Galaxy S5 Comes With More Than $500 in Rewards

In an effort to sweeten the deal for Samsung’s new Galaxy S5, the Korean company is adding in a whole bunch of expensive “premium” software. Software Samsung says is valued at over $500, so you should feel like you’re getting a good deal on apps you may or may not even use. A three-month Premium LinkedIn account, for example, or a six-month subscription to The Wall Street Journal. Samsung is calling the entire bundle “Galaxy Gifts.” Now are you going to upgrade from your Galaxy S4?

Other apps S5 owners will get as part of the Gifts bundle includes a one-year subscription to Run Keeper, three months of Evernote Premium, and three months of 1TB of storage from Bitcasa. There’s more, too, including a one-year subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek, 50GB of Box storage for six months, and six months of premium service for Map My Fitness. These apps all combine to sound like something a Fortune 500 company VP would use. There’s a little bit of fitness, cloud and business.

Free services with a purchase isn’t new in the smartphone space. Dropbox has long been an incentive for a lot of devices, but Samsung’s Gifts bundle really goes for broke, offering fifteen different apps in total. These might not necessarily be apps you’d use, but the offers are there for every S5 purchase. Want $10 of in-game credits for Cut the Rope 2? Buy an S5, and your wish will be granted.

We got a pretty extensive look at the Galaxy S5 during Mobile World Congress last week, and came away thoroughly impressed. In addition to a slightly larger screen and soft-touch back, the device now comes with an improved camera, fingerprint scanner, and a heart-rate monitor right on the back of the device. Look out for the S5 to drop all over the world this April.