Key Facts
- Galaxy Note 5 Release Date: Sept in Korea, Q4 in US, No European release
- Galaxy Note 5 Price: To be confirmed
- Galaxy Note 5 Specs: 5.7-inch, 16MP with OIS, Exynos 7420, 4GB RAM
First Impressions – This isn't the phone that Note fans wanted
Let’s start with the bad news – the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 won’t be coming to the UK or Europe any time soon. In fact, it may never come, according to our briefing with Samsung. It’s currently scheduled for release in South Korea in September with a US release date coming a little later.
That’s sad news indeed, since its predecessor – the Galaxy Note 4 – is a brilliant handset. It was certainly among the best phones launched last year, and it’s certainly one of my favourites.
The reason Samsung is being coy about releasing it in the UK and Europe is because it has another phablet on the scene. The Galaxy S6 Edge was announced with the Note 5 and is a 5.7-inch curved variant of the smaller S6 Edge. This is the phone Samsung will be pushing harder outside Korea.
Unlike the Edge , which is almost identical to its sibling barring screen size, the Note 5 is drastically different to the Note 4. I’m not convinced all the changes are for the better, though.
Same screen size, smaller body, fewer features
Galaxy Note 5 Design: 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6mm, Aluminium frame, Non-removable glass back, 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen
Samsung has worked some serious shrinking magic with the Galaxy Note 5. Even though it has the same screen size as the Note 4 it’s significantly svelter in both width and thickness.
This makes it easier to handle – especially with one hand. It’s also a lot more comfortable to hold. The curved aluminium frame feels much softer than the square metal on the Note 4, and it has a sweeping curve that meets the edges on the back. It rests perfectly in your palm.
This is a big phone that’s both easy and comfortable to use. So far, so good.
The incorporation of the S Pen stylus has also been finessed. You now press the S Pen into the phone and it pops out. It’s not quite the auto-eject feature some Note 5 rumours claimed, but it is neat. I did find it wasn’t that easy to get to or pull out, but then neither is fishing the S Pen out from the Note 4. Other than that the S Pen on the Note 5 is similar in design and functionality to its predecessor, and it makes the Note 5 unique among phablets.
Now to the bad part. The Galaxy Note 5 shares more design traits with the Galaxy S6 than it does with the Note 4, and that limits it. A non-removable glass back means you don’t get access to the battery and you don’t get a microSD card slot either. Like all of Samsung’s flagship phones released this year the Note 5 doesn’t allow for expandable storage.
In the S6, S6 Edge, and even the S6 Edge , this is annoying. But in a phone that’s designed to be the perfect on-the-go productivity tool – something the Note series has grown into – it’s downright negligent. Expandable storage and replaceable batteries are even more necessary when you use your phone as your main work device.
For me the Note 4 struck a great balance between slick design and functionality. It was a big step up from the all-plastic Galaxy S5. The Note 5 has swung too far the other way.
Thankfully, the 5.7-inch screen is better than ever. It’s the same Quad HD resolution as before, but colours pop with even more zeal. It’s like the screen on the Galaxy S6 has been scaled up a little. No other manufacturer comes close to Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays on a phone or phablet.
The different colours of the Note 5
Faster Processor, more RAM and the latest version of Android
Galaxy Note 5 Specs: 2.1GHz quad-core and 1.5GHz quad-core, 4GB LPDDR 4RAM, Android 5.1.1
Samsung has thumbed its nose at Qualcomm once more this year and has packed the Galaxy Note 5 with its own, blisteringly fast, Exynos 7420 chipset – the same one that’s in the rest of 2015’s high-end Galaxy phones.
The Snapdragon 805 in the Note 4 was no slouch, but the Note 5 will perform better in benchmarks and should be more energy efficient thanks to a 14nm manufacturing process (compared with 20nm on the Samsung). This allows Samsung to fit more transistors into a smaller space, while at the same time reducing heat and power consumption.
The Note 5 (left) and S6 Edge (right) side-by-side
In my hour or so with the Note 5 it felt silky smooth and fast. There’s a lot of power there and using multiple apps in split-screen mode didn’t seem to faze the phablet one bit – but then I never experienced these issues using the Note 4 either.
An extra gigabyte of RAM – 4GB in total – should keep the Note 5 ticking over a little better than the S6 and S6 Edge.
There should be no complaints over the Note 5’s performance.
TouchWiz – Samsung’s reimagining of Android – is still going strong on the Note 5 but, just like on the rest of the Galaxy range, it’s now a little tamer than before. Under the UI layer is Google’s latest version of the world’s most popular mobile operating system – Android 5.1.1.
All the shortcuts you’ll be used to on a Note phone using the S Pen are there, letting you access key settings and apps quickly and efficiently. In fact it feels to me that the S Pen is faster than ever at displaying menus.
Improved cameras and improved audio
Galaxy Note 5 Camera: 16-megapixel, OIS, Phase Detection, AutoHDR, 5-megapixel front camera
The Note 5 uses the exact same camera sensor and lens as the Galaxy S6. That means it has a very solid camera that’s a step up from last year’s model. Still, it leaves me a little disappointed.
The Note 4 had an improved camera compared to the Galaxy S5 and I expected the Galaxy Note 5 to follow suit. Not to put too much of a damper on it, though, the camera is very good – in fact it’s one of the best around and goes toe-to-toe with the competition.
In some ways it’s better than the cameras on the iPhone 6 Plus and LG G4 and in others it’s slightly worse. It’s a toss-up as to whether you prefer more detail or better colour accuracy. If it’s the former you’ll be very happy with the Note 5; if the latter perhaps the iPhone or LG would be preferable.
There have been some improvements to the software, however. Samsung has uprated its VDIS, which makes videos more stable, and has added a number of movie-editing options and real-time video sharing.
Audio has also had a boost. Samsung has made software and hardware changes so the Note 5 can now upscale MP3 and comes with a dedicated clock to help reduce distortion and noise. I didn’t have a chance to test the audio quality, but hopefully it’ll be a step in the right direction for audiophiles.
Battery life could be shorter
Galaxy Note 5 Battery Life: 3,000mAh non-removable battery, wireless charging, fast charging
The biggest surprise the Note 5 announcement brought was that it has a smaller battery than its predecessor – 220mAh smaller, to be exact.
The Note 4 was one of the best phones of last year when it came to staying power – only the iPhone 6 Plus and Xperia Z3 could compete. It’s one of the killer features of the Note series and I hope the drop in battery size doesn’t mean it’s affected too much.
Note 5 (left) and Note 4 (right) side-by-side
There are reasons to believe it won’t be. The Exynos processor should be more efficient than the Snapdragon and the battery is still a fair amount bigger than that on the Galaxy S6, which manages to last a day.
I’ll need a lot more time with the Note 5 to assess its battery life fully.
Samsung has improved wireless charging so it’s 27% faster than it is on the S6 and S6 Edge. It’ll charge a full hour faster than those, even though the battery is bigger.
From left to right: iPhone 6 Plus, Note 5 and Note 4What’s the Galaxy Note 5 missing?
We’ve already mentioned that the Samsung has dropped the microSD slot and removable battery from the Galaxy Note 5. The former is somewhat eased by the fact that the top-of-the-line Note 5 model comes with 128GB of storage – 32/64GB are the other options. We expect the extra storage to come at a significant price, though.
The other omission is Type-C USB, something the much cheaper 5.5-inch OnePlus 2 sports.
Type-C USB has the benefit of being reversible, so you don’t have to guess which way you’re plugging it into the phone. It also has the ability for faster data transfer using USB 3.1 and improved power delivery – something OnePlus hasn’t taken advantage of. Apple’s new Macbook uses it as the main charging port.
Again this is useful for a product aimed at professionals who want the ability to quickly transfer files from PC to phone and vice versa.
The Note 5 also comes with the full gamut of other features we expect from a flagship in the Galaxy range. There’s an improved fingerprint scanner that works in tandem with NFC and magnetic secure transmission (MSG) in preparation for the launch of Samsung Pay. There’s also fast 4G and an IR blaster for controlling your home cinema system.
First Impression
There’s no denying the Galaxy Note 5 is a top-quality phone. All the elements that make the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge so strong – screen, design and processor – are there.
Unfortunately, like those phones, it lacks a number of features such as a removable battery, USB 3 and, crucially, microSD expansion. On the smaller handsets that’s less of an issue, but for a phone aimed at power users it could well be a misstep. Perhaps that's why Samsung has chosen not to launch it in the UK and Europe just yet.
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