Just bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 or planning on buying one? You're in luck. The latest flagship Android smartphone just hit the shops in the UK and so we decided to round up some of the best accessories to complement your new purchase.
Samsung Galaxy Gear 2
Wearable tech, like NFC, is battling to reach the mainstream. At least progress is being made, with impressive smart watches such as Samsung's Gear 2 leading the front. The Gear 2 smartwatch lets you enjoy a portion of smartphone functionality from your wrist, including emails, answering calls, capturing photos and video and keeping tabs on your fitness. It also tells the time in a variety of stylish ways.
Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit
The Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit is a bit like the Galaxy Gear 2 in that it puts smartphone technology into a wearable object. This one, however, focuses more on the fitness aspect of life, providing real-time information on your workout including how far you have travelled and your average speed, to name a couple of examples. You can also reject a call with a message, control any alarms you have set and see notifications for new emails, SMS etc.
Incipio Feather Shine Case
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Tired of people banging on about how the HTC M8 is made of metal and the Samsung Galaxy S5 feels like a bit of cheap plastic? You should check out the Incipio Feather Shine case. The ultra-thin case provides extra drop protection in the form of a tough case with EVA foam on the inside, while adding a brushed aluminium finish. A choice of silver, white and black is available.
Samsung Galaxy S5 S-View Flip Cover
Wireless charging is handy if you are prone to losing wires. The Galaxy S5 S-View Flip Cover replaces the battery cover, giving you wireless charging and a folding cover with a gap for the display key information at a glance, to keep scratches at bay. There's also an official wireless charging back if you want a cheaper option. You will, of course, need to buy the wireless Qi charger to use either accessory.
Fuel Key Ring Phone Charger
There are a number of phone battery chargers out there for impromptu charging sessions away from a plug, but most are bulky. The Fuel phone charger, which can sit on a key ring, has the distinction of being the smallest in the world. When fully charged the 220mAh battery will give you an extra 20 to 30 minutes of talk time or a few hours of standby, hopefully giving you enough juice in emergencies. Best of all, it looks like a miniature petrol can.
Mobio Go Car Mount
If the idea of a plastic monstrosity on your dashboard puts you off going hands-free, you could opt for the Mobio Go car mount. Put a small sticker on the back of your Galaxy S5 and then attach the spherical mount to the dashboard and off you go. Because of the shape, you can easily adjust the angle of your phone to see it. Two stickers are included so you can use more than one device.
Pure Jongo S3 Bluetooth Speaker
In combination with the Pure Connect app on iOS and Android, the battery-powered Pure Jongo S3 Bluetooth speaker is perfect for streaming beats from your Galaxy S5, be that MP3 files, Spotify streaming or TuneIn radio. Unlike most speakers, the Jongo S3 has Wi-Fi so it can be used to play sound across multiple speakers throughout your home. The sound quality is good although bass-lovers should look elsewhere. Expect ten hours of operation in between charges.
Bose QuietComfort 20i
Bose headphones and earphones are expensive, but can you really put a price on silence? It is, after all, bliss. If the answer is no, then the Bose QuietComfort 20i noise-cancelling earphones are worth a look because these babies really do a great job of removing background noise. A 16-hour battery life, hands-free remote and microUSB port for charging make them practical for everyday use. Sound quality is good but not brilliant, which it should be at this price.
Pebble Steel Smartwatch
The Android-powered smartwatch that is the Pebble just got better and adopted a metal body. Pebble Steel is, as you can probably guess, made from hard-wearing stainless steel. Beyond telling the time in a digital fashion, you can get phone notifications on your wrist, run Pebble apps such as Yelp for finding where to have lunch and be told the time with a number of awesome watch faces. Works with Android and iOS devices.
Fitbit Flex
Another fitness tracker for your wrist. The Fitbit Flex keeps tabs on how far you have walked, how many calories you have burned, how well you are sleeping, and can even wake you up in the mornings. The aim is to make you more active without it being a chore, which it does very well in conjunction with a free app on Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Just avoid the Fitbit Force as that was recently recalled over complaints of skin rashes. The Flex is, so far as we know, unaffected.
Joby TightGrip Tripod Adapter
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a pretty incredible camera. So to get the best out if it, particularly if shooting low-light photos, you could always use a tripod. This, of course, requires the Joby TightGrip Tripod adapter. Unless you would rather construct something out of wood and sticky tape. All you have to do is slot your Galaxy S5 in, tighten it up and then attach to a Joby or other tripod.
