Samsung has made an impact on the smartphone world with their flagship phablets smartphones. The new features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 make it one of the best smartphones to own this season. While some may argue that the changes in the spec sheet are not as impressive as its predecessor, we tend to disagree. Not only Samsung managed to bring in a completely new design philosophy but also introduced new features in Samsung Galaxy Note 5. This article aims to highlight said features and discussed them in great detail. Understandably, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 saddened the power users who were waiting for an upgrade. This time around Samsung has eliminated the removable back and even cut down the microSD card slot. I’m stating these facts because not a lot of people are interested in removing batteries, but they would want to expand the storage space at one point. If you purchase the otherwise stellar Galaxy Note 5, you will be stuck with the storage it arrives with. That being said; let’s dive into some of the best features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
1. The Design
Even though Samsung removed the removable back (pun intended), the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 compensated with a beautiful design. I’ll be honest here; the Galaxy Note 5, despite being a large smartphone, looks and feels great in real life usage. The smartphone comes in a unibody design that is made up of glass and metal. This is one premium feeling device. The only slight oddity to be found here is the lightly protruding camera hump, but if you use a great Samsung Galaxy S5 case, you won’t even notice it.
2. The Dimensions
Samsung managed to keep the size of the smartphone to a minimum, thanks to their technological wizardry. Even though the smartphone comes with a 5.7-inch screen, it really doesn’t look that big. Having used the smartphone for 2 days myself, I found it to be extremely comfortable to hold, thanks to the slightly curved edges. The 75.9% screen to body ratio also impressed me a lot during usage. If you are worried that the smartphone will look as big as the Motorola Nexus 6, you don’t have anything to worry about. The smartphone measures 153.2 mm in height, 76.1 mm in width and is only 7.6 mm thick. It also weighs a little bit more than its counterpart coming at 171 g but that is the price you pay for the metal and glass design.
3. Display
The screen is one of the best features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Samsung has been knocking it out of the park when it comes to making beautiful and vibrant displays. The Super AMOLED display featured on the Note 5 comes with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels which results in a beautiful 518 PPI pixel density. The beautiful screen is shrouded by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 to protect it. I love how amazingly bright the colors look, while they are over saturated and not at all realistic, but by god they look pretty.
4. Memory
The smartphone comes with 4 GB of RAM on each model. This means you will be able to get stellar performance no matter what you do, especially when multitasking. After all, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is marketed as a multitasking powerhouse, and it delivers that promise in spades. Switching between multiple apps and even heavy videogames is easy. However, I have to say that the smartphone usually closes the 8th app in the recent apps menu.
5. Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes with a 16 MP back camera with optical image stabilization. The back camera is supported by an LED flash as well. Samsung has perfected the smartphone camera over the years and has certainly taken the crown as one of the best camera smartphone makers. Sure, Sony and LG also bring their A game to the forefront, but Samsung has seen a lot of improvements over the years. One of the best features of their cameras is that they focus really quickly, even in low light, and this camera is no different. A point to be noted here is that there is no laser assisting the focus like in LG smartphones.
6. Better Selfies
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 also comes with an upgraded 5 MP front facing shooter. While it is no match for the cameras found on the best smartphones for selfies, it certainly rivals a lot of them concerning quality. The picture quality on the front facing cameras is usually serviceable, but the Galaxy Note 5’s 5 MP front cam delivers great performance. The front camera is also able to capture QHD video footage at 30 frames per second which is impressive. The camera also comes with auto HDR that compensates for shadows really well. In short, you will not be disappointed by the selfies taken by this smartphone.
7. Snappy Marshmallow
When the smartphone was first released it came with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop but thankfully Samsung soon provided an Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update. One point here is that the Samsung device is not exactly using the Android OS as is. They have implemented their own skin called TouchWiz like they always have. This time around though, the TouchWiz has improved as well. Samsung has streamlined the amount of bloatware that comes on the phone preinstalled and even provided ways to either block or uninstall them. The noticeable lag in the home screen switching seen on previous Note devices is also gone.
8. Security and Access
One of the best new features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is the inclusion of the fingerprint scanner. The scanner is cleverly located on the home screen button and works extremely fast. I tested out the phone side by side with a Nexus 6P, and they both performed similarly when it comes to the fingerprint scanner. In about 2 seconds you will fully unlock your phone, and it will be ready to use. I’m sure a lot of people just don’t like putting codes on their phones but would like to make their devices secure. This is one feature that kills both birds with one fingerprint scanner.
9. The S-Pen
Not a lot of smartphones come with a dedicated stylus, but Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes with a wonderful one. The stylus is responsive, accurate and works just as intended. I found writing with the S-Pen to be almost natural. If you take notes on a daily basis and require a trustworthy and easily accessible device, this is the one made just for you. You will also be able to cut out shapes and texts easily with the pen and even draw on images. If you are worried that you may misplace the S-Pen, well fret not, the phone will alert you if you move away without holstering the pen. You can also try out the best S-Pen apps for Note devices with this phone as well.
10. Good Battery Life
While the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes with a relatively small 3000 mAh battery, the smartphone can easily last you a full day of moderate usage. In my tests of watching movies and playing games, it lasted about 5 hours. This is extremely good when you compare this to the Galaxy Note 3 that lasted 3.5 hours at max. Samsung combined with Google’s own power saving wizardry has made it possible to extend the battery life to a respectable degree. Is this smartphone the king of battery timings? No. But it will sure keep the engines running till you get back home.
11. Easy Themes
If you feel uneasy installing a custom launcher on Android, then Samsung has made customization a little easier for you. The TouchWiz now comes with themes that can radically change how your smartphone looks. While the themes are not as elaborate as selecting the best icon packs yourself, they are still better than no options.
12. Screen Off Notes
One of the unique features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is the ability to take notes while the screen is off. The Super AMOLED screen actually illuminates the pixels that are needed and keeps the rest of them off. Samsung has implemented this ability into a new note taking feature. Simply take out your S-Pen and start scribbling on the screen. The smartphone will automatically start taking a note. It’s like writing with chalk on a blackboard. After you are finished, simply put the pen back in and the note will be saved for later usage. Simple, elegant and a time saving implementation.
13. Turn off Features
You will also be able to turn off certain feature that you don’t need. For example, if you are not going to use Smart Stay, a feature that actively looks at your eyes to determine if you are using the screen or not, you can turn it off. A lot of features can easily be turned off by simple heading into the appropriate settings menu. However, another ability that the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 brings is to delete unwanted bloatware from Samsung as well as carriers. To manage the installed apps on your device head over to Settings> Application Manager and tap on the undesirable app. From there you can either uninstall it completely or simply disable it.
14. Shooting RAW Pictures
The RAW format is quite popular among serious photographers simply because of the post-capture options it offers. While normal users may not even need this feature, some enthusiastic photographers will surely appreciate its inclusion on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. This is a great feature to use the camera to its full abilities and capture easily editable photos. I highly recommend that you use a professional PC program to unlock the complete potential of the captured stills.
15. Wireless Fast Charger
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is compatible with wireless fast charging. This basically allows you to charge the phone from 0% to 100% in around 1.5 hours. This is great considering the wireless chargers take an unusually long time to charge devices. However, the wireless fast charger is not included in the box and can only be purchased from Samsung directly. While the feature is great to have, the hefty price tag of the wireless charger makes it a daunting proposition for many.
Conclusion
These were the 15 best features of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 that make it shine above the rest. I hope that this feature list will help you make up your mind about the smartphone. In my opinion, reincluding the microSD might be an issue for those who like to watch high-definition content on their Android smartphones. Apart from that, the device is truly one of the best ones around this season. Thanks to Samsung for Images and Videos.
