Friday, August 14, 2015
Samsung is officially taking the wraps off of the Galaxy Note 5 today, the latest in its flagship line of Note phablets. The Note 5 is best described as a blend of the Galaxy S6 introduced earlier this year and the Note 4 from last year. It's a familiar shape and size, and it's likely to be the best Note Samsung's ever made.
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. The 5.7'' Super AMOLED screen has QHD resolution as before, but the way it interacts with the S Pen stylus has been revamped. The stylus is clickable, though that only serves to get it out of its sheath. Once you do, you can start immediately taking a note even when the screen is "off". If the screen is already on the new Air Command shows up instead. You get to put app shortcuts in it to make multitasking easier.
In terms of specific specs, the Note 5 has the same octacore Samsung Exynos processor as the S6, though this time it's paired with 4GB of RAM. Storage is based on the fast UFS 2.0 standard. While it outruns regular eMMC 5.0 storage, data hoarders have been locked out of expanding the memory – the base model has 32GB, you can upgrade to 64GB and that's it. No microSD slot, no 128GB option (Samsung discontinued the 128GB S6 in some markets). The 3,000mAh battery is actually smaller than the one in last year's Note 4, but the Note 5 includes support for both wireless charging and quick charging this time around.
The camera is lifted from the Galaxy S6. A 16MP sensor behind a wide f/1.9 aperture, plus optical image stabilization and auto real-time HDR. It can record 2160p video or livestream 1080p to YouTube. For selfies you get a 5MP sensor and an f/1.9 aperture. Samsung has updated the audio department with Ultra High Quality Audio, which promises "richer" sound. This feature will work over Bluetooth with new compatible Level On headphones.
Part of Samsung's move this year is to release the Note 5 ahead of Apple's fall iPhone launch, and you can actually preorder the phone from all four major US carriers starting today. It will be available in stores starting on August 21st, quite a bit earlier in the year than prior Note devices. Samsung says that each carrier will set pricing for the phone, but it will likely be priced around the same as prior Note devices, so you can expect to pay more for it than you would a Galaxy S6.
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. The 5.7'' Super AMOLED screen has QHD resolution as before, but the way it interacts with the S Pen stylus has been revamped. The stylus is clickable, though that only serves to get it out of its sheath. Once you do, you can start immediately taking a note even when the screen is "off". If the screen is already on the new Air Command shows up instead. You get to put app shortcuts in it to make multitasking easier.
In terms of specific specs, the Note 5 has the same octacore Samsung Exynos processor as the S6, though this time it's paired with 4GB of RAM. Storage is based on the fast UFS 2.0 standard. While it outruns regular eMMC 5.0 storage, data hoarders have been locked out of expanding the memory – the base model has 32GB, you can upgrade to 64GB and that's it. No microSD slot, no 128GB option (Samsung discontinued the 128GB S6 in some markets). The 3,000mAh battery is actually smaller than the one in last year's Note 4, but the Note 5 includes support for both wireless charging and quick charging this time around.
The camera is lifted from the Galaxy S6. A 16MP sensor behind a wide f/1.9 aperture, plus optical image stabilization and auto real-time HDR. It can record 2160p video or livestream 1080p to YouTube. For selfies you get a 5MP sensor and an f/1.9 aperture. Samsung has updated the audio department with Ultra High Quality Audio, which promises "richer" sound. This feature will work over Bluetooth with new compatible Level On headphones.
Part of Samsung's move this year is to release the Note 5 ahead of Apple's fall iPhone launch, and you can actually preorder the phone from all four major US carriers starting today. It will be available in stores starting on August 21st, quite a bit earlier in the year than prior Note devices. Samsung says that each carrier will set pricing for the phone, but it will likely be priced around the same as prior Note devices, so you can expect to pay more for it than you would a Galaxy S6.
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