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The Samsung Galaxy S5 doesn’t officially launch until April 11th, but if you’ve already got it set in your mind that you’ll be picking one up on launch day, you may need a few accessories to go along with it. Samsung is here to accommodate, making a good amount of Galaxy S5 accessories available for pre-order direct from their site.
They’re a little tough to find, but now available are the Galaxy S5 wireless charging battery covers, available in both black and white (electric blue was strangely absent). If you needed a little more protection, you can also opt for the wireless charging S View Flip Covers, which are also available in black white. If you’re looking for something with a little more color, the standard flip covers (no wireless charging) are available in a plethora of colors. Links and pricing to all things Galaxy S5 provided below.
Samsung Galaxy S5
Wireless charging battery covers $30: Black | White
Wireless charging S-View Flip Cover $70: Black | White
S-View Flip Cover $50: Black | Rose | Green | White | Pink
Wallet Flip Cover (no wireless charging) $40: Black | White | Green
Protective Cover (price not available): Clear
Spare battery $30: 2,800mAh
Whoa is it just me or is $30 cheap for a spare battery?
Since it is being offered directly by the manufacturer, it is fairly cheap. Generally speaking, though, you could likely land one within a couple of months for about $15-20 on eBay or Amazon.
Usually they’re quite reliable though.
Charging extra for the wireless charging backplate is pretty ridiculous. Should come standard on a flagship model.
That’s the only nice thing about the devices you can’t get into, they usually include the wireless charging which I’ve gotten used to and it’s great
I was really surprised when I found out my g pro came with the wireless charging back cover.
That was actually a problem for some people an also unibody design is not efficient for repair.. I mean this works people that want it have an official mean to get it and not sacrifice anything they normally would have
My thoughts exactly.. Loving my N5.
Yeah but most phones don’t have wireless charging built in or have an accessory option to add it. Not having it built in is one of the tradeoffs with a removable battery.
Not stating that it should be built-in per se, but that the qi backplate should have been included with the phone.
I wish they would make a cover with the “Galaxy S5” logo on it. It’s weird how with the stock covers, some carrier variants have the logo, others just have the Samsung logo. (I’m a logo freak :P)
Didn’t even notice that. Now it’s bothering me. Lol
Anyone have opinions on GS5 vs the Xperia Z2? I’m leaning toward the Z2 (purchasing an import from UK) right now, need to make a decision this month – planning on having the phone for about three years so any opinions/knowledge would be appreciated
Just from my experience, about 95% of the people I know with Samsung phones from the original Galaxy S on up to the Note 2 have had problems with the phones after about a year and a half. I don’t know if it’s just the user or if it’s the actual phone itself, but that’s not a good track record.
thanks to you (and tojen1981) for the quick responses. I’m 2.5 years in with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus – and though in the past six months it has gone through periods of bugginess (there was a time where it was resetting itself 10 times per day), for 2 years it ran well. Not discounting the experience of your friends – i will take that into consideration. the fact that the galaxy nexus runs stock android may have had something to do with its longevity as well
This is a great point. I actually have a Galaxy Note 2 that suffered from the sudden death syndrome. Completely stock. Out of nowhere, it just died on me. Apparently it’s some kind of motherboard issue or something, and it can’t be fixed (and it’s out of warranty). :/
Dang, hate to hear that. I had to basically throw a hissy fit to get my GN 2 as my work phone, since they want everyone to use iPhones. I hope mine doesn’t suffer the same fate ’cause I know they’ll never let me get another Android.
@Chris, I had the Note 2 since launch on Tmo in October 2012? I have since then dropped it multiple times but luckily I don’t have the sd syndrome lol. What I do get are sometimes, just crashes where the whole thing restarts, sometimes it’s unresponsive until i take out the battery etc. Since you handle more phones than I ever will, is that a common effect to phones that are dropped a lot? I guess to go deeper, why would it do that? I thought all the components are soldered and secured.
I guess I’m blessed to be in the 5%. I preordered the 32gb S3 and have been using it daily ever since with no problems at all.
I’ve been using my galaxy phones for 4 years now… Ditto with my mom and one of my co workers. We always use them at least two years… No issues between the three of us.
I have had Galaxy S2 and the S3 for the past four years without any issues at all. My family members and co-workers who have Galaxy S3 and S4, whose numbers are growing all the time, has had no problems with their phones either. I placed an order for the S5.
I’d wait as long as I could and see what the G3 has to offer before I’d plunk down $600 on either one.
That’s kinda what I was planning on doing as well.
I was in the same boat as you. I felt like the Z2 was the best phone this year, but don’t feel like waiting for ___ months before it launches in the US (I want LTE support on T-Mobile, so I wont import).
Here’s my concern with the Z2: Sony doesn’t typically offer the speediest of software updates, meaning you can expect the phone to remain on 4.4 KitKat for a long time. Also, in the camera comparison, I wasn’t impressed by the shooting capabilities. While playing with the device at MWC, the UI seemed kinda laggy too (like old TouchWiz).
The Galaxy S5, while not a huge upgrade from the Galaxy S4, has a quick camera, redesigned TouchWiz experience (it’s a whole lot less fugly), and you know Samsung will support it with major firmware upgrades down the line.
3 year is a long time to have a phone, and the benefit with the GS5 over the Z2 is you can replace the battery after a couple of years (and get some fresh mAhs). Of course, you’ll be sacrificing a lot of sexiness making the move to a Samsung, but I’m not sure how much importance you place on device aesthetics.
This is what makes phandroid great. Thanks for giving your insight to a reader, Chris! I feel very well informed over the difficult decision I’ll soon be making.
With that white back the phone looks like a roll of toilet paper..
Does the wireless charging cover break compatibility with all standard cases?
That is a damn good question, and one I intend to find out as soon as this ships.
It did on my note3 because its a bit thicker. My body glove case which was actually quite stylish, didn’t work anymore. Plus it would keep the wireless charging from working too.
Probably. I have a S3 and it was the same way with the stock wireless charging cover. I ended up buying a separate charging receiver that I fit between the original cover and battery. Works great with my Otterbox Defender and I’d have to assume any other case. It added just a very slight bump in the middle.
I’m new to this wireless charging, how does it work?
You just snap this back onto your Galaxy S5, and set the phone down on any Qi-enabled wireless charger. That’s all there is to it. :P
same way your toothbrush works. Send a charge through a electromagnetic wireloop, it creates an induction current that can be received by a planar metal surface.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Electromagnetic_induction
Why is wireless Qi charging an “option” and not standard on ANY smartphone nowadays especially on a flagship device? The trend appears to be to not only keep pricing smartphones like laptop/desktop computers(in spite of the costs of production decreasing as technology improves) but to also “nickel and dime” users for tech that is standard in many low end devices!
They do this because the wireless charging cover is a bit thicker than the standard battery cover (it is on the note 3 anyways) and we all know how stupid idiots are about an extra inconsequential millimeter when it comes to their spec wars.
I’m currently using an LG Optimus G Pro-in the same league as some other phablets, but not fat by any means- and wireless charging is standard. The coil used isn’t thick enough to make that much of a discernable difference to warrant it being sold as a 30+ dollar accessory instead of being standard. I mean they could always include wireless charging and sell the thinner non-Qi back plate as an option to please the “thinner is better” crowd, but somehow I don’t think they would exactly fly off the shelf!
Right, I get you. Design is all about choices and sacrifices. I gather that wireless charging for samsung isn’t on the top of the list of features that drives phone sales, so they’re willing to sacrifice it in order to bump up some other aspect of the design.
hope they fixed the design, so it doesn’t add bulk like on the note 3
This should have been included with the phone. Now probably none of the good cases will fit with it.
Wireless charging completely destroys your battery anyways. Not worth the gimmick.
I use it on my S3, 8 months ago so far so good.
CHOETECH released qi wireless receiver coil for Galaxy S5 on Amazon
Link? Can’t find it :(
I just wish the wireless back would be the same thickness so you could still use 3rd party cases :/
Nice sharing
Techalltop
Galaxy S5 is a bang ! http://www.note4galaxy.com
I will surely consider buying the wireless charging S
view flip cover to make the Galaxy S5 compatible with qi charger along with
safety of its screen and yes the most important is to enhance its looks.
It is the best for the s5 users.
I’d like to know why only the black and white ones are available right now. I WANT THE BLUE ONE ! :'(