My Galaxy Note 5 impressions

D13H4RD2L1V3

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So, I spent a good hour at the Samsung store with the Note 5, and honestly, I really love it. It's pretty darn good and those complaints I had at the launch? Nearly eradicated but one remains.

THE GOOD
- The size and ergonomics. This phone is almost the same size as my LG G4, which is a great thing. The curved back also makes holding it much more comfortable. Thickness is also good enough for me.
- The screen. Nothing needs to be said. It's Samsung's AMOLED display that has been the best for some time. While I'm not a fan of AMOLED and generally prefer IPS, the Note 5's display offers outstanding visual flair without bleeding your eyes.
- The S Pen. A joy to use and all the unique S Pen features work really well.
- Performance. Fast, smooth and relatively quick.
- Camera. The same brilliant unit found on the S6. Works really well. Pro mode has improved with shutter speed control, but still not as comprehensive as the G4.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD
- Glass back was a fingerprint magnet, and it's very slippery. I would recommend a rubber or pleather case to improve grip.
- Speaker is not that good for media. It sounds okay but can easily be covered and when it is covered, the phone doesn't have good sound at all. This is a nitpick, however, as not many listen to phones with their speakers, and it works fine as a speakerphone.
- Although performance was good, it was surprisingly slower than my personal G4, even down to a difference of over a second when launching apps and closing them. I attribute that to the fact that it's a display unit and that the stock animations are just too slow. Changing the values in developer options should solve this.
- The lack of microSD expansion will trouble many. As good as the cloud is, many still want lots of local storage, and while a 64GB Note 5 will be the sweet spot for many, there will always be some who want more.

Frankly, that's all I have. I really love using it and I'm sure that Note 5 owners will love every second of using it. My criticisms are nitpicks and don't impact my thoughts on the phone as much.

This is an amazing phone and is currently in my top 3 best phones of 2015, along with the LG G4 and Zenfone 2, until another good phone comes.
 

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dpham00

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Force close the app on both phones. Then open it. I would be surprised if the note 5 isn't about the same or faster.

Now the note 5 does have more aggressive memory management, so perhaps that is what you are seeing.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Force close the app on both phones. Then open it. I would be surprised if the note 5 isn't about the same or faster.

Now the note 5 does have more aggressive memory management, so perhaps that is what you are seeing.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5

I did. I was actually stunned at how much slower this thing is despite the massive increase in the amount of processing power that the Note 5 has over the G4.

At worst, I expect them to be about the same.

I think it's the stock animations that's slowing it down.
 

erasat

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You are talking about a device set for demo purposes with the demo app running in the background, believe me Note 5 is faster and smoother than G4, I had one and returned it after 8 days. Note 5, is a keeper for me.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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You are talking about a device set for demo purposes with the demo app running in the background, believe me Note 5 is faster and smoother than G4, I had one and returned it after 8 days. Note 5, is a keeper for me.

That's what I suspected as well.

I need to get hold of a non-demo unit for a proper verdict.
 

MDMcAtee

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Yup... Most of the bads are nitpicks.

The glass back is indeed a finger print magnet and is slick as snot when used naked.,but you either love it or cover it up. Most people won't go bare for long I know I didn't, and now have a great leather case/wrap on mine that actually looks better and feels better than my g4 did..

The speaker on my AT&T 64 gig Note sounds great, not muffled namely because I don't block it, just as I learned not to block the speaker on my g4. It is incredibly loud too, but every phone I have gotten from AT&T has been louder than the other carriers except for the iphones I have had. Put a decent pair of headphones/earbuds on it and you will notice just how much better it sounds too.

As much as I loved my g4 it really doesn't have anything on the Note 5 except for the removable battery and the convenience of a internal SD card, both of which can be supplied by a quick charge external battery pack and any number of micro usb SD card readers...

Believe me when I say that I was dead set against the Note 5 because of those 2 things, but luckily took the chance to use one that wasn't in demo mode and learned about the micro usb SD card reader before with the s6 Active. I am glad I did.

Posted from my Galaxy Note 5
 

russel5150

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I am just glad you got it !! I know youve been waiting!!! Congratulations! !

Ive been enjoying mine, and im still getting through a long day with plenty of battery left, i havent had to use the power saver yet!

Sent with my white Note5 with nonremovable back and no SDcard!
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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I am just glad you got it !! I know youve been waiting!!! Congratulations! !

Ive been enjoying mine, and im still getting through a long day with plenty of battery left, i havent had to use the power saver yet!

Sent with my white Note5 with nonremovable back and no SDcard!

I didn't buy it, lol. Wish I could as a work device to accompany my G4.

But I really love it. I need to get hold of a unit that's not a retail display unit so that I can see how the phone really is like.

Frankly, my complaints were eradicated...mostly, but believe me when I say that this is a stellar device.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Watch this video it may change your mind about the speed of the Note 5. If it didn't reload apps in the second part of this test it would have blown away both phones.

https://youtu.be/JV8LlTxcIvY

Posted via the Android Central App

I did the same thing while testing it, and YES, I DID notice some apps that reloaded on the Note 5 that didn't on my G4.

However, not many of them suffered from it, and the 2 apps that reloaded are the Play Store and YouTube.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Also, another thing to point out.

Like the Galaxy S6, the Note 5 comes with a "Smart Manager" app, or as I like to call it, "Pre-installed Clean Master that's just as crap".

It's basically Clean Master as it's actually developed by both Samsung and Cheetah Mobile.

While it serves as a good overview of your system, the RAM clearing feature doesn't make sense to me as Android is designed to use as much memory as possible to ensure that apps run at their best and are ready when you launch them.
 

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dpham00

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Also, another thing to point out.

Like the Galaxy S6, the Note 5 comes with a "Smart Manager" app, or as I like to call it, "Pre-installed Clean Master that's just as crap".

It's basically Clean Master as it's actually developed by both Samsung and Cheetah Mobile.

While it serves as a good overview of your system, the RAM clearing feature doesn't make sense to me as Android is designed to use as much memory as possible to ensure that apps run at their best and are ready when you launch them.
The Verizon Note 5 and s6 didn't come with it.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5
 

anon8380037

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No? Cary Grant was always someone people did impressions of. I'm too old maybe.

I didn't get the thread either, doing an 'impression" of a store model, but never mind.


(BTW - The GIF isn't funny until you see it move on the website. Someone replied to me with it last year. No? Probably not then. )
 

BBSeattle

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Came from a G4, got the S6 Edge Plus (fundamentally the same as the Note 5)....the Sammy is faster in just about every regard.
Love the G4, never had a complaint but I think the 4GB of RAM on the Sammy is the difference.
 

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