ever”, with a press release to celebrate the latest millions of dollars to be welcomed into the Aplpe's bank account adding, ""We’re eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only Apple could bring to market." 

Apple’s boss reiterated the company’s long held mantra that it will not rush products in order to be first to market. There was no word from him on the iPhone 6, however.

“You want to take the time to get it right,” Cook told the paper. "Our objective has never been to be first. It’s to be the best. To do things really well, it takes time.

“You can see a lot of products that have been brought to market where the thinking isn’t really deep and, as a consequence, these things don’t do very well.”

He also played down claims that Apple will soon ramp up the number and variations of products it offers.

“We don’t do very many things so we spend a lot of time on every detail and that part of Apple isn’t changing. It’s the way we’ve operated for years and it’s the way we still operate. I feel great about what we’ve got coming. Really great and it’s closer than it’s ever been.”

Apple is widely expected to announce the iWatch/iBand later this year along with a revamped Apple TV set top box.

 

Samsung Galaxy S5 Review: Less Is So Much More

Samsung Galaxy S5

If you can say one thing about Samsung's Galaxy S line of smartphones, it's that they consistently pair some of the best hardware with inexplicable software. The S5 scales back Samsung's bells and whistles, which helps make it easily the best Galaxy phone yet. If only they'd gone even further.

What Is it ?

Samsung's new flagship Android phone. It's got a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display, a beast of processor in Qualcomm's 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801, 2GB RAM, a 16MP camera, and a 2800mAh battery. It runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) at launch with Samsung's TouchWiz skin on top.

Why Does It Matter?

The members of the Galaxy S family of phones have been among the most popular handsets on the planet, and the S5 will be no exception. But it's not just another cookie cutter successor. It marks the first time Samsung has promised to pare down its bloated software package, meaning the hardware can finally shine without being weighed down by TouchWiz. Most importantly, though, it's one of only three or four smartphones that can legitimately contend for the title ofbest.

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Left to right: Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S3

Design

You'd be forgiven for confusing the Galaxy S5 with the S4, or even the S3. It's slightly larger, with a few subtle tweaks thrown in, but Samsung's taking a page out of Apple's playbook by keeping a consistent aesthetic from year to year. That's a smart move; by this point, you can spot a Galaxy S phone from halfway down the block.

The changes to this year's model are small but still worth mentioning. While the S5 retains two capacitive keys and a physical, clickable home button, the capacitive keys are now Back and Multitasking, instead of Back and Menu. In other words, the menu buttons are now all on the screen and in the app. That's in line with stock Android, and goes a long way towards helping the app ecosystem cohere.

The home button, too, has changed. It might look the same as ever, but the S5 adds a fingerprint scanner, used primarily for locking and unlocking your phone. It requires that you swipe your finger, rather than just press it like on the iPhone 5S.

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You'll also notice that there's a plug covering the USB port at the bottom of the S5. Why? Because the Galaxy S5 has an IP67 certification, which means it can be immersed in up to a meter of water (hello, shower time!) for up to half an hour. Also, that's not your standard micro USB port under the cover. It's actually a full USB 3.0 port, which allows for very fast data transfers, but don't worry, you can still plug any micro USB cable into it.

As it tends to on any device, the Super AMOLED screen on the S5 skews lightly green, while the Super LCD 3 on the One and the IPS+ on the Nexus 5 tend to be a bit rosier. Comparing the three side by side, though, the Galaxy S5 was the brightest, and it had the deepest blacks and the most vibrant colors.

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Left to right HTC One 2014, Galaxy S5, Nexus 5

Using It

For starters, Samsung's proprietary UI (aka TouchWiz) has, as promised, been scaled back a good deal. What was a cluttered mess last year is no longer as cluttered or messy. It actually looks way better. Samsung cast off a lot of the vestigial feature-phone looks, and as a result, it looks more like a modern Android phone.

The overall UI blends more seamlessly with the apps you run (regardless of whether they're Samsung's native apps, basic Google services, or third-party offerings) which makes the whole experience come together better. The little accommodations add up; holding down the home button will now simply take you to Google Now, rather than Samsung's not-so-great S Voice. Progress!

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The myriad bells and whistles that Samsung introduced last year are all still here, but at least they're disabled by default. Again, that's great. I'm sure there were a few people who actually used Air View (which gives you limited control over your phone without actually touching it), and those four or five dudes will be psyched to know the the option is still there, lurking deep in the settings menu.

Speaking of settings, that's something Samsung still hasn't gotten right, a vestigial trace of the more-is-more philosophy that left its handsets so unnavigable in years past. In the main S5 Settings page alone there are 61 options, each represented by a circular icon. There's a ton of space in between each circle, too, so you have to scroll forever through a sea of circles that all look largely the same in order to find what you want.

Samsung didn't pre-install quite as many apps as last time, and left many of them blessedly opt-in, but if you're missing something—like say, the Animated Photo app which lets you make cinemagraphs—you can always download it from Samsung's own app shop.

Despite the crisper fit and finish, Samsung still hasn't fixed some of the deeper software problems. The phone is running the 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801, which means it should by rights be the fastest phone you can buy. It's not. The S5 still suffers from stutters and lag during operations as simple as scrolling between home screens, opening your app drawer, and even loading apps. It's even worse in some of Samsung's own apps. Samsung's Gallery app (which you need to use if you're going to take advantage of some of special photo modes) is so slow and buggy and its behavior is so unpredictable that it'll make you want to give up on it all together.

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S Health is another much-hyped feature that turns out to be a dog. The idea of using your phone as a Fitbit-like pedometer is a really good one, but the execution is really half-baked. You've got to turn on the pedometer in order for it to track your steps. Not so bad. But take it for a run and you'll see that it's where apps like Runkeeper and Endomondo were two years ago, with a confusing UI and lousy audio-coaching. It doesn't even play nicely with Samsung's own Gear Fit. It's unable to agree on how many steps I've actually taken, it generates two reports for each run (each with some data that matches, some that doesn't, and some fields missing all together), and there's nowhere to view my sleep report.

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Then there's the fingerprint scanner. From what I've seen on the iPhone 5S, the fingerprint scanner works nine times out of ten, if not more, and that's by simply touching it. In my time with the S5, it worked roughly one out of every three or four times, mostly because you have to slide your finger at exactly the right angle for it to register. It's finicky at best, non-functional at worst. To increase your chances at success, scan both of your thumbs so that you can use either hand. Even then, it's dicey.

In terms of audio quality, the single speaker on the back of the S5 sounds miserable next to the dual front-facing speakers on the HTC One. It makes a big difference for listening to music, watching videos, and gaming if you're not using earbuds. The best I can say about them is that the S5 is loud enough that I didn't miss many calls,. Speaking of which, call quality was solid on AT&T's network, though the earpiece could definitely stand to be a bit louder.

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There's plenty of good news, though. Battery life is fantastic. With fairly moderate usage, the S5 lasted me about a day and a half. With heavy usage, it still made it well into the night. I'd estimate I got an extra hour or two of usage out of it over the HTC One, and it blows the Nexus 5 away. The Ultra Power Saving mode was legitimately helpful, flipping the phone into grayscale (AMOLED screens can save a lot of power that way) and disabling most apps and non-essential radio-connections, while still allowing you to make/receive calls, get texts, and manually check email. Think of it as an emergency mode. When my phone was down to 18-percent battery, Ultra Power Saving mode estimated it could get 2.2 days of standby time. Good to have in earthquake country.

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Camera

In bright light, the S5's 16MP shooter is excellent. It tends to be a little over-saturated, and errs on the side of more contrast, but for mobile phone photos, that's just fine. For daylight photos, the S5 completely blows the HTC One out of the water. Once the sun goes down it's another story. The S5 really struggles with noise and detail in low-light.

That said, this is handily Samsung's most-successful camera yet. It claims to have the first phase detection autofocus system, and indeed, it focuses just as fast as the HTC One, which is to sayvery fast. It also does HDR live, meaning you don't have to guess what the photos might turn out like, you can see it in realtime, and you can toggle HDR on/off with a single press

While it isn't the first phone to shoot HDR video, other attempts (HTC and Sony) have been total fiascos. The Galaxy S5 is the first phone to shoot HDR video that looks good. Really good, in fact. It can also shoot 4K UHD video at 30fps, 1080p video at 60fps, and 720p video at 120 and even 240 fps (though image quality does drop off). Samsung's phones have been the best in our video tests for the last few years, and it looks like the S5 is no exception.

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Despite the fact that the camera app has an insane number of options and customizations, it's laid out fairly intuitively. If you don't want to dive into the features, then it's just fast and easy to use, but if you want to go nuts, you can. The S5 has some of the same effects as the HTC One, including options to selectively defocus the background or foreground. In general, it works more consistently than HTC's version, and pictures turn out sharper because of the better sensor, but it's still finicky and takes longer to shoot.

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Some bells and whistles that debuted with the S4 are now housed under the Shot & More shooting mode. This mode takes a burst of photos then analyzes the pic and tells you what options you can use, including Best Photo, Best Face, Eraser (removes a moving object from the scene), Drama Shot, and Panning Shot. You used to have to select the option you wanted before shooting; this is definitely a better option. That said, the mode you were hoping for isn't always available to you, based on the shot you took, and to tweak these photos you have to use Samsung's Gallery app which is extremely slow and buggy.

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Like

Battery life is fantastic. The pared-pack look of the software is a definite improvement. The screen is absolutely lovely. The dimpled back panel makes the phone much less likely to slide out of your hand or off of your leg. IP67 waterproofiness should be mandatory on all phones!

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No Like

While the software has gotten better, it's still well behind HTC's in terms of user-friendliness, and it's miles away from Motorola's and stock Android. There's just too much lag to be forgivable in a phone with so much horsepower under the hood. S Health and Gallery are especially slow and junky, but the same can be said for most of Samsung's apps. The fingerprint scanner is more trouble than it's worth, and the heart rate monitor on the back of the phone is essentially pointless.

While it's great that the S5 supports USB 3.0 and is waterproof, it also means having to deal with the little door every time you want to charge it, and fumbling to plug in a USB 3.0 cable in the dark is annoying. it wouldn't be such a big deal if it supported wireless charging, but it doesn't out of the box (you will be able to buy back covers that support wireless charging, but they're not for sale yet). The camera really struggles in low light. The external speaker is of very poor quality.

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Should You Buy It?

The answer depends on how important battery life and photo quality are to you. If your answer is "very," then yes, you should buy it. The camera is way better than the HTC One's, and the battery life is way better than the Nexus 5. From there, you just have to decide if it's worth dealing with Samsung's software. If you've gotten along with TouchWiz just fine in the past, it's a no-brainer. This is easily the best version of TouchWiz yet.

If you're feeling more adventurous, you could also ditch Samsung's boss camera app, root the phone, and install a clean version of Android. There's been no mention of a Google Play Edition of the S5 yet, but we wouldn't be surprised if that happens at some point. You may lose all the lovely HDR tricks (and UHD) video, though. (Actually commenter Tad-bravo points out that you can install a clean ROM but keep the S5 camera app, in which case, YES, do that.)

Ultimately, the S5 is a quality phone with an excellent screen, a very nice camera, a rockstar processor, and fantastic battery life. For 200 bucks on contract, you could do a lot worse, as long as you can be happy with the phone you have, not the phone it could have been if Samsung had gotten fully out of its own way.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs

• Network: All major U.S. carriers
• OS: Android 4.4.2 with TouchWiz UI
• CPU: 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801
• Screen: 5.1-inch 1920x1080 Super AMOLED (432PPI)
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 16 or 32GB + micro SD up to 128GB
• Camera: 16MP rear / 2MP front
• Battery: 2800 mAh Li-Ion
• Dimensions: 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32inches
• Weight: 5.11 ounces
• Price: Generally starts at $200 with a two-year contract