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.
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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