Grab an S6 or hold out for a Note 5?

[AndroidFanatic247]

Hello,
I am due for my Jump upgrade next month and I'm wondering should I take a stab at the S6 or would the note 5 be worth my time. I am not a power user, more in the middle but love phones that have top specs. I've been hearing things about the S6 battery being below average to average, is it bad enough to where I would be wasting my money buying it? I want a phone that can last me the day and I'm not sure if the S6 can. On the other hand I do like how powerful the Notes are and the S-Pen is handy for me in certain situations although I don't use it all the time. I've also been hearing the S6 has stuttering issues, is this true? I hate when premium phones don't run as such. On the other hand Ive heard the S6 runs like a dream and has a great camera (which also is important to me). I actually don't mind the built in storage and battery btw. Please help.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

 

[SpookDroid]

If battery is a concern, you'd definitely want to hold on to the Note 5 (although, if rumors are true, removable battery and SD Card might be gone from that one as well). Also, if rumors are true, the Note will be announced and released in August, rather than September/October as the previous ones to avoid competing directly with iPhone 6S Plus at launch.

Right now my Note 4 lasts me all day without having to change batteries, but if you go for the S6, you'd definitely need a spare charger during the day.

As for the stuttering, or lag, that's just TouchWiz, people will always claim it's laggy, even though it's not so much. But also, Android in general, let's face it, it's not the smoothest OS out there.

Size also comes into play. The Note line is massive. Sure, the S6 is not small, but still smaller than the Note family.

I, for one, would miss the S-Pen dearly. I do use it, and I use it a lot. But that's me. If you seldom use that, a 'normal' phone, maybe even the rumored S6 Plus would be a better choice.

As far as cameras go, yes, the S6 has an amazing camera. So does the Note 4, and I'm sure the Note 5 will be a killer one as well. You can't go wrong with either in that department.

 

[jcp007]

Hello,
I am due for my Jump upgrade next month and I'm wondering should I take a stab at the S6 or would the note 5 be worth my time. I am not a power user, more in the middle but love phones that have top specs. I've been hearing things about the S6 battery being below average to average, is it bad enough to where I would be wasting my money buying it? I want a phone that can last me the day and I'm not sure if the S6 can. On the other hand I do like how powerful the Notes are and the S-Pen is handy for me in certain situations although I don't use it all the time. I've also been hearing the S6 has stuttering issues, is this true? I hate when premium phones don't run as such. On the other hand Ive heard the S6 runs like a dream and has a great camera (which also is important to me). I actually don't mind the built in storage and battery btw. Please help.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

At the end of the day, it's your decision. It sounds like the GS6 would appear to be good fit for you. Battery life depends on factors like the carrier, usage habits and device setup as well as whether the carrier has updated to 5.1.1 while not the magic bullet it certainly appears to have helped some folks. As with any device, there are trade offs and a larger battery while helpful in most cases doesn't equate to longer battery life. The GS6 offers more in my opinion in terms of hardware, features, speed and performance to more than offset a smaller than expected battery.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[emad1995]

So I see a couple things like battery and stutter in your post that I can answer. This is based on my experience.

The battery life is pretty bad, however, if you don't mind doing a little bit of tweaks here and there you can get decent performance out of it.

I previously owned a note 3 and I used to have every option turned on for it including Google now and location 24/7. The battery would still last me all day. When I got my s6 I set it up the exact same way and my battery won't even get me through half the day. I was at 0 by 2pm (I wake up at 8am). After reading around on forums I learned a few things about the tweaks that would preserve my battery and now I average about 18-21h standby with roughly 3-4 h screen on time.

The s6 definitely will stutter even when doing basic tasks such as flipping through home screens. This usually happens when you quickly exit an app and start scrolling. As easy fix for this stutter is to restart the phone. In the first 12ish hours of the s6's on time it will function flawlessly but after that it will start to bog down and lag and stutter.

Bottom line is that thr s6 is a great phone as long as you know what you're doing. Give it a restart when you wake up and turn off things you don't use like gps and Bluetooth until you need them and you'll be more than happy with the device.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[DSMpowerhousegroup]

S6 Edge has worked great for me. I average 15+ hours with 4 to 5 hours sot, with more than 6 hours being my best.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AlphaTango414]

Battery life seems to be hit or miss with people. I get though a day pretty easily with 4.5 - 5 hours of SOT on a 20+ hour discharge. I only have turned off Location history within Google and disabled/uninstalled bloat. I'm on At&t network.

I also don't see any of these lags but maybe once in a blue moon when I've got several apps updating, while streaming video to tv, and running ųTorrent all at once. Other than that, it's smooth as glass. I am using Nova Prime launcher, not stock TW.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Saros]

I agree with SpookDroid's assessment above -- if you're a heavy user expecting tons of screen-on time, you'll probably want to make use of an external charger should you opt for the S6. My Anker (E5) does the trick quite well on those especially long days or while traveling. Most of the time it's unnecessary for my usage, but it's definitely nice to have backup when needed.

Alternatively, you may wish to consider an S6 Active.

The s6 definitely will stutter even when doing basic tasks such as flipping through home screens. This usually happens when you quickly exit an app and start scrolling. As easy fix for this stutter is to restart the phone. In the first 12ish hours of the s6's on time it will function flawlessly but after that it will start to bog down and lag and stutter.

With the understanding that user experiences vary, the behavior you're describing hasn't surfaced at all on my S6. I perform reboots once or twice a week at most, but for me the phone's always performed quickly and smoothly. The only brief performance slowdown I experience is when first launching the application manager; there's a 1-2 second lag while the list is populating, but that's it. Other than that, I haven't been able to get the phone to slow down when cycling through apps/settings/videos/music/games or anything else.

 

[MDMcAtee]

I'll second the s6 Active since this is my primary phone,but you're on t-mobile and would have to buy it outright and move it to t-mobile services

Posted from my Samsung S6 Active