I have only had the GS5 for a few hours but i can save you all some time already.
No, it doesn't come with Spritz reader which Gizmag promised a few months ago and there is no one to complain to. Samsung ignored me and there is no way to contact Spritz.
The heart rate monitor is very poor and works maybe 1 time in 5. The Galaxy S3 was better with a heart rate app. It just used the flash and was dead on with hospital HR monitors.
The camera is amazing and launches right away for me. pictures and video look excellent.
Everyone says it feels cheap in the hand. Yes. It does.
The power saving mode doesn't appear to have a way to set it up to come on at a certain power level, rendering it useless IMO as typically the battery runs down because some app that drains it like Skype turns itself on in your pocket when you are unaware of it. If you don't turn it on, it doesn't help you.
As I bought it 35% for spritz reader I am a little disappointed. As to the rest, its a just noticeable difference from the S3 so questionably worth it and from the S4, highly doubtful that its worth it as a few free apps basically allow it to do the same things. Except the water resistance. The guy at the phone shop made me repeat that its not water-PROOF it is 'water-resistant'. I told him he should try selling Kevlar vests that way.

I have both Samsung an Apple phones I find Apple lasts longer but I use the Samsung more often because it has more features and the screen is larger so I can read then easier. Generally not happy with the not replaceable battery in the apple and sony phones.

Please Stop with the plastic stuff. I never bought a smartphone and didn't buy a plastic case for it. I believe all cases are made of plastic so that's not a big thing to me. So can you please tell me more about what's inside the phones and the difference and not the outside that's going to get covered in plastic anyway. Example Ram, Processor speed, Storage capacity and expandability. Because I need a new phone ASAP I have Att thinking about going with the next program.

Pretty disappointed to not see any actual hardware specs here. Processor, video benchmarks, etc. This info would have tipped the scale quite a bit I believe. IPHONE doesn't hold up to Samsung, not even close. Who the heck wants a super tiny screen you can't see, you talk about it here like it's a good thing.

The most useful camera feature is "HDR". Set to automatic, when you photograph a subject aginst a bright background, the iPhone shoots twice and merges the two shots, giving you a decent shot of the subject and the background instead of either a dark subject or a washed out background. Even my Nikon DSLR won't do that.

For a great little phone that is hand comfortable, has a 4.7" screen and voice interactive, get a Moto X. I swear by mine.

I agree about the bloatware, but you can turn most of it off. Several things about iPhone 5 and later models really turned me off, like the proprietary charge/data cable that nobody else uses. I can still use micro USB from a phone I had several years ago to charge my S5. As the article mentioned, there's no Swype-like app for iPhone. I inwardly chuckle when I see people typing on iPhones. Apple charges a premium for onboard storage, where I can simply add a much less expensive micro SD card to expand my storage. The ability to simply pull off the cover to replace the battery is another nice touch, where the iPhone must be disassembled. I don't really care about the feel of the phone because I put a protective case on it anyway. I just hope that Mophie comes out with a Juicepack case for the S5 soon, as I loved using one with my S3.

I find it kind of funny that so much angst is spent on the crapware/bloatware on Android phones. The best part of it is that you can simply hide or often uninstall those apps. You want an uncluttered screen? Easy. Just remove those icons by tap & hold, then drag them to the trash can. You can also get a lot of lovely widgets that show you most anything at a glance. Try that with an iPhone.
I got the S5, after using older Androids and even iPhones. iPhones now bug me because they don't have a Back button. It's a matter of preference. However, I can honestly say that the apps on an iPhone generally work more reliably. You just have to use iTunes to get much out of the iPhone. I hate iTunes. With the S5, I can plug it into my computer's USB socket and upload/download whatever I like to/from the phone. Not as easy on iPhone/iTunes.
As to tech specs, you can get that on other phone reviews. You probably will never notice the difference. This review pretty much nailed down some of the things you will notice--that the S5 takes a few more seconds to open the camera. On paper, the S5 has a faster processor, and if you need more space, the S5 takes a microSD card. You will probably never use up all the space an iPhone gives you, either.

Does anyone ever use these as a phone? Is there any review of them as a phone, with conversation using the spoken work?
I'm on the phone constantly, and need basic email and nav and text and everything else, but I need a telephone most of all or I can just use my laptop with the keys designed for fingers and a screen one can see.
Is this a stupid situation where we are using SMARTmarginalphones instead of SMARTPHONES?

Great article. Thanks.