Gadgetory

in mobile technology it's the same thing over and over new device comes out new device gets reviewed new device gets forgotten almost no one follows up no one follows along no one sticks around to see how well a gadget ages over time because there's always something new to drool over so let's do something about it let's take a second look at one of the most polarizing tablets in 2015 and see if it's still worth all of its fame I'm high net event with pocket now this is the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and this is episode 53 of after the buzz Samsung's Galaxy Note lineup took a dramatic turn in 2015 that one product you could trust as the power user Haven with expandable everything in an env Abul spec sheet is sadly no more instead Samsung decided to make this the larger sibling of an already aging Galaxy s6 and is appointing many Galaxy Note fans in the process at least the V read the comments whether that was a smart move is still yet to be seen in sales figures but there is a lot of good from an end-user standpoint for starters this product is aged far better than all of its predecessors combined galaxy notes were always infamous for flimsy plastic that was easily cracked or for shiny champers that you couldn't avoid scratching but that's really a thing of the past today the galaxy note 5 has proven that all the sacrifices made to expandability we're all compensated with improved build quality and durability I think of the word solid every time that I try to describe how it feels in the hand this device is both thicker and heavier than the galaxy s6 edge+ so the choice to curve the back corners was just genius match this with the slimmest bezels in galaxy note history and the very sleek aluminum trim and you're left with one of the most pleasant tablets to hold and one of the most elegant designs to consider for this year's phones this unit provided to us by AT&T has been one of my preferred daily drivers for the past two months and it still passes as a brand-new phone I sadly wasn't able to save it from a horrible scratch on the display that'll bug me for the next few months but that's just about it the 7000 series aluminum trim is still scratch and dent free after two months of minor falls and the same can be said about the glass back white is also the best color option to choose if you want to avoid fingerprints all around though it won't be as fancy as any of the gold or silver variants out there like a fine wine it's clear that aging is one of the major strong points for the galaxy note 5 now Samsung's major selling point for the Galaxy Note lineup has mostly depended on its unique software the idea always was for the S Pen to help you be more productive and in that regard the previous models were all packed with features that aged terribly do too clunky implementation and slower than average software updates the story is rather different with the Galaxy Note 5 samsung has finally solved most of the basics with a fast and fluid software experience and the promise for Android 6 battle marshmallow before every other 2015 flagship whether the software is good enough to help you be more productive is still up for grabs but some of the new tools have proven to be really handy over my extensive review period quickly writing a note on an inactive display by pulling out the S Pen is genius and being able to sign a PDF document and send it back it's just flat-out cool Michaels review covers all the other features like scroll capturing using the S Pen as a mouse more extensively but in my experience after the honeymoon phase I'd say that the rest are just nice to have now when it comes to user experience I've been alternating between the galaxy note5 in the galaxy s6 edge+ for over a month now and this actually says a lot about how essential either phablet is in your daily life I find using both to be very pleasant but I can't say that the note fives added features are good enough to seduce me away from its curved sibling I do feel that this is the most refined software experience of any galaxy note ever but I still can't say that I could live without these productivity features most of it has to do with the fact that writing on a display still feels cumbersome and also because you'll do most of your writing on screenshots something that's later a nightmare to organize and the challenge to search for it later and then you have to consider the fact that you can no longer swap the batteries so it's not like if you can use this phablet for a long meeting of reading notes since I've rarely gotten more than four hours of screen on time before the battery goes dead yes fast charging and wireless charging are cool to have but they still defeat the purpose that you can't replace a note pad with this phone now all that being said if you move away from that ideal of productivity and judge the Galaxy Note 5 as a phablet then you'll love everything else about it watching video on this 5.7 inch quad HD display is still one of the best experiences ever and the Exynos processor match with 4 gigs of ram makes playing graphics intensive games of delight since heating is never really a problem and the same can be said about using this as a temporary e-book reader these speeds are top-notch and even if I find phone calls to sound better on this device than the Galaxy s6 edge+ you'll still have the same issue with the speaker mainly because of its placement and if you followed our reviews of pretty much every 2015 galaxy flagship you'll know just how much we love this camera combo the galaxy note 5 also sports the same 16 megapixel optically stabilized sensor with F 1.9 aperture and the resulting photos just speak for themselves great color reproduction and saturation and amazing attention to detail in low-light scenarios this is another one of those cases where I urge you to not trust the viewfinder and simply take all the photos you want as you'll see that Samsung software pulls a lot of strings to make the resulting photos just gorgeous you can also annotate these photos once you're done since this is a galaxy note but you'll be surprised at how little you'll be doing that video recording is also top-notch in both color reproduction and stabilization you simply will not be disappointed I wish I could say the same about the selfie shooter which is OK in well-lit scenarios but again fails whenever it comes to low-light overall the story of the galaxy note continues to be that of controversy and especially when launched alongside the galaxy s6 edge+ as a phablet the note 5 is definitely one of the best you can buy but as a productivity tool not so much I tend to feel that I'd rather have those added productivity features but if you don't you might as well prefer to turn your head to the galaxy s6 edge+ if anything the note 5 would be a smarter pick after the buzz due to the quicker promise for software updates and if you also consider the fact that you're getting added features for a little less money than its curved sibling there might be a reason for giving this particular phablet a priority folks just like in the case of the galaxy note5 every single gadget comes of age so stay tuned for more episodes after the buzz and while you're at it make sure you also follow us on social media and subscribe to youtube channel as well you can follow me on Twitter Jaime underscore Iveta on Instagram it hi metadata please give this video a thumbs up if you liked what you saw I am hi Mary better thank you very much for watching we'll see you on the next one you