Just returned my iPhone 6s Plus... honest review comparison w/ Note 5

[peterjun]

First of all, I'm not here to bash either Apple or Samsung. I enjoy both products and have owned numerous devices from both companies. I just wanted to give an honest review to someone who can't decide on which new phone to get. I wanted to give some real world pros and cons of every day examples that might not be too obvious to some. These are my personal opinions only and others may disagree or agree

Look and feel: They are both similar in size, I recommend having a case for both devices as they both feel too slippery without one. Aesthetically, the Note 5 is much nicer to look at with the curved side edges and glass back panels. The 6s Plus looks great but I'm not a fan of the outlined antennas on the back. The Note 5 is much easier to navigate and quicker to do everyday tasks (I will explain this later). I think the iPhone 6s is a better size between the two - you need to really use two hands for the Plus since it's so big and doesn't have a convenient back button. The fingerprint censor is a lot better on the iPhone (by a mile) - much quicker and naturally placed.

Camera/Photos: Honestly, they both take great photos. If someone was to send me photos taken from the exact same location I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I do prefer the speed and convenience of Note 5's camera - you simply double click on the home button whereas in apple you need to either unlock, click on camera or click on home button and scroll up (camera shortcut). I also like how the Note 5 uses the full screen as the viewfinder whereas the iPhone you lose about a quarter of the screen. The new Live Photos feature is pretty cool and the slow motion shot is much better on the iPhone.

Battery Life: I would say the battery life itself is a little bit better on the iPhone. The lighting cable is more convenient than the usb since there is no right or wrong way. However, the quick charge on the Note 5 makes a huge difference. Forgot to charge your phone at night? Just plug it in before you hop in the shower and you are back at 50% easy.

Customization: Again, this is where Androids shine. Yes, you can jail break the iPhone but then you risk warranty etc... I still hate Touch Wiz (even though it has gotten a lot better) so I use Nova. It takes a bit to customize to your liking but in the end you can't beat the amount of customizations you can make on the android to speed up your efficiency/productivity.

Apps: Apple by a mile. Apple has better quality apps (especially games) and a better designed app store. The play store is a mess and too many steps required to see what's new and updated.

Text Messaging: iMessages > Standard SMS.

Multitasking: Note 5 > *. True multitasking.

Keyboard: I find Apple's keyboard a bit more precise and efficient.

Bloatware: Samsung is known for bloatware but I find Apple to be equally bad. "Watch" app comes preinstalled which cannot be deleted. Same with Keynote, Stocks, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, Find Friends and News which I never use.

S Pen: I don't find the S Pen that useful but a neat feature to have for note takers.

3D Touch: Honestly, I think this feature is a bit overrated. For example, if you "hard press" on the phone or messages icon, you get a list of recent or favorite contacts. You can achieve the same action by creating a shortcut of your favorites on your home screen, which is technically faster. It is a nice feature to have inside Mail which allows you to preview your messages before opening them but I don't really find myself using this feature as I generally know which emails I want to read.

I could keep rambling on but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

 

[dpham00]

First of all, I'm not here to bash either Apple or Samsung. I enjoy both products and have owned numerous devices from both companies. I just wanted to give an honest review to someone who can't decide on which new phone to get. I wanted to give some real world pros and cons of every day examples that might not be too obvious to some. These are my personal opinions only and others may disagree or agree

Look and feel: They are both similar in size, I recommend having a case for both devices as they both feel too slippery without one. Aesthetically, the Note 5 is much nicer to look at with the curved side edges and glass back panels. The 6s Plus looks great but I'm not a fan of the outlined antennas on the back. The Note 5 is much easier to navigate and quicker to do everyday tasks (I will explain this later). I think the iPhone 6s is a better size between the two - you need to really use two hands for the Plus since it's so big and doesn't have a convenient back button. The fingerprint censor is a lot better on the iPhone (by a mile) - much quicker and naturally placed.

Camera/Photos: Honestly, they both take great photos. If someone was to send me photos taken from the exact same location I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I do prefer the speed and convenience of Note 5's camera - you simply double click on the home button whereas in apple you need to either unlock, click on camera or click on home button and scroll up (camera shortcut). I also like how the Note 5 uses the full screen as the viewfinder whereas the iPhone you lose about a quarter of the screen. The new Live Photos feature is pretty cool and the slow motion shot is much better on the iPhone.

Battery Life: I would say the battery life itself is a little bit better on the iPhone. The lighting cable is more convenient than the usb since there is no right or wrong way. However, the quick charge on the Note 5 makes a huge difference. Forgot to charge your phone at night? Just plug it in before you hop in the shower and you are back at 50% easy.

Customization: Again, this is where Androids shine. Yes, you can jail break the iPhone but then you risk warranty etc... I still hate Touch Wiz (even though it has gotten a lot better) so I use Nova. It takes a bit to customize to your liking but in the end you can't beat the amount of customizations you can make on the android to speed up your efficiency/productivity.

Apps: Apple by a mile. Apple has better quality apps (especially games) and a better designed app store. The play store is a mess and too many steps required to see what's new and updated.

Text Messaging: iMessages > Standard SMS.

Multitasking: Note 5 > *. True multitasking.

Keyboard: I find Apple's keyboard a bit more precise and efficient.

Bloatware: Samsung is known for bloatware but I find Apple to be equally bad. "Watch" app comes preinstalled which cannot be deleted. Same with Keynote, Stocks, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, Find Friends and News which I never use.

S Pen: I don't find the S Pen that useful but a neat feature to have for note takers.

3D Touch: Honestly, I think this feature is a bit overrated. For example, if you "hard press" on the phone or messages icon, you get a list of recent or favorite contacts. You can achieve the same action by creating a shortcut of your favorites on your home screen, which is technically faster. It is a nice feature to have inside Mail which allows you to preview your messages before opening them but I don't really find myself using this feature as I generally know which emails I want to read.

I could keep rambling on but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Honestly I would say to try it out a week before making any decisions.


Sent from my Verizon iPhone 6s Plus

 

[MDMcAtee]

Honestly I would say to try it out a week before making any decisions.


Sent from my Verizon iPhone 6s Plus

I would venture to say that the op did.... and elected to go with the Note 5.

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

 

[Katrina White1]

I know very little about the iPhone (new or old), but it seems to me the Spen has for years been allowing you to do some of the things the iPhone just started doing. Previewing pics and messages for instance. Hover the spen and there's your preview.

Listening to bits and pieces of Apple's innovations, there are times I can remember thinking, "I've been doing that since my Note 3".

Again, I know very little about the iPhone, so I'm not bashing. For me, the best things about them are easily achieved with my Notes, and there are things my Apple friends wish their phones could do that I take for granted because I've been doing it for years.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(9652351)]

Hi Peterjun,

I think you are spot on with exception to the keyboard. Try Google Keyboard, I swear by it.

 

[Raptor007]

The Note series is the best large screen device out there, if you want the S Pen features, having had the Note 2 and 3 I just didn't use the S pen enough to justify getting the 5, and the lack of 128GB also put me off. I know who needs 128GB but for me it's NOT about need it's about HAVING it when I want it. That said to me the Note 5 with S Pen is still king.

 

[peterjun]

I would venture to say that the op did.... and elected to go with the Note 5.

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

I've only had the 6s Plus for two days but I did have the 6 prior to the Note 5 for a bit of time. In my opinion the 6s > Galaxy S6 and Note 5 > 6s Plus

 

[Hendri Hendri]

I converted from iphone 5, surely note 5 is no compare (in a good way). But still ios do very well on their os management (ram). And also, I can't find any setting for location sharing as per ios do. I think it's really important regards privacy.

Anyhow, i like note 5 and no regrets. It's a good phone with no lag (hopefully this is not 3-6 months thing ). And surely there're some feature or setting I missed from ios (and blackberry)

Posted via the Android Central App #Galnote5

 

[Elander]

It seems like both phones have merits but the Note 5 has features that are just coming out on the Iphone 6 plus.

 

[Hendri Hendri]

It seems like both phones have merits but the Note 5 has features that are just coming out on the Iphone 6 plus.

It's all depend on our needs. But don't forget, apple only throw out features which has already stabil in performance (at least until now )

Posted via the Android Central App #Galnote5

 

[spasell]

Totally disagree on battery life. I did a 1 week test between the two devices as I also gave up my 6+

I think both devices are fantastic and was frustrated at first with perceived worse battery on N5 but it's just that... Perceived. After breaking in battery and tweaking some settings I am getting far better battery life with SOT then the iPhone.

I use location a lot in power saving mode on N5 but had to turn it off completely on the 6+ as it just wiped out battery so much faster.

Idle time is better on the 6+ by almost 30% but for power users that doesn't matter at all. For those that use the phone like an actual phone the 6+ isn't nearly as good.

I'm easomy getting 15-18 hours of moderate to heavy use on my N5 whereas I'd get about 12 on my iPhone 6+. .

Agree on pictures and I use S Pen a lot so that's a bigger difference for me.

I also disagree on apps. That might have been the case 2-3 years ago but I downloaded every app needed that most use for my N5 and they are just as good on this device.

Storage is far better on the 6+ as I had the 128g model but didn't even come close to using even half that amount.

I've got a lot of photos music and videos on my N5 and used only 29g so totally satisfied with the 64g model.

I also think both phones are beautifully built. The N5 is actually not as tall or wide and is slightly thinner which was unexpected but the actual screen itself is slightly larger because the bezels are smaller.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[TheDonJ77]

Interesting post from the OP, but I have to disagree with the fingerprint scanner point. The new Samsung fingerprint sensors are spot on and wicked fast. Inputting the same thumb multiple times gives better accuracy. I won't even pretend to try and count how many times I've unlocked my note but I can tell you I have probably had it fail on me once or twice, and I've hag the note 5 since day 1. Just my opinion.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[TheDonJ77]

I know very little about the iPhone (new or old), but it seems to me the Spen has for years been allowing you to do some of the things the iPhone just started doing. Previewing pics and messages for instance. Hover the spen and there's your preview.

Listening to bits and pieces of Apple's innovations, there are times I can remember thinking, "I've been doing that since my Note 3".

Again, I know very little about the iPhone, so I'm not bashing. For me, the best things about them are easily achieved with my Notes, and there are things my Apple friends wish their phones could do that I take for granted because I've been doing it for years.

Posted via the Android Central App

Yeah, peek and pop or pop and peek, lol, is simply Samsung's airview. With no stylus or the "Apple Pencil" (face palm) not being utilized on the larger iphone, they needed to find a way to make it work and call it something.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[peterjun]

Interesting post from the OP, but I have to disagree with the fingerprint scanner point. The new Samsung fingerprint sensors are spot on and wicked fast. Inputting the same thumb multiple times gives better accuracy. I won't even pretend to try and count how many times I've unlocked my note but I can tell you I have probably had it fail on me once or twice, and I've hag the note 5 since day 1. Just my opinion.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

But the fingerprint censor on the new iPhone is FAST. With the Note 5 you get a millisecond delay (I know...) but with the 6s you barely know it's on there because it's instant.

 

[peterjun]

Yeah, peek and pop or pop and peek, lol, is simply Samsung's airview. With no stylus or the "Apple Pencil" (face palm) not being utilized on the larger iphone, they needed to find a way to make it work and call it something.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

To Apple's defense though you need to have the stylus out to achieve these shortcuts lol

 

[spasell]

Interesting post from the OP, but I have to disagree with the fingerprint scanner point. The new Samsung fingerprint sensors are spot on and wicked fast. Inputting the same thumb multiple times gives better accuracy. I won't even pretend to try and count how many times I've unlocked my note but I can tell you I have probably had it fail on me once or twice, and I've hag the note 5 since day 1. Just my opinion.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Agreed. I've actually had less fails on my N5 than 6+

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[TheDonJ77]

Agreed. I've actually had less fails on my N5 than 6+

Posted via the Android Central App

Yeah, fingerprint scanner is $$

Sent from Da Beast, AKA, The classy white, Galaxy Note 5

 

[JakePleasants]

Agreed. I've actually had less fails on my N5 than 6+

Posted via the Android Central App

I too have had far fewer incorrect reads on my Note 5 versus my iPhone 6 Plus, but the 6S and 6S Plus have new fingerprint scanners that are supposed to be much faster and much more accurate. My Note 5 takes my 6 Plus out to the woodshed in this department, but I'd bet that the 6S/6S Plus are equal at the very least, if not slightly ahead (I say slightly because there isn't that much room for improvement over the Note 5's speed and accuracy).

 

[James Rogers2]

Same experience for me as far as the fingerprint scanner. I just wish that there were more apps on the note 5 that you can use it to login with like the iPhone has.


Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[TheDonJ77]

To Apple's defense though you need to have the stylus out to achieve these shortcuts lol

True, I guess........lol

Sent from Da Beast, AKA, The classy white, Galaxy Note 5