Upgrading from Note 3 to Note 5 - worth it?

[Zaari-gou]

Hi everyone,

I received my current Note 3 as a gift around a year ago, and I fell in love with it. Unfortunately though because of my excessive use I managed to damage the system OS, and so the warranty is void. Instead of paying to repair it, I'm thinking about upgrading it.
I was planning to upgrade to Note 4 at first but a friend of mine had one and honestly, it didn't feel like a big upgrade, and at the time my phone was still working nicely. So I'm looking at Note 5 here.
I could care less about the lack of microSD (I rarely ever download big files and I have a Canon for photography/videos) but the lack of replaceable battery is a bit unsettling because I use my phone a lot. I mean a LOT. There are days where I never even lock the screen, music playing in the background, web surfing and chatting with friends for hours (I travel a lot), and my trusty Note 3 offered me a decent battery life for that. After around 5-6 months though the battery stopped being as impressive with charge and usage time so I changed it. So how about Note 5's battery life? What will happen if and when the battery "expires", as it happened before? And will its battery survive the ordeals I will make it walk through?
Also the S Pen. In Note 3 the tip of it wasn't stiff, it would push a few millimeters into the pen when drawing, which made the experience a bit awkward. I hope the Note 5 pen's tip is stronger than Note 3's.

And overall what should I expect from the upgrade performance-wise? I know Note 3 had its moments where it'd freeze to death and a full reboot would be in order. I'm estimating it won't be a thing (or not as common at least) in Note 5.

Any opinions and suggestions are welcome. I could also wait for Note 7 but I don't think it's coming out anytime soon.

Thanks!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. Overall, the device is an upgrade from the Note 3. However, since you seem to put most power users to shame, I think there are a couple tings to consider:
1. A different device. The battery is sealed in and from what I understand, getting to the battery is no easy task.
2. Still get the Note 5, but somehow adding a second device (tablet, Chromebook, second phone, etc) to add to your arsenal to take some of the burden off the new Note.

 

[Zaari-gou]

Welcome to the forums. Overall, the device is an upgrade from the Note 3. However, since you seem to put most power users to shame, I think there are a couple tings to consider:
1. A different device. The battery is sealed in and from what I understand, getting to the battery is no easy task.
2. Still get the Note 5, but somehow adding a second device (tablet, Chromebook, second phone, etc) to add to your arsenal to take some of the burden off the new Note.

Thank you, haha. I've been a loyal Note user since the day I started using, it's really a powerful device. If it had replaceable battery I'd probably go buy one right away. I get that it's supposed to be durable and all, but I rather liked knowing if anything went wrong I could just get another battery.
So what would you suggest as an alternative and/or secondary device?

 

[Golfdriver97]

So what would you suggest as an alternative and/or secondary device?

I can try. I need some more info. I will list it all off:

1. How do you play your music?
2. How do you communicate with your friends while traveling?
3. Do you carry any other electronic devices while traveling?
4. Do you have a preference to a specific type of secondary device?

 

[Zaari-gou]

I can try. I need some more info. I will list it all off:

1. How do you play your music?
2. How do you communicate with your friends while traveling?
3. Do you carry any other electronic devices while traveling?
4. Do you have a preference to a specific type of secondary device?

1. Mostly through Spotify, sometimes using the stock music app.
2. Online texting apps (FB messenger, whatsapp etc.)
3. My Canon mostly. I also take my laptop if I'm going to stay for a long time.
4. Well no, not really. I'd prefer something fast and reliable though.
Come to think of it, S7 Active actually caught my interest in that regard. If it's as good as Samsung advertises I might get it along with a Note 5. It's not the prettiest out there but it'll get the job done.

 

[Golfdriver97]

1. Mostly through Spotify, sometimes using the stock music app.
2. Online texting apps (FB messenger, whatsapp etc.)
3. My Canon mostly. I also take my laptop if I'm going to stay for a long time.
4. Well no, not really. I'd prefer something fast and reliable though.
Come to think of it, S7 Active actually caught my interest in that regard. If it's as good as Samsung advertises I might get it along with a Note 5. It's not the prettiest out there but it'll get the job done.

Ok.
1. I would say stream Spotify from your laptop as much as possible. That may be quite possibly the larger of your battery drains.

2. For right now, I would suggest that to be a phone thing.

3+4. My first thought was to suggest a Chromebook like a Chromebook Flip. Here is why: Chromebooks are going to get Android apps soon. If you do something like a Chromebook flip, it can convert to a tablet, and still run your Android apps like everything you listed. They are usually inexpensive. Chrome OS is quite light and very snappy. I have a Chromebook and a Chromebox (basically a desktop version of a Chromebook) If this idea interests you, I would suggest holding off on buying one right now. I am guessing that a new crop of Chromebooks will come out for back to school/college in the fall.

4b. I was also somewhat thinking of a tablet. Either idea was to get something that has a physically bigger battery. Have whatever that is do the heavy lifting, and you might be surprised at how much that can save the Note battery.

Other thoughts:
I am trying to refrain from making you change the way you do things. People resist change especially if it completely foreign. However, If you upload your music to Google, you can still stream all your purchased music. Since in theory Google services are similar across all platforms (Android and Chrome OS) there is familiarity there. The same idea applies to Chromebooks. I was hesitant to suggest them, but at the same time, I really like them. They blow my Windows machine out of the water easily. I have a Linux PC build that Chrome slightly outperforms, and Chrome is on older hardware.

 

[Zaari-gou]

Ok.
1. I would say stream Spotify from your laptop as much as possible. That may be quite possibly the larger of your battery drains.

2. For right now, I would suggest that to be a phone thing.

3+4. My first thought was to suggest a Chromebook like a Chromebook Flip. Here is why: Chromebooks are going to get Android apps soon. If you do something like a Chromebook flip, it can convert to a tablet, and still run your Android apps like everything you listed. They are usually inexpensive. Chrome OS is quite light and very snappy. I have a Chromebook and a Chromebox (basically a desktop version of a Chromebook) If this idea interests you, I would suggest holding off on buying one right now. I am guessing that a new crop of Chromebooks will come out for back to school/college in the fall.

4b. I was also somewhat thinking of a tablet. Either idea was to get something that has a physically bigger battery. Have whatever that is do the heavy lifting, and you might be surprised at how much that can save the Note battery.

Other thoughts:
I am trying to refrain from making you change the way you do things. People resist change especially if it completely foreign. However, If you upload your music to Google, you can still stream all your purchased music. Since in theory Google services are similar across all platforms (Android and Chrome OS) there is familiarity there. The same idea applies to Chromebooks. I was hesitant to suggest them, but at the same time, I really like them. They blow my Windows machine out of the water easily. I have a Linux PC build that Chrome slightly outperforms, and Chrome is on older hardware.

Oh no, I'm always open to change. It's how we grow.
But I don't really see why a Chromebook would be beneficial to me. I already have a laptop I use mostly for photo editing and general data storage. I avoid taking it with me and just leave it where I'm staying at the time, because I'm mostly out in the wild and it's just encumbering to carry too much stuff. I suppose it could be reasonable to use it instead of my phone if it supports all Android apps but again, it'd be too big and bulky to carry around, especially in comparison to a phone's size (since it'd be an alternative to a phone). So unless they release something particularly interesting I'm not sure if I should carry two laptops around with me. I'm planning to get a high-performance laptop for 4K videos in the future, so there's also that.
Other thoughts, one reason I like Spotify is that I dislike pirating but at the same time I listen to a wide range of stuff and I'd be low on cash if I went to purchase all of them. Spotify is kind of the middle ground, I like knowing I'm doing my part to support my liked artists but I like better knowing I'm not spending all my money on them, haha.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Oh no, I'm always open to change. It's how we grow.
But I don't really see why a Chromebook would be beneficial to me. I already have a laptop I use mostly for photo editing and general data storage. I avoid taking it with me and just leave it where I'm staying at the time, because I'm mostly out in the wild and it's just encumbering to carry too much stuff. I suppose it could be reasonable to use it instead of my phone if it supports all Android apps but again, it'd be too big and bulky to carry around, especially in comparison to a phone's size (since it'd be an alternative to a phone). So unless they release something particularly interesting I'm not sure if I should carry two laptops around with me. I'm planning to get a high-performance laptop for 4K videos in the future, so there's also that.
Other thoughts, one reason I like Spotify is that I dislike pirating but at the same time I listen to a wide range of stuff and I'd be low on cash if I went to purchase all of them. Spotify is kind of the middle ground, I like knowing I'm doing my part to support my liked artists but I like better knowing I'm not spending all my money on them, haha.

My own opinion on what you have said...I think a Tablet may be a better way to go. It's still small and portable, already has Android apps, and if you get one of the 9" variants of the Samsung, you should have a good 5k battery or better. (while typing this I checked out Samsung's site. The 9.7" has nearly a 6k battery. Link)

 

[serpent2005]

There is also the option to buy a portable charger that can use the Note5's quick charge ability. Like Anker's Powercore 10000 that should be able to fully charge the Note5 three times (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU5281744).

 

[fernandez21]

Since you were looking at the galaxy active, I assume your on AT&T. If that's the case, they're running a promo where you can get a free galaxy tab with the purchase of a note 7, so you could offload some of your usage to that to save the battery on the note. Plus the Note 7 has a wireless battery case that you could get to extend the battery even more.