(Updated 9/22 after several weeks with the phone)
OK, so I’ve been around the block with phones, but so far I’ve stayed away from Samsung for the past 3 years. It started with the Samsung Charge. I hated that phone. It was buggy, laggy, short battery life, and overall one of the worse phones I’ve ever owned. Not the worse mind you. (I did own a BlackBerry Storm.) Then I tried a Samsung Galaxy 3. I thought it was ok, but it was huge for the time. I ended up dropping it within 2 days of owning it and completely destroying the glass. I still have it by the way and it does act as a fill in phone when I need one. So, after that I started down the Motorola path. Loved the Droid Razr line. Great phones, but eventually they’d become laggy. Then they just stopped making new Razrs and moved on to the Turbo, so I moved on to the LG line. Loved that line until the Verizon version of the G4. After seeing the Edge + and watching several reviews regarding it, I decided to order one. I’m glad I did. I don’t know if it’ll rank up there with the iPhone 6+ or HTC Droid Incredible (Dinc) as one of my favorite phones, but so far it’s pushing its way to the top.
Finger Print Sensor – Sammy finally made one that works almost as good as Apple’s. It’s close enough for me. I’ve only had to try again 3 times since setting it up. (After reentering the same thumb 2 times and the other hand's thumb, I haven't had it not recognize my thumb. It's a great sensor.)
Screen – I mean what can you say? It’s gorgeous. The most beautiful screen I’ve seen in a long time. It is bright enough to see outdoors. If I had a complaint it would be that it doesn’t get very dark in a dark room, but there are screen filters that can be added for that. Watching NetFlix on it is perfect. Gaming is sweet. No complaints. It is very interesting to note however, that the extra .2” screen size is not noticeable. In fact, I had to put it up against the G4 to see any difference in the two screen sizes.
Build Quality – Something to behold. For years I’ve been saying that Apple makes the highest build quality devices. Well, Sammy’s giving Apple a run for its money now. The aluminum finish is great. It feels solid and has some heft when holding it which is a good thing. Plastic phones always seem difficult to hold on to because they are too light. If I was going to complain, it would be the back. You cannot keep the back clean. As soon as you even think about touching it, it gets a fingerprint on it. I do have the Sammy slim case on order and hopefully it’ll arrive today. This should help with holding on to it and keep the back from looking like a 3 year old’s been playing with it. (I received the Sammy slim case and wasn't happy about the protection quality, so I did end up purchasing the Incipio case. I'm not wild about the Incipio just because it's hard pushing the buttons, so I might end up going back to the Sammy case. Either way, if you don't use a case, you will have fingerprints.)
Camera – Coming from the G4, I didn’t expect the camera quality to be even par with LG’s, but I have to say it takes great photos. At least for the few I’ve taken. Wifey’s got the Sammy G5 and it’s a piece of crap as far as cameras go, but so far the shots I’ve taken with the Edge + look nice. (Great camera. At least as good as the G4, maybe even slightly better with the lighting quality.)
Sammy UI – They’ve cleaned up the UI a lot since my last Sammy product. I have to say it is less intrusive. While it’s not the stock Android, it seems to run smoothly and respond as fast as you would expect. I’ve never been a fan of TouchWiz, because it got in the way of my Android experience, but so far I am not finding that to be the case with this version. (No issues with the UI. Really haven't found any issues using the phone or with any of the Sammy software.)
Edge Display – This is something to keep in mind if you’re trying to decide between the Note 5 or the Edge +. Personally I’ve never been a fan of the Note line and doubt I’d ever use the S Pen, so for me it was all about the look and feel of the phone. I really dig the look of the Edge + over the Note 5. However, the edge display seems like a gimmick to me. I’ve setup a few things, but really, I’m not using it hardly at all. Maybe I will in the future, but so far it’s eh. I will say I like the fact that movies “fall off the cliff” so to speak and look good watching them using it. However, not the same experience with gaming. Since the game also flows into the edges were you normally hold it, I have accidently pressed the screen when I didn’t want to. I do wish the games didn’t use the entire screen. Maybe some updates from the gaming developers will fix this. Or at least they need to turn off the touching ability on the edge during their game app. It’s a developer problem though, not a Samsung problem. (Maybe gimmick wasn't the right word. I do like the infinity display look and it's great for watching Netflix and playing games.)
Battery Life – It seems to be a little better than my G4, which is good as they both use a 3000 mAh battery. I’m really hard on phone batteries, but I have been able to squeeze another hour of the phone. Before you say that’s why you need a replaceable battery, batteries do not go bad now days as they did in the past. I have no doubt this phone will be long gone and a memory by the time the battery gives up the ghost. More on the battery in a minute. As for battery life, it's the normal Android Subpar. If you're coming from an iPhone be prepared to hate the life of any Android battery. Yes people. I know there are steps that you can take to extend the life of the battery, but those who come from iPhones know that the steps should have to be taken. It's not horrible, but it's nowhere close to the life of an iPhone. This is an Android issue, not a Sammy issue is all I'm saying.)
Problems:
Why no SD Card slot? They could have integrated it with the dual SIM of the European models. I do see me running out of space quick with this 32GB version. I’m already thinking that I have to clear out the old photos quickly and can only put 1 or 2 shows on it at a time, so an external SD Card would have been highly desirable on my list of needs. Can I live without it? I’m going to find out. (32GB has been fine for me so far. No need for an external SD Card, but it would have been nice to have one.)
Lack of removable battery. This one doesn’t bother me as much. Let’s face it, with today’s external battery backups, there’s no reason to run out of power in your phone. In fact, I’ve only had a few phones with replaceable batteries since switching from my beloved Dinc, so I don’t see this as a problem. I’m sure some will, though.
I’m not going to say that this is the phone I’m finally keeping for years to come. Let’s face it, I’m not that guy. I can say that this is a great phone and one that I’m very happy I purchased. Who knows, maybe I’ll keep it for a year? I do really like it and I do rank it up there with my beloved Dinc and iPhone 6+.
Final Update: So now I'm ranking it as the best 4G phone I've had, including the iPhone. It runs smooth as silk still and looks beautiful doing it. Yes, I want a longer battery life out of my phone, but let's face it, Android battery life is what it is. The quick charge is great and gets it back up to 80% really quick, so I don't need a replaceable battery. I haven't had to pull out my external battery charger yet, so that's a plus. I told my wife the other day, that this is the last 4G LTE phone I'll buy for myself. If Verizon lets me keep my unlimited data and move up to a 5G phone in the next few years when 5G comes out, then I'll entertain buying a 5G phone to replace this one. Otherwise I do not plan on buying another phone. I did purchase a 3 year SquareTrade warranty last week making it official. No more phones. I'm done buying. This is it.
OK, so I’ve been around the block with phones, but so far I’ve stayed away from Samsung for the past 3 years. It started with the Samsung Charge. I hated that phone. It was buggy, laggy, short battery life, and overall one of the worse phones I’ve ever owned. Not the worse mind you. (I did own a BlackBerry Storm.) Then I tried a Samsung Galaxy 3. I thought it was ok, but it was huge for the time. I ended up dropping it within 2 days of owning it and completely destroying the glass. I still have it by the way and it does act as a fill in phone when I need one. So, after that I started down the Motorola path. Loved the Droid Razr line. Great phones, but eventually they’d become laggy. Then they just stopped making new Razrs and moved on to the Turbo, so I moved on to the LG line. Loved that line until the Verizon version of the G4. After seeing the Edge + and watching several reviews regarding it, I decided to order one. I’m glad I did. I don’t know if it’ll rank up there with the iPhone 6+ or HTC Droid Incredible (Dinc) as one of my favorite phones, but so far it’s pushing its way to the top.
Finger Print Sensor – Sammy finally made one that works almost as good as Apple’s. It’s close enough for me. I’ve only had to try again 3 times since setting it up. (After reentering the same thumb 2 times and the other hand's thumb, I haven't had it not recognize my thumb. It's a great sensor.)
Screen – I mean what can you say? It’s gorgeous. The most beautiful screen I’ve seen in a long time. It is bright enough to see outdoors. If I had a complaint it would be that it doesn’t get very dark in a dark room, but there are screen filters that can be added for that. Watching NetFlix on it is perfect. Gaming is sweet. No complaints. It is very interesting to note however, that the extra .2” screen size is not noticeable. In fact, I had to put it up against the G4 to see any difference in the two screen sizes.
Build Quality – Something to behold. For years I’ve been saying that Apple makes the highest build quality devices. Well, Sammy’s giving Apple a run for its money now. The aluminum finish is great. It feels solid and has some heft when holding it which is a good thing. Plastic phones always seem difficult to hold on to because they are too light. If I was going to complain, it would be the back. You cannot keep the back clean. As soon as you even think about touching it, it gets a fingerprint on it. I do have the Sammy slim case on order and hopefully it’ll arrive today. This should help with holding on to it and keep the back from looking like a 3 year old’s been playing with it. (I received the Sammy slim case and wasn't happy about the protection quality, so I did end up purchasing the Incipio case. I'm not wild about the Incipio just because it's hard pushing the buttons, so I might end up going back to the Sammy case. Either way, if you don't use a case, you will have fingerprints.)
Camera – Coming from the G4, I didn’t expect the camera quality to be even par with LG’s, but I have to say it takes great photos. At least for the few I’ve taken. Wifey’s got the Sammy G5 and it’s a piece of crap as far as cameras go, but so far the shots I’ve taken with the Edge + look nice. (Great camera. At least as good as the G4, maybe even slightly better with the lighting quality.)
Sammy UI – They’ve cleaned up the UI a lot since my last Sammy product. I have to say it is less intrusive. While it’s not the stock Android, it seems to run smoothly and respond as fast as you would expect. I’ve never been a fan of TouchWiz, because it got in the way of my Android experience, but so far I am not finding that to be the case with this version. (No issues with the UI. Really haven't found any issues using the phone or with any of the Sammy software.)
Edge Display – This is something to keep in mind if you’re trying to decide between the Note 5 or the Edge +. Personally I’ve never been a fan of the Note line and doubt I’d ever use the S Pen, so for me it was all about the look and feel of the phone. I really dig the look of the Edge + over the Note 5. However, the edge display seems like a gimmick to me. I’ve setup a few things, but really, I’m not using it hardly at all. Maybe I will in the future, but so far it’s eh. I will say I like the fact that movies “fall off the cliff” so to speak and look good watching them using it. However, not the same experience with gaming. Since the game also flows into the edges were you normally hold it, I have accidently pressed the screen when I didn’t want to. I do wish the games didn’t use the entire screen. Maybe some updates from the gaming developers will fix this. Or at least they need to turn off the touching ability on the edge during their game app. It’s a developer problem though, not a Samsung problem. (Maybe gimmick wasn't the right word. I do like the infinity display look and it's great for watching Netflix and playing games.)
Battery Life – It seems to be a little better than my G4, which is good as they both use a 3000 mAh battery. I’m really hard on phone batteries, but I have been able to squeeze another hour of the phone. Before you say that’s why you need a replaceable battery, batteries do not go bad now days as they did in the past. I have no doubt this phone will be long gone and a memory by the time the battery gives up the ghost. More on the battery in a minute. As for battery life, it's the normal Android Subpar. If you're coming from an iPhone be prepared to hate the life of any Android battery. Yes people. I know there are steps that you can take to extend the life of the battery, but those who come from iPhones know that the steps should have to be taken. It's not horrible, but it's nowhere close to the life of an iPhone. This is an Android issue, not a Sammy issue is all I'm saying.)
Problems:
Why no SD Card slot? They could have integrated it with the dual SIM of the European models. I do see me running out of space quick with this 32GB version. I’m already thinking that I have to clear out the old photos quickly and can only put 1 or 2 shows on it at a time, so an external SD Card would have been highly desirable on my list of needs. Can I live without it? I’m going to find out. (32GB has been fine for me so far. No need for an external SD Card, but it would have been nice to have one.)
Lack of removable battery. This one doesn’t bother me as much. Let’s face it, with today’s external battery backups, there’s no reason to run out of power in your phone. In fact, I’ve only had a few phones with replaceable batteries since switching from my beloved Dinc, so I don’t see this as a problem. I’m sure some will, though.
I’m not going to say that this is the phone I’m finally keeping for years to come. Let’s face it, I’m not that guy. I can say that this is a great phone and one that I’m very happy I purchased. Who knows, maybe I’ll keep it for a year? I do really like it and I do rank it up there with my beloved Dinc and iPhone 6+.
Final Update: So now I'm ranking it as the best 4G phone I've had, including the iPhone. It runs smooth as silk still and looks beautiful doing it. Yes, I want a longer battery life out of my phone, but let's face it, Android battery life is what it is. The quick charge is great and gets it back up to 80% really quick, so I don't need a replaceable battery. I haven't had to pull out my external battery charger yet, so that's a plus. I told my wife the other day, that this is the last 4G LTE phone I'll buy for myself. If Verizon lets me keep my unlimited data and move up to a 5G phone in the next few years when 5G comes out, then I'll entertain buying a 5G phone to replace this one. Otherwise I do not plan on buying another phone. I did purchase a 3 year SquareTrade warranty last week making it official. No more phones. I'm done buying. This is it.
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