Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch in April with $500 worth of free (maybe useless) content

Vamien McKalin, Tech Times 03 March 2014, 11:03 pm

Samsung is upping the stakes with the Galaxy S5, as the company plans to launch the device with freebies that are worth over $500. Interestingly enough, many of these apps are health-related and may even play well with the Galaxy S5's built-in heart rate monitor. The Korean giant is basically sweetening the deal for those who are interested in purchasing a Galaxy S5, or those who are still on the fence.

"Meaningful rewards from the world's top brands to make your GALAXY S5 experience even more enjoyable and productive. From fitness to news to productivity apps, the Samsung GALAXY S5 comes with free, long-term subscriptions and premium services," Samsung said.

Samsung made the announcement on Monday, a move that should make many future Galaxy S5 owners happy when the device launches in April. The company is calling its generosity the Galaxy Gifts, and it will include 6 months free premium service for Map My Fitness, 1 year premium service for Run Keeper, and 50GB worth of DropBox storage that will only last for 6 months.

In addition, the Korean behemoth will also throw in a 6 months Wall Street Journal subscription, along with a 1 year subscription for Business Week.

So far, we have counted 15 apps that will be preinstalled on the Galaxy S5 on launch day, and many Samsung fans are not happy about it.

Consumers are complaining on the Internet about the moves Samsung is making. Many of them see this as a similar situation to Windows OEMs which install a plethora of bloatware on their computer systems, while some are adamant that Samsung might not allow users to remove the apps they do not want.

This isn't the first time Samsung has chosen to give away free gifts to Galaxy users. The company gave away a million digital copies of Jay-Z's album, Magna Carta, to Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 users.

It is clear from this $500 Galaxy Gift that Samsung is intent on securing its dominance in the Android market with the Galaxy S5. Competition is getting thick as Lenovo is making inroads to the U.S. market with the purchase of Motorola, and HTC slowly making a comeback with a possible launch of its next generation HTC One smartphone come next week.