First Australian review: Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 is its finest phablet yet but misses some features
SAMSUNG’S new big-screen phone has already been labelled ‘the Apple killer’. But it is missing some key features.
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PEOPLE, Samsung says, want big phone screens in smaller phone bodies.
These “people” have no respect for physics.
Regardless, the company’s newest big-screen phone does an admirable job of pleasing these science-deniers, delivering a slimmer, sleeker, and slightly smaller phone while retaining a screen large enough to please its fanbase.
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The Galaxy Note 5 is easier to hold in one hand, refined in a way a plastic phone could not be, and its metal and glass frame is undeniably striking.
Its full-metal makeover completes Samsung’s phone transformation, and also delivers a better, faster camera, a more reliable fingerprint scanner, wireless charging, more stylus uses, and a modest power boost.
But there are trade-offs users will have to make to receive these premium extras. Physics, it seems, cannot always be denied.
We put the Galaxy Note 5 through its paces following its New York launch so you can decide whether Samsung’s big phone is worth a big upgrade.
THOROUGHLY MODERN MAKEOVER
The Galaxy Note 5 is, in many ways, a phablet in a suit.
It’s grown up since the Note 4 and it looks wiser and more sophisticated.
It has graduated from its predecessor’s textured plastic cover and faux metal sides to a Corning Gorilla Glass exterior and aluminium alloy border befitting its premium price.
Though users cannot choose a Note with a curved touchscreen this year (the S6 Edge+ lacks the necessary stylus), the Note 5’s rear glass is curved, with its sides tapering to a slim edge.
The result is a slimmer phone (7.6mm) that feels more slender than it really is in your hand. The slim edge tricks your brain into believing that’s as thick as the phone gets. If only Samsung could achieve the same with skinny jeans.
In addition to new materials, users are bound to notice the bezel around the Note 5’s screen. Or, tellingly, the lack of it.
This smartphone has a tiny frame around its display and a screen-to-body ratio of 76 per cent, up from 74 per cent. Very little of this phone’s face is occupied by blank space.
Naturally, the Note 5’s glass exterior does attract fingerprints and smudges, which detract from its premium look. Its iridescent colour treatment helps distract from these marks, though, and the most striking “Gold Platinum” may be available at launch.
SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILLS
Two seconds.
That’s how long it takes to launch the 16-megapixel camera in this phone and snap a photograph.
It’s an impressive feat snatched from the Galaxy S6 smartphone launched earlier this year, and one achieved with a quick double tap of this phone’s home button.
We tested this feature and the Note 5 camera around New York City following its worldwide launch and found it incredibly handy, largely due to its speed but also the accuracy of its autofocus and exposure.
Being a 5.7-inch (14.5cm) phone, the addition of optical image stabilisation is a smart one and reduces, though does not eliminate, motion blur from photographs.
Other additions include autofocus tracking to keep moving subjects sharp, video stabilisation, a pop-up photo review feature, and the option to save photos as an uncompressed RAW file for more detailed post-processing.
The camera can also capture 4K video, though this does remove its video stabilisation option, and it will let users turn the phone’s volume keys into shutter buttons, which is useful for sneaky street photography.
While the Note 4’s camera also featured a 16-megapixel resolution, its aperture was smaller (f2.2 compared to f1.9), it was slower to load, and generally less accurate. The Note 5 camera sensor, by comparison, was crowned a leader in image tests by DxOMark.
The Note 5’s front-facing camera has leapt to a five-megapixel resolution, up from 3.7 megapixels, but its results are less noticeable. Users are given interesting settings in Samsung’s Beauty Face selfie mode, however, including options to slim your face and enlarge your eyes.
Ultimately, a phone camera is unlikely to match the depth of field you’d get from the larger image sensor of a dedicated camera, but this model comes close.
The Note 5’s camera provides excellent autofocus, exposure, and sharp contrast, and its Quick Launch feature delivers more convenience than the average phone.
BIG SCREEN APPEAL
Samsung does not change its successful big-screen formula in this Note.
Clearly, the tech giant has decided 5.7 inches (14.5cm) is the screen sweet spot for phablet fans as this model matches the last for size.
Surprisingly, little else has changed in the screen of this phone from the last model. Both feature Super AMOLED displays with the same number of pixels, and the same number of colours (16 million).
A leap to a higher resolution may have cost too much of its battery.
FRESH HARDWARE SHOPPED
Samsung has added more than just a good look and a better camera to this phone.
Wireless charging is built into this handset, allowing users to place it on top of a wireless pad to refresh its battery.
Its Ultra Fast Charge battery-refilling feature is also better than before, allowing users to fully power his phone in 90 minutes with a compatible charger or 120 minutes with a compatible wireless charger (sold separately).
The octa-core chip inside this phone matches the power of the Galaxy S6, with four 2.1GHz processors and four 1.5GHz processors, but the larger phone has 1GB more RAM.
The 4GB in this phone sets a new standard and in our tests delivered more reliable multi-tasking and fewer pauses.
Like the Galaxy S6 before it, the fingerprint sensor has also been overhauled in this phone, responding with a tap rather than a swipe of your finger, and more reliably.
SCREEN WRITING
Unlike the similarly specified Galaxy S6 Edge+, this phone retains its stylus.
It also adds seriously handy features to that stylus, including one bound to win fans.
Remove the S Pen from this phone and you can write on its blank screen immediately, saving the results as a digital note.
You cannot write more than one page of notes with this feature, but it’s a handy way to record a scribble.
Another convenient addition is the ability to take more than one screenshot in succession using the S Pen, saving entire web pages or maps as one long image for later offline reading.
A persistent screen icon also delivers shortcuts to S Pen apps and features when it’s unholstered.
Naturally, most of these features require some practice and reading to fully appreciate, but those who persist will be rewarded with an uncommonly useful phone experience.
MISSING FEATURES AND COMPROMISES
Like physics teaches us, you cannot have it all.
To deliver a smaller handset and a curved cover, Samsung has reduced the size of this phone’s battery to 3000mAh. That’s still a substantial number but does not match the 3220mAh of the Note 4.
Despite rumours to the contrary, this phone also lacks a replaceable battery and a port for a MicroSD memory card.
Bafflingly, the powerhouse Note 5 is also only available in 32GB and 64GB options. There is no 128GB Note 5 on the market for those who like to store RAW photos and 4K videos locally.
It seems like an obvious oversight, particularly when its Apple competitor offers the larger size.
Old Samsung fans are also bound to rue the removal of its infra-red blaster than turned the Note into a makeshift TV control. It debuted inside the Note 3 and seems like yet another sacrifice for that beautiful exterior.
Note 5 buyers will also have to make a hard choice between this stylus-packed phone and one with a curved screen. They can no longer have both as they did last year in the Note Edge.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 5 VERDICT
The Note 5 is the most attractive, fully featured phablet to date.
Its camera is the fastest draw in the market and compares favourably even to dedicated snappers.
Built-in wireless charging, a full battery charge in 90 minutes, NFC for future payments, an octa-core chip and unprecedented 4GB RAM, plus a reliable fingerprint scanner make the Note 5 one of the most capable smartphones available.
Its main failings are omissions. While its smaller battery is still substantial and delivers a full day of use, users are less likely to be impressed by its limited storage size or lack of an infra-red blaster.
If you can bear to commit some images to the cloud, however, this slick smartphone will capture sharp photos more quickly than its rivals, slip into most of your pockets, and replace many of the tasks once confined to a desktop computer.
The Note 5 is a worthy and exceptionally attractive smartphone upgrade.
$1099 (32GB)
Out September 4
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