Gadgetory

for the second year in a row Samsung has expanded its Galaxy S line with an active phone the galaxy s5 active to be exact with only a slightly different design and specs that mirror the original s5 the active here raises two questions what does it offer that's different and is it really suited to the rough-and-tumble lifestyle I'm Jessica Belcourt for CNN and here we go with the unit from 18t for the record samsung never claims that the s5 active is a rugged device and that's a good thing because it would hardly pass muster true a thicker plastic coating on the top bottom and corners will keep it from getting busted up like my s5 did after a tumble and it's got these perfectly raised buttons on the front and on the sides that make it a lot easier to navigate with wet fingers or gloves but without any grippy edges like we did have in the s4 active it is a little slippery and since it's also a little bit wider than the s5 it also makes it a little bit harder to hold at least for me and those screw looking nubs on the back yet those are just pure decoration the s5 active does have seals and gaskets to protect the interior from water and dust but then again so does the s5 which like this one is also rated ip67 ok so here's what is different the s5 active has this really neat convenience key above the volume rocker you press it once and you'll pull up a new samsung app called activity zone this shows you a barometer or compass a flashlight and a stopwatch the flashlight has several modes in fact and even translates your text into Morse codes a menu in the applet to add other shortcuts to which does give you quicker access to opening say a separate app for running and if you long press the key you can launch the camera as well this is the first time in a long time that we've seen Samsung do this and you can adjust the settings so that pressing this button triggers the shutter remember that you can also take photos by pressing a volume button and that you can use either of these techniques to take pictures underwater this unit I've got here is a rather militant camo green but you can also get the s5 active in red or gray now I said that internally the active here is just as capable as the s5 with the same 5.1 inch 1080p HD display the same excellent 16 megapixel camera and the same 2.5 gigahertz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor so it is really fast it also runs Android 4.4 KitKat and has Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top that means that you get everything from Google now and my magazine to ultra power saving mode the toolbox private mode and multi window plus a lot more besides and yes the s5 active does have a heart rate monitor on the back what it doesn't have though is the fingerprint scanner and you'll notice that the charging port is the standard affair rather than the quicker charging that the galaxy s5 has with its double barrel combination so how does the Galaxy s5 active stack up well it's certainly in the top of its class when it comes to features and specs but there are sure to your phones out there still if you think of it as a more robust tactile and outdoorsy version of the s5 then it won't let you down I'm Jessica Delacorte for CNN be sure to catch my full s5 active review at CNN com