Galaxy S5 release date: what Samsung learned from its S4 mistakes

What do you want from the Galaxy S5? You might find out what it offers sooner than expected. The Galaxy S4 is sinking so quickly in the sales department that Samsung may have no choice but to give the Galaxy S5 a release date this year, well ahead of its planned spring 2014 launch timeframe, in what will essentially be a do-over. At issue for Samsung is whether it can learn from the numerous mistakes it made with the S4, which despite a widely hyped launch saw its sales numbers quickly fall to the point that it’s harming the company’s bottom line. Here are the top S4 mistakes, and the ways Samsung can fix them as of the Galaxy S5 release date.

Styling: The Galaxy S4 is mostly S3 all over again, a barely noticeable smidge taller and thinner, with that same cheap feeling plastic body. No one ended up caring that its internal specs are night and day more powerful. With the Galaxy S5, Samsung will have to offer a radically redesigned look and feel so even the least technical and least attentive Android buyers will instantly grasp that it’s something new.
Software: What Samsung learned here is that if you’re going to pack a phone full of in-house apps, make sure they’re desirable and work right. The base S4 model is literally half-full with Samsung’s own apps, many of which are buggy and obtuse and ripe for deletion. Samsung isn’t a software company, so any apps bundled with the Galaxy S5 need to come from legitimate software vendors, making them actual selling points instead of leaving users griping about the lost storage space.
Forward compatibility: Samsung released the Galaxy S4 a couple months ahead of the release of the Android 4.3 system software, and there’s still no word as to whether it’ll be compatible, leaving some users afraid to buy one. With the Galaxy S5, Samsung must ensure it’s forward compatible with Android 5.0 and whatever comes afterward, so it can advertise that fact from its release date onward.