I HATE these big phones, but...

[Inders99]

...but I'm intrigued by this phone from a business standpoint. I use my phone mostly for my business, I'm a contractor and rely on phone, email, text, pictures, accessing my docs, specialized calculator and assorted trade apps. I'm not into games, social media, movies or any other similar type activity so the big screen isn't as necessary. I have the G4 currently and hate it since the MM update, I also don't like the size...too big.

However I had a sub-contractor show up at one of my jobs the other day and he pulled out a Note 5 and started taking notes with his S-Pen. Said the notes can be retrieved from his laptop and he can start working on his take-offs based on his field notes. I was intrigued.

Does anybody else here use it for similar type purposes and can you expand a bit on it's capabilities or how you utilize it on a productivity basis? I was ready to make the jump to the S7 because of the preferred size but I must admit this phone has caught my attention. I might hold out for the Note 6 and see what it's like.

 

[Aquila]

You can do the exact same thing with things like google docs, google keep, one note, etc. with any device with any stylus. The s-pen isn't doing anything special in that regard, it's just a better stylus than most and has a button that works with the Samsung software (something most styli don't have).

 

[Climb14er]

I use my phone mostly for business. No FB, NO Twitter, no Instagram. No social media! Note 5 is excellent. With thin Spigen case and leather holster, excellent combo. Note 5 fits in hand well, not large at all. If phones get larger than this, that's too much for me. Note 5 is ideal for business and personal communication. I like the S Pen a lot. Great for notes and business communication. Fantastic for writing reminders. Note 5... highly recommended.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[JenTDOT]

I suggest going into the store and playing around with one. Also watching some reviews on you tube.
I'm a writer, and I find the s pen to be invaluable. I love that you can pop out the pen even if the screen is off and jot down a note. I find myself making notes all day long in the actual s note program. You can actually convert your handwriting to text as well.
I sync all my notes to Evernote so I have them available on all of my devices.
I like having the ability to annotate PDFs. I usually annotate/edit a chapter, then save it, email it to myself and then pull it up on my computer to make the necessary changes.
I also read a lot of e-books, so it's got a fantastic screen for that. The built-in calendar works well for the way I like to view tasks and info.
It's a great phone, but it is a big phone. Using it daily is something I'm still getting used to due to the size. I've had the Note 2, 3 and 4. This one is the most polished and the quick charging battery is really nice.

 

[Aquila]

That's a good point about the size. In a less than two years I went from the Galaxy Nexus 4.65" to the Moto X 4.7" to the Moto X 2014 5.2" to the Nexus 6 5.96". It literally takes a few days and you're used to it. A couple of those were obviously big jumps and it's seriously just a few days before it's "normal". Now I use the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X as my daily drivers and they're .5" different from each other, but both still very comfy.

 

[Coraya]

You can do the exact same thing with things like google docs, google keep, one note, etc. with any device with any stylus. The s-pen isn't doing anything special in that regard, it's just a better stylus than most and has a button that works with the Samsung software (something most styli don't have).

And the fact that it's built into the Note, it's not a separate peripheral.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

I love big smartphones. I love being able to see so much content on my screen. As far as productivity, the big screen allows me to actually do work on my phone. I ran remember trying to be productive on my old BlackBerry 8310. That was a challenging experience. But I can do most of what I need throughout the day whether I'm at work or at home because of my smartphone's power and screen size. The Note 5 was a great all in one device when I owned it. Never needed a complementary device at all.

 

[Inders99]

I've never gotten used to the big size of the G4, no way I'll like this one, however, business is business and if I'm more productive that will trump size.

 

[beh]

I use my Note 5 almost totally for my legal business and the ability to take notes with the Spen without unlocking the phone is an important feature. Being able to use the Spen to take screen shots, and select portions of the screen to make a screen shot is also very useful.
Dump google docs etc. and load Office and Office Lens and get a Office 365 subscription good for a one phone, one tablet, and one PC or Mac for under $8/month. Now you can create and edit docs, spreadsheets, etc. that are NOT like Office files -- they ARE Office files on all three. Office Lens allows you to scan documents which are automatically framed and straightened. You can save these directly as PDF files or JPG images. The Note 5 also lets you run two apps at once in a split screen so you can interact between the two in real time. Quite simply there is no other smartphone that can do business work like the Samsung Note.
As for size, after using it for a short time it becomes the perfect size and you realize that it fits your hand better than other sized phones.

 

[debdroid1a]

Office Lens also takes good pictures of whiteboards without overhead glare. That's why I downloaded it.

If you decide to get one, here's a thread on business apps for the Note 5. I've been using Nine (paid) email for my work since that thread and it is perfect for me. We use corporate Outlook. My email notification comes up on it (on my Gear 2 Neo watch) before it appears on my computer screen while my email is open.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=573224

Posted via the *Note 5*

 

[Inders99]

Great responses people, for those of you with Office, what cloud service to you use to access/store the docs when you're away from your computer?

 

[Aquila]

Great responses people, for those of you with Office, what cloud service to you use to access/store the docs when you're away from your computer?

OneDrive works well with Office 2013, 2016 and Office 365. Google Drive also does, but takes a couple more clicks for some things. One thing that works very well is just installing Excel, Word, etc. on your phone and backing them up to Google Drive.

 

[debdroid1a]

OneDrive works well with Office 2013, 2016 and Office 365. Google Drive also does, but takes a couple more clicks for some things. One thing that works very well is just installing Excel, Word, etc. on your phone and backing them up to Google Drive.

I hadn't used One Drive on my Note 5, to much. Most stuff I sent to me work computer. Yesterday I thought I'd add some things from an old sd card. I realized I hadn't upgraded the 100 GB storage Samsung gave us. So now I have 115 GB.

Posted via the *Note 5*

 

[beh]

Great responses people, for those of you with Office, what cloud service to you use to access/store the docs when you're away from your computer?

I use OneDrive for working with Office because it is easy and efficient. For documents that are sensitive I use an end to end encrypted cloud service which only I have the key. I also use Google Drive, Amazon Photos (unlimited space if you are Prime member), and Dropbox.

 

[Forgewizard]

I have a note 3 and use the spend and note capabilities all the time. Not too happy with One Drive. Just use it grudgingly as a backup repository. Mostly backup to my home external drive. I use the app floor plan creator on both my note 3 phone and my note 8 tablet. I use evernote too alot.

 

[Inders99]

I have a note 3 and use the spend and note capabilities all the time. Not too happy with One Drive. Just use it grudgingly as a backup repository. Mostly backup to my home external drive. I use the app floor plan creator on both my note 3 phone and my note 8 tablet. I use evernote too alot.

I just checked out floor plan creator...pretty cool!

 

[blackhemi4x4]

I practically run my small business with my note 5.

Quickly take notes with screen off is huge. The precision of the s pen is great as I often take and mark up pictures.

It runs office pretty well.

I think this is one of the best phones for business use.

 

[kramer5150]

I just realized I am not using my LG V10 anywhere near its full potential... informative thread THANKS!!

 

[Morty2264]

I suggest going into the store and playing around with one. Also watching some reviews on you tube.
I'm a writer, and I find the s pen to be invaluable. I love that you can pop out the pen even if the screen is off and jot down a note. I find myself making notes all day long in the actual s note program. You can actually convert your handwriting to text as well.
I sync all my notes to Evernote so I have them available on all of my devices.
I like having the ability to annotate PDFs. I usually annotate/edit a chapter, then save it, email it to myself and then pull it up on my computer to make the necessary changes.
I also read a lot of e-books, so it's got a fantastic screen for that. The built-in calendar works well for the way I like to view tasks and info.
It's a great phone, but it is a big phone. Using it daily is something I'm still getting used to due to the size. I've had the Note 2, 3 and 4. This one is the most polished and the quick charging battery is really nice.

Being a writer, myself, I see that this phone has a lot of promise and merit. Thank you for your post!

 

[novice]

The Note 5 (in my opinion) has the best profile of any large format phone. The large iPhone has many attributes to recommend it (e.g., apps) but it does not fit in the hand with the ease of the Note 5.

And what's with the absence of a back button? Would it have killed Jony Ive to include the most used button ever invented. Jeezus!