The Samsung Galaxy Note series started with a controversy: that "phablet" debate, and the Note prevailed. Now there's a hint of controversy in the air thanks to a major redesign that matches the Samsung Galaxy S6. Yes, it's perhaps the first gorgeous Note Android smartphone, but as with the S6, that beauty comes at a price. In return for a stunning and compact design executed in Gorilla Glass 4 and metal, you'll give up the removable battery and microSD card slot. For power users, that might seem like heresy, and Note folks tend to be power users. Why? The Galaxy Note is more pocket computer than phone thanks to its huge 5.7" QHD display, S Pen and fast CPU. But once you see the Note 5 in photos and in person, I think you'll want one.
Samsung's updated fingerprint scanner is here, and it works just as well as the iPhone 6's scanner. You'll rest your finger on the mechanical home button to use it (no need to swipe your finger as with the Note 4). Samsung Pay is coming soon, the company's Apple Pay competitor that uses magnetic secure transmission rather than NFC for mobile point of sale payments. Gone are the IR blaster and AV remote control, but the heart rate scanner under the LED flash and S Health are here.
Design and Ergonomics
The Galaxy Note 5 looks like a larger version of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge mixed together. The front face looks like the standard S6 while the back sides are curved, mirroring the Edge's front face. Samsung reduced the side bezels to make the Note 5 narrower--it's easier to hold and the curves feel good in the hand. That said, the ultra-thin bezels invite accidental screen input, at least if your hands are large enough to wrap around the sides. The phone's look is stunning and the S6 design transfers nicely to the bigger chassis. The phone is available in black or white glass (gold is an option overseas) with an aluminum frame on the sides. The metal isn't slippery but glass is, so beware dropping it, particularly when pushing on the new spring-loaded S Pen.
The standard micro USB port, 3.5mm audio jack and speaker are on the bottom edge, and this is the loudest and fullest Note speaker we've heard yet. It can't compete with HTC BoomSound stereo speakers, but volume is more than adequate. Volume controls are on the left and the power button is on the upper right. There's a nano SIM card slot up top but no SD card slot. The unibody design means there's no removable back cover and thus no removable battery. The phone supports Qi wireless charging out of the box--there's no need to buy a special back, though you will need a wireless charger to use that feature.
Horsepower and Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with Samsung's TouchWiz software on the same Exynos 7420 2.1 GHz octa-core 64 bit CPU as the Galaxy S6 family. That's fine with us since the Note 5, Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ are some of the fastest smartphones on the market. Unsurprisingly, the Note 5 benchmarks similarly to those phones, and even better it doesn't feel the least bit laggy. That's high praise since Samsung's TouchWiz overlay, lightened though it is, still adds quite a bit of overhead.
The phone is available with 32 or 64 gigs of fast UFS 2.0 flash storage and as mentioned there's no SD card slot. I know some of you would like to see a 128 gig version since you can't use a microSD card, and I'd have loved that too (I'd love an SD card slot even more!). Given the high retail price of the 64 gig model (~$800), I suspect Samsung thought a 128 gig would be more expensive than the market would bear.
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