If you came here after viewing my Cell Phone page, you may be confused at my Samsung Galaxy S2 from 2012. That's because in 2012 I got a job that required me to have a smartphone, but I was required to purchase it. This left me to pick whatever phone I wanted. This one was $99 (with company-paid plan). I liked it plenty, but some applications would near melt the battery and eventually it got a crack in it when someone else knocked it off of a shelf. I'd love to tell you all about how I don't put cases on my phones but I don't have a page built for that.

The phone features all the things I require: A headphone jack, easily replaceable battery, and external memory input. I use it today as my MP3 player during home projects. Its camera is only 8 Megapixel but I've always thought it was a good quality 8 MP.

All in all, it is a solid first phone and I will give it to my daughter as a mini-tablet when she reduces her propencity for losing expensive things.

I didn't know it at the time I bought the Galaxy S5 to replace my Galaxy S2 in 2015, but this would be the last Samsung S series phone that allowed users to replace its battery.

As an upgrade from the Galaxy S2, the phone was fantastic. People always asked me why my S2 was so slow and I didn't know what they meant until I used this puppy. Responsive touchscreen, tactile buttons, plenty of storage, ruggedized design.

Did I say ruggedized design? The screen got a crack in it less than three months after I purchased it. It happened without me dropping it, bending it, or anything. Just one day it had a crack going across the corner, which luckily was unintrusive enough that I used the phone for another two years. The tipping point? I dropped it from my lap onto hard carpet and it broke the headphone jack, which I used in my old Subaru to play music. Did I mention this thing is ruggedized?

The camera left a lot to be desired. Despite being 16 MP, images generally looked awful. Object definition was basically everything has fur and a maximum of 20 colors, unless you're taking a picture in bright outdoor light, in which case the fur is shorter but colors are nice.

The Galaxy S5 Active has a replaceable battery and can be used underwater. These two features together is very rare, and is usually an excuse for why a phone doesn't have a replaceable battery (you want to be able to use it under water, don't you?).